The Quanzhou marionette troupe is a known performing group across China. (Photo : www.carnegiehall.org)
The 4th China Quanzhou International Puppet Festival served as the highlight of the 14th Asia Arts Festival held in the port city of Fujian Province on Nov. 9, 2015.
Fujian is regarded as China's biggest hub for the art of puppeteering, whose roots can be traced from over 2,000 years ago.
A total of 16 troupes from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan and nine foreign groups presented 60 shows during the festival.
The Quanzhou marionette, which has performed in more than 60 countries, was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. For its head Wang Jingxian, the communicative art of Chinese marionette and the Western puppetry are both engaging and are complementary.
"Chinese marionette is perhaps better in performance technique in details due to its long history, but Western marionette is easier to mix in different art forms and have wide themes. Their creative spirits greatly inspire us," Wang remarked.
Wang also said that "what makes a style survive is that it has to own unique characteristics."
"Communication between different styles may nurture new forms, which is always welcome. But that never means one has to strictly learn from another. The copy will never surpass the original," Wang further shared.
Comparing the troupe's repertoire with the European performances, group director Wu Wan-cheng stated: "Western troupes rely more on individual performances rather than large groups, which is more flexible to develop new shows."
Their shows, which were adapted from ancient Chinese literature, nonetheless had own advantages, which created spectacular onstage scenes and helped nurture high-level professionals on a larger scale.
The fourth edition of the festival came around 15 years since the last one was held.
"We're glad to see the government's cultural consciousness grow fast in recent years, which gives much more room for revival of traditional culture," Wang said.
