Chinese shadow puppetry: art of light and shadow

A leather puppet by local craftsmen is displayed in Haidong City, northwest China's Qinghai Province. (Photo: China News Service/Li Yufeng)

Shadow puppetry, also known as Piying, is an ancient folk art which is to create the impression of humans and objects by manipulating flat leather puppets against a lit-up translucent screen.

The shadow play was registered in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2011.