In the recently announced International Puppeteers Union Scholarship 2015, Lin Xiaoran of the Shanghai Theatre Academy stood out from 44 candidates from 19 countries and became one of the only two scholarship recipients. She is the first-ever scholarship recipient from China.
This good news was first reported by Xinhuanet.com and attracted great interests of other internet and print media, which reprinted the news very quickly.
The International Puppeteers Union was established in the 1920s. It is an international NGO and cultural agency under the UNESCO. As a professional puppet art agency with a long history and extensive influence in the world, it has 97 national members including China which joined in 2002. The winning of the annual scholarship this time by the student of STA is symbolic of the outstanding Chinese young puppet art elites gradually making their way onto the international stage.
From 2000, the International Puppeteers Union started giving scholarships to students and practitioners of puppet art as a means of financial support for them to complete their study and training. By last year, the scholarship program has awarded 213 people.
Lin Xiaoran from the Shanghai Theatre Academy is a student of puppet major at its Chinese Traditional Opera College. As per the arrangement of the International Puppeteers Union, Lin Xiaoran started a two-week-long workshop of modern marionette performance skills training in France on 13 April 2015. Upon completion of the workshop, she will make an on-stage performance together with seven other students to showcase the style of Chinese traditional puppet art and that of Chinese young puppet art elites.
