Shadow Puppetry Art Week is about to be held in Beijing, to modernize China's Intangible Cultural Heritage. Photo: Courtesy of Bilibili

In order to modernize China's Intangible Cultural Heritage, Beijing is to hold a shadow puppetry art event at which culture lovers and enthusiasts will be able to upload their own shadow puppetry works through social media to compete.

Shadow puppetry, also known as shadow play, is an ancient Chinese form of storytelling stage show featuring flat articulated cut-out figures behind a screen, where audience will watch in front of the screen by recognizing the shadows of the puppy figures.

Participants are allowed to use any subjects around them from a piece of cloth, a balloon, and a toy to cut out figures they want, and by using those to create an intriguing story behind the scene.

Co-produced by The China Theatre Association and China's video platform Bilibili and was firstly launched in 2018, Beijing Shadow Puppetry Art Week is has become a platform for an international shadow play art participants, where professional teams from dozens of countries including Japan, Belgium, and Italy have been staged their performances during the event.

Global Times