ABSTRACT
This chapter posits that Chinese shadow puppetry, regardless of its recent secular history, is still a tradition rooted in ritualistic ghost-calling practices that utilize the shadow’s immaterial animacy as a conduit communicator between realms. This aspect of shadow puppetry’s immaterial animacy is largely missing from academic and institutional discourse, which greatly complicates current efforts to transmit and “preserve” the form. This chapter is written upon a foundation of extended fieldwork and apprenticeship in mainland Chinese shadow puppetry (between the years 2008 and 2016) and utilizes theory and research from the fields of East Asian studies, puppet studies, and museum studies to conclude that, in order to truly “safeguard” and transmit Chinese shadow puppetry, both the shadows and their spirits must be included as part of the practice.
