Chapter 1
1949 was an important watershed in the development of Hong Kong puppet art
Rod Puppet is a traditional puppet in Hong Kong. Before 1949, the culture and living environment of Hong Kong and Mainland China were basically interoperable. Hong Kong traditional puppets were basically the puppets of Guangdong Province. Puppets and Cantonese opera are of the same origin, and the repertoire, music, and songs are also very similar, mainly Cantonese. Theatrical troupe can also act in human and puppet shows at the same time. There are two Rod Puppets styles, short neck and long neck. The short neck is mainly on the east bank of the Pearl River, while the long neck is on the west bank. The Hong Kong tradition of Rod Puppet did not begin to decline until the 1970s and 1980s.
TV interview about Hong Kong puppet art ：
Chapter 2
Chaozhou Iron Rod Puppets is a puppet style that came to Hong Kong after the local Cantonese style Rod Puppet
Chaozhou Iron Rod Puppets（潮州鐵枝） are the first non-Cantonese traditional Chinese puppets who came to Hong Kong in 1949. This is a performance of Rod Puppet with horizontal control and Chaozhou（潮州） language. Chaozhou is on the east coast of today's Guangdong Province. The traditional culture is closer to the culture of Fujian Province, rather than a Cantonese-speaking society. Originally, the Chaozhou region traditionally performed shadow puppets, but it was transformed into puppets because of the need for daytime performances. However, the music and content are the same as the local shadow puppet traditions, and are closer to the shadow puppets in southern Taiwan and Hunan （湖南）Province. The Chaozhou iron rod puppets are the historical consequence of the three consecutive years of Hong Kong refugees due to the regime change in Mainland China in 1949, and the traditional puppet culture of Hong Kong has begun to surpass only the Cantonese language.
Many children's theaters in Hong Kong imitate Iron Rod Puppet's control methods for puppets.
TV interview about Hong Kong puppet art ：
Chapter 3
In the 1960s, Fujian’s String Puppet and Glove Puppet also came to Hong Kong one after another
In the 1960s, due to the severe economic crisis and famine in Mainland China, there were a large number of legal immigrants and more illegal immigrants. Of course, the two provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, which are adjacent to Hong Kong, accounted for the most. This caused a rapid increase in the number of residents and Hong Kong. The rising labor force has made Hong Kong one of the world's manufacturing centers.
Coming to Hong Kong at the same time as the immigrants, including many puppet artists trained by the Chinese mainland government directly managed theatrical troupe, the content of the performance began to be closer to the mainland of China, rather than purely traditional religious ritual puppet activities.
Fujian's String Puppet （提線木偶）and Glove Puppet （布袋木偶）models appeared and took root in Hong Kong. Fujian puppets are basically homologous to Taiwan puppets, and it was not until Taiwan’s Japanese rule that they began to develop separately. The puppet show is performed in dialects and has long been welcomed by residents, coupled with the needs of religious ceremonies. After 1949, the local people still survived in a semi-open way. The government accepted the suggestion of Russian puppet master Sergei Obraztsov to set up representative theater troupes in different regions, and use traditional puppets as the basis to join modern stage technology, which has become the so-called traditional Chinese puppets that most people see today, in fact, it is an improved style.
Guangdong Fei-Hong in Youth：
Chapter 4
As an international trade center, Hong Kong promotes the development of puppet art due to tourism
The performance styles of String Puppet & Glove Puppet, who came to Hong Kong from Fujian in the 1960s and 1970s, have a great influence on the city’s puppet history, because what they bring to Hong Kong is no longer traditional performances, but more imitating and mirroring mainland government offices. The modern performances of the puppet theater are based on traditional performance techniques and are based on the demands of the modern masses, especially the overseas people when they are performing in the West. Due to the lack of copyright awareness at the time, many of the works created by government-run puppet theater troupes in Mainland China in the 1970s were not completely legally copied to Hong Kong.
In the 1970s, after the social riots in Hong Kong, Hong Kong as a starting international industrial and commercial city, coupled with the protection of British law, the diligence and faithfulness of the Chinese attracted a large number of overseas buyers, and Hong Kong quickly became one of the manufacturing bases in Asia. Some large-scale Chinese restaurants with traditional performances appeared in the tourist area, attracting a large number of tourists every night. Of course, many Europeans and Americans living in Hong Kong, especially scholars teaching in universities, began to become interested in traditional puppets in Hong Kong. It also directly and indirectly promotes Chinese puppet art to the world.
At that time, the most important representatives were Yang Qingyi's Feipeng string puppet troupe (飛鵬) from Quanzhou and Li Yiquan's Wenling glove and rod puppet troupe (温陵).
Introduce a set of Dr. Juergen Kart Peter Kluender who taught at the University of Hong Kong. In the 8mm film shot in the 1970s, we can get a glimpse of the style of the time. Unfortunately, due to technical limitations at the time of shooting, the film received has no sound recording. The current soundtrack is just for the convenience of adding it to the Hong Kong exhibition.
