NEW YORK – Having a personal portrait made is usually an occasion of dignity and a sign of accomplishment. Usually. But it's hard to be stately when your portrait comes with a hand hole, a plush nose ...

The head is carved from wood. Mechanisms in the hollow head move the eyes and mouth. The main rod, made either of wood or bamboo, runs through the neck to the head, and the length varies. The hand ...

Xie Bangyin (right), head of the farmers' puppet troupe, practices manipulating the marionettes in Qitian, a village in Jiangxi's Tangfang town. In China, such puppet performances, where figures are ...