For years, Lu Defeng fought back hurt when people visited the warehouse where he worked as an administrator and asked for his parents. Lu is a dwarf, a minority long condemned to lonely lives and lowly jobs in China.
But Lu, 25, found a job with Dragon in the Sky, a Beijing shadow puppet troupe that only employs dwarves, giving them fulfilling jobs and helping to keep an ancient tradition alive.
“It’s difficult for us short people to find a job. We are not tall enough or strong enough,” said Lu.
Dwarfs have traditionally faced discrimination on the mainland and have fared no better in an increasingly modern and competitive economy.
But shadow puppetry is a niche in which dwarfs enjoy a comparative advantage.
Performers need to be relatively short to manipulate cut-out characters held up in front of an oil lamp that projects their shadows onto a paper screen.
The plays are an ancient form of Chinese narrative, often used to tell myths and fairytales for children, and remain popular.