Qianxi Shadow Play (listed in the third batch of Tangshan City's intangible cultural heritage list in 2013) is a form of opera that uses animal skin or cardboard to cut out images and illuminates the cut images to perform stories. It is very popular, almost all over the country, and due to the different voices performed in different places, a variety of shadow plays have been formed, such as Huaxian Shadow Play in Shaanxi, Huanxian Daoqing Shadow Play in Gansu, Xiaoyi Wanwanqiang Shadow Play in Shanxi, Tangshan Shadow Play in Hebei, Haining Shadow Play in Zhejiang, Jianghan Plain Shadow Play in Hubei, Lufeng Shadow Play in Guangdong, Fuzhou Shadow Play in Liaoning, etc. Qianxi Dafu Shadow Play is an important branch of Tangshan Shadow Play. Dafu Shadow Play is often active in the northern part of Tangshan, inside and outside the Great Wall, also known as "Laobian Shadow Play". Dafu Shadow Play originated from folk blessing, so it is called "Fu Shadow". In the early days, Dafu Shadow was mostly performed during the day, using sunlight to develop the image. It was mostly for wealthy families to repay their vows to the gods, pray for blessings, auspiciousness, disaster relief, respect for the gods, and pray for good weather, wealth and peace. There is a legend that Chen Qi met a Bodhisattva and asked him to "use shadow play to preach and educate all living beings." There was a poor young man named Chen Qi who saw a ragged and skinny beggar. His pity forced him to take the poor beggar home. He would rather tighten his belt and give the beggar rice to fill his stomach. Finally, he made rice with the only half spoonful of rice left in his home and sent it to the beggar. As a result, the beggar disappeared. Only Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared in front of him and told Chen Qi the truth. The beggar was his enlightened body, who came to the mortal world to find people who did good deeds. Then he told him how to use shadow play to teach people how to do good deeds and persuade people to do good deeds. According to the persuasion, Chen Qi made a shadow man with donkey skin, preached with the shadow play, and educated the people, thus creating Dafu Shadow. There are two types of singing styles in Dafu Shadow: crying and lifting. The accompaniment does not use strings, but simple cymbals and other instruments. The accompaniment does not have rhyme, and the singing is done in the natural voice. There is no drum plate for beating the rhythm, but it is caused by touching bells and small double bells. The melody is similar to the monk chanting. The shadow figures of Dafu Shadow are two feet and two inches tall, and there are less than a hundred of them. Most of them are carved from donkey skin, and the carving is rough. But the shape is imitated from real people, and the image is lifelike. Most of the mounts they ride are exotic beasts. The hands and legs of the single body can move, and there are also people and animals connected. Jiang Shang rides a four-legged beast, Huang Feihu rides a five-colored divine cow, Randeng rides a deer, Zhao Gongming rides a tiger, Guanyin, Wenshu, Zhunti rides a lion, an elephant, and a roar, all of which are dedicated and do not borrow from each other. But his manipulation skills are dull and the movements are simple. When the two sides fight, the two shadow figures touch each other back and forth, and the end means defeat. Due to the monotony of manipulation skills and the lack of scripts, it was gradually assimilated by the Leting Shadow that came from the south in the early 20th century. The singing of Leting shadow puppetry is beautiful, the content is rich and colorful, the roles and professions are complete, and the manipulation skills are sophisticated. It has gradually been loved by the people of Qianxi. The shadow puppets of Dafu shadow puppetry have followed suit and learned Leting shadow puppetry. Due to the influence of dialects and regional culture, the singing of some shadow puppetry craftsmen has regional differences, mixed with Qianxi's local dialect, and gradually formed a shadow puppetry with Qianxi characteristics. However, the functions and rituals of Dafu shadow puppetry for praying for blessings and good fortune, and repaying gods and vows have been retained. Therefore, Qianxi shadow puppetry has a certain religious color. Information source: Tangshan Municipal People's Government Information source: Tangshan Municipal People's Government