Shaanxi shadow play is a very old traditional opera art form in Shaanxi Province. Shadow play, also known as "shadow play" or "shadow play", is a silhouette of a character made of animal skin or cardboard, which is performed with bright cloth under the illumination of light. It is one of the puppet shows widely circulated among the people in China.

In the performance, the artists manipulated the opera characters behind the white curtain, sang stories with Shaanxi-style cavity or silk board cavity, and matched them with percussion instruments and strings, which had a strong Qin flavor. Hua county, Shaanxi is the most famous shadow play, which has been included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage in China.

The origin of shadow play:

If we want to trace the origin of shadow play, according to historical records, shadow play began in the pre-Qin Dynasty and was popular in the Han Dynasty. By the Tang Dynasty, shadow play had become an entertainment in people's leisure time. It should be said that the heyday of the development of shadow play was the Song Dynasty. At that time, shadow play was one of the most popular literary activities, and there was also a special venue for performing shadow play in the capital of Song Dynasty.

In the Yuan Dynasty, shadow play had gone abroad and spread to western Asia and European countries. Georges sadoul, a famous French film critic, also called Chinese shadow play "the pioneer of film".

The shadow play material was first carved and knotted with paper, and then changed into leather to avoid damage and long-term use.