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Wuzhen
 "Shadow-Puppet Play"
 No admirer of famed director Zhang
Yimou 's will ever forget the fascinating shadow-puppet play shown in the
movie To Live (Huo Zhe). In Wuzhen, you are sure to experience this typical
Chinese custom. The shadow-puppet play is also known as the leather-silhouette
show. It is a traditional folk art.
The making of the shadow-play stage
props is the following: First, handicrafts people cut processed goat hide or ox
hide into paper-cut
human or animal models. Then the performers use pointed bamboo slips to stick
the models on the back of a white cloth screen with light cast upon it and
perform the stories. The themes of Chinese shadow plays are mostly historical
stories and legends, such as "the Monkey King fighting against the Ox King,"
Outlaws of the Marsh, A Tale of General Yue Fei, Female Warrior Fan Lihua, and
Apotheosis of Heroes.
In the old times, during festivals and celebrative
occasions, shadow plays always played an important role and were one of the
major entertainment forms (that is why in Zhang Yimou's film To Live, shadow
plays are Fugui's second favorite besides gambling). Today, people hardly have a
chance to appreciate this ancient folk art. But Wuzhen Town still retains
shadow-play performances.
"Tea-House"
In a water town such
as Wuzhen, Lao
She's "Tea House" is never a strange phenomenon although there exist some
differences between the teahouses
in the north and the south. You can find that in Wuzhen many local people,
especially old people, like to drink tea in teahouses. Numerous teahouses are
scattered along the Grand Beijing-Hangzhou
Canal, attracting countless tea drinkers.
Historically, there were over
60 teahouses in Wuzhen. The famous ones are "Fang Luge," "San Yige," "Chang
Chunlou," "Yidongtian," "Ming Yuelou," and "Tian Yunlou," all of which are
high-grade and more expensive, compared to those regular ones. And as for the
small teahouses in the old town, well, farmers who go to Wuzhen for small
business frequent them. The high-grade teahouses normally start business in the
afternoon, while the small ones usually open in the morning.
Why have
the teahouse business remained booming for over thousands of years? One
important reason is that since ancient times, teahouses have played the role as
important channels for normal people to exchange information and deal with
public affairs. Today, although the average family possesses a radio,
television, and computer, may people, especially the elderly people, still like
to go to teahouses because they believe that such places are good for meeting
old friends and communicating with each other.
Buying souvenirs is
considered as an integral part of a travel. I'd like to introduce you to two
typical local items in "Wuzhen".
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