Galleria Pangea Shadow play artist Mr. Wei is going to play a shadow play show in Beijing. The once very popular art form has been forgotten by the villagers.

We met Mr. Wei on our trip to Hua County, Shanxi Province. After 8 hours of bus ride from Xi'an, we arrived in this small village, where one of the last Shadow play troupes still performs. From conversations with Mr. Wei, we can feel his passion and sorrow for shadow play.

Things seems to be getting better. More and more young Chinese started paying attention to traditional folk arts again. We are hoping all of our artisans can keep doing what they do best. We will do our small part to promote their art to the world.

On August 11th 2007, Mr. Wei and his troupes will perform a show in Beijing 798 Art space. You can purchase framed shadow play leather puppets at Galleria Pangea.

Thanks to photographer Ms. Liu from Chinaphotographers.org for sharing the photos of Mr. Wei's shadow play performance.

My colleague from our Beijing office told me that it was a great success. The show was packed. It was good to see young faces taking an interest in the ancient art again.

You can find leather puppets just like these used in the show here.

I recently read an article about this fall's fashion on a magazine. The magazine detailed 10 things for this autumn hottest trend. I was happy to see Chinese arts and crafts made #7 on the list. The other items are oversized knitted sweaters, aristocratic coats, high-waists, minis, metallics, bold color evening dresses, platform pumps, flat sole shoes, short boots and gloves.

"Intricate Chinese arts and crafts are cropping up across the international fashion brands. Go for a tube top mini dress with ancient Chinese details"

I have long admired Chinese handmade jewelry and other artworks. I am glad that the beautiful designs are finally getting to the mainstream fashion stage. With 2008 Beijing Olympics just around the corner, I am sure the Chinese style will only get hotter.