Tai'an popularizes shadow puppetry via Internet

(chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-06-21

Shadow puppetry in Tai'an, Shandong, with a history of 600 years, is acknowledged as a "living fossil" of Mount Taishan culture.

In 2007, Taishan shadow puppetry was inscribed on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

To protect and inherit the traditional craftsmanship, local authorities have been trying to link shadow puppetry with the Internet since last year.

In addition to building platforms on popular social network sites and mobile applications, they teamed up with Tencent, one of the largest Internet companies in China, to a related mobile game and hold League of Legends competitions, as a move to appeal to young people.

The "shadow puppetry + Internet" project is closing the gap between the intangible cultural heritage and people through online and off-line activities.

In terms of financing, the authorities set up a foundation as a crowd funding platform.

Recently, the project was selected as a highlight of the protection of intangible cultural heritage by the Shandong government.