Which traditional Chinese performance art uses illuminated leather or paper figures behind a translucent screen?

The traditional Chinese performance art using illuminated leather or paper figures behind a translucent screen is Chinese shadow puppetry.

Performers manipulate flat, jointed figures between a light source and a translucent screen. The audience sees the figures’ silhouettes, while musicians and singers provide dialogue, narration, and accompaniment. Puppet bodies are commonly made from treated animal hide or paper, cut into detailed parts, colored, and assembled with joints so they can move.

Chinese shadow puppetry has regional styles, repertoires, and construction methods. Stories may draw on legends, historical episodes, romances, and religious traditions. It is not the same as opera, although shadow plays can include singing, instrumental music, costumes, and dramatic conventions associated with theatrical performance. The visual effect depends on transmitted light and the screen, rather than on painted scenery viewed directly.