Shaanxi Chinese Shadow Puppet - The Wudan

This delicate shadow puppet was handmade in Shaanxi, "the cradle of Chinese shadow play". There are four major character categories in Chinese shadow play, namely Sheng, Dan, Jing and Chou. The vague meanings of them are male, female, clean and ugly respectively. The design of the puppet's crown that features two long, striped feathers, the triangular decorations on her back, the sword tied on her waist, and her tiny, red high-heels suggest the physical, sword-fighting expertise of the female character, which is categorised as a Wu-dan. Few lines of introduction of shadow play in Chinese is featured, it pointed out the origin and history of Chinese shadow play which are from the Xihan Dynasty, more than 2000 years from now. Also, a description about Shaanxi in English is seen at the bottom.