From reviving Sanxiang puppet shows to bringing “intangible cultural heritage” into campuses, Zhang Huasen has been focusing on Sanxiang local cultural conservation for 10 years.
"We must not only pass on the intangible cultural heritage puppet show, but also combine the current needs of social service development to empower the intangible cultural heritage of Sanxiang Puppet Show and create more social service value, so that it can continue better "As the founder of the Zhongshan Shanggu Traditional Culture Promotion Center and the president of the Zhongshan Sanxiang Town Puppetry Association, Zhang Huasen has been "engaging in art" in the countryside for 10 years since he established the team in 2014. He said that he particularly loves traditional literature and art and will always insist on inheriting intangible cultural heritage until old age.
Public Entrepreneurship
Sanxiang "post-80s" devote themselves to local cultural conservation
Zhang Huasen is a native of Zhongshan Sanxiang "post-80s". Ten years ago, he gave up his job in the real estate company and devoted himself to the cultural heritage of his hometown. He kept traveling around to study, and the Sanxiang Puppetry, whose inheritance had been suspended for nearly half a century, reappeared in Zhongshan.
Sanxiang Puppetry is a traditional folk drama in Sanxiang Town, Zhongshan City. In the late Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty (1850), Zhanjiang puppet show artist Zheng Kaiyuan introduced Lei Opera puppets to Wushi Village in Sanxiang Town. It is based on puppets. As the main performance props, it imitates the full performance of a Cantonese opera troupe, and is a comprehensive folk art that integrates music, dubbing, sculpture, idol decoration and other art categories.
When the Sanxiang Puppet Show was in its infancy, it took part in tours during festivals and festivals in the village and surrounding four villages. At the beginning of the 20th century, several puppet theater troupes such as "Great Future", "Great Zhongxing", "New Zhongxing" and "Greater China" appeared in Sanxiang Town.
In the mid-20th century, Sanxiang Puppetry ushered in a period of great development. Artists were invited to perform abroad and performed in Guangzhou Cultural Park. During this period, the "Zhongshan Puppet Cantonese Opera Troupe" was approved to be established, and puppet artists became professional. The troupe performed in Guangzhou Cultural Park for 13 years from 1953 to 1966. In 1969, the Zhongshan Puppet Cantonese Opera Troupe was disbanded and its members returned to their hometowns. At that time, Sanxiang Puppetry was gradually declining in the local area.
Zhang Huasen introduced that in 2014, he began to carry out Sanxiang local cultural conservation work in the form of "philanthropic entrepreneurship". After accumulating a certain amount of experience and resources, he formed a three-person team in 2017 and launched the Sanxiang Puppet Show revitalization project.
Revival of Puppetry
Four trips to western Guangdong in search of puppet-making artists
In the following time, Zhang Huasen devoted himself wholeheartedly to the revival of Sanxiang Puppetry. He searched for historical materials, visited old artists, and traveled to western Guangdong in search of puppet production and puppets. Performing folk artists.
Zhang Huasen said that at the beginning there was basically nothing - no puppets, no technology, only a book compiled by the cultural department in the early years. Through the oral descriptions of veteran artists, you can learn what the puppet show stage is like and how the puppets are operated. "Explore bit by bit, overcome every difficulty when encountering it, and just start doing it bit by bit." He found people who love puppetry and formed a performance team. "Our members have been holding puppets weighing five to six pounds in rehearsals. It really takes a lot of love to persevere."
Due to limited funds, Zhang Huasen established a drama group, a technical group, a props group, Stage group and other groups. In this way, the whole troupe worked together and spent more than a year, starting from scratch, to a full puppet show show. Sango Puppet Show was put on the stage again after half a century of silence. He still remembers that when the Sango Puppet Show was put on the stage for the first time, many elderly people were very happy and did not expect to see the performance of their childhood. "We are also very happy that our hard work and dedication have been rewarded."
We persisted in this way. From the formal establishment of the Sanxiang Puppetry Association in 2018, it aims to revive the Sanxiang Puppetry that has been separated for half a century. By 2020, the Sanxiang Puppetry Association The opera was listed as the 8th batch of representative projects of municipal intangible cultural heritage in Zhongshan City.So far, the Sanxiang Town Puppet Show Association has successfully organized many puppet show evening performances, including Cantonese opera puppet shows, patriotic education puppet shows and other repertoires. Through various forms of puppet publicity and promotion activities, more and more people have experienced Come to the style of Sango Puppet Show.
Innovative exploration
Keeping pace with the times and launching the short video "Puppet Talk·Rural Revitalization"
How to better promote the development of intangible cultural heritage projects? Zhang Huasen has been thinking about it. He believes that while adhering to the essence of traditional culture, we must adapt to the needs of the times, inject richer connotations, and promote the development of intangible cultural heritage projects in a better and better direction.
