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Description

Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Wu Sheng (martial male). Head, torso and hands are carved from wood. Components painted pink beige. Character has a small nose, moveable eyes and large ears. The mouth is painted bright red and frowning, eyebrows are painted black and have sharp spikes in the middle. Back of head and area around ears painted black, imitating hair. He is wearing a dark grey-green cap with metal buttons along the bottom edge. Long black strands of hair are attached to the top of the cap. The character is wearing a light blue robe, with one large panel in the front, three back panels and two side panels. The front panel has a tie at the left shoulder, and there are ties on either side on the back where side panels meet back panels. Character is wearing a matching collar and there are added panels overtop of the shoulders and on the front panel, below the waist. Additional panel on the front is bordered with pink fringe. All panels and the collar are trimmed with red, green and gold. Cuffs have a black border with red and silver flowers and phoenixes(?) embroidered on them. Curvilinear motifs painted across entire surface of robe and collar in silver glitter. Centre of front panel has a dragon motif, painted in green and gold glitter, with silver clouds and red curvilinear designs. The top half of the robe back is made of green fabric and has a plain yellow patch in the centre. Character is wearing a dark blue undergarment. Puppet is operated by three bamboo rods- one large rod attached to his torso, and two more are attached to each hand. Eyes are operated by a wooden rod, with metal attachment, inside of the central bamboo rod. Back of puppet’s head was cut out and re-attached.

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.

Iconographic Meaning

Puppet represents a young officer or general.