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Peep shows a ‘Western mirror’
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A man wearing a skullcap and sunglasses sitting next to a mysterious cabinet used to be an attractive sight for children on the streets of Shanghai.
In a peep show, a small amount of money would get child a peak through on of the cabinet’s holes, revealing a world they never knew.
Peep shows used to be based on very simple optical effects. With set lights and magnifiers, the viewers saw big pictures showing Western sceneries, and so the peep shows were called “xiyang jing,” which means “Western mirror.”
Two kinds of “Western mirrors” were particularly popular at the time. One was just about seeing the pictures, while the other kind included story-telling and singing, and was shown on bigger props. The pictures used for such shows were usually connected in content so that the owner could tell a complete story, just like in a comic book.
Looking at ten pictures cost only about 0.02 yuan at the time. But not every child could afford the peep show. Some peep show owners also took empty toothpaste tube, old steel, or glass bottles as payment. If a child had neither, he or she would often stand near the cabinet and simply listen to the story.
Although the mirrors were popular among children, adults felt cheated when they saw the simple images and often demanded their money back.
Some were so angry that they stood next to the prop and tried to warn others. “Chaichuan xiyang jing,” or unmask the Western mirror, became a proverb in Shanghai dialect, used when talking about exposing a poor fraud.
“To watch xiyang jing” refers to looking at something novel and unexpected for free.
Though the xiyang jing disappeared from the streets of Shanghai for long, there is still a big prop set in the City God Temple in Yuyuan Garden, a legacy that reminds visitors of the old Shanghai culture.
The peep show at Yuyuan Garden features both picture watching and story-telling.
Apart from the traditional figures like the Monkey King and the Eight Immortals, new characters like the Shanghai Expo’s Haibao were also added.
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