Yangzhou Rod Puppet Show, famous for its combination of inflexibility and suppleness, delicacy and expressiveness, is an ancient traditional art at local.
Yangzhou, whose rod puppet is as famous as the marionette of Quanzhou and the puppet of Zhangzhou, is regarded as “Hometown of Puppets”. As a national intangible cultural heritage, Yangzhou rod puppet has a long history and enjoys a high reputation all over the world.
Yangzhou puppet originated in Taixing area. The Taixing Puppet Regiment, established on the basis of more than a hundred pre-liberation puppet troupes, now is named as the Yangzhou Puppet Theatre.
The Yangzhou Puppet Theatre Troupe, which has been established for forty years, pays great attention to the inheritance and development of traditional art by making the puppet show exquisite and expressive, and coupling hardness with softness. The puppet shows, such as “Flying To the Moon”, ” Three Times’ Beating Monster ” and so on, have won national awards.
In the history, the “Yangzhou puppets” folk artists are known as ” entertainer”, who were suffering all the hardships of the world — walking in the countryside, selling all kinds of performances, and even being bullied by everyone. However, this traditional folk art is inherited and updated through the efforts of many artists engaged in puppetry.
