Every weekend, the Puppet Theatre of China offers rod puppets performances in northern Beijing.

"The most difficult part is to give it a personality." Wang Lei knows what he's talking about. The 35-year-old Pekinese is a professional puppet master. A craft he learned from the age of 15 in one of the art schools of the capital.

After three years of studying, Wang Lei joined the 49 other puppeteers of the Puppet Theatre of China, set up in 1955 and located on the third ring road, north of Beijing.
 
First sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, since 2006 the Puppet Theatre of China has private backers as well. Its ambition is to soon be able to offer cartoons, catering, toys and books.

Currently, the company focuses on puppets. And more specifically on the rod puppets, as they remain a specialty of north-eastern China.

The Theatre has more than 2000 rod puppets. Made from papier-mâché, the heads of these figurines are slipped onto a wooden stick.

The arms are articulated by metal rods and bamboo attached to their wrists, which are then all operated by the artist. "Previously, the puppets were completely made out of wood, but they were too heavy," says artistic director of the Puppet Theatre of China, Zhou Ying Qiu.

The puppets are then padded, dressed in long robes with wide sleeves, makeup is added with attention to the smallest detail and they are accessorized from head to toe.

It will take about ten craftsmen employed by the Puppet Theatre between 20 days and one month of work per model. The puppeteer will then bring to life the pieces, which can vary in size from tens of centimeters to over a meter.

Refinement

In the rehearsal room, legendary animals, emperors, concubines, clowns and other characters associated with Chinese culture wait to come under the spotlight. Their faces are painted more or less ostentatiously depending on the degree of Manichaeism of their role. Their faces are covered with a white piece of plastic.

The traditionalists, or maybe the superstitious, say that it is to prevent them from seeing wandering spirits. It is important to remember that if puppets in China have reached such a degree of sophistication, it is because they were previously used at religious festivals to distract the gods.

For Wang Lei, handling the puppets allows him to communicate his feelings. The puppets almost come to life. He clarifies that "it doesn't matter whether it is an animal or not. We give it our flesh, our heart, our personality and all the characteristics of real people", all the while Sun Wu Kong, king of the monkeys, and his favorite puppet, a smoothes out his hat's peacock feather with an air of satisfaction.

In China, puppets have long been affiliated with Chinese opera. Just like it, the craft of puppet theater emphasizes not only on the symbolic value of makeup but on that of body language as well. "Through the movements you choose to give to the character, you age it, make it sad or reversely make it merry" he shows us gleefully.

In addition to the performances every weekend, the Puppet Theatre also goes on tours, mostly in Asia.