My Puppetry Journey

I began to learn puppet show took place at the age of 9. My inferior height to the puppet made me incapable of even holding it. My puppetry master specially made a small puppet for my convenience. From there I had obtained my beloved treasure. My puppetry master would remind me constantly: If you don’t put the cloth that cover the head of the puppet back and wind the rope in the bag around her neck after usage, then the mischievous little spirit will be scuttling out of the puppet and perform at night time. I was curious about this secretly, because I wanted to deliberately try the taboo prohibited by the master to see the consequence. However, to my disappointment, everything was tranquil and nothing happened at night. As it turned out, the master painstakingly resorted to these "tricks" in order for me to be responsible. During these years, every time after I finished learning a play, I would accession a new puppet and hang it in my cupboard. Gradually, the cupboard was overloaded with puppets, overtime forming a spectacular "puppet family."

I still cling to the fantasy of adventures with the puppets. In my dreams, my countless miraculous encounters with the puppets, including our identities, roles, and literary origins, were vaguely divided by the line between falsity and truth. Sometimes the virtue is innocently intermingled with the real, and the illusion is always accompanied by the dream.

Whenever I wake from a dream with a melancholy feeling about the permanent presence of falsity and the nonexistent form of reality, I will immediately jump out of bed, to go straight to the cupboard to hang the puppet and open the door, confirming my treasures having not left me, and finally reassured. I fret about their souls always longing for the stagnant, ephemeral, and dreamy era, inanimate puppets sailing back to the balmy legendary world in their previous incarnation. Providentially, they are still quietly dropped from the hooks in the cupboard, not forsaking my possession.

What befuddles me the most is the fact that puppets always remain my best interest in comparison with my colorful childhood life and fascinating experience. It can be traced to the secret and little dream of mine that had been entrenched in my mind for years, and of which I feel ashamed of: my yearning for the faraway legends. The warm impulse will beseech my heart to tumble when I manipulate the puppets. I imagined myself in the most prosperous era of the puppet show, as a guru of a Circus master, leading waves upon waves of people, nebulously wandering in the legendary world, indefatigable.

When imagination cannot hold my wanderlust bridled, I started to plan on a real journey towards the distant world upon my mom’s harsh words on my trivial misbehavior. My foolhardy ambition propelled me to rummage through the room find a big scarf of my mom to wrap my clothes and a few bags of chocolate biscuits, and I carefully selected a bunch of my favorite little puppets. I shoved all these under the bed, waiting for the time of a dark moon when the haughty wind can take me away from home. Sleeping in bed, I listened to the ticking of the clock, with my head brimming with fantasies upon closing my eyes, planning my next action: first, I need to write a letter to mom and dad, telling them that their daughter failed her filial piety and wants to go out into the real world of legends with her puppets, to create a "career path". It attracted me to be journeying far, to encounter more people, to make puppets the site of a ceaseless struggle against their potential life and share the experience with them, and to be the master of my own domain. The world will be a boundless vessel for me, like the sky contains the high-flying bird and sea accommodates the twirling fish. My parents, you should not worry about me, because I will give you a letter of peace for each place I visit. Wait for my miracle at becoming a legend in the distant country. However, my reveries always give in to my fatigue before I consummate my plan. The childish bravura of leaving my home would drown.

Yet, I still, to this day, miss my original impulse, even only in the purpose of an obsession, only to carry my little puppet to stray adventures, only for a vain and enthusiastic dream, and resulting in just a part of my arrested development by me forced to give up unrealistic dreams, it was still worth every while for being the origin of my dream. It symbolized my first exploration of the "outside world”. This can also be interpreted as the creation of my ideal poem, as a song with its determined tone to fulfill the journey with actions. It is lively, complex, full of innocent stream of heat and wonderful fantasy. It is as fragile as a mirage and disillusionment, but flashing brightly in the endless river of time.

After middle school, the examination of schoolwork took a more onerous track, which made me miss the original carefree dream of happiness. In "Alice in Wonderland", The Queen of Hearts offer a puzzling string of words: "In our place, you have to keep running in order to stay in original”. I think I am also running for the sake of a" beginner's original mind ". Although I am sailing against many difficulties, setbacks, and pressure, my heart is determined to trace the passage of childhood dream. I have always believed that childhood curiosity remains a nurturing fountain for all artistic creations in adulthood. This book is put together by virtue of the combined catalyst of the curiosity, firm dream, and spontaneous self-reflection. The roaming and idyllic life that belongs to vagabonds has always fascinates me. My taste bud has been piqued to experience the flavors of the legendary life: from bitter to sour, from sweet to spicy, and not to bury the life in banality.

Fortunately, I was exposed to such characters. During their travel, study, and interviews, I seemed to have experienced a simulated dream of my "legendary world". They are the outstanding figures in both Chinese and foreign puppet industry. They are my mentors and friends. Our communication shares only a heartbeat distance. It was unforgettable to travel with the puppetry masters around, and the tiny sprouts of my experiences were blooming in the scroll of time.

Here, huffing from shouldering a full box of puppets, grandpa JiaoFeng and I were invited to the primary school, middle school, and university to roll out our voluntary promotion of puppetry. Here, I saw myself sitting on the carpet of the Stephen couple's house, pondering the traces of the swords and sticks that ran across the ceiling of his house. There, it showed that Master Huang had made for me a big feast on Taiwan braised meat rice, excitedly going to the puppet collection Hall. Then the time shifted back to where I was still in New York, I was at Ms. Humphrey home having sweet Afternoon tea ... All of a sudden, I went back to China, accompanying Master Wang stitching the puppet, tailoring, making decals.

This time, I will compile the interviews with masters into a published work, not only to exhibit masters’ own legendary life, also to further a better perusal of puppet art. I expect to use the puppetry masters’ industry influence, be it considerable or scarce, to awaken the people of the art that is currently on the brink of extinction. By virtue of my interest and enthusiasm for puppet art, hopefully I can contribute some humble effort to the promotion and dissemination of traditional Chinese art.

I like to communicate with masters and feel their prowess along the way in terms of how to be an excellent artist and human being. Even if we encounter clashed conversation, I would still feel rewarded. The masters always appear nonplussed when posed with "ignorantly bold" questions by me. They have always been patient with the answers. which makes me extremely grateful for their preferential treatment, deeply absorbing the art masters with the sharp discernment and professional demeanor. They wash a teenager who loves puppet show with love and care. In the dialogue with the masters, I was surprised to find that my "ego" also became clearer, and the Masters have led me into a part of the legend of the puppet show, while also helping me to explore the boundaries of "I", which represents the meaning of "experiencing" to me, who is a young heir of traditional puppet.