Xiaweidian Style Puppet Exhibition at Mentougou Museum

Ticket of the Shadow Theatre Puppet Exhibtion at Mentougou Museum. July 2008.

Keeping the line of my two last posts about my visit to Mentougou village and its special museum (1) it is the time to share a video and some photographs I recorded of the temporal Shadow Theatre Puppet exhibition I saw there.

I repeat some words about Xiaweidian style elaboration puppets and this special exhibition:

Xiaweidian, a village in Mentougou district, is home to the west school and has a long tradition of carving and playing shadow puppets. -Beijing's "west school" style puppets are coated with water color, not the usual tung oil and offer a slightly different viewing experience-, experts say.

During Summer 2008 Mentogou Museum has an exhibition of 700 hundreds puppets from diferent parts of China, and the highlights of the exhibition are precisely those puppets from Beijing Xipai Xiaweidian School.

Video of Shadow Theatre Puppet Exhibtion at Mentougou Museum

Photographs of puppets showed at the exhibtion

The same video on Vimeo:


Chinese Shadow Theatre Puppets Exhibition at Mentougou Museum from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.

(1) - July 23rd, 2008: Mr. Li making Xiaweidian style Shadow Theatre Puppets at Mentougou Museum.
- August 1st, 2008: Chinese opera, Music instruments and Shadow Theatre Puppets at Mentougou Museum

Chinese Opera, Music and Shadow Theatre Puppets at Mentougou Museum

Mentougou Museum, outskirts of Beijing. July 2008.

Mentougou Museum, outskirts of Beijing, is an interesting place to see documents of Chinese Performing Arts history through a small province village's point of view.

A permanent exhibition of Mentougou's Performing Arts shows us Shadow Theatre Puppets (Xiaweidian Beijing West School), Chinese Opera objects (costumes, props, and music instruments); and historical photographs.

Video Mentougou Museum

Photographs of the permanent exhibition at Mentougou Museum:

SHADOW THEATRE PUPPETS


Shadow Theatre Puppet (Xiaweidian Beijing West School). Mentougou Museum.


Shadow Theatre Puppet (Xiaweidian Beijing West School). Mentougou Museum.


Shadow Theatre Puppet (Xiaweidian Beijing West School). Mentougou Museum.


CHINESE OPERA COSTUMES, PROPS AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Chinese Opera costume. Mentougou Museum.


Chinese Opera props. Mentougou Museum.


Chinese Opera musical instruments. Mentougou Museum.


Chinese Opera Musical Instruments. Mentougou Museum.



HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Shadow Theatre Stage (First years of 20th Century). Mentougou Museum.


Chinese opera Troupe (First years of 20th Century). Mentougou Museum.


Street musicians and actors (First years of 20th Century). Mentougou Museum.


Chinese Opera troupe (First years of 20th Century). Mentougou Museum.




Comic Chinese Opera performance (Last quarter of 20th Century). Mentougou Museum.



Chinese Opera performance (Last quarter of 20th Century). Mentougou Museum.


Street Musicians performance (Beginnings of 20th Century). Mentougou Museum.

The same video in Vimeo:


Chinese Opera, Music and Shadow theatre Puppets Permanent exhibition at Mentougou Museum from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.

Mr. Li making Xiaweidian shadow puppets at Mentougou Museum.

Mr. Li making Xiaweidian Shadow Puppet at Mentougou Museum, China. July 2008.

Mentougou is known as a Communist-era historical point in China, a rich area in coal extraction, but also it is famous as the place where one style of Beijing Shadow Puppets is made, known as Xiaweidian or Beijing west school.

Xiaweidian, a village in Mentougou district, is home to the west school and has a long tradition of carving and playing shadow puppets. -Beijing's "west school" style puppets are coated with water color, not the usual tung oil and offer a slightly different viewing experience-, experts say.

During Summer 2008 Mentogou Museum has an exhibition of 700 hundreds puppets from diferent parts of China, and the highlights of the exhibition are precisely those puppets from Beijing Xipai Xiaweidian School. (1)

Xiaweidian Shadow Puppets. July 2008.

Master Li, the last of a long lineage of puppeteers from Xiaweidian, showed to me how to do the final steps in the elaboration of two Xiaweidian Puppets I bought from him.

Mr. Li making Xiaweidian Shadow Puppets. Mentougou Museum, China. July 2008.


Mr. Li making leather shadow puppets

the same video in Vimeo

Mr. Li making "Xiaweidian" Shadow Puppets. Mentougou Museum. from Gustavo Thomas on Vimeo.

(1) There will be another post about the exhibition.