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 More than 2,000 years of history, art and artistry are bound up in the delicate donkey-hide figures parading before visitors to a quiet corner of Liulichang Street.
The spectators are attending a performance of the Beijing Shadow Puppet Theater Troupe at No. 29 Liulichang Dongjie. They are witnessing an ancient tradition being preserved largely through the efforts of two men: one, Lu Baogang, with strong ties to Old Beijing; the other, Tony Huang, with strong ties to China's future.
Lu Baogang, a fifth-generation member of the Lu Family Shadow Puppet Theater Troupe, puts his puppeteers through their paces as they bring to life fables and fantasies of Old China, breathe new excitement into Peking Operas and fan the flames of folk tales.
The puppets used by Lu's troupe are all hand-crafted in their own workshop.
According to He Peihua, the troupe's president, the puppets have already been recognized as works of art, being displayed in museums across the country.
At your request, you can order a copy of one of the puppets; it will be made and mounted for you within the week.
Lu has struggled for years to keep the troupe together and continue its traditions of performance, supported by the Xuanwu District's Cultural Department. Now Lu's troupe, the only professional art group performing this ancient art in the capital city, has a new champion: Tony Huang.
A native of Macao, born of a Chinese father and Filipino mother, Huang travels with a Portuguese passport, and speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. His wife, Carmelinda Dos Santos, is his partner in most of his enterprises, which include tourism promotion and development in Macao and Hainan. He's also been an impresario in the Philippines and Macao.
 Huang is China's future, an entrepreneur who knows how the world does business. And he respects China's past, especially as embodied by artists such as Lu and his troupe. That's why Huang has thrown his considerable promotional and development skills behind the shadow puppet troupe.
With Huang's encouragement, the troupe is expanding its horizons, offering more performances in more varied venues. The group is once again accepting invitations to participate in overseas puppetry festivals, and is expanding its repertoire.
Its playlets are set to folk music and evoke tales dear to the hearts of all Chinese people. They can also stage complete Peking Operas, if that's your taste.
But Huang wants even more for Lu and his troupe.
"I want to introduce new concepts and stories to the world of Chinese shadow play," Huang says as Lu nods enthusiastically. "For instance, I'd like to see the troupe create an original work to be entitled 'The Silk Road.' It would explore how China has grown, from ancient times to today, exploring the development of the country and its culture, and examining the many ways that this great country and its culture have contributed to the world."
Lu and Huang envision "The Silk Road" as a cycle of plays that would take many sittings to see in its entirety.
Such big dreams are in keeping with the storied traditions of Chinese shadow puppetry. Once, the traveling players who presented these shows throughout the countryside and cities were a vital link for the people, helping develop the nation's identity through the shared culture of its folk tales and myths brightly told.
Lu and Huang see that kind of vital role being re-created for this ancient art, using the most modern of technologies to update the story-telling form.
For now, they are determined to continue the performance tradition of the troupe while building toward its future as an international force in the world of culture. The troupe will arrange to come to you for a performance, or set up a special performance for your group at the studio.
Or most any afternoon you can drop by the troupe's performance space and step into a magical world as old as China's history and as vibrant as its future.
Address: No. 29 Liulichang Dongjie
Tel: 86(0)10-63033579 | 
