The Historical Evolution of Gaozhou Puppet Show

According to the Records of Daoguang County, Qingdao County, Gaozhou Prefecture, "The number one witch in Chibu Dream rings the bell and sings occasionally", and "During the Lantern Festival, pilgrims set up tents on the sandbar outside the gate to decorate the peace". "Singing puppet" refers to the puppet cavity, and "playing with puppets" is directly a puppet show. So far, Gaozhou's "annual example" (that is, social day) still retains this tradition. Every year, during the "Year-end" period from the first month of the lunar calendar to February, puppet shows are staged everywhere, and the village gongs and drums are endless and lively.

After the founding of New China, Gaozhou puppet show attracted the attention of the government. Maoming County (now Gaozhou) set up a puppet troupe in 1954, organized old puppet artists to sort out traditional plays, and started apprenticeships to cultivate new puppets. 1957 10, the old artist Wu went to Beijing to participate in the national folk art exhibition, and won the Excellence Award for his performance of The Legend of the White Snake, which greatly developed Gaozhou puppet show. The cultural department also set up special personnel to manage puppet shows.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Gaozhou puppet show entered its heyday, with more than 2,000 classes and 10000 performances a year, making it the largest performing art group in Guangdong. Puppet dramatists from Japan and Germany came to Gaozhou to observe and exchange the art of puppet show. Hong Records made a special trip to Gaozhou to record the recordings of two repertoires "Fairy Furong" and "Bridge Between Pig and Pig" performed by Puppet Troupe, which were distributed in Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia. At the invitation of relevant German authorities, puppet artist Liang Dongxing also performed in Munich, Bremen and other cities in Germany.

In the 1990s, the glory of Gaozhou puppet show was gone forever, and it was faced with severe survival pressure. In order to inherit this fine work of art, the cultural department of Gaozhou integrates superior resources, and the puppet show class has been carefully compiled from more than 2,000 classes in its heyday to more than 200 classes. Strengthened support and guidance, determined the development goal of "realistic puppets", and opened up the performance market through multiple channels, which made Gaozhou puppet show embark on a benign development track and reproduce its glory.

1997, Gaozhou was named as the hometown of Guangdong folk art (puppet), and in 2003, it was named as the hometown of China folk art (puppet) by the Ministry of Culture. This year, Gaozhou puppet show was designated as the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage recommended projects.