Rod Puppet Item Number: 3347/14 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Xiao Chou (clown). Head and hands carved from wood. Head painted pink beige. Character has a long nose, moveable eyes and large ears. The mouth is painted dark red and frowning, eyebrows are painted black and furrowed. Black dots painted across chin, and around mouth, imitating a beard. Eyes are black-rimmed and area around ears and back of head painted black, imitating hair. He is wearing a dark blue cap with metal buttons along the bottom edge. The character is wearing a light brown-yellow plaid robe. It has a small opening at the neck, loosely stitched shut, and two small side slits. There are metal buttons at the centre front and centre back of the neckline. Puppet is operated by three bamboo rods- one large rod attached to his head, and two more attached to each hand. Back of puppet’s head has been cut out.
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.
Puppet represents a lower class clown.