Study On The Folk Custom And Musical Form Of Puppetry In Tangfang Jiangxi Province

Puppet show is one of the traditional folk art in China,which has been widely spread all over the country since the Song Dynasty.Tangfang township is located at the junction of Fujian province and Jiangxi province,which is surrounded by mountains with remote terrains.In addition to the puppet show,it is also embraced with other folk activities such as bridge lights.This paper studies the puppet show at Tangfang township in Guangchang which is one of the counties in the city of Fuzhou in Jiangxi province.The Tangfang puppet show adopts a comprehensive art form with the combination of acting,singing and instrumental music.The puppet show in Tangfang township has been developed and inherited in the local area for nearly a century,which becomes one of the most essential performances in festivals and ceremonies.This paper takes the puppet show in Tangfang township as case study with the base on field investigation,which aims to trace the histories and cultural backgrounds of the Tangfang puppet show's history,analysis the ecological environment,music and ritual functions of the puppet show,as well as the folk custom relationships in the diverse perspectives of history and culture,music and folk rituals.This paper is divided into 4 parts to study the Tangfang puppet show.The introduction part is mainly an overview on the status quo at at home and abroad of the Tangfang puppet show,and the research significance,difficulties,basic problems,research methods and ideas of the Tangfang puppet show,and thereby forming basic work on the research of the Tangfang puppet show.The first part is about the field trips of the Tangfang puppet show,which includes the basic information of puppet troupes' history in Tangfang township,the living environment of the traditional customs so as to show the survival and development reasons of the puppet troupes in Tangfang township.The second part aims to describe and analysis the internal structure and the development situation of the puppet show in Tangfang township,which includes the scales,performing forms,troupes management and some other basic information.The third part aims to analysis the board cavity singing,instrumental composition,music form and music ceremony of the puppet show based on the integrated construction of the Tangfang puppet tropes,and we can concludethat the puppet show has the the functions of education,folklore and aesthetics.The fourth part is based on the field investigation.With the methods of observation and experience,the paper makes a comprehensive investigation and research on puppet show performances and folk activities.Using the objective and subjective perspective to investigate the rites inheritance and changes of of the puppet show in Tangfang township,the sacredness and secularity of the puppet show so as to demonstrate the relationship between puppet show,folk beliefs and folk customs.Through above,we can conclude that the Tangfang puppet show is a long-standing existence under the beliefs on local temple gods and some other folk customs backgrounds.The Tangfang puppet show is attaches to the folk customs and remains coexistence with the local folk customs.The fifth part is mainly about the research and discussion on how to protect the Tangfang puppet show under the circumstances of the gradually weakened folk environment,lower and lower of the public interest in traditional opera in the aspects of the folk customs,government management and economic development.