10th national puppet and shadow puppet art exhibition wraps up in Sanmenxia

The 10th National Puppet and Shadow Play Heritage and Skills Showcase for Young and Mid-Career Artists and the 2nd Solo Skills Showcase closed in Sanmenxia, Henan province, on Oct 26.

Chen Xianghong, president of the China Puppet and Shadow Puppet Art Society, along with other officials, art experts, and media representatives, attended the closing ceremony.

The ceremony opened with splendid traditional performances and a retrospective video reviewing the five-day event, which launched in Xi'an and concluded in Sanmenxia. Young inheritors showcased the vitality of the age-old intangible cultural heritage.

In her closing speech, Chen reviewed the exhibition's achievements, saying the event fully displayed progress in talent cultivation and heritage innovation for puppet and shadow puppet arts. She thanked all organizers and participants and urged art practitioners to better inherit and promote traditional Chinese culture.

Tang Dayu, chair of the Puppet and Shadow Art Research and Study Center under the International Puppetry Association, announced the official evaluation results on behalf of the expert panel. A wide range of awards were presented to outstanding individuals and teams for their performances, creation, stage design, and organizational work.

A flag-handover ceremony followed, with Zizhong county of Sichuan province winning the hosting rights for the 11th edition of the exhibition, marking the continuous inheritance of puppet and shadow puppet arts nationwide.

Jointly hosted by Xi'an and Sanmenxia along the Yellow River, this year's exhibition gathered 280 performers from 30 teams across 15 provincial-level regions. A total of 76 programs were staged in 13 sessions over five days.

Young practitioners stood out for their active inheritance awareness. They integrated traditional craftsmanship with modern artistic expressions, adopted live music accompaniment and original creations, injecting youthful vigor into the time-honored folk art.

With a long history and rich genres, Chinese puppet and shadow puppet arts are precious traditional cultural treasures. The biennial event serves as an important step toward implementing the Three-Year Action Plan for Theater Revitalization (2026-28).

The event promotes the innovative development of intangible cultural heritage, boosts cultural-tourism integration, and empowers the inheritance and revitalization of traditional Chinese arts in the new era.