Date of creation: 2002
6th Floor, Qintai Plaza
n° 25 Tonghuimen Road
610015
CHENGDU
China
+86 28 8663 9821
+86 28 8663 0133
Presentation
Brief history
The Centre was created in May 2002. Its head office was transferred from Guangzhou to Chengdu in 2008. It collaborates with several institutions such as the Chinese Ministry of Culture, the Chinese Puppetry and Shadow Play Association, the Intangible Chinese Heritage Protection Center, CCTV, the cities of Chengdu, Shanghai, Tangshan, Nanchong, Fujian, Hunan, the cultural center of Shaanxi province, the Chinese Shadow Puppet Museum of Chengdu, the Shanghai Academic Theatre, the Art Institute of Beijing University, and the Kangle cultural services department in Hong Kong. In 2012 Chengdu was host to UNIMA’s Twenty First World Puppetry Congress.
Important projects and achievements
UNIMA-China has successfully managed several projects. It supported the classification of “Chinese shadow theatre” as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in the representative list of UNESCO. It organized an exhibition on the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage in Beijing, with shadow play and puppet shows, academic seminars in Beijing on the theme: “Essence of the puppet dialogue from East and West”, the shooting and broadcasting of a TV documentary (5 episodes) on Chinese shadow theatre, an animated movie in 4 episodes “Life of Puppets”, and a series, “Chinese Puppets from A to Z”. It established a training place for puppeteers in the Shanghai Academic Theatre. It hosted the Golden Lion Cup (2008) and organized seminars on heritage preservation, innovation and development, with the training of people who work on a puppet production.