1.2.The spreading and the refulgence of shadow play在线视频

Episode 2 Traces

Origin and Development of Shadow Play

In the last lecture,

we had a preliminary understanding of the basic knowledge of the shadow play and learned the purpose of this course.

In this episode,

we will look for and discover the historical track of Chinese shadow play in the existing data.

From the north was a beauty

Unsurpassed, one and only

One glance destroyed a city

Another, the whole country

Who cares the city or the country?

'cause never will there be such a beauty

We all may have seen Ambush on All Sides directed by Zhang Yimou.

In the movie, Zhang Ziyi danced to and sang a beautiful poem:

From the north was a beauty

Unsurpassed, one and only

One glance destroyed a city

Another, the whole country

Who cares the city or the country?

'cause never will there be such a beauty

Dedicated to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty by Li Yannian,

a famous musician in the Han Dynasty,

this poem describes an exceedingly beautiful woman whom the Emperor had never met before.

She was Li Yannian's sister,

who later became Lady Li,

a favorite concubine of the Emperor.

Although the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty two thousand years ago possessed

the most extensive territory and the most powerful army in the world,

he was in a trance all day long for the loss of his beloved Lady Li,

ignoring the political affairs.

To cheer him up,

Minister Li Shaoweng set up a tent and lit the lights after nightfall.

The Emperor saw Lady Li appearing in front of him through the tent and was finally relieved.

This is the earliest origin of shadow play recorded in the Book of Han.

Chapter I Origin

There's a wide spectrum of opinions on the earliest origin of shadow play,

of which, two are representative.

One is that shadow play originated in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty,

which is mainly based on the ancient books.

The earliest written records are found in the Historical Records by Sima Qian and the Book of Han by Ban Gu.

According to the records,

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pined away,

missing the late Lady Li, and was touched and then relieved after seeing the shadow puppet made

by Li Shaoweng according to the image of Lady Li.

This provides evidence of historical documents for the origin of shadow play.

In the other version, the shadow play originated in the War between Chu and Han.

This version is from the shadow play artists through the word of mouth.

Zhang Liang explained and reported the situation of the war to Liu Bang by shadow play,

and this form of acting lasted and was developed into the shadow play now.

The stories of the "War between Chu and Han" have been told among the people

and attaching the origin of shadow play to Zhang Liang,

a resourceful founder of the Han Dynasty,

is in compliance with the people's psychology of adding brilliance to heroes.

The shadow play developed prosperously in the Song Dynasty,

during which concentrated performance areas were formed.

According to the existing literature,

the Song Dynasty was the prosperous period of shadow play.

The social and economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty promoted the prosperity of folk literature and art,

and also contributed to the development of shadow play.

Washe, also called Wasi,

in Bianjing (now Kaifeng) of the Northern Song Dynasty was an entertainment place

of the city where art activities like performances of poetic drama,

Quyi (a folk art form) and opera took place in a concentrated manner.

With wonderful scripts, the shadow play performed in the temple before was staged in Washe in the Song Dynasty,

when historical tales and novels were popular,

such as tales of the Three Kingdoms,

providing rich performance repertoire for the shadow play.

Bianjing, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty,

became the earliest prosperous place in the history of Chinese shadow play,

where Quyi was so prosperous like a flyover in old Beijing,

and an area where folk artists gather to perform (Wasi in the TV play The Water Margin).

The Hundred Children Playing in Spring,

a painting full of children's game scenes,

including zither playing, lion dancing, puppet playing, kite flying, shadow playing, etc.,

painted by Su Hanchen,

a painter in the Northern Song Dynasty,

is a true portrayal of the "Little Shadow Play Shed" in Bianjing of the Northern Song Dynasty

that convened children as above the lion dancing in the painting,

a huge backlit screen was erected,

above which a child was holding shadow puppets to perform and under which seated a child watching the play.

The social and economic prosperity promoted the prosperity of folk literature and art,

and also contributed to the development of shadow play.

Bai Jiangshi, a poet in the Song Dynasty wrote a poem -

"Return late in faded lights and cold moonlight.

Instead of being criticized by the mother-in-law,

why not see the shadow play in the street",

fully expressing Song people's obsession with shadow play.

Chapter III Migration Southward and Popularization

After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, shadow play moved southward with the artists,

and had gradually spread to Hubei, Hunan and other regions.

Although the Song Dynasty was the earliest prosperous period of Chinese shadow play,

it was the time when the Northern Song Dynasty fell,

i.e. the "Event of Jingkang" we often mentioned that contributed a lot to the spread of the shadow play.

The war between the Jin and Song dynasties caused the shadow play artists to flee to various regions.

Besides those taken captive with Emperor Huizong

and Emperor Qinzong of the Song Dynasty to Yanjing (now Beijing) and other places,

many shadow play artists in the Central Plains moved to Lin'an,

which is now Hangzhou.

Along the way,

they passed Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi and other places.

All these objectively led to the widespread popularity of the shadow play throughout the country.

Yunmeng shadow play is unique. It is called "the relative of drama".

It is also called "pair show",

meaning the play is performed by two persons.

Usually when the play is performed in the countryside,

one person sings "Sheng (male role), Mo (old male role),

Jing (painted face), Dan (female role) and Chou (clown)"

while operating the shadow puppets in the front,

and the other at the rear strikes a gong while playing the Huqin (vertical lute).

It also has the name of the art of "a pole" as our outfits include only a shoulder pole and a box.

Our Yunmeng shadow play was brought here from the north.

When the Northern Song dynasty came to an end,

many northern shadow play artists ran south due to the war in the north.

Later in the Southern Song Dynasty,

the Emperor of Song Dynasty was driven to Lin'an,

which is now Hangzhou.

Yunmeng is here along the way.

So our Yunmeng shadow play has a history of more than 300 years and less than 400 years.

Though the artists are evolving,

whenever the shadow play goes,

it is affected by local dialect and customs, and gradually a local drama is formed.

For example, there is a Xixiang High-pitched Tune Shadow Play in the school of Yunmeng Shadow Play.

It is called Xixiang High-pitched Tune because all the male, the female,

the old and the young are performed by one person in a high-pitched tune.

Conclusions

In this class,

we learned the history of traditional Chinese shadow play.

The knowledge points that you need to know are:

When was the shadow play born according to the records in the literature?

When did shadow play become popular in other regions?