A dozen "elephants" popped up inside the China Puppet Theater on March 12, moving onto the stage one by one and triggering cheers from among the audience. This was the opening scene of a puppet show titled The Elephants Are Coming.

The performance is based on an elephant herd's 1,300-km odyssey in Yunnan Province in southwest China, which attracted global attention. The elephants started their journey northward from their usual habitat in March 2020 and returned in August the following year with the help of a monitoring team as well as residents of areas along their route.

Every adult "elephant" is 2.5 meters tall, 2.8 meters long and 2.6 meters wide. After performances of more than one hour, the puppeteers inside the costumes are often covered with perspiration. 

(Text and photos by Wei Yao)

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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