Tourism and Water Puppetry in Hanoi

1. The Origin of Water Puppetry in Vietnam Water puppetry first appeared in the 11th century at the villages around the area of “ The Red River Delta’’ (Northern Vietnam) The farmers created this show to pray for nourish in the rice crop usually performed at the end of the rice harvest or religious festivals. The dragon is particularly the strong character.

Buffalo Dragon  The origin of Water Puppetry began in the Red River Delta which was hot, humid and filled with rivers. Every village has ponds or lakes to perform the water puppet.  The Water Puppetry is performed by farmers for their neighbors. It contains 20-30 scenes and they take place in rice paddies, fish ponds and temples. They include activities such as harvesting, buffalo fighting and winnowing rice.

 The puppets are made out of wood and then lacquered.  Water Puppetry is performed in a waist-deep pool.  The puppeteers use a large bamboo rod to support the puppet under the water behind a bamboo screen.

2. Water Puppetry in Hanoi  In 1956 President Hồ Chí Minh watched a puppetry performance by the Radost troupe from Czechoslovakia and he invited the troupe to help establish the national Vietnamese puppetry group.  In 1956 Nhà hát Múa rối Việt Nam or Vietnam National Puppetry Theatre was established under the support by Vietnamese government. This theatre is in Rường Chinh street, Hanoi. The theatre made Water Puppetry more popular among urban people and tourists.    From 1956 to 1958, the Vietnamese government made a policy to preserve the local arts, so many national artists learn the arts from villagers.

3. Study results  Water Puppetry was created by the villagers and performed for the village. The audience were the villagers. The show was meant as a celebration among the people in their own village  According to the national policy to preserve the local arts, the government brought the water puppetry as a performance to Hanoi in 1956 at Vietnam National Puppetry Theatre, later the Thang Long Theatre.

Thang long theatre Thang Long Water Puppet Theater is located at Dinh Tien Hoang Street, nearby Hoan Kiem lake, in Hanoi. Thang Long Puppet Theater was particularly designed for holding cultural events especially “Water Puppetry”

 At present, the puppeteers are young artists who are trained in the art colleges in Vietnam. Both the puppeteers and the show’s musical artists are no longer from the Red River Delta villages.  Water Puppetry became a tourist attraction in Hanoi. Thus, the audience of the show are mostly foreign tourists.

 The research study revealed that the water puppetry used to be performed once or twice a year in the village, but now it is performed 2-3 times a day at Thang Long Theater due to the increasing of tourists’ demand.

4. Conclusion 1. Tourism has been influenced and transformed the traditional cultural heritage of Vietnam into tourist attraction. 2. The water puppetry became into a show for tourists and not the village’s celebration anymore. The process has transformed the original water puppetry into tourist attraction. For instance, (1) The transformation of performers such as puppeteers or musical troupes into professional who are trained from National Art College. (2) The transformation of the location from the village pond into the theater in capital city. (3) The frequency has increased from once or twice a year in the village into three times a day in the Hanoi theatre, due to tourists’ demand.

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