Chapter 5
Concerns of Hong Kong Government Cultural Units and Scholars
Hong Kong in the 1980s, in addition to scholars' attention to puppets, it also attracted the Urban Council, which was in charge of Hong Kong's cultural and artistic policy at that time, to organize, collect, research and exhibit the history of Hong Kong puppets. And in 1987, a large-scale exhibition of Hong Kong traditional puppets was held at the 25th anniversary of the Hong Kong City Hall. Later, he published a book on the history of Hong Kong puppets, "Puppet Theatres in Hong Kong and their Origins", which introduced the historical origins of Hong Kong puppets and puppet styles from various regions in mainland China.
This project has far-reaching impact. On the one hand, it enables Rod Puppet, a native of Guangdong in Hong Kong, and puppets from different regions who immigrated to Hong Kong from the Mainland after 1949. Have the opportunity to get to know each other and communicate technically. At the same time, due to the English translation of the article, overseas scholars who study Chinese puppet culture have more supplementary information in addition to Sergei Obraztsov's book "The Chinese Puppet Theatre".
Unfortunately, because traditional puppets rely on dialect performances and are influenced by the culture of the region of origin, traditional puppets from various regions in China have not been integrated and developed into new traditional puppets in Hong Kong. Like Taiwan's Glove Puppet, it successfully entered the modern theater and developed into "Golden Puppet"(金光木偶). Finally, influenced by European and American TV puppet dramas, Rod Puppet's technology was added to develop into Taiwan's famous TV kung fu puppet drama - Thunderbolt Puppet (霹靂木偶).
In the 1990s, it became a watershed in Hong Kong's puppet culture, and the modern puppet theater finally appeared. The key is the import of Eastern Europe. The first to bring Eastern European puppet art to Hong Kong was the famous Theater producer Augustine Mok (莫昭如）.
Attached are the links to the Cantonese and English TV channels of Marek Becka's visit to Hong Kong in 1991：
Chapter 6
In the 1990s, contemporary puppet art appeared in Hong Kong
In the 1990s, Hong Kong puppets developed into three parallel artistic lines.
First of all, Rod Puppet and Iron Rod Puppet, which are mainly based on traditional sacrificial ceremonies, rely on rural festivals to work hard and survive.
Secondly, imitated and reproduced from mainland China, those mainland ethnic puppet styles developed from traditional techniques to meet the needs of modern audiences, mainly Glove Puppet, String Puppet and shadow puppets, mostly entertainment programs and street performances in tourist areas. .
In addition, directly influenced by Europe and the United States, with the concept of modern puppet performance, he creates modern puppets mainly for urban audiences and children. The performance is performed in a medium-sized theater that was originally built for the needs of drama performances. And, of course, the Giant Puppet for outdoor performances.
The three puppet art routes in Hong Kong occasionally have cooperation and exchanges. Unfortunately, there is not much room for co-creation development, and it has not been able to develop a very local puppet style like Taiwan.
Since the origin of Hong Kong puppets comes from mainland China, we must investigate the history of puppets and shadow puppets in mainland China. Chinese puppets developed from the ancient curtain of the Han Dynasty. It can be estimated that two thousand years ago, mature mobile puppets were used in funerals as a part of rituals. Most experts believe that it was the development of a funeral ritual at that time, replacing real people with puppets. Therefore, puppets have the meaning of "substitutes" in China.
Fox Hatching （狐狸孵蛋）：
Chapter 7
Contemporary puppets give Hong Kong puppet art its own style
In early 1991, Augustine Mok brought Czech puppeteer Marek Becka to Hong Kong to give workshops and performances at the Fringe Club and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. The Mingri Institute for Arts Education's predecessor, the Anonymous Theatre Company, immediately sought to cooperate with the Czech puppet theatre company, which had just broken away from Soviet control. In June of the same year, I visited the Czech Republic as a director to get in touch with Buchty A Loutky, headed by Marek, and started a cooperation project. In 1994, I went to Prague for rehearsal, and in 1995, the co-production "The Little Left Shoe" was launched at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and the contemporary puppet theatre officially debuted in the Hong Kong society.
After years of development, a number of contemporary puppet groups have been born, in addition to Mingri Institute for Arts Education, there are: The Kids on the Block (HK), BeKids, Free to Play, Jumbo Kids Theatre, Joyful Theatre, Lily Storytelling Theatre, Fantasy Puppet, Make Friend with Puppet, Sun Sun Arts Troupe. The creative style can be mainly divided into several different categories: 1. Local original works based on Western story themes or modern Hong Kong stories. 2. Local original works based on Chinese traditions, stories and traditional puppet techniques. 3. Storytelling Theatre with children as the audience. 4. Directly translate classic European and American puppet repertoires into Cantonese for performances. 5. Co-created by Hong Kong and European and American Puppet Theatre. 6. Of course, there are also Giant Puppet, traditional puppet theatre and many puppet education items.
