Promoting animation technology in preserving and reintroducing Wayang Cina Jawa to younger generations

Wayang Cina Jawa (Wacinwa) is a traditional shadow puppet show (wayang) in Java, Indonesia, in which the characters are an acculturation result of Javanese and Chinese culture. Wacinwa is a cultural artifact from Yogyakarta and the surrounding areas. Wacinwa's acculturation can be seen in the design of the puppet, which is dominated by Chinese nuance and is performed using Javanese ways to deliver the narration. Unfortunately, this one-of-a-kind show has been discontinued without a successor since 1967. Because Wacinwa's assets system is similar to animation, this research suggests that animation technology could be an alternative way to reintroduce Wacinwa to younger generations. This study concentrates on the animation's character design. We conduct an in-depth interview with people who are familiar with Gan Thwan Seng (a puppeteer and writer of many Wacinwa scripts from Yogyakarta, Indonesia) and his work. Data were collected from interviews dan literature. This study found that Kho Ping Hoo's script can be adapted in a new form as we designed as 2D character animation in the Wacinwa style.