Yuanmingyuan has been in the news a lot this past week, what with the auction of the rabbit and rat heads in Paris, the history of the looting of the Old Summer Palace, or Garden of Perfect Brightness as it's also known, has once again become a much discussed topic. Today, the first and only professional shadow puppet theater in Beijing, opens its doors to the public and it seems like a smart business move that the first show that the Chinese Shadow Puppet Cultural Troupe have decided to produce is The Burning of the Imperial Palace《火烧圆明园》.

Formerly known as the Dragon in the Sky Shadow Puppet Cultural Club when it was formed in 2006, the troupe now performs under the name of the Chinese Shadow Puppet Cultural Club. The couple who founded the company were drawn together by their interest in the disappearing art form. Wang Xi's ancestors performed shadow puppet shows for the emperor, while her husband Lin Zhonghua has long been fascinated by shadow puppets. When they tried to form the troupe, they found there were only six elderly artists in Beijing who still knew the art of working the puppets. Lin Zhonghua and Wang Xi traveled to the birthplace of shadow puppet performance, Shanxi and Hebei, in search of talented puppeteers. They also collected a lot of shadow puppet and stage props and invited many artists to join the team or train their staff.

Dragon in the Sky Shadow Puppet Cultural Club was originally located on the newly renovated Qianmen Dajie when it firstly opened late last year. But for reasons that the couple didn't want to go into, they have now moved to their new location by the Old Summer Palace. The troupe likes to keep their performances fresh and are always performing new shows. So, to celebrate the opening of their new location, they are preparing two new productions that are likely to prove popular; The Burning of the Imperial Palace 《火烧圆明园》, and The Legend of Old Summer Palace 《圆明园传奇》.

According to reports, the troupe is not only aiming at appealing to a domestic audience, and staff are learning English for a planned bilingual show. The new location with seating for 150, is more spacious than the old one and aside from the performance space, there is also a special exhibition room displaying their collection of shadow puppets.

Chinese Shadow Puppet Cultural Club
RMB 80. For details, Call 8656 9350 for times or check their blog (Chinese-language only) for more details.
28 Qinghua Xilu (100m west of Yuanmingyuan's south gate, next to Tongrentang), Haidian District
中华皮影文化艺术城: 海淀区清华西路28号（圆明园南门西100米，同仁堂旁边）

Links and Sources
Chinese Shadow Puppet Cultural Club Blog
The Beijing News: 皮影艺术城落户圆明园
Huaxia.com: 皮影戏落户圆明园 将恢复慈禧时期皮影盛世 (images)