Venues
South Gate Space (798 Dashanzi Art District)

Chinese Shadow Puppet Theatre played by the Heilongjiang Company

One of the highlights of this year's festival will without a doubt be the Heilongjiang Company performing traditional, Chinese shadow puppet Heilongjiang Company performing traditional, Chinese shadow puppet shows for the children of Beijing. The Heilongjiang Company is one of only two remaining theatre ensembles to still use the traditional techniques and puppets when performing the ancient Chinese art of shadow puppet theatre.

The art of Chinese shadow puppetry has a more than 2000 years long history, and provides a wonderful vehicle for bringing together visual arts and traditional storytelling. In old China, shadow puppet theatre was a popular form of entertainment and education, as crowds of merchants, peasants and travelers gathered together in busy night markets to see performances based on myths, local legends and religious parables. The puppets themselves were little pieces of art, made out of translucent, animal skin and vividly painted with a style that evolved from the traditional Chinese art of paper cutting.

The DIAF07 will be one of the first time that the Heilongjiang Company performs in Beijing, and thus a unique chance for the children in Beijing to experience the magic of traditional Chinese shadow puppet theatre and to hear the fabulous myths and stories from ancient China.