Chengdu China Shadow Puppet Museum

Chengdu China Shadow Puppet Museum

Chinese shadow puppetry and puppet theater are collectively known as "kui li xi" (puppet shows), boasting a long history and profound cultural significance. They embody the essence of traditional Chinese modeling and performing arts, and are an important representative of intangible cultural heritage. The Chengdu • China Shadow Puppet Museum is located on the fifth floor of the Chengdu Museum, to the west of Tianfu Square in the city center. It currently houses nearly 200,000 shadow puppets and around 10,000 puppets, making it the museum with the largest collection of shadow puppets and puppets in the world. The collections come from most provinces and regions in China as well as parts of Southeast Asia, spanning from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the modern era. Highlights include Shaanxi shadow puppets, Tangshan shadow puppets, Qinghai shadow puppets, Chengdu large shadow puppets, Tengchong shadow puppets from Yunnan, Kunming small shadow puppets, Haining shadow puppets from Zhejiang, as well as Chaozhou iron-rod puppets from Guangdong, Sichuan large puppets, Guojiapo puppets from Shaanxi, Gannan Tibetan puppets, Taiwanese glove puppets, Southeast Asian string puppets, and works by contemporary puppet masters such as Huang Yique, Xu Niansong, Liu Ji, and Qian Shixin. In addition, tools for making shadow puppets and puppets, scripts, musical instruments, and video materials of folk performances are all well preserved and displayed in the China Shadow Puppet Museum.

The China Shadow Puppet Museum consists of two major sections—shadow puppets and puppets—covering an exhibition area of approximately 2,300 square meters. The shadow puppet section, based on the museum's collection of nearly 200,000 precious shadow puppet artifacts, presents a concentrated and systematic display of Chinese shadow puppetry through four main aspects: modeling, production, performance, and folk customs. The puppet section focuses on introducing string puppetry, rod puppetry, glove puppetry, iron-rod puppetry, and shoulder pole puppetry. It also provides brief descriptions of the now-extinct or rarely surviving forms such as pyrotechnic puppets, meat puppets, and water puppets.

Address: No. 1 Xiaohe Street, Qingyang District

Contact Number: 028-62915590

Opening Hours: 1. From May 1 to October 31: Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00–20:30; last entry at 19:30. 2. From November 1 to April 30 of the following year: Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00–20:00; last entry at 19:00. 3. Closed on Mondays (except public holidays, short holidays, and golden weeks), Chinese New Year’s Eve, and the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Further Reading:

· National First-Class Museum of China