Gaozhou puppet show, also known as "puppet show" or "puppet show", is a kind of folk opera art that is popular among the masses. Gaozhou puppets are rod puppets, which originated in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and developed on the basis of Fujian glove puppets. For hundreds of years, Gaozhou puppet show has been widely spread in every village and village in Gaozhou. Among the 28 towns and sub-district offices in Gaozhou City, 23 have puppet show troupes. The original form of Gaozhou puppet show was a single-person puppet show, and a medium-sized class was developed in the late Qing Dynasty. Gaozhou puppet show has no fixed performance venue, and only a small piece of open space can be used to set up the stage for performance; in terms of time, there are performances all year round, but the spring is the most prosperous. Puppet shows are performed during the Lantern Festival, annual festivals and festive festivals to entertain the gods and people. Gaozhou puppet show is performed in Gaozhou vernacular, with lyrics in 7-character poetic sentences, and the singing style is called puppet singing, which is based on the Gaozhou folk song tune and is performed in a narrative way. The content of puppet shows is mostly taken from historical epics, case novels, folk legends, and mythological stories. There are no less than hundreds of traditional repertoires. The characters played are loyal and good and evil, and they have the effect of spreading historical knowledge and traditional moral education to the masses. The heads of Gaozhou wooden idols are exquisitely carved, and the performance skills are superb. The idols can perform difficult actions such as blinking, spewing smoke and fire, and beheading. Puppet artists combine singing, acting, reciting, beating, and playing music. It is a folk opera art that integrates carving, costumes, performances, scripts, and music. It is an excellent spiritual cultural heritage of mankind and a treasure of Chinese folk art. "First there was puppetry, then there was human drama." Gaozhou puppetry is of great significance to the study of the history of Chinese drama development, the history of ethnic folk culture, the history of communities, and the construction of a new culture. Gaozhou puppetry is now facing a crisis of survival and the risk of being lost. Social transformation, strong economic impact, cultural diversification, changes in young people's entertainment preferences, and a sharp drop in audiences have put Gaozhou puppet show in a crisis of survival. The puppet art lacks successors, some descendants of famous puppet artists are unwilling to inherit their mantle, and it is difficult to find people to carry on the tradition in society. Gaozhou puppet show is indeed facing the risk of extinction.