An Comparative Research Of Shadow Play Between China And Thailand

Shadow play performances need to rely on many devices such as white screen, lights, filmmakers and music, so only trained professions can do that. Due to the limited of cultural activities in ancient times, shadow play is not only for entertainment, it also took the responsibility of delivering knowledge and educating, illiterate people. Because it is easy to be understood and accepted by people, and is was popular among different social classes.China is one of the origin countries of shadow play, it was very popular in the ancient time and then was introduced into several countries. However, there are different statements of how the shadow play was spread in Thailand, and some people indicate that the Thai shadow play was origin from Indonesian shadow puppetry. This study collects evidences to prove that Thai shadow play is influenced by Chinese culture, and two countries’shadow play will be explored and compared.The research method of this research is mainly the study of collected literature of Chinese and Thai shadow play. In addition, the researcher also do some fieldwork to collect some first hand data in both countries. With China’s "The Belt and Road" strategy, cultural communication between China and Thailand will be more intense, and this will hopefully to some contributions of reducing cultural barriers, developing cultural communications, and enhancing cooperation between two countries.