Longdong shadow puppetry is also called lamp shadow and cowhide doll. It is a stage performance tool and also a folk handicraft. In the old days, Longdong shadow puppetry was a folk shadow play that used edible clear oil (vegetable oil) as fuel to illuminate the silhouettes of cowhide figures as puppets. It can also be performed when there is sunshine during the day, which is called hot shadow play. Shadow puppetry originated very early. According to the folk legend of Longdong, when Qin Shihuang's son Hu Hai was born, he cried all day long, but one day, he saw the shadow performance on the window and stopped crying, but as soon as the shadow left the window, he cried again. So Qin Shihuang ordered people to carve the shape of the performer and continue to perform. Hu Hai stopped crying, and shadow play also appeared. In the Northern Song Dynasty, shadow play performances were relatively common. "Ducheng Jisheng" said: "All shadow plays were first carved with plain paper by the people of the capital, and then with colored leather." During the Qingli period of Song Renzong, Fan Zhongyan guarded Qingyang. At that time, artists rewarded the soldiers with shadow puppetry. In the late Qing Dynasty, General Dong Fuxiang of Gansu Province brought Huanxian shadow play troupe to Beijing to celebrate the birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Longdong shadow play is mainly distributed in counties in Pingliang and Qingyang areas, and is concentrated in the triangle area where Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia provinces meet. Its character modeling can be summarized into five categories: Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo and Chou. According to the different identity characteristics of the characters, the eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth and beard are exaggerated. From the perspective of craftsmanship, the outer contour of Longdong shadow play is summarized by straight lines, which is handsome and spirited. It is particularly important to decorate with patterns and has strong color contrast. There are about a thousand kinds of head models. Since it is performed on a flat curtain, it can only move left and right, so the "five-point face" is generally used, that is, the side representation method: one eyebrow, one eye, one earlobe, half of the face, mouth and nose, and one face. The posture of the shadow play is also represented by the side. Longdong shadow play music is deeply influenced by the string board tune and the bowl tune of the Shaanxi West Road shadow play. Some troupes use the above music to perform, and some use Qinqiang to perform, but most troupes mainly sing Longdong Daoqing. The materials used in carving Longdong shadow puppets are very particular. The best materials are black-haired bull skins in the green groove period with small teeth. The thickness of the leather is moderate, and the texture is firm and soft. In the entire production process, no matter it is selecting the skin, scraping the skin, rubbing the pattern, engraving the draft, coloring, sweating, brick ironing, etc., all processes are done with great care. Longdong shadow puppet carving artists have passed down from generation to generation, and the carving knife techniques are also very particular, including knife walking, pushing the skin, drilling, "bowl buckling", etc. The carving is carried out in the order of complex first and simple later, inside first and outside later. In the early days, Longdong shadow puppets were only about 20 cm high, with simple patterns and colors. Later, the shadow puppets were about one foot high, and the colors were mainly black, red, yellow, and green. Its overall shape is a big head and a small body (5:1), with a narrow upper body and a wide lower body, and arms over the knees. The head, chest, hands, legs and other parts of the body are connected with tendons, and several joints of the body are manipulated with three or five bamboo sticks according to the needs of the action. Through the projection of light, the shadow puppets perform various actions on the screen. In the late Qing Dynasty, large sets with complex patterns appeared in Longdong shadow puppetry, such as "Huaguo Mountain" and "Jinluan Palace", which were called "large sets" with a size of 220-50 cm, and medium sets were also 100 cm.