Zhangzhou Puppet Head Carving

Zhangzhou Puppet Head Carving

Zhangzhou puppet head carving is a national-level intangible cultural heritage.

　　Zhangzhou puppet head carving is a form of folk arts and crafts and a specialized craft in the making of puppet theater props. The complete puppet figure includes the head, limbs, costume, and headdress, but puppet head carving refers specifically to the creation of the head.

　　Zhangzhou puppet head carving is a specialized craft in the making of puppet theater props and a form of folk arts and crafts. Alongside Zhangzhou glove puppetry, it was included in the first batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage listings. Puppetry can be divided into three performance styles: glove puppets, string puppets, and rod puppets. Glove puppets, also known as hand puppetry or palm puppetry, are said to have “originated in the Jin Dynasty, flourished in the Song, and thrived in the Ming.” By the Ming Dynasty’s Wanli era, it had already spread to Taiwan and various parts of Southeast Asia. This style is characterized by the direct manipulation of puppets using the palms and fingers, creating a unique theatrical genre. Since the puppets wear loose costumes resembling cloth sacks, the art is called “glove puppetry” or “bag puppetry.” Zhangzhou puppet head carving places great emphasis on portraying the distinct personalities of characters, with its main features being exquisitely crafted forms, richly expressive faces, and stylized design techniques.

　　Zhangzhou puppet head carving is primarily found in Zhangzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou, and surrounding areas in Fujian Province. The complete puppet figure includes the head, limbs, costume, and headdress, but puppet head carving refers specifically to the creation of the head. As a craft dedicated to carving the heads of theatrical characters, it emphasizes the portrayal of character traits, often featuring exaggerated shapes, expressive faces, and stylized designs. This carving tradition has been passed down through master-apprentice relationships and mainly within families, continuing uninterrupted to this day.

　　Zhangzhou puppet carving originated in the Jin Dynasty and flourished in the Tang Dynasty, boasting a history of nearly two thousand years. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the puppet works of folk artists Xu Niansong and Xu Shengfang were collected by fine arts and crafts departments. In 1959, puppet heads carved by Xu Niansong — depicting ancient scholars with raised brows, drunken eyes, smiles, and broad foreheads, as well as ladies with willow-leaf eyebrows, phoenix eyes, cherry-like lips, and high topknots — were selected for the National Arts and Crafts Exhibition and received high praise from the cultural and artistic communities. Xu’s son, Xu Zhuchu, inherited and innovated upon the family craft. Between 1979 and 1989, his works were exhibited in Australia, the United States, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, earning considerable acclaim. Xu Zhuchu’s representative puppet head works are preserved in the Bamboo Initial Puppet Art Museum, located on the second floor of Garden Building at 2 Yan’an North Road in the urban area of Zhangzhou.

　　Historical Background

　　Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, puppet theater has gradually expanded from cities to towns and villages, giving rise to various regional styles and schools of puppet design. For example, in Quanzhou’s Jiali opera, there are troupes featuring only four role types — Sheng (male), Dan (female), Bei (painted face), and Za (clown) — which are rotated for performances, known as the “Four Beauties Troupe.” Some Jiali performances use only thirty-six puppet figures, hence the saying “Thirty-six puppets are worth a million soldiers.” In the early days of Quanzhou, notable puppet head carving artists included anonymous craftsmen who ran both deity shops and carving workshops on Yiquan Back Street; Huang Liangsi, Huang Caisi, later Huang Jiaxiang on Tumen Street; and Jiang Jiawalk, the master of puppet styling on Beimen Huayuan Street. Their puppet heads featured exquisitely carved details, full facial forms reminiscent of Tang Dynasty sculpture, delicate colored makeup, and bold lines, forming the Southern School of Fujian puppet design. In the Zhangzhou region of Longxi, glove puppetry was already very popular during the Qing Dynasty. Puppet carver Xu Ziqing had already established a thriving workshop by the 12th year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1807), running the “Chengchengshi” puppet workshop in Zhangzhou’s East Gate. The puppet carving master Xu Niansong, known alongside Jiang Jiawalk of the South as “Southern Jiang (Jiawalk), Northern Xu,” represented the Northern School. By Xu Zhuchu’s generation, the craft had reached its sixth generation.