Taiwan is going to host the 11th Taiwan-Zhejiang Cultural Festival and a Jiaxing Culture Week in September.

Haining shadow play, along with other intangible cultural heritages of Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, including bamboo carving, colored-lantern making, wheat straw picture and paper-cutting will be exhibited in Taiwan.

Shadow play is an ancient form of storytelling, and it is accompanied by local popular tunes from the music of strings and drums. It uses human figures made of transparent leather such as leather from sheep or cows. On display is also a silhouette with a single arm and conjoined feet.

Haining city of Zhejiang province is situated on the northern bank of the Qiantang River. The shadow play in Haining consists of strong folk features. Differing from traditional Chinese shadow play, Haining shadow play forms its unique southern sound by using tunes from Yiyang and Haiyan.

Haining shadow play has a history of approximately one thousand years. During the thirties and forties of the twentieth century, there were still more than 20 troupes, over 300 lists of shadow plays and more than 120 actors in Haining.

The Taiwan-Zhejiang Cultural festival was first held in 2006. This is the first time for Jiaxing to hold this valuable cross-over cultural event.