# Happiness Kingdom Canonical: https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom Happiness Kingdom, 2023. Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment. He Fa’s role: Co-design of formats, rules and models, and organisation through P4. 2023 / Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment Citizens emerge from discarded materials, and the characters made by participants continue to act and live. Puppets and a setting for Happiness Kingdom, published in April 2023. He Fa’s role Co-design of formats, rules and models, and organisation through P4 Credits in the collaborative archive Happiness Kingdom, Shi Jiating, Tian Xinyi, Bangbang and participants Documented strands Dream Factory; Seven Princes and the Strawberry Princess; image-making activities He Fa’s account His signed May 2024 text lists it among formats he designed or helped design ## Work record Happiness Kingdom, 2023. Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment. He Fa’s role: Co-design of formats, rules and models, and organisation through P4. Work / series Happiness Kingdom Date 2023 Medium Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment He Fa’s role Co-design of formats, rules and models, and organisation through P4 Catalogue section Collaborative practice Cite this record: Happiness Kingdom · 2023 · Co-design of formats, rules and models, and organisation through P4 · [https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom) [2023-04-29 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-04-29-幸福王国-五一七天乐-来一起做玩偶吧-1cd3e57fa8/) [2023-05-05 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-05-05-玩家招募-幸福王国之-七个王子与草莓公主-ccb1a8e873/) [2023-05-10 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-05-10-是观众更是演员-大门已开-王子-你准备好了吗-6883f82d2e/) [2023-05-09 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-05-09-幸福王国-5月12日-来成为我的王子吧-e5b10d1e0f/) [2023-06-22 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-06-22-幸福王国-这周六-塑像活动之破坏大面具-0d1b4f9427/) [2023-07-19 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-07-19-幸福王国-塑像活动-审判屎家庭-a06b001c48/) [2024-05-12 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2024/2024-05-12-p4-剧场-一所生成的大学-一条蜿蜒的迷宫-一块铭刻生命的硬盘-5a35325457/) WORK WORLD / OPEN FROM HERE Does making a character change how one can enter a story? ## Entering a role through making Happiness Kingdom first invited participants to make puppets together from discarded objects, paper and lightweight clay. Makers gave each character colours, a personality, allergens and skills, establishing its identity as a citizen of the fictional world. Images published in late April 2023 already show colourful figures, handmade settings and installations. The Dream Factory call for 1–7 May invited further participants to make props for subsequent theatrical activity. The May call for Seven Princes and the Strawberry Princess turned audience members into visiting characters. They were asked to bring a small handmade gift and enter through conversation, talents and improvised games. Public texts by Shi Jiating, Tian Xinyi, Bangbang and others extended the world from different roles. June’s face-painting and July’s Trial of Shijiating expanded character-making through bodies, colour and collective construction. ## The scope of co-design In his signed 2024 retrospective, He Fa includes Happiness Kingdom among the rule-based formats he “designed or helped design.” This supports a co-design credit while characters and texts retain their respective authors. The archive presents the realised puppets and settings alongside the announced event structures. A proposal to film and edit an event remains a proposal, rather than a completed film credit. ## Works & details Handmade setting detail from the Happiness Kingdom Dream Factory call. Characters and handmade objects in Happiness Kingdom; individual makers are not specified in the image credit. ## Moving image & related documents [2023-04-29 · Source article (Chinese) ↗](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-04-29-幸福王国-五一七天乐-来一起做玩偶吧-1cd3e57fa8/) [2023-05-05 · Source article (Chinese) ↗](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-05-05-玩家招募-幸福王国之-七个王子与草莓公主-ccb1a8e873/) [2023-05-10 · Source article (Chinese) ↗](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-05-10-是观众更是演员-大门已开-王子-你准备好了吗-6883f82d2e/) [2023-05-09 · Source article (Chinese) ↗](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-05-09-幸福王国-5月12日-来成为我的王子吧-e5b10d1e0f/) [2023-06-22 · Source article (Chinese) ↗](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-06-22-幸福王国-这周六-塑像活动之破坏大面具-0d1b4f9427/) [2023-07-19 · Source article (Chinese) ↗](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-07-19-幸福王国-塑像活动-审判屎家庭-a06b001c48/) [2024-05-12 · Source article (Chinese) ↗](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2024/2024-05-12-p4-剧场-一所生成的大学-一条蜿蜒的迷宫-一块铭刻生命的硬盘-5a35325457/) ## Archive note Compiled from contemporary public calls, project descriptions and later records. Retrospective accounts and announcements retain their distinct dates; English translations were prepared for this archive. ## Continue exploring ### Personal Chronicle / PHA Begin with a personal account, propose a project publicly, and continue the archive through action. ### Romance Theatre Shared exercises and lived encounters return through documentation to theatre. ### P4 Theater Spaces, participants, events and documentation change one another through sustained work. CLOSE READING / 2026 CURATORIAL INTERPRETATION ## Happiness Kingdom Does making a character change how one can enter a story? ### Begin with what happens in the work Participants make figures from discarded materials, paper and lightweight clay, assigning colours, personalities, skills and other features. Later invitations ask visitors to bring handmade gifts and enter roles through conversation, performances and improvisational games. A world begins with a small object made by hand. A figure’s personality is not prewritten in a hidden database; paper and clay can change the character its maker imagines. Gifts, conversation and games then carry those identities into exchanges among people. Making objects and making theatre are not separate categories here. A thing is made, acquires a name and relations, and becomes something another person can answer when entering the story. There is an echo, with differences, of Gewu’s lamps. The lamps fix generative rules into an object; Happiness Kingdom lets objects receive further names and uses from other people. Yet the fictional world still has invitations, points of entry and dates. Openness does not mean an absence of structure. The portfolio should give each maker and initiator a clear position, allowing visitors to enter through He Fa’s work and continue toward others’ works rather than absorbing every contribution into a collective label. ### The limits of this reading Plans to make a film are not counted as a completed film. Other people’s characters and texts do not become He Fa’s individual works. Based on the 2023 figure-making and activity texts. He Fa’s signed 2024 recollection supports his co-design role. [Work archive and source documents](#work-record) [2023-04-29 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-04-29-幸福王国-五一七天乐-来一起做玩偶吧-1cd3e57fa8/) [2023-05-05 · Source article (Chinese)](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2023/2023-05-05-玩家招募-幸福王国之-七个王子与草莓公主-ccb1a8e873/) TAKE A PATH ACROSS ## Other paths from this work. Working together How tabletop things compose a world [Happiness Kingdom](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom) ↔ [Gathering](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/ju) Gathering assembles tables, people and rooms into surrounding images; Happiness Kingdom develops character relations from handmade figures. Both organize worlds through concrete things, while montage and shared object-making retain different authors. 