Shaanxi Chinese Shadow Puppet - The Huadan

This delicate shadow puppet was handmade in Shaanxi, "the cradle of Chinese shadow play". Many shadow plays are based on Chinese traditional stories or historical events. 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 hair-style and costume, which feature many flowers, suggest that she is a Hua-dan, which means an educated, upper class, young female character. 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.