Dihua Quarter - Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Museum

Dihua Street

In the Dadaocheng district tucked down Xi-Ning N. Road near the historic Dihua street quarter, (known for its Chinese medicine & fabric market - see below) is the Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Museum. There are also many cafes, restaurants, arts studios and antique shops in the area. It is also home to the Dadaocheng Theatre, a venue for traditional Chinese performances.

Chinese Medicines and assorted goodies!

And more...

Signage

Lane-ways that go on and on...

and on....

Packaged...

Probably extremely good for you...but scary looking...

Mushrooms...+

Dihua Street charm

More food...

And a chatty attention seeker

in close up

 

The Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum operates as an educational centre and also performance venue staging its own unique form of glove puppet shows as well as other shows from time to time from around the world. It was like walking in to a miniature world of storytelling....The four floors of exhibits were of an intimate scale, and reached single file up a tight fitting vertically challenging set of stairs. The puppets and the various puppet stages on display ranged from age-old carved,delicately painted and costumed hand puppets to newer, more garishly decorated TV-styled puppets. There was a real sense of a history and magic about these figures...and the stories they might tell....

Carved hand puppets

Puppet maker in workshop

a particularly old and very beautiful carved face

Important looking guys

On hand made stage..

Kind wierd

Hilarious!

The embroidery and detail on the costumes

New generation

adapted..and

in technicolour...

Rows..

and rows...

How they travelled...

Personal favourite - 'a one man band' - stage, cast, music and show all in one.