Rod puppets are an ancient folk hand-manipulated performing art, which is called "elbow monkey" in Ruicheng. In the old days, there were many "elbow monkey" troupes in Ruicheng. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the old artist Shang founded the "Jinxing Troupe" of rod puppets, which has been passed down for more than 150 years. In the 1970s and 1980s, after being improved by the old generation of artists such as Huang Yaozi and Zhang Xiangyou, the rod puppets of Ruicheng became more mature and perfect. Ruicheng rod puppets are mostly used in folk activities such as weddings, traditional festivals, welcoming gods and competitions, and the performance venue is not restricted. Puppet props are large, medium and small, divided into dark rod puppets and bright rod puppets; the structure consists of three parts: puppet head, puppet shoulder and puppet rod. The puppet characters are divided into light hats and hard hats, and the clothes are divided into outer clothes and underwear (for connecting the rod); the shape is delicate and vivid, both hard and soft, focusing on depicting the character's personality, without facial stereotypes. The singing styles of rod puppetry are divided into Pu Opera and Xianqiang (the folk style is mainly Xianqiang), and the tunes of local operas and excellent folk songs are widely absorbed. The lyrics are smooth and delicate, with a distinctive style, and both singing and speaking are in Ruicheng local dialect. The main instrument is banhu, and the percussion instruments include opening gongs and drums, starting gongs and drums, and gongs and drums that match the dance movements on and off the stage; the tunes are divided into suona tunes and silk string tunes. The performances include fragments from traditional operas such as "The Good Wife of the Door", "The Good Wife of the Little Aunt", "Journey to the West", "The List of Gods", "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and "Water Margin"; folk operas include "The Little Cowherd" and "Wang Xiaoer's New Year"; modern operas include "Seven Jin Three Liang" and "Puppet". Ruicheng rod puppetry is a unique traditional opera art in the "Golden Triangle" of the Yellow River in Shanxi, Qin, and Henan. It integrates religious beliefs, folk customs, and life sentiments. It has a wide coverage and great influence, and has extremely high cultural protection value, artistic appreciation value, and opera research value.