Performers of Wanwanqiang inherit another popular Chinese legend. “Was that you? I stood up to look at you. He set up a mood with candles, fine dining and wine at night…in a tent… Only, Wu was in another tent and told that he couldn’t approach the spirit to come. Shao Weng, an alchemist volunteered help, he would, he said, conjure her spirit. According to the Book of Han: the Empresses and Imperial Affines, the Emperor of the mighty Han dynasty couldn’t forget the love of his life, beautiful Li, who died tragically young. Image source: Daderot / CC0 ()įrom China comes the tale of Emperor Wu’s woe. Thus, stories here are more suitable points of discussion than most chicken or the egg arguments. Since the puppets are born from death, constructed from the hides of goats, donkeys, or buffalos, the world of shadow theatre is enriched by spirits. These are impossible ideas, legends and myths that both follow its subject and arrive before it in the form of lores and expectation. So, in the absence of archaeological consensus and sometimes evidence, we can remove ourselves from the pursuit of theory to something more compelling – origin stories. Sidin Vadukut, who was my gateway as an adult, into history, believes historians aim for nothing higher than to answer what really happened in the past. Even in India, the puppets left their Maharashtrian home and migrated south. But like the tradition itself that has evolved to stay relevant, puppets have changed hands, puppeteers have changed tribes, tribes have moved and wars have taken them. Others speak to the sophistication of the Chinese puppets and the availability of its specific historical records, saying, surely, the Hans were the first. Where it thrived elsewhere, in its birthplace, it was relegated to the shadows. Folklorist Stuart Blackburn suggests that this tradition, like Buddhism, travelled to the rest of Asia from India. But as is also custom, scholars have many disagreements on its origins. Made in China, made in India, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, or even Turkey, the tradition of shadow puppets has survived for a long time, the second century BC, some say. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Email Share on WhatsApp
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