Hand Stories

Over 50 years of Chinese history in an one-hour puppetry

Two pairs of hands manifesting five generations of puppetry in Hong Kong's only remaining pre-WWII cinema building

“His puppets fight with sticks, seduce each other all with such grace and precision that they appear to be dancing in the hands of their master.” Le Temps

It starts with hands: his father’s hands, his brothers’, his countrymen’s and above all his own.

Set against the vast changes that swept through China during the 20th century, this poignant story of a boy’s journey to freedom in the West is both a thrilling spectacle and the personal history of Yeung Fai, youngest in a line of five generations of puppeteers.

Hand Stories is a magical hour-long show that brilliantly interweaves modern multimedia effects with traditional Chinese glove puppetry. Manipulating a dazzling panoply of classic Beijing Opera with figures extraordinary virtuosity, Yeung Fai and French puppeteer Yoann Pencolé reveal secrets of an age-old art form enhanced by Taiwanese visual artist Yilan Yeh’s stunning images and Australian composer Colin Offord’s original score. The cast of characters in this fantastical performance include tigers, dragons, elegant concubines, clashing warriors, and a special guardian angel in the form of a die-hard rock music fan.