About the speaker

Yeung Fai, born in Fujian, China, in 1964, is the fifth-generation inheritor of a distinguished glove-puppetry lineage. His father, Yang Sheng, was an internationally recognised master and founder of the Northern School of Minnan glove puppetry. Yeung began training in glove puppetry under his second brother at the age of six. At fourteen, he entered the Puppetry Programme at Fujian Arts School, where he later taught after graduation. Since the late 1980s, he has performed internationally and has been based in France since 2001. Widely regarded as a pioneer in bringing traditional Chinese glove puppetry into contemporary theatre, Yeung integrates multimedia imagery, conceptual music, and modern theatrical language into his work, exploring themes of memory, humanity, and global concerns. His signature work, Hand Stories, created at Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, has toured extensively worldwide, while his solo work Scenes of the Beijing Opera has been presented across Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Yeung is a member of France’s SACD, teaches at ESNAM, and serves as a visiting professor at the Central Academy of Drama in Beijing. Through his performances, creative work, and masterclasses around the world, he continues to explore new possibilities for glove puppetry while contributing to the transmission and renewal of this living art form.