2023 / Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment 2009 / Photography, light box Read the source materials Work image [Images and presentation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/ju#chapter-1) In the first image, table, food, people and room fragments form an encircling composition, with directions changed by the collage. Period document [Entering a role through making ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom#chapter-1) Public materials from April–May 2023 describe collective puppet making, assigned personalities and role recruitment; individual roles and texts retain their own authors. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=ju) Working together ### How tabletop things compose a world [Happiness Kingdom](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom) ↔ [Gathering](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/ju) Gathering assembles tables, people and rooms into surrounding images; Happiness Kingdom develops character relations from handmade figures. Both organize worlds through concrete things, while montage and shared object-making retain different authors. 2023 / Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment 2009 / Photography, light box Work image [Images and presentation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/ju#chapter-1) In the first image, table, food, people and room fragments form an encircling composition, with directions changed by the collage. In the first image, table, food, people and room fragments form an encircling composition, with directions changed by the collage. Period document [Entering a role through making ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom#chapter-1) Public materials from April–May 2023 describe collective puppet making, assigned personalities and role recruitment; individual roles and texts retain their own authors. Public materials from April–May 2023 describe collective puppet making, assigned personalities and role recruitment; individual roles and texts retain their own authors. Language in transit What identity does a name give an object [Happiness Kingdom](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom) ↔ [Gewu Studio / Products and Spatial Experiments](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/gewu-products-and-spaces) Tantan’s naming text connects ten homophones to temperaments and flowers; Happiness Kingdom lets makers give figures personalities. Names extend objects’ meanings in both, while a series-naming proposal differs from an ongoing shared world. 2023 / Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment 2012–2013 / Parametric design, products, 3D printing, spatial proposals Read the source materials Period document [Entering a role through making ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom#chapter-1) Public materials from April–May 2023 describe collective puppet making, assigned personalities and role recruitment; individual roles and texts retain their own authors. Period document [Ten names for Tantan ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/gewu-products-and-spaces#chapter-6) The Gewu Tantan text connects ten homophonic names with temperaments and floral images; it is a naming proposal. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=gewu-products-and-spaces) Language in transit ### What identity does a name give an object [Happiness Kingdom](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom) ↔ [Gewu Studio / Products and Spatial Experiments](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/gewu-products-and-spaces) Tantan’s naming text connects ten homophones to temperaments and flowers; Happiness Kingdom lets makers give figures personalities. Names extend objects’ meanings in both, while a series-naming proposal differs from an ongoing shared world. 2023 / Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment 2012–2013 / Parametric design, products, 3D printing, spatial proposals Period document [Entering a role through making ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom#chapter-1) Public materials from April–May 2023 describe collective puppet making, assigned personalities and role recruitment; individual roles and texts retain their own authors. Public materials from April–May 2023 describe collective puppet making, assigned personalities and role recruitment; individual roles and texts retain their own authors. Period document [Ten names for Tantan ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/gewu-products-and-spaces#chapter-6) The Gewu Tantan text connects ten homophonic names with temperaments and floral images; it is a naming proposal. The Gewu Tantan text connects ten homophonic names with temperaments and floral images; it is a naming proposal. 2026-10-04 / ARCHIVAL ADDITION ## Source materials, process and versions The Happiness Kingdom Is Family directory is connected to the existing work. Camera numbering identifies sources without assigning unverified names, relationships or events. [C0317.MP4 ↗](https://b.p4theater.cn/sources/cv-happiness-kingdom-ec9cd02f8ac4) [Follow the other material strands ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/reading/materials-and-process#happiness-kingdom) FROM HERE, ELSEWHERE ## Passages between works [When another person enters](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/paths/another-person) Participants make figures, bring gifts and enter roles; different authors keep adding to the world. Participants make figures, bring gifts and enter roles; different authors keep adding to the world. ### Related records in the archive [Personal Chronicle / PHA ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/personal-chronicle) 2023 [Romance Theatre ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/romance-theatre) 2022 [P4 Theater ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/p4-theatre) 2015–present