Shadow play is the oldest film in China, with a history of over 2,000 years.
Wan Tiejun, a native from Ningxiang City, Hunan Province, has been engaged in shadow play for more than 30 years. He has been making shadow puppets at home recently. He first draws a basic pattern on the kraft paper and then carve it out with a knife. After the first edition comes out, he gently tears the kraft paper from the middle layer, sandwiches it with thin graphic paper, and then paints colors carefully.
In order to keep puppets from being moist, they need to be varnished and dried. Then all parts will be connected with thin lines before thin bamboo poles are added to arms and other parts. It takes nearly a week to make one vivid puppet.