Imperial Play Masks

The first group in the procession was the 28 patriarchs who were priests native to India spreading the word of Buddhism (Laufer 30). An important feature of the mask is the crown which shows a drawing of the priest that the mask represents.  

Next came the Eight Fairies or Eight Apsaras. Known as the flying apsaras they originated in India within Hindu and Buddhist religions and were seen as heavenly figures. As Buddhism spread, China would create their own depictions of apsaras where they were seen as beautiful, graceful, and musical figures who guarded Buddha (Jing, 75). Taoist influences can also be seen in how Apsaras were interpreted in China with an emphasis being made on the beings' connection to nature. This can be seen in the names of the different apsaras and them all relating to nature like the Fairy of Autumnal Moon and Fairy of a Thousand Flowers. Some of the oldest depictions of these creatures can be seen in the Mogao caves where drawings of them were created around the Northern Wei period (Zhang 6).    

The three star gods also known as the gods of happiness have been around since the Yuan Dynasty but gained popularity during the Qing dynasty. The gods represent different blessings with Fuxing giving happiness, Luxing employment, and Shouxing longevity. People would worship the gods in their home rather than at a temple. 

The Eight Immortals legend appeared around 978 CE (Yang 2) in an anthropology of Chinese mythologies T’ai P’ing Kuang-Chi by Li Fang. The individual members of the Eight Immortals would continue to appear in a number of stories but would not be grouped together until the Yuan dynasty. The first time they would appear as a group would be in the Yuan drama  where Lu introduces himself and the rest of the immortals in song. (Yang 3). The Eight Immortals would continue to be mentioned in different plays but they would not always be named or be the same eight people. During the late Ming dynasty the Eight Immortals would be identified as how they are known today with the play Han-Tan Meng (The Dream at Han-Tan) by T’an Hsien-Tsu.

The last group of masks in the procession is the cast of the Investiture of the Gods (封神演義 Fengshen Yanyi) . A popular mythological story that blends Buddhism and Taoism elements together to create a story about Wu Wang overthrowing the Zhou dynasty (Laufer 32).