Huang Yique: Master of puppet shows

Huang Yique is a master of the Quanzhou puppet show, who enjoys worldwide fame after his performances in more than 30 countries. Huang's consummate skills allow a puppet to write, pick up small objects, and even pour wine as a real person.

"I loved to watch puppet shows when I was young. I've been playing puppet show all my life, and have always been thinking of how to use a puppet more vividly. It's worth all the efforts I've made: audiences love my performance wherever I travel." Said Huang.

Huang was born in a poor family in north Quanzhou, Fujian Province, in 1928. He joined a puppet show troupe at the age of 13 to earn himself a living. It took him more than five years to completely master the skills of controlling strings.

Huang was recruited by a Quanzhou puppet show troupe in 1952, after which he worked as a puppeteer, playwright and set director. Later, he also learned to carve puppet heads, making bold improvements on the traditional puppets, greatly enhancing the visual effects and expressive force of performance. "Training monkeys" is one of Huang's representative works. When he performed for Kim Il Sung, ex-premier of North Korea, Kim thought it was a real monkey instead of a puppet.

However, Quanzhou puppet shows also faces the danger of dying away as Huang is getting older, and nobody inherits his skills. Wu Yuting, the ex-manager of the Quanzhou Puppet Show Troupe once said, "I'm afraid that if one day Huang leaves us, the puppet monkey will leave with him."

(Author: Jing)

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