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Glove puppetry (Chinese:布袋戲;pinyin:bùdàixì;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:pò͘-tē-hì)[1] is a type of opera using clothpuppets that originated during the 17th century inQuanzhou orZhangzhou ofChina'sFujian province, and historically practised in theMin Nan-speaking areas such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, theChaoshan region ofGuangdong, and other parts of southern China. It had since established itself contemporarily as a popular art form inTaiwan.
The puppet's head uses wood carved into the shape of a hollow human head, but aside from the head, palms, and feet, which are made of wood, the puppet'storso and limbs consist entirely of cloth costumes.[2] At the time of the performance, a gloved hand enters the puppet's costume and makes it perform. In previous years the puppets used in this type of performance strongly resembled "cloth sacks," hence the name, which literally means "cloth bag opera."
Glove puppetry (pò͘-tē-hì) performances, similar to some types ofChinese opera, are divided into a first half and a second half show. During the first half, known as the "show platform" (戲台), the audience is shown a demonstration by a master puppeteer on the stage. The second half consists of the puppet master, the orchestra, and the spoken parts. Several key points of a show to be appreciated include: the dexterity of the master puppeteer's manipulation of the puppet, the accompaniment of the orchestra, and the poetic spoken parts of thevoice actors. With few exceptions, from traditional pò͘-tē-hì to modern performances, human vocal music and operatic singing is rarely heard.
In Indonesia, glove puppetry was popular within Chinese communities around Sumatra and Java. In Java, the interaction between Chinese and Javanese culture gave birth to new style of puppetry, calledPeranakan Potehi.[3][4] Today, glove puppetry is called with the term "Wayang Potehi" (Wayang means "puppet" in Javanese). The Wayang Potehi tradition is mainly preserved inCentral Java (Semarang) andEast Java's (Gudo, Jombang [id]) Chinese communities.[5] Most of the dialog parts of Wayang Potehi have been narrated using Indonesian andJavanese language.
In TaiwanYunlin County is the center of glove puppetry with most major studios having a presence in the county.[6]
Since 1984,Pili has been adding computer animations to their glove puppetry TV shows. Their shows continue to be popular, with theThunderbolt Fantasy series being a collaboration withGen Urobuchi that combines Pili style glove puppetry withanime style narrative.[7]