When I was a child, the shadow play on the old wall at my grandma's house always touched my heart. With a wave of her hands, figures like Monkey King would leap out on the white curtain. I stood there, humming those traditional melodies along with her.

Years later, the wall was torn down. The shadows faded together with my childhood. Those vivid figures drifted into blurred traces of light in my deep memory. It wasn't until that day, when I happened to pass by a shuttle puppetry art museum, that something inside me suddenly popped up.

Pushing the door of the museum, time slowed down. The master smiled and handed me a shuttle puppet. I tried it and the engraved patterns on the feather felt slightly cool in my palm It seemed to have a certain warmth The delicate carvings made me can help imagining how the artists infused their souls into the small pieces of leather.

Shuttle Puppetry has a history of over 2,000 years, dating back to the Han Dynasty in China and is honored as the Un-Sister of Film. It usually selects historical legends and folktales as themes, carrying the functions of moral education and cultural inheritance. The performance of shuttle puppetry relies on elaborately carved leather puppets, which are mostly made of donkey or ox hide.

These puppets go through six processes, laser treatment, drawing, carving, coloring, ironing, and assembling, eventually turning into vivid and translucent characters. During the performance the artists manipulate the puppets behind the screen and the images are projected onto a white curtain screen with the help of lights Accompanied by singing, dialogue, percussion, and string instruments, a narrative scene filled with emotion is formed.

That night, I saw the master behind the screen waving his hands as if there was a spiritual light flowing through his fingertips. The shadow puppet's characters came to life and danced on a warm yellow screen, depicting joys and sorrows. At that moment, the entire thousand-year-old legend was reborn on this warm screen.

After the performance, I stood beside the master, patiently translating the history and techniques of shuttle puppetry to my foreign friends, overwhelmed by a strong sense of mission, a commitment to carry forward the legacy of Chinese culture with unshakable confidence and to share its light with the world in a dialogue of shared wonder and mutual understanding As I walked out of the art hall, a question about shadow and light echoes in my heart.

Who will recline though this Asian beam of light? I'm going to go to the mountain.

Shadows may grow old, but light is forever young.