Zhu Guoqiang’s deep love for shadow puppetry
2023-02-01
He learned shadow puppetry from his father when he was a child, experienced its heyday, and witnessed the gradual decline of this traditional craft. In order to make it favored by more people, he tried his best to spend 2 million yuan to set up a school to teach shadow puppetry for free and establish a shadow puppetry museum with free admission.
Although Zhu Guoqiang is 60 years old, he is still full of energy and practices his voice every day in the shadow puppetry school in Wangcheng District, Changsha City. Manipulating shadow puppets well requires mastery of various musical instruments. For 46 years, he has never been lazy in practicing even one day.
Born in a family engaged in shadow puppetry, Zhu Guoqiang is the fifth generation. He began to learn the craft from his father at the age of 15.
In that era when there were few sources of diversions, watching a play was the trendiest pastime in the village. It was enough to keep the whole family happy for a long time by watching a shadow play. As time goes by, the shadow play has gradually declined, and fewer and fewer people would like to watch it. The number of puppeteers around Wangcheng District has also decreased from a few hundred at the beginning to only a few dozen today.
As an inheritor of shadow puppetry, Zhu Guoqiang has a deep sense of responsibility.
In 2009, he drained almost all his savings to set up a shadow puppet art museum in Jinggang Ancient Town with the support of the relevant departments in Wangcheng District. Opened to the public, the museum houses nearly 4,000 shadow puppet exhibits from his collection, as well as more than 300 shadow puppet plays compiled over the years.
“In order to let more young people fall in love with shadow puppetry, I set up a school at my own expense to recruit apprentices from all walks of life.” This sounds easy, but it actually represents Zhu Guoqiang’s persistence and efforts for many years.
To learn shadow puppetry well, talent is a must besides the hard work. All musical instruments and singing require a lot of practice. Although there have been many apprentices over the years, there are very few who can persevere. Fortunately, his son has inherited this craft.
