Zhao Hong enters stage right in the David M. Hashley Theatre holding “The Drunken Beauty,” a Chinese puppet ornately dressed in yellow silk with dashes of pink and blue. The focal point of this puppet is 10-foot-long sleeves.

Hong holds the large puppet by a rod using one hand and controls its arms by grasping two long sticks with her free hand. Carrying the large puppets, which weigh about six pounds, takes physical strength and occasionally two performers at one time.

Hong moves with grace around the stage so the puppet can dance. She whips the sleeves into tight circles and flings them toward the audience of Flathead High School and St. Matthew’s Catholic School students.

Other times, she lets them float and sweep the floor as the beauty raises her arms in sorrow in this adaptation of a classic Chinese opera.

“The Drunken Beauty,” an excerpt of a popular Chinese opera, was just one of several puppet performances by the Shaanxi Folk Arts Group on Feb. 6.

Performances depicted classic Chinese folklore; lighthearted revelries of animals, children and dragons during traditional festival celebrations; ancient legends such as “Journey to the West;” and adaptations of Chinese ballet.

Short descriptions preview each performance. Even though the dialogue is spoken or sung in Chinese, emotions translate through the dexterity of the puppeteer’s hands and facial expressions.

Performer Pan Qin’an is especially dynamic on stage.

Qin’an has been a puppet performer for decades. His performances are passionate. During “Monkey King Borrows the Plantain Fan,” a staged fight develops between the Monkey King and the Iron Fan Princess. Qin’an dodges back and forth, gingerly lifting his knee before moving to the opposite side of the stage, smiling broadly to convey the character’s wiliness.

The highlight of the day was the Shaanxi Folk Arts Group’s shadow puppet performances. The group is from Xi’an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province, the starting point of the Silk Road and claimed as the origin of the shadow puppet tradition.

Performers move from the open stage and behind a curtained, backlit white screen. The special effect is simple. When the curtains open, one-dimensional silhouettes emerge in front of the light. Only the finely cut, vivid leather puppets are visible on the screen.

Behind the screen a different scene unfolds — a mix of people, hands and sticks.

In the opening shadow puppet performance, “Dancing Bamboo,” a greenish glow is cast, creating a dream-like quality. Green petals open and the beautiful bamboo fairy emerges. Her hips and arms sway to music in a magical dance “to embrace the advent of spring.”

No dialogue is needed in the “Crane and the Turtle” to elicit laughter from the audience.

A domineering crane lands on top of a turtle resting on a rock in the middle of a pond and attempts to harass it, pecking its head hiding in its shell. It’s the turtle who gets the last laugh and snaps at the crane. The “Crane and the Turtle” delighted St. Matthew’s fourth-graders Zach Roker and Fiona Coulter, who were later asked to try their hand at manipulating a shadow puppet character called Pigsy. Coulter and Roker agreed it was difficult to manipulate the small puppets.

After the performance, puppeteer and instructor Song Dongqing brought out his “Changing Masks” puppet to give high school students a close-up view. Changing Masks was filled with surprises as the audience earlier learned. With sharp movements, a wavering green fan, a glare at the audience before turning away and slight of hand — the face changed multiple times.

The Changing Masks puppet intrigued Flathead senior Jess Nolan. Dongqing revealed the secret: The masks were not solid but fabric attached to Velcro and pulled down with different rods.

“I thought it was really interesting,” Nolan said. “I’ve seen marionettes but nothing like this style puppet.”

To learn the puppet craft takes at least three years and performers are recruited only every 10 years. Dongqing himself has been a performer for about 40 years. Through a translator, emcee and puppeteer Feng Mei said performers should have backgrounds in dance and music.

“[They should be in] really good physical condition all around. It’s a very hard subject, a long-term commitment to get training,” Mei said.

Suhan Chen, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Montana, said puppet shows were traditionally performed for special occasions, holidays and entertainment. Shadow puppetry, according to the performers, started in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.)

Now it’s performed to not only entertain but also preserve Chinese culture.

Shaanxi Folk Arts Group, which is affiliated with the Shaanxi Council for the Promotion of External Cultural Exchange, tours the world to share this traditional culture.

The group was brought to Flathead through the Confucius Institute and Flathead High School’s International Baccalaureate and theater arts programs in celebration of the Chinese New Year, which is Feb. 19.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.