Ritual Performance and the Construction of Local Order in Gaozhou Puppetry

Wei Lin
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Wei Lin: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Macao Polytechnic University; Department of Chinese Language and Literature, School of Literature and Education, Guangzhou Xinhua University, China

European Journal of Social Science Education and Research, 2026, vol. 13, issue 3, 182-200

Abstract: The Gaozhou puppet theater is not only an important traditional performing art in the western Guangdong region, but also a ritualized cultural practice deeply embedded in local customary activities such as annual festivals (nianli) and temple fairs. Existing studies have mainly focused on its artistic form, performance techniques, and heritage preservation, while paying insufficient attention to how it participates in the construction of local social order through ritual performance.Based on fieldwork, interview records, and related survey materials, this study draws on Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice to analyze the subject from three dimensions: skill training, ritual performance, and order maintenance. The study finds that during long-term apprenticeship, Gaozhou puppet theater performers internalize norms through bodily training, occupational taboos, and disciplinary mechanisms. In public ritual contexts such as annual festivals, stage spatial arrangements, opening ceremonies, and procedural movements visually enact the sacred authority, ethical relations, and hierarchical order within local society. Through cyclical performances, intervillage dissemination, audience–performer interaction, and ongoing industry negotiation, these norms are repeatedly performed, accepted, and gradually transformed into a shared experiential framework among community members. Therefore, Gaozhou puppet theater is not merely an aesthetic performance form, but a socio-cultural mechanism that, through embodied practice, participates in the affirmation and reproduction of local social order.

Keywords: Annual Festivals; Temple Fairs; Embodied Practice; Folk Belief; Village Society; Intangible Cultural Heritage; Western Guangdong (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eur:ejserj:484

DOI: 10.26417/0ygnpzc0

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