For example, Cantonese opera is an important part of the Sanxiang puppet show. Zhang Huasen added many Cantonese opera programs when he wrote the show. When he performed in Sanxiang, he was welcomed by the villagers, especially the elders. In the traditional Sanxiang puppet show performance, "only the puppets are seen, but no people". However, in order to encourage children to pay attention to intangible cultural heritage culture, Zhang Huasen chose to remove the curtain used to cover the actors during the student performance, just to let other people Children see the puppets and this essence of the puppet show, attracting a new generation to become interested in Sango Puppetry.
He explores bringing intangible cultural heritage projects to campus. Under the influence of various promotion efforts for the revival of Sanxiang Puppetry, Pinglan Primary School in Sanxiang Town, Zhongshan City established a puppet show performance team. After half a year of careful creation, the puppet performance "Flowered Faces and Flowered Shirts" was launched in November 2018. After winning the gold medal at the 7th Zhongshan Children's Art Flower Festival, she also participated in the recording of CCTV's "Sunflower Blooming" "My Stage·My Dream" Children's Spring Festival Gala in early 2019.
He also explored cooperation with different departments to give full play to the "educational and educating" function of drama according to actual needs and create adaptive plays. He once used puppet shows to promote anti-drug and anti-pornography campaigns; he incorporated elements of parent-child education into puppet shows to enhance parent-child relationships. We also tried to cooperate with social work organizations to implement the "Red Education, Benefit and Inheritance"-Liu Guangsheng's Former Residence Promotion Plan. A puppet show was adapted based on Liu Guangsheng's deeds. Association members played the role of "teachers" and organized training for children, which was performed by the children. Puppet show performances and experiential activities have been widely supported.
In 2022, to commemorate the 180th anniversary of Zheng Guanying’s birth, Zhongshan City specially arranged a puppet show "Zheng Guanying". After receiving the task of rehearsing a puppet show in November 2021, in order to present a classic puppet show, Zhang Huasen continued to delve into the character movements and lines. The props were also improved compared to other previous puppet shows. The puppet props and costumes were adopted It is purely handmade, and the shape, color, and pattern are determined according to the personality characteristics of the puppet character.
In 2023, Zhang Huasen tried the short video exploration of "Puppet Theory·Rural Revitalization". Through the perspective of the puppets "Zheng Guanying" and "Luo Sanmei" related to the representative figures of Sanxiang Town, he led the audience into the Sanxiang countryside and presented the Sanxiang countryside. Revitalization looks and results.
Currently, Zhang Huasen is working hard to create a Q-version of the puppets, with a shape that is easier for students to accept and a lighter size that is suitable for students to operate. Should we use 3D printing technology or continue to use wood carving? How to finalize the makeup and costumes of the Q-version puppets? How to arrange the Q-version puppet show on the stage... These issues are all waiting to be faced and solved by Zhang Huasen one by one.
Work together to inherit
Cultivate rural cultural guides for surrounding towns
Zhang Huasen also has the identity of being the founder of the Zhongshan Shanggu Traditional Culture Promotion Center. With the concept of "bringing into play the social value of traditional culture in the new era", he is committed to the development of Zhongshan The work of preserving local culture takes up the mission of “being the guardian of local culture for you and me”. Within the scope of Sanxiang Town, the Sanxiang Puppet Theater Troupe currently has 18 repertoires, including traditional Cantonese opera puppet shows and situational educational dramas with various themes. It conducts an average of 10 large-scale performances and 20 drama education activities every year. At the same time, Zhang Huasen also carried out the conservation of intangible cultural heritage such as Sanxiang tea fruit and Sanxiang folk songs.
Zhang Huasen’s footprints have also gone beyond Sanxiang Town, carrying out youth cultural protection team training projects and intangible cultural heritage curriculum design and implementation for surrounding towns, streets and villages.In 2022, he participated in the conservation of intangible cultural heritage in Nanlang Town, created on-campus courses for the national intangible cultural heritage "Yakou Piaose", and also cultivated an inheritance team for the broken "Huazhao Wooden Dragon". In addition, he organized and carried out the "Grandpa and Grandma One Class" branded local cultural conservation project to cultivate rural cultural guides for surrounding towns and districts, allowing more young people to participate in rural revitalization work.
Why is Zhang Huasen so tireless and happy with the excavation and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage? He said that he has feelings about traditional culture. In a village, folk activities are not only a lively event but also a performance. The deep-seated connotation relies on folk customs. The activity unites the villagers. It has a social role and is the spiritual strength of the villagers. Everyone can work together to do things. For example, puppet show is a collective cultural art that can educate people through performances and singing.
"By reproducing our traditional culture, in addition to allowing young people to see the traditional performance forms, more importantly, it brings everyone together to find the invisible spiritual power." Zhang Huasen's wish is to be able to Go to more places and work with more local youth to explore the social service value of their hometown culture in the new era.
Written by: Nandu reporter Hou Yuxiao
Photography: Nandu reporter Wu Jin
