Puppeteers struggle to pull right strings to save art

"The development of the marionette basically has two directions: One is closely connected to religious rituals, and the other was born in the theater," says Wang Jingxian, head of the troupe, a scriptwriter who resigned from his government job in 1992 to promote marionettes. "In Quanzhou, we have both."

Marionettes first appeared in the north of China more than 2,000 years ago, but they traveled to Quanzhou via northern immigrants as late as in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). Today, the city has become the home of traditional Chinese marionette.

"What the inheritors of traditional arts fear most is war," Wang explains. "Continuous wars in northern China during ancient times stopped any chance marionettes had to evolve and develop.

"Though there is some scattered distribution of marionettes in other places in China, Quanzhou is the only place where the tradition has been preserved uninterrupted. Much of the repertoire performed today is from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)."

Quanzhou Marionette was inscribed in the national intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. It has been shown in more than 60 countries, and its international reach peaked at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Today, the troupe has nearly 70 performers. A new theater, covering more than 10,000 square meters on the outskirts of the city, is set to open soon. It was built thanks to 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) in government aid.

It took Wang 16 years and the writing of endless reports and applications to secure the money.

"This period of time saw intangible cultural heritage enter the public consciousness after years of neglect," he says. "However, after decades of having little confidence in our own traditional culture, it will take much more to improve awareness."

He is pleased to have recently opened marionette classes in local kindergartens and elementary schools. He says he does not expect the children to pursue a career in puppetry, but "hopes it becomes a sweet memory of their childhood".