Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Dan (lady), with separate headdress. Head and hands of puppet (part a) are carved from wood. Head painted pink beige. The puppet’s body is formed by a reed cage. Character has a wide nose, moveable eyes and large ears. Mouth is painted red, cheeks are rosy. Eyes are black-rimmed, eyebrows are painted black and thin. Long sideburns painted on either side of her face. She has black hair pulled into a top bun and low ponytail. The ponytail is secured with a red tie. Between the bun and the ponytail is a dark blue ribbon, with a gold zigzag through the centre, with pink sequins. A matching headband is across her forehead. She has silver and pink beaded earrings and flowers tucked behind her ears. The character is wearing a pink jacket, with extended gauze-like sleeves that drape down. Floral motifs around cuffs and on front centre of jacket, done in light blue, dark pink and white sequins. Overtop jacket, character is wearing a bright green collar with a front opening, secured with ties. It has an elaborate beaded fringe along the bottom edge, with tiers of diamonds and two strands hanging from each diamond point. Diamonds are done in lilac, beads connecting diamonds are pink, and the strands are silver, red and light green. Neckline of collar trimmed with a wavy dark green ribbon, the bottom edge is trimmed with wavy dark green and red ribbons. Linear and floral motifs across collar, done in silver, light blue and dark pink. The jacket is belted at the waist, securing at the back with velcro. Edges of pink belt are trimmed with a wavy dark green ribbon. Belt is covered with floral motifs, made with stiff, glittery thread and sequins. Done in silver, gold, dark brown, red, yellow, orange, green, blue and purple. Hanging from the belt are three panels. All are pink, trimmed with wavy dark green ribbons, and covered in floral and curvilinear motifs. Floral motifs are done in white, light blue and dark pink sequins, curvilinear motifs are done in red. The bottom edges of all the panels have white, blue and dark pink fringe. Puppet is wearing an additional panel on her back that hangs below the jacket. It is secured with a tie around the waist, underneath the belt. Central floral motif done in dark pink, silver and light blue sequins. Fringe along all edges, done in dark green, yellow, pink and red. Puppet is operated by three rods- one large bamboo rod attached to the reed cage, and two more, made of bamboo and metal, attached to each hand. Eyes are operated by a wooden rod inside of the central bamboo rod. Headdress (part b) is semi-circular and rests on top of the puppet’s head. It is made of cardboard, with a metal frame, and covered in light green fabric. Edges of headdress are trimmed with flower shaped sequins. Along the top and sides are groupings of protruding wires, covered in green fabric and circular and flower shaped sequins. Sequins are pink, gold, silver and light blue. In between the wire groupings, and overtop of the central wire grouping, are three large, pink tulle-like flowers. Back of headdress is undecorated and covered in light blue fabric. There are two plain ties on either end of the headdress.

Rod puppet (zhàng tóu mù ǒu), representing the character Xiao Chou (clown). Head and hands are carved from wood. Components painted pink beige. The puppet’s body is formed by a reed cage. Character has a wide nose, large ears and moveable eyes and mouth. The mouth is painted bright red, eyebrows are painted black and curved. Eyes are black-rimmed and area around ears and back of head is painted black, imitating hair. Red line painted across face, from left cheek to above right eye. He has short, spiked black hair on top of his head. The character is wearing a plain dark blue robe, with two small side slits. The robe has a small back opening, stitched closed, below the neck. 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 and re-attached.

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.

Opened out fragment of a tubular case. Golden brown textile worked over thin brown-black reeds. Four rows of designs across entire surface. Done in red, black, white, olive green and dark grey. First row has three small step designs with bordered squares inside them. Second row has a bird-like creature and other zoomorphic figures. Third and fourth rows have snake-like figures. Textile stitched to cream coloured fabric, secured to off-white matboard.

Small bundles of twigs and fibres folded in half and tied together.