The silhouette makers of Huanxian County are all local peasants.Making silhouettes and giving performances of silhouettes have become a family industry,and is handed down from generation to generation.The plots mostly include simple moral concepts, such as persuading people to do good works and encouraging audiences to respect the old and love the young,as well as themes of credibility and loyalty.The good,the evil,the loyal and the wicked can be seen clearly at one glance.For instance,a play that depicts hell warns that people who fail to do good while living will go to hell and suffer when they die.A silhouette troupe usually consists of five to seven people.All of the material can be put in a wooden trunk,so one wooden trunk makes a whole troupe.The whole county has a total of more than 90 trunks.It is
said that among the dozen counties in China that still have silhouette troupes,Huanxian County has the most.Therefore,Huanxian County has been named by China Folk Customs Society as“the Home of Silhouettes.”
The person who takes char ge of the music and manipulates silhouettes in a troupe is its manager.A manager must have a good memory and learn his lines thoroughly for each show.The other people are behind-the-scenes and provide musical accompaniment.Normally,the basic instruments consist of four-stringed and two-stringed bowed instruments or banhu,which is a two-stringed bowed instrument with a thin wooden sound board,and a suona,a woodwind instrument,as well as yugu,a percussion instrument of bamboo,as well as wooden clappers.
The music for voices,“daoqing,”in silhouette shows of Huanxian County is different from those of other parts of the country.According to legend,this special feature comes from a famous Taoist temple,Mount Xinglong in Huanxian County,which is over 50 kilometers from the county seat of Huanxian,adjacent to Dingbian County of Shaanxi Province and Yanyuan County of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.Mount Xinglong is a famous Taoist mountain in northwest China,which began to prosper in the Tang Dynasty.During its peak there were 72 Taoist temples,where joss sticks and candles burned and fishing drums could be heard all day.The Taoists“were heard to do self-reflections as roosters start to call in the morningand drums and clappers were heard all around.”Influenced by Taoist singing,its music for voices became different from the rest.“Daoqing”music became a local art and has a unique feature of its own and high artistic value.
The silhouette shows of Huanxian County are often performed in caves,which are dimly lit by candles.The silhouettes flicker on the cloth screen,reflecting high buildings, kiosks, pavilions and beauties in long sleeves.As the drum and gong are beaten,one meticulously carved silhouette figure after another is shown dramatically on the screen,the resounding song reverberating at first loudly,then sonorously and finally leisurely with a strong coloring of the folk songs of eastern Gansu Province.When the plot reaches the climax,the drum and gong suddenly stop and all the people present join the cast singing under the direction of the manager.The loud,sonorous song is extremely moving.