shadow play

Shadow play is one of the earliest operas. Its performance equipment is easy to carry around; with rich and beautiful music for voices, splendid and touching performance, it has gained the favor of the great mass hundreds of years, and has become very popular. And moreover, shadow play has made a certain contribution to the culture and art development both domestic and overseas. Many new genres of local opera are derived from the music of voices of the shadow play. The principle of performance on the screen and the artistic techniques of performance employed in Chinese shadow play, have acted as a forerunner to the invention of modern film and the development of modern animation film. From Goethe in 18th century to the later Chaplin and other famous men world culture in the west have ever praised highly to Chinese shadow play. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and other leaders of China have entertained guests both home and abroad with shadow play many times. However，the condition of being on the brink of extinction has not been changed up to now, after shadow play suffered the severe damage in “the Great Proletarian Culture Revolution”.