Folk artists from Laixi, a county level city of Qingdao, Shandong province staged a dazzling puppet performance in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan on Sept 6, bringing local audiences an amazing show of the time-honored Chinese folk art.

Puppet performing arts are an important part of Chinese traditional culture, and a national treasure that has been passed down for over two thousand years.

A Laixi puppet show is performed on Sept 6 in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. [Photo/Sdchina News]

The city of Laixi is the birthplace of Chinese puppetry and widely considered the hometown of the performing art.

The puppet works in the show in Uzbekistan were produced by Jiang Yutao and Zhan Manman, inheritors of the Laixi puppet show heritage.

Accompanied by guzheng music, Zhan blended the traditional art in with excerpts from classic operas including the much-loved Fairy Sending Flowers and Blooming Flowers and Full Moon, attracting a large number of local people.

When making puppets, a series of steps must be taken, which include selecting the suitable materials, carving, pasting, sanding, covering with clay, dusting, applying makeup, and applying the final layer of lacquer.

A local citizen poses for a photo with Laixi puppets. [Photo/Sdchina News]

The puppeteers in Laixi showcase their distinctive approach to creating the puppet's head, opting for paper as the primary material instead of wood. This choice not only ensures a lighter weight but also enhances maneuverability for more effortless control.

In recent years, the city of Laixi has continuously increased its efforts to inherit and promote local intangible cultural heritages, and deeply explored the local traditional cultural elements to inject new vitality into Laixi cultural tourism and expand its external influence.