The outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is gripping the hearts of people around the world, and for most people, staying at home at this stage is part of the fight. For Wang Xi, the inheritor of Peking Shadow Play and the director of a shadow play theater in Beijing, time spent at home is just right for creating a shadow play.

Together with her husband, Lin Zhonghua, and her nephew, she has completed seven short videos of shadow plays in just a few days. Among them, one animation with the theme of a monkey king fighting COVID-19 has received a great response, and has been played more than 6 million times.

Wang also revealed that she is working on an anti-epidemic shadow play animation featuring popular mythological character Ne Zha, which will be released online soon.

"Without the outbreak of the epidemic, this would be the busiest time of us," said Wang Xi. A native of Shandong Province, she had received seven or eight invitations to perform this Lantern Festival, but with the outbreak of the COVID-19, all performances were canceled.

On the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, she and her husband returned to Beijing, and their nephew, who works in Shanghai, joined them. The three formed a shadow play creation team and worked until 1 or 2 a.m. every day.

As the director of a shadow play theater, Wang Xi was mainly in charge of the marketing in the past, and would not personally get involved in the specific production process of a shadow play. But since all her shows were canceled, she has had enough time to go over the process of making shadow play, including drawing, carving, dyeing, and arranging the whole play.

Wang Xi even learned to edit videos with software. During the production of the Monkey King-themed shadow play, she also played percussion, recorded the music, and edited it into the video.

However, shadow play productions can't be completed by three people alone. Wang Xi also created many shadow play works with the theme of front line doctors by connecting with shadow play artists from all over the country, coordinating production remotely and synthesizing sound effects.

But unfortunately due to the epidemic, Wang Xi could only make the animation at home. They did not have professional cameras to record the videos, so they had to use mobile phones. While this was a little rough from the perspective of the picture, this was the only and best method during this special time, Wang Xi said.

Wang Xi was pleased to see that her works were well received. "It is the wish of us to make intangible cultural heritage play a role in the fight against the COVID-19, and it is also the common mission and responsibility of all inheritors. We hope that through watching these shadow puppets, people can understand the stories behind the heroes who fought against the epidemic, see their persistence and sacrifice, and also give them courage and strength," she said.

(Cover: File photo of shadow play. /VCG)