Yangzhou's puppetry started its career as early as in the Tianbao Years of the Tang Dynasty and gradually developed into quite a distinctive art by the end of the Qing Dynasty. In the middle of this century, the local government incorporated over hundred small groups showing puppets on the land of puppetry and organized the Taixing County's Puppetry Troupe, which turned into today's Yangzhou Puppet Show Troupe, a large puppet performance group.

The troupe, a large puppet performance group, is well-known for its unique style of puppet performance charactered as "precise but nimble and life like". A group of young and middle-aged artists like Hua Meixia, Xue Jiayu, Yan Yu and Zhang Hongliang are the mainstay of the troupe which took part in many major art activities since its founding. In 1975 and 1981, the troupe twice took part in the national puppetry joint performance competitions in Beijing and received awards from the Ministry of Culture for its excellent shows, it also gave special performances to the representatives of the NPC and CPPCC and foreign diplomatic staff in Beijing. In 1987, the troupe went to Beijing for the First China's Arts Festival and gave puppet performance in the major theatres. In 1988, the troupe was invited by Central Newsreels and Documentary Film Studio for the picture of Chinese Puppetry. In 1984, invited by Mr. Nakatsubo Kounou of the Nippon Traditional Arts Co., Ltd. and sent by the Chinese Performing Arts Company, the troupe toured 34 Japanese cities in two months, giving 52 full-housed performances and evoking remarkable repercussions among the Japanese people.

With its strong technical force, the troupe ranks first in China for designing and shaping puppets which are said to be "not human but more than human" in playing. Since 1987, three groups of art puppets designed and made by the troupe have been put on displays in the North-sea Park in Beijing, Jiaoshan Mountain Park in Zhenjiang and the Capital Lanterns Exhibition held in Beijing under the slogan of Meeting the Asian Games for the Glory of the Country.

Repertoires:
"Chang's Flying to the Moon", "Three Blows at the White Bone Demon by Sun Wukong", "Life of Fairy White Snake"

Address:
Yangzhou, China