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Description

Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Xiao Dan (young girl), with separate headdress. Head and hands of puppet (part a) are carved from wood. Components painted pink beige. The puppet’s body is formed by a reed cage. Character has a small nose and large ears. The mouth is painted red, eyes are black-rimmed. Eyebrows are thin and black, and there is black paint along the back of the head and sides of the face, imitating hair. She has thick black hair in a low ponytail, secured with a pink tie. The character is wearing a green robe, with extended sleeves that drape down. The robe has three panels on the front, one panel on the back and a pink undergarment. Overtop, the character is wearing a matching green collar. The robe has a front opening, the collar has a back opening, the undergarment is open at the back. The collar has gold fringe along its bottom edge and is trimmed with wavy pink and gold borders. There are curvilinear motifs, done in pink and red sequins, across its surface. The robe is belted at the waist. The belt is made of paper and covered in ribbons, done in silver, white and red scallops and a pink floral. Belt ties at the back. The same scalloped ribbon borders the panel edges on the front of the robe, the same pink floral ribbon borders the cuffs. There are curvilinear motifs, done in pink, red and large silver sequins, across the entire front surface. Diamond-shaped pink rhinestones on left and right panels of robe. The back panel is undecorated. It has a pink and yellow border, and the edges have pink and dark green fringe. Puppet is operated by three bamboo rods- one large rod attached to reed cage, and two more attached to each hand. Back of puppet’s head has been cut out. Headdress (part b) consists of a metal frame with rubber(?), covered in black fabric. A peacock is at the top centre. Its head is made of metal and covered in thick white string, the feathers are made of cardboard covered in red fabric. Peacock is decorated with silver and blue sequins with purple pompons along the top of the feathers. Main band of headdress has a green wavy border and floral motifs done in embroidery, beads and metal, tulle-like material and sequins. Flowers are coloured orange, white, yellow-green, pink, purple, green, gold and blue. There are two ties on either end of the headdress.

History Of Use

The celebrated rod puppets of the Guangdong Province on the south coast of China have a long history. They became popular during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Generally referred to as ‘ghost opera’ (qui-a-xi), this form of rod puppetry shares many characteristics with Cantonese Opera. There are the four standard categories of performer: male (sang/sheng), female (daan/dan), clown (cau/chou) and painted faces (zing/jing), often reserved for martial or fighting characters. They wear elaborately embroidered costumes and perform classical Chinese legends and histories, with dramatic and stylized acrobatics, movements, voices and gestures. The likeness of the rod puppets to their human counterparts is enhanced further by the clever mechanisms that move the eyes and mouth. Like all forms of Asian theatre and puppetry, music is also an essential part of the performance: the accompanying orchestra generally consists of gongs, drums, violins and reed instruments. Almost every performance of puppet theatre in Guangdong is part of religious festivities. The stage is built opposite a temple or shrine. A performance usually starts with ritual blessings to bring peace and prosperity to the local community.