One mouth tells stories of thousands of years a pair of hands operates millions of soldiers. Shadow puppetry wins the heart of an audience by its lingering music, exquisite sculpture, brisk color and lively performance. Today, the show faces extinction like other traditional art forms such as Nuo Drama. It was not until 1821 that shadow puppet shows gained some vigor. From 1796 to 1800, the government forbade the public showing of puppet shows to prevent the spreading of peasant uprising at the time. When the Manchu rulers spread their rule to various parts of China, they brought the puppet show with them to make up for the fact that they could not appreciate local entertainment due to language barriers. In Beijing, for example, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, this folk art was so popular that there were eight generously paid puppeteers in one prince's mansion. This story recorded in the official history book is believed to be the origin of shadow puppetry. The emperor was delighted and took to it from then on. As night fell, he invited the emperor to watch a rear-illuminated puppet show behind a curtain. He made a cotton puppet of the concubine and painted it. Inspired by this scene, the smart minister hit upon an idea. One day, a minister happened to see children playing with dolls where the shadows on the floor were vivid. More than 2,000 years ago, a favorite concubine of Wu Emperor of the Han Dynasty died of illness the emperor missed her so much that he lost his desire to reign.
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