Chinese Shadow Puppets - TWB S2 E3

By flickering candlelight, Chinese storytellers have been telling tales with exquisite, colourful shadow puppets for over two-thousand years. Surviving war, famine, regime changes and revolutions, this is one of the world's oldest and most intricate storytelling traditions. I look at the music, singing, and puppetry of the artform, the training its mastery requires, why it has a decentralized, anarchist structure, how it survived its tumultuous history, and what a future version of Chinese shadow puppetry might look like.

This is Part Three in the second season of Stories from the Hearth's bonus historical and interview series: The Wandering Bard. Each season of The Wandering Bard examines a different aspect of the history and nature of storytelling, as well as people behind it. In season two of The Wandering Bard, we ask the question “Who are the storytellers?”, and in today's episode, we examine the Griots of West Africa.

The next episode in The Wandering Bard series will be an extra special interview episode with Joe Fisher of sci-fi audio drama podcast Midnight Burger.

Stories from the Hearth is an experimental storytelling experience ft. truly original fiction and thoughtfully produced soundscapes. The aim of this podcast is to rekindle its listeners' love for the ancient art of storytelling (and story-listening), and to bring some small escapism to the frantic energies of the modern world. Stories from the Hearth is the brainchild of queer punk poet, environmentalist, and anarchist Cal Bannerman. Vive l'art!

Support the podcast and get early access, exclusive content, bonus story-episodes, in-episode shout-outs, and the chance to become part of a wider community, by visiting my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/storiesfromthehearthpodcast

Today's sources: chineseshadowpuppetry.com, China Puppet and Shadow Art Society, UNESCO, travelchinaguide.com, Google Arts & Culture

Video links! - 
Traditional Chinese Shadow Puppet Show, Bazhong, China
Ballerina - Chinese Shadow Puppetry
Clever Monkeys - Chinese Shadow Puppetry
Puppet Master Liu Laoshi Shows Off His Skills

Instagram: @storiesfromthehearth
Twitter: @Hearth_Podcast
YouTube: Stories from the Hearth
Email: [email protected]

Fire Daemon Character Artwork by Anna Ferrara
Anna's Instagram: @giallosardina
Anna's Portfolio: https://annaferrara.carbonmade.com/

Thank you for listening. Please consider following, subscribing to, and sharing this bonus episode, and please do tell your friends all about Stories from the Hearth.