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The shadow puppets made by Xu Luyan, a shadow puppet maker in Haining. [Photo/cnjxol.com]

Praises are usually given to the performers of a shadow puppet show while shadow puppet makers are often ignored.

Xu Luyan is a professional shadow puppet maker in Haining, Jiaxing and she started learning shadow puppet making from Wang Qiansong, an inheritor of Haining shadow puppet show, after graduating from university in 2010.

Xu makes shadow puppets featuring mascots of Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. [Photo/cnjxol.com]

Xu recalled that she used to imitate the shadow puppets made by her teacher and though she gradually can make the same perfect shadow puppets as her teacher, she still thought that there was something missing in the shadow puppet.

"For laymen, each work of a master shadow puppet maker is exquisite, but in my opinion, only the shadow puppet showing some vital force can be called an artwork," said Xu. "That's what I'm pursuing."

People learn from Xu how to make shadow puppets. [Photo/cnjxol.com]

To achieve such a goal, Xu decided to learn from a renowned claborate-style painter in Haining to improve her painting capacity and enable herself create more powerful works.

With solid drawing foundation and years of strenuous training, Xu has grown into a representative inheritor of Haining shadow puppet making skill.

In addition, she has also been dedicated to transforming shadow puppets from a prop to an article of people's daily life and offering training classes for fans of shadow puppet show free of charge.