The age-old water puppet performances still thrive in Vietnam thanks to efforts from local troupes and the government. [Photo/China Daily]

Behind the stage, puppeteers, both male and female, stand waist-deep in the water, manipulating the puppets on the water's surface through a complicated system of long strings and long poles below the waterline.

Some puppeteers from the Thang Long Water Puppet Theater in Hanoi say that they often drink hot water and apply mashed ginger to their half-submerged body when the outside temperature dips below 12 C.

Some Vietnamese water-puppet troupes have a repertoire named Vo Tong da ho (Wu Song Fights a Tiger). Wu Song is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, who kills a tiger with his bare hands.

The traditional art has proved popular with tourists. Thang Long Water Puppet Theater says that its 250 seats are full every day.

However, maintaining the tradition is not as easy.

"We are experiencing financial hardship. Our puppeteers have to do extra work to make ends meet," says Nguyen Dang Dung, head of the Dong Ngu Water Puppet Group.

Recently, the top leader of Bac Ninh has assigned the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to build an overall plan to develop Dong Ngu water puppetry, which was born in the 11th century.

Local authorities in Hanoi's Dong Anh district, home to Dao Thuc Water Puppet Group, are also seeking ways to maintain and develop this art.

"We are recruiting and training young puppeteers. Young people will make use of information technology more easily and conduct promotion campaigns more effectively," says Ngo Minh Phong, head of Dao Thuc Water Puppet Group.

Thang Long Water Puppet Theater, the most developed professional puppet group, also went through difficulties in the late 1980s when video and TV became common.

Thanks to its tireless efforts to revive the art, the theater performed monthly, then weekly and daily, with five performances a day now. The theater conducts over 2,000 performances a year, on average, introducing water puppetry to over 50 countries.