指间功夫

Shadow puppet（皮影） shows started in the Han Dynasty（汉朝）. One day， a man saw children’s shadows under the sun. He got a great idea. He made a show like that. And it quickly became popular.

In a shadow puppet show， actors hold puppets behind a white cloth（布）. With music and songs， they make the puppets move. Children sit in front of the white cloth and watch the shadow show.

Actors work together. A puppet may have five sticks（杆）. And it takes two or three actors to control the puppet. One actor holds the head and arms of a puppet. The other holds its legs. They often watch the movements（动作） of humans and animals. They sit in a zoo and watch cranes（鹤） for a day. They know it takes three steps（步骤） for our body to sit down.

Look at this puppet！ She is Baigujing from the Three Battles With Baigujing（《三打白骨精》）. It is one of the famous shows of Beijing Shadow Show Troupe（北京皮影剧团）.

The puppet of Baigujing is made from animal skin in 1979. She has many joints（關节）just like us. Actors connect（连接） sticks to her hands and head. In a show， an actor uses the sticks to make her move. Baigujing is very bad. You can see that from her face and signature move（招牌动作）.