Piying is shadow puppetry. Flat figures cut from hide are held against a lit cloth screen and moved by rods, so that the audience sees only their moving shadows while a performer sings or speaks the story. It is a folk theatre that is centuries old and tells legends, histories and romances. In The Legend of Zang Hai the shadow puppets act as a second narrator.
Dramas
Where it comes up
Silk & Schemes
The Legend of Zang Hai: A Revenge Drama Built Like a Puzzle
A guide to Xiao Zhan's 2025 court revenge drama from the director of Empresses in the Palace: its slow-burn plot, the fan puzzle-solving and the criticism it drew, its hand-built invented world, and an ending viewers still argue over.