Water puppetry

Water puppetry is unique for its performance over the water. The water puppets are manipulated by mechanical devices or puppeteers with the facilitation of water power to perform fishing, rowing, dances, acrobatic flips, etc. over a waist-deep water surface as the stage that resembles a waterfront or a boat.

The word "shui kui lei" (ie, water puppetry) starts to appear in Chinese texts as early as the Song dynasty, but the earliest performance of water puppetry dates back to the Han dynasty two thousand years ago. The famous show, "yu long zhi xi" (ie, carp jumping over the dragon gate), can be categorized as water puppetry in terms of its manipulation, and so can the "shui zhuan bai xi" (ie, water-powered puppet show) during the Three Kingdoms period and the "shui shi" (wooden puppets over the water) during the Sui dynasty. The manufacturing techniques of water puppets kept improving from the Han to Tang dynasties. During the Wei, Northern Qi and Sui dynasties, the scope of water puppet shows scaled up with the fast development of techniques and mechanical devices. The water puppetry during the Song dynasty, known for its incredible lifelike puppets and godlike techniques, was officially recognized as one of the five major puppetry. The water puppetry during the Ming and Qing dynasties had a relatively modest scale but impressively exquisite craftsmanship.

During the Qing dynasty, the water puppet shows became increasingly hard to see. One of the last records of water puppetry can be found in Fudi village of Xi county, Yuncheng, Shanxi province, where it was called "shui gu shi" (ie, stories on the water) by the locals. The puppet shows were performed with painted cardboard cut-outs of humans, animals and architectures in a fixed large device. When the sluice was opened as the show started, the water-powered characters and animals would all start to move vividly.

Though the water puppetry declined, its manipulation techniques were adopted by many other kinds of puppetry. For example, the "yu long zhi xi" (ie, carp jumping over the dragon gate) show were adapted into a firework puppet show called "li yu hua ao" (ie, carp transforming into Ao fish with dragon's head).

With increasing efforts being put into the preservation of intangible cultural heritage in recent years, the art of water puppet came to be regarded as one of the greatest treasures.

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