A Family Business
Wei’s family has performed Shadow Play and produced leather puppets since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The family remains well known in the region. Starting at six or seven years old, Wei Jinquan has performed with the family troupe during summer and winter school breaks. He formally started the career on his graduation from senior high school in 1981.
“I learned both performance and puppet making from the very start,” Wei recalled. “My thinking was that since all my future shows would depend upon these puppets, I would rather make them myself than depend on others’ works.”
Three years into his study, Wei gave his first performance, and was so nervous he forgot his lines. “My mind just went blank,” he said.
Wei deemed his career in Shadow Play as destiny rather than choice. It was inevitable that he would follow the suit of his father and grandfather as a member of a Shadow Play family. He was born a player.
There were few entertainments in rural China back in the 1980s. In slack seasons all villages in Huaxian County would invite Shadow Play troupes to stage performances. Poorly funded and equipped, Wei and his colleagues carried their wardrobe and props by bike, and rode from one site to another. Normally they would play for five to six hours every evening, and sometimes on to the early hours of the morning.
“One day we were invited to perform in Lintong 60 km away. I rode my bike there, and returned the next day after a whole-night show. I almost fell asleep during the ride back,” Wei said.
As local farmers’ incomes improved after opening-up and reform, they began to hire Shadow Play shows for major family events like weddings and funerals. Wei encountered many passionate and supportive audiences on his tours. One winter day his troupe was scheduled to perform at a farmer’s home, but a snowstorm made the bike trip impossible. Worried that no people would brave the snowfall and biting cold to watch a play outdoors, Wei and his colleagues cancelled the trip. Telephones were still uncommon, so they had no way to tell the local Shadow Play fans. The next day the patriarch of the sponsor family turned up at Wei’s doorstep, asking why the troupe didn’t show up. He insisted the show must be staged despite the foul weather, as his fellow villagers were anticipating it. An ox cart was called in to load up troupe supplies, and the actors and host hit the road. That night Wei and his four colleagues took the stage to an opening covered in deep snow, before an elderly audience of the same size. They were cold, huddled around three stoves and sipping liquor for warmth, but didn’t miss a single act.
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