Attached is a link to the music video featuring the Hong Kong Giant Puppet performance：
Chapter 8
Traditional puppet preservation. International exchanges and cooperation give Hong Kong puppets a diverse space for development
In addition to Hong Kong Contemporary Puppet Theatre, traditional puppets are still working hard, including: Cantonese Opera Rod Puppet - Huashan Puppet Troupe, Fujian Jinjiang Glove Puppet - Jin Yongcheng Puppet Troupe, Fujian Quanzhou String Puppet - Sky Bird Puppet Group and Hong Kong Puppet & Shadow Arts Center. They are fighting for a living space in the fiercely competitive performing arts market. Except for Master Li Yixin of Jin Yongcheng (金永成）Puppet Troupe（Glove Puppet）, in fact, other traditional Puppet Troupes in Hong Kong are not the direct inheritors of traditional Chinese puppets. There is no development like the traditional Taiwanese Glove Puppet, no puppet masters to support, and no young power to join. In general, puppet performances lack basic skills, lack the ability to perform traditional plays, and lack the strength to create new programs. It's a pity that we can only keep repeating the performance.
Giant Puppet has a rather peculiar development history in Hong Kong. The beginning of 1991 was also due to the introduction of Augustine Mok. Mingri Institute for Arts Education, based on the American Bread & Puppet Theatre, started the Giant Puppet parade every two years. Lasted four times. Later, it developed into the main program of the Hong Kong Youth Arts Festival.
Finally, it is Hong Kong's contribution to the preservation of Chinese puppets. Mingri Institute for Arts Education is the performance and exhibition curator of Window to China, the theme project of the Tolosa Puppet Festival (titirijal 2005) in Spain, and has published a special issue detailing the history of Chinese puppets. And it has repeatedly promoted puppet art cooperation projects between Hong Kong, China and overseas.
Hong Kong puppets are a side branch of the history of Chinese puppets, but because of their international city background, their development experience is different from that of mainland China. Hong Kong Contemporary Puppets are a young force in Hong Kong culture. It is hoped that these eight articles will help you to better understand the development of the history of Hong Kong puppets, give Hong Kong more space for exchanges, cooperation and development.
A TV documentary of the 2004 Shanghai International Puppet Art Festival. Hong Kong Ming Ri institue for Arts Education as the Curator of Puppet Art Festival：
Attachment:
Mingri Institute for Arts Education Overseas Exchange and Cooperation Program.
The overseas cooperation project of Mingri Institute for Arts Education originated from a visit to Prague in 1991. As a children's theatre and arts education institution in Hong Kong. In addition to visits, exchanges, learning, exhibitions, workshop and research, we cooperate with theatre productions in nearly 20 countries in Europe, Asia, South and North America companies.Those theatre production collaborations began in 1995 with the cooperation of Buchty a Loutky from Czech , "The Little Left Shoe ".
Among the unforgettable theatre co-production & co-produced project including:
"Delicious cocktail Bun" (2019) co-operated with Czech Dafa Theatre.
"A Shower of Stars" (2018), a collaboration between Bulgarian Varna Theatre and Taiwan Artist Zhu Shuming.
"Little Squirrel and The Old Shoemaker " (2018), a collaboration between Spanish puppeteer Pere Bigas and Austrian musician Kathi Hisberger.
"Avanti" (2017) in collaboration with Turkish shadow puppet Master Cengiz Ozek.
" Florian’s wondrous journey over the Wallpaper" by Theatre Trittbrettl, Austria (2016). "
" Valentino" (2015) in collaboration with Figurentheater Vlinders & C, Belgium.
" Patacrep" by Compaqnie Choc Trio, France (2014).
Singapore and Okinawa, Japan, "Round the Moon, Blue the Sky" (2014).
" Journey to the West-The Story Behind the Mountain " with Tandarica Animation Theatre, Romania (2013).
" The Wooden Circus " (2013), a collaboration with Karromato, Czech Republic.
SuperHero (2012) ,Cooperation with seven regions including Japan, South Korea, Russia, Austria and Croatia.
" Wasted Time " in collaboration with Theatre Plus ,Spain (2011).
" Guilders and Uninvited Guests" and "Little Bean Dream Flying" (2010) by Asomados Y Escondidos, Argentina.
" Little Red Riding Hood" (2010) in collaboration with Figurentheater Vlinders & C, Belgium.
American Mabou Mines and Guangxi puppet show "Brer Rabbit in the Land of Monkey King " (2009).
" The Deer of Nine Colours " by Malaysia and Hong Kong Unlocked Dance Company (2009).
" Beard and Puppet" (2004) in collaboration with Mikropod, Hungary.
" The Velveteen Rabbit" by the Atlanta Puppet Center and Guangdong Puppet Troupe (2003).
" John the Hero" (2002) in collaboration with Budapest Puppet Theatre, Hungary.
" Playing with Klee " by the Puppet Department of University of Connecticut, Larry Hunt and Guangdong Puppet Theater (2001).
" Nezha" by the Chinese Theatre Workshop from United States (1999).
American Larry Hunt's "Change and Change" (1998).
Of course, being the curator of Window to China, the theme project of the 2005 Tolosa ， is also the climax of our overseas exchange projects. In addition, for more than 30 years, he has cooperated with children's theatre and puppet theatre and art education workshops in various regions of mainland China.
Playing with Klee：
Shadow puppet theater cooperation projects between Turkey and Hong Kong: