[2025 Quanzhou ] Travel Guide for Zhongshan Road: String Puppet Show, Nan Yin Intangible Cultural Heritage Appreciation Experience (Updated Mar)

At No. 4 Tongzheng Lane, Licheng District, Quanzhou City, in the Quanzhou Imprint Southern Fujian Cultural Station (Former Residence of Su Tingyu), an audio-visual feast about Quanzhou's intangible cultural heritage - string puppets and Nanyin - is quietly kicking off. It is transformed into a time tunnel, leading every visitor and audience to travel through thousands of years and feel the ancient and profound cultural charm. Quanzhou string puppetry, an ancient art form that originated in the Qin and Han dynasties and flourished in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, has attracted the attention of countless audiences with its exquisite string-manipulation skills and unique artistic charm. On the stage, each puppet comes to life under the skillful hands of the artists, expressing joy or anger, singing or dancing, and performing gripping stories. More than 700 traditional plays, more than 300 tunes and singing styles that form the "puppet tune", and ancient musical instruments such as "foot-pressing drum" and "gongs and gongs" together constitute the unique charm of string puppetry. The exquisite and standardized string-handling skills and the unique puppet head carving, idol modeling art and production technology have made this art one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages. Nanyin: As one of the oldest existing musical genres in China, it not only carries the fusion and collision of the music culture of the Central Plains during the Han, Jin, Tang, and Song dynasties and the local music of Quanzhou, but is also a precious living fossil of ancient Chinese music. The crisp sound of the pipa and sanxian on the right, the lingering sound of the dongxiao and erxian on the left, and the affectionate singing of the clapperboard holder in the middle, together weave a moving musical picture scroll. The uniqueness of Nanyin lies not only in the simplicity and elegance of its performance form, but also in the unique and rigorous way of notation. It is notated with five Chinese characters, "乂工六思一", corresponding to "宫商角征羽", supplemented by pipa fingering and liaopa symbols, forming a system of its own, showing the musical legacy before the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The ancient musical instruments such as the curved-neck pipa and the ten-joint nine-section dongxiao are the direct inheritance of the ancient music of the Han and Tang Dynasties, making people feel as if they are in a court gathering thousands of years ago. Say goodbye to the traditional viewing mode, here we will show you a new way to play Nanyin puppet show! In the small theater, every performance is an intimate contact. When it comes to Quanzhou puppetry, it’s not just about watching a show! You’ll also have the opportunity to interact with these exquisite puppets and feel the artistic tension behind each string. During the Nanyin interactive session, I picked up the four small bamboo boards handed to me by the teacher - the four treasures of Nanyin - and the ceramic wine cup. Under the patient guidance of the teacher, I was able to play clear and loud sounds. At that moment, I seemed to be able to feel the heart of the craftsmen thousands of years ago.