皮影是由民间工艺美术与民间戏曲相结合而形成的。表演皮影戏时，影人通过灯光照射投影到白色幕布上。由于影人都是皮革制成，因此被叫做皮影。

Shadow plays are a combination of traditional Chinese opera and folk arts and crafts. During shadow play performances, shadow characters are projected onto a white screen by reflecting bright light. As the characters are made of leather, they are known as piying (literally “leather shadows”) in Chinese.

　　皮影表演者除了一人要控制三四个影人以外，还要会配乐配音，嘴上要说、念、打、唱，脚下要配合锣鼓。

Shadow puppeteers not only control three or four different puppets at once, but also perform background music and voice the characters. These skilled performers must simultaneously narrate the play, recite the dialogue, sing accompanying librettos, manipulate the puppets, and tap gongs and drums with their feet.

　　技艺高超的艺人能同时操纵七八个影人，常常看得观众眼花缭乱。尤其是神话和武打故事，只听铜锣齐鸣，影人枪来剑往、腾云驾雾，场面非常热闹。这正是其他戏剧表演难以做到的地方。也正因为如此，在电影没有出现以前，皮影戏在民间很受欢迎。

A highly skilled performer is able to manipulate seven or eight shadow puppets at the same time, dazzling audience with complicated and well-choreographed scenes. Plays depicting fairytales and myths as well as acrobatic fighting are especially lively and animated. The gongs blare out in unison as the shadow characters fight with spears and swords and speed across the screen. It would be difficult for other forms of theater arts to produce such extraordinary performances. As a result, shadow plays were extremely popular among the Chinese people prior to the introduction of movies.