Love grows in Pingyao shadow puppetry club

Updated:2014-08-04 17:53
By Fang Sha ( chinadaily.com.cn)

Aming (on the left) and Xiaoyu (on the right) perform a shadow puppet show behind the screen in Longzaitian Shadow Puppetry Club on Aug 2 in Pingyao, Shanxi province. [Photo/Xinhua News Agency]

A close-up of Aming and Xiaoyu's stage props in Longzaitian Shadow Puppetry Club on Aug 2 in Pingyao, Shanxi province. [Photo/Xinhua News Agency]

Aming (on the left) and Xiaoyu (on the right) clean the windows of Longzaitian Shadow Puppetry Club on Aug 1. Each day the actors do the clean before the show. Pingyao, Shanxi province. [Photo/Xinhua News Agency]

Club members hold their puppets on the stage on Aug 2 in Longzaitian Shadow Puppetry Club, Pingyao, Shanxi province. [Photo/Xinhua News Agency]

A shadow puppetry club played host to real-life love story. Longzaitian Shadow Puppetry Club in Pingyao, Northern China's Shanxi province, is known not only for its excellent shadow puppet shows, but also its actors–all extremely short in height.

Aming and Xiaoyu (both pseudonyms) are actors in the club, and they are in love. The 24-year-old Aming comes from Henan province. When he read a report about the club that employs people who are short in height, he quit his job in Beijing to join it in Pingyao. There, he met the Shanxi girl Xiaoyu.

As they both have dwarfism, Aming and Xiaoyu share the same worries and are able to sympathize with one other. Aming said that people with dwarfism are eager for equality and mutual respect, and that his love with Xiaoyu makes him have the courage to pursue his dreams live against people's judgments. They both enjoy working as actors in the club.

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