articles
China Elevator Stories
Chinese Shadow Puppetry
Chinese shadow puppetry shows have a long history.
17/04/2025
Ruth Silbermayr
Author
Chinese Shadow Puppetry (called 皮影戏 in Chinese, Píyǐngxì in Pinyin, and also known as Shadow Play in English) has a long history. Watching shadow puppetry shows used to be a favorite pastime in China, especially at a time when smartphones, television, and other modern-day conveniences didn’t yet exist. The art form dates back over 2,000 years and was once a popular folk tradition enjoyed throughout China by both children and adults alike.
Chinese Shadow Puppetry has been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2011. Shadow puppetry shows often tell stories about wars, Buddhist legends, and Chinese folklore.
Materials used:
The puppets were originally made from paper, and later from leather of donkeys or oxen. Modern puppets are often made from plastic. The arms and legs of the people or animals are usually movable, and the puppets can be moved independently across the sheet using rods attached to the back of each puppet.
The way Chinese Shadow Puppetry plays are performed is the following:
Usually, a group of shadow puppetry players sits or stands behind a stretched cloth, moving the puppets across the cloth. The white cloth is lit from behind so that the puppets’ movements are visible to the audience sitting in front of it, watching the show.
Puppetry shows:
In newer versions, a recording is played, and the puppetry players don’t have to speak themselves. In older shows, it used to be common for the puppetry players to speak as though they were the puppets.
I recently saw a Chinese Shadow Puppetry show at a restaurant (see the video above), which featured a few animal puppets. The recording that was played included voices for the animals—for example, there were baby fish and a big fish, and the baby fish were asking the big fish, “Where’s our mom?”
Later, a tiger appeared who tried to catch a rabbit (which, in the end, it didn’t). There were other animals as well. This particular show was about animals, but there are also shows that feature people.
The shadow puppetry here is known as Taishan Shadow Puppetry (Taishan meaning Mount Tai, the famous mountain that is also shown on a Chinese 5 Yuan bill), and it is a kind of shadow puppetry that is well known in China. It is different from other shadow puppetry shows, where a group of people performs together, in that only one person is needed to move the puppets across the sheet.
Have you ever watched a Chinese shadow puppetry show?