A case in point is the name of the Yi wan Jan company, which translates as "absolutely similar"...
to real theatre.
Another example : certain puppets wear underclothes which are not visible, just like real actors,
but clearly signifying their standing as "real" actors.
In this permanent hall of mirrors, puppeteers have developed a genre which,
while staying close to Opera, is not simply a copy in miniature,
but a fully-fledged art form which has found its own self-definition.
This particular type of puppet which is specific to Fu Jian and is called zhang zhong xi in Taiwan
(palm theatre) or bu dai xi (cloth pouch theatre), because the central part of the puppet
is a sort of little pouch into which one slips one's hand.
Bu dai xi is deemed to come from the Indian 'putali'
which meant 'puppet' in the vernacular languages
of the Indian sub-continent. It is undoubtedly through the long-established sea trade
with this region that this type of puppet arrived in Fu Jian.
Puppets and Chinese Opera
It is impossible to mention puppets in China without speaking of the Opera.
The reciprocal influence of puppets and theatre is ongoing.
However, it is thought that the puppet theatre was established before theatre proper.
Its source is thought to be in the statuettes used in funerary rites.
With time, as often happens, a passage from ritual to spectacle took place.
We can trace this same phenomena as far as France, where the word "marionette" comes from "Marie".
Dolls were used in the Middle Ages to represent the Holy Virgin
in little sketches played out on the plazas in front of the churches.
This, apparently, is the origin of the word "marionette".
It is even thought that puppets were at the origin of actors' theatre in China.
Certain leads would seem to support this theory: for example,
an opera actor always refers to a puppet player as "Master".
In another example, actors who are waiting to go on stage say they are "hung"(gua),
just as one hangs a puppet between scenes.
It also seems that the gestures of the Chinese opera actor
are directly inspired by the movements of puppets,
and likewise that the very accentuated makeup of the actors is a survival
of the painted heads of puppets.
Music and costumes, however, are a loan from actors' theatre
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