Theatrical Masks for Folk Shehuo
For thousands of years, many fairy tales have been going around among common people in various places of China, which reflect people's rich imagination for the natural world and their good wishes. Folk artistes use the face decorations of ancient mythologic figures appearing in acrobatics and vaudeville at the god welcoming meetings called "shehuo", as their sources of creation, to paint them on wooden spoons or clay statues, in order to drive away the evil and pray for happiness. The shehuo theatrical mask has become another masterpiece of Chinese folk art.