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Iconographic Meaning

Puppet represents a lower class clown.

Description

Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Xiao Chou (clown). Head and hands are carved from wood. Head is painted beige. Character has a thin nose, moveable eyes and large ears. The mouth is painted bright red, with circles on either side, and cheeks are rosy. Eyebrows are painted black and have curved spikes in the middle, eyes are black-rimmed. Area around ears and back of head is painted black, imitating hair. He has short black hair on top of his head. The character is wearing a plain dark blue robe, with two small side slits. Neckline is trimmed with a red band, which extends into small robe opening, secured with a tie, along left side of neck. The robe is secured at the wrists with wire. Puppet is operated by three bamboo rods- one large rod attached to head, and two more attached to each hand. Back of puppet’s head has been cut out and filled with red fabric.

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.