Introduction
In the last decade of the twentieth century, Chinese from Taiwan, the diaspora, and the Mainland became interested in puppets, rediscovering a tradition on the verge of extinction. The climax of this trend came in 1993, when The Puppetmaster (戲夢人生 Ximeng rensheng) by Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien 侯孝賢 earned international success and won the Jury Prize at the 46th Cannes Film Festival. Hou’s film tells the story of Taiwan’s famous puppeteer, Li Tien-lu 李天祿, who played himself in the film. The film is a metaphor for the disappearance of Taiwan’s traditional culture. One year later, director Zhang Yimou 張藝謀 won three awards at the 47th Cannes Film Festival for To Live (活著 Huozhe). The director added shadow puppets, which are not part of Yu Hua’s 余華 eponymous novel. They play an important role in the film by expressing the protagonists’ feelings and giving an artistic touch, but contrary to Hou’s film, the puppet shows were only an aesthetic element added to the film. ...