The Cinema of Twenty Centimes Ago

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 85, 7 October 1933, Page 23

The Cinema of Twenty Centimes Ago

Excavations in Czechwan, a provinco of Western China, are enabling students to write up moro fully tho earlier chapters of Chineso history, writes Dr. W. G. Goddara, in tho Brisbane "Courier." Hitherto wo have been dependent on tho records of tho official annalists, which concerned only subjocts of national importance. With tho finding of documents of private writers wo aro gainingl an insight into the customs and folklore of tho great inasscs removed from the cities. . Tho story of Cinderella, was told among the cave men in Han times. Now from tho same area wo learn that in early Han days tho shadow show was la popular form of amusement. A description of ono of these shows appears cut in stone; it was recovered from a depth of 15ft beneath tho loess deposits in Czechwan. The sands of tho Shamo Desert in their relentless and untiring fury have buried it for ages. But now it comes to light with its archaic caligraphy quite clear. It reads, inter alia: "In Czechwan, near Mount Tan Stiih, is a largo cave, capable of holding '500 persons. At the far end of tho cave is a rock, standing upright and perfectly smooth. Here, in the days of Han Emperors, men went to sco tho moving shadows. Figures of wood, somo representing the men of Han, and others the Tartars, wcro held before a torch, so that their shadows fell on the rock. Behind a screen of wood those who operated tho figures spoke- for them. Always the men of Han were the conquerors." This document refers later to the Buttorfly Dance, "now a favourite amusement in Hsian, tho ; capital," which would fix the date in tho Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-906). Wo know that Li Yuan, the founder of that dynasty, introduced this danco into his court. Here, then, wo havo the first moving picture or shadow show, as seen by the cave men in south-west China. Tho Han Emperors reigned from 206 B.C.A.D. 220, and during that period there was frequent warfare with tho Tartar tribes. A number of names of heroes of those days and fights has come down in >Se records of tho Hans, and these were, no doubt, tho subjects whoso shadows were thrown on to tho rock screen in the cave. And wo can easily imagine tho shouts of tho cave men which greeted the victories of such warriors as Wung Mm, Tai Lih, and Wei Lo. These were tho popular idols in that far distant day. And probably

the tale' of the girl and Lor ugly stepsisters, which was so well known to those cave men, and which passed to tho west as tho story of Cinderella, was also shadowed on that screen of rock. Thero is no historical evidenco that this shadow show passed into other parts of China, or that it entered into Japan as part of China's culture. Bather, it appears to have passed south with tho wanderers who entered into Siarn. Those were the Lad Tai, whose ancestral homo was in Czechwan; and who began to migrate into Siam as far back as 200 years ago,' and colonies were sot up at the same period in the vicinity of Wieng Chan. Tho shadow show or primitive cinema went with them, probably because wo find in Siamese records that the Nang Talung or shadow play has been known in Siam from remotest times. It still persists in the hill country, being given in a temporary hut, one side of which is covered with a large white sheet. Tho audience sits on tho ground outside and watches tho movements of the shadows cast on the--sheet by figures manipulated in front of a light within the hut. Two operators sit on tho floor and have tho dramatis personae cut out of stift leather in their hands. Hence tho name Nang Talung—Nang being tho Siamese word for leather. This shadow play is, of course, a much more developed mechanism than that among the cave men of China. Tho principal characters have practicable lower jaws and arms, which, during the dialogue that is spoken, by the operators, aro worked up and down. Tho liillm.cn floelc to these shadow shows, and at times will sit the whole night through watching in admiration the exploits of one of their traditional heroes. The shadow show of the Chineso cave men was much moro primitivo,_ but it was probably the origin of this more highly developed Siamese play. In certain parts of Java ami in Borneo the shadow play is still highly popular, especially where there is a Chinese population. In these islands music accompanies the play, and, although it has no relation to the subject of the play, continues in subdued tones throughout. The document found at Czechwan adds a new and important chapter to the history of the cave men who lived 2000 years ago in the tipper valloy of tho Yangtse River. It tells of the first attempt to provide a cinema entertainment.