At No. 4, Tongzheng Lane, Licheng District, Quanzhou, inside the Quanzhou Impression Minnan Culture Station (former residence of Su Tingyu), audio-visual feasts of Quanzhou’s intangible cultural heritages – string puppetry and Nanyin are quietly kicking off. This place has become a time tunnel, leading every tourist and audience member through thousands of years to experience that ancient and profound cultural charm.
Quanzhou string puppetry, an ancient art form originating from the Qin and Han dynasties and popular in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, has attracted the attention of countless audiences with its exquisite string manipulation skills and unique artistic charm. On the stage, each puppet comes to life under the skilled hands of the artists. They show expressions of joy or anger, sing or dance, performing one thrilling story after another.
More than 700 traditional plays, the “Puppet Tune” composed of more than 300 tune names and melodies, and the performance of rare ancient musical instruments including the “Yajiao Drum” and “Zheng Luo” jointly constitute the unique charm of string puppetry. Moreover, the whole set of exquisite and standardized string manipulation skills, as well as the unique art of puppet head carving and puppet modeling and production techniques, have made this art one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages.
Nanyin: As one of the existing ancient musical genres in China, it not only bears the integration and collision of Central Plains music culture from the Han, Jin, Tang, and Song dynasties with local Quanzhou music but is also a precious living fossil of ancient Chinese music. The crisp sounds of the right pipa and sanxian, the lingering sounds of the left dongxiao and erxian, and the affectionate singing of the person holding the clapper in the middle jointly weave touching musical pictures.
The uniqueness of Nanyin lies not only in the simple and elegant performance form but also in the unique and rigorous notation method. Notated with five Chinese characters “乂工六思一”, corresponding to the five notes of the pentatonic scale, supplemented by pipa fingering and rhythm symbols, it forms its own system, showing the musical style before the Sui and Tang dynasties. And ancient musical instruments such as the bent-neck pipa and the dongxiao with ten eyes and nine joints are direct inheritances of ancient Han and Tang music, making people feel as if they were in an elegant gathering in the imperial court thousands of years ago.
Bid farewell to the traditional viewing mode. Here, you can unlock new ways to experience Nanyin and string puppetry! In the small theater, each performance is an intimate encounter. When it comes to Quanzhou string puppetry, this place is not just about watching performances! There is also a chance to interact with these delicate puppets personally and feel the artistic tension behind each thin string. During the Nanyin interactive session, pick up the four small bamboo boards – the Four Treasures of Nanyin, and the ceramic wine cup handed by the teacher. With the patient guidance of the teacher, you can produce crisp sounds. At that moment, you can almost feel the heart of the craftsmen thousands of years ago.
Opening hours: Open from 12:30 – 21:30 throughout the year
