Wuhan gets new puppet show apprentices after 22 years

Students have a training class for their puppetry study in Wuhan, Hubei province, July 27, 2016. [Photo/IC]

After 22 years, a new batch of students is being recruited to study puppetry in Wuhai, Hubei province, this year.

Aged 14 to 16, the students will spend three years learning the basics. The curriculum includes operas, dances and vocal music.

The students have to get up at 6:00 in the morning and do two-hour exercises and after having breakfast at 8:30 am, they start the whole day's training and classes.

After three years' study, they will work as interns at the People's Theatre in Wuhan and hold some shows. Only part of them would become professional puppeteers after another five or six years of internship. Many students often voluntarily give up or involuntarily are eliminated during this period.

Among the 18 newly recruited students this year, only about 10 of them might have a chance to become real performers in the future. But they all need 10 years of hard work and training before they know if they are the chosen ones.

Ding Chun'e and her husband, both professional puppet show performers, retired from the Wuhan People's Theatre in 2000. Many of their colleagues also retired afterwards and some students left due to low income. Only 22 performers were left in that year and there were no plans to recruit new students.

However, as the preservation of intangible cultural heritage tightens in recent years, puppetry is receiving more attention and regaining its vitality.

Ding, who is now teaching the new students, is excited about the revival of the puppet show.