Glove Puppetry: 2010

2010年5月23日星期日

2010年5月16日星期日

2010年5月15日星期六

Our Mook “BuDai Show” will introduce you a Glove puppetry master, the story of puppet dramas, Glove puppetry and musical instruments. In the story of puppets, we introduce the puppets at different historical moments. For example, Japanese occupation period, Anti-communist and Anit-Soviet Puppets, and the early puppet dramas.

After we introduce the story of puppets, we will try to promote how to handle the puppets show and produce costumes for the handy puppets. At last we will introduce different characters in the famous Pi Li Glove puppetry.

I know. It’s Garfield.

Garfield? I think that is Pikachu.

Pikachu? Pikachu is live in Japan.

I guess that is SpongeBob.

It’s impassible. You saw too many cartoons.

Oh…maybe.

Do you know what it is, the audience?

SpongeBob!

Really!

2010年5月6日星期四

Combination Bring The Completely New Vision To Chinese Puppet Show

While wandering in the Tian-lu LI Puppet Museum, I met six people －two French, Hai-Li XIA, her friend and a guest lecturer of National Taiwan University of Art. They visited the museum to find valuable source for a research project of Chinese puppet that they planned to conduct after going back to France.

During our refreshing visit in the museum, we honorably had the company of Tian-lu LI’s descendent along the way. Luckily enough, there was a puppet show about the Chinese folk legend --- Wu Song’s fights the tiger. People there were all intoxicated by the wonderful show.

Afterward, his descendent introduced some interesting things of Chinese Puppet, for example, suona horn, a woodwind Chinese instrument. Due to his hospitality; we had the opportunity to visit their greenroom after the show.

The refreshing and lively show which was performed by the Giwaran puppet theatre group had combined the traditional performing art with the modern way of performance. Not only did this combination bring the completely new vision to Chinese puppet show, but at the meantime the pubic could learn more about this genre of performing art.

playbill

2010年5月5日星期三

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cool card

2010年4月24日星期六

Master of Glove Puppetry

Tien-Lu LI

Four generations, four family names. His life was destined to be a legend.

Li Tien-Lu was born at the corner of Bei-men street, Da-dau-cheng District, Taipei in 1910, which is now around the intersection of Yanping North road and Bei-men street at Taipei.

Li Tien-Lu's grandfather was named HeTu. He was his family name until an accident happened which make him to be adopted by the Shiu's and thus changed his name as He Shui Tu. Li Tien-Lu's father, the son of He Shui Tu, was called Shui Jin-Mu.

However, because of Shui Jin-Mu's uxorilocal marriage in the Li's, Li Tien-Lu had his surname as his mother. Like his father, Li Tien-Lu also had his marriage uxorilocal and became the Chen's son-in-law. His wife, Chen Cha, was the daughter of Chen A-Lai, owner of the troupe, “Yue Hwa Yuan”. They had two boys and two girls. Half of them were surnamed Li and the others, Chen. In the book《The Puppet Master》, Li Tien-Lu once sighed his life miserable. Four generations with four family names, traditional concepts about one's responsibility to carry on family pedigree and uxorilocal marriage opened the legendary life of the puppet master, Li Tien-Lu.

It is the bridle and spur that makes a good horse.
Li Tien-Lu's father, Shui Jin-Mu was also a puppeteer whose teacher, Shui Jin-Shuei in《Chu Yang Tai》,was the apprentice of the Quanzhou Nan Kuan puppet master, Chen Po. Li Tien-Lu started studying Chinese literature since he was seven in private school, “Tung Wen Jai”, until he went to Japanese elementary school at the age of twelve.

During this period, by day Li Tien-Lu studied ancient books as Three-Character Classics and Golden Treasury of Quatrains and Octaves hard; by afternoon he learned art from his father and followed his father performed puppet everywhere.

Shui Jin-Mu was a strict father. Any slight mistakes while performing the puppet were not acceptable and would lead to serious punishment. Therefore, it is common for little Li Tien-Lu to be knocked by puppets ruthlessly or even be kicked out of the stage.

Li Tien-Lu also confessed that those days apprenticing himself to his father were the most miserable part in his life. Yet maybe it is this kind of strict teaching that makes him world-renowned nowadays.

The mountain-years, laying solid basic skills.

Because of Li Tien-Lu's stepmother's dislike of him and the down payment of local troupe in Wenshan County that his father had already taken, Li Tien-Lu had no choice but left home alone with his immature skills and performed puppet around Wenshan, Shihding and Shenkeng when he was fourteen. At the beginning, he could only played two dramas, “Luo Ding Liang” and “Kuei Shing killed the monkey”.

Nevertheless, every since he had available times, he would go back to Taipei to learn new drama from his father, buy new puppets and then perform back in mountains.

Few years passed, his skills gradually improved. More and more audience liked his performance and even was willing to follow him over mountains just for watching drama after drama.

Back to Taipei, the rising star in the Taiwanese Puppet Theater.
At the age of eighteen, Li Tien-Lu came back to Taipei. After those years in mountains, all he thought in mind was to succeed and become famous in Taipei's highly competitive Taiwanese drama companies.

At first, he established “Yu Hwa Yuan Puppet Troupe” with the back-stage musicians in “You Shan Jing”. However, it didn't last for long time because of some reasons. Later, he performed in both Nan Kuan puppet troupes “Lung Feng Ge” and “Yue Hwa Yuan”. Also, it is during this period that he met with Huang Hai-Tai and Jung Ren-Shiang, who were already two well-renowned persons in the puppet theater at that time, and had friendship as good as brothers.

When Li Tien-Lu was twenty, he became the son-in-law of the Chen's family. He married Chen Cha, the daughter of Chen A-Lai, the owner of “Yue Hwa Yuan” and still served as leading performer in “Yue Hwa Yuan”. At the same time, with the ambition to have his own troupe, Li Tien-Lu started to prepare lots of puppets and a stage.

Two years after getting married, by the establishment of I Wan Jan Li Tien-Lu's dream finally came true. He took areas near Binjiang Street as performing center in the beginning. There were around ten performances in a month. Gradually, the influence of I Wan Jan extended to Keelung, Nangang, Lujhou and Sanshia.

By the invitation of the owner of “Chi Wen Ge”, Wu A-Wen, the Quanzhou puppet master, Chen Po had his eighth time to Taiwan for performing. However, as the saying goes, “Don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs”. There were so many Chen Po's apprentices at Taiwan but no one dared to be his assistant except Li Tien-Lu. With his blind courage, he and this eighty-six-year-old master performed “Tian Bo Lou” together perfectly and Li Tien-Lu was praised highly by Chen Po. It then became a good anecdote at that time. That year, Li Tien-Lu was only twenty-four years old.

7, August in the same year, a chance for Li Tien-Lu to advance I Wan Jan to the higher class had come. Because of the great annual religious ceremony, it is the first time in Li Tien-Lu's life that he had to perform with other two troupes at the same place.

Besides, the two troupes, “Wan Ruo Jen”and “Hsiao His Yuan” were the most powerful ones in the Taipei Theater. Hence, in order to attract most attentions while performing, he came out an idea and borrowed movable stage scenery instantly from Taiwanese opera troupe, “Li Chuen Yuan” at Keelung for the drama《Li Shr-Min traveled the Hell》. This unexpected move and effect made him win the most audience's attention. Since then, I Wan Jan became one of the most powerful troupes at Taipei.

New element, new style.

In 1927, Jau Fu-Kuei from Shanghai led a troupe of Chinese opera performers to Taiwan. Li Tien-Lu was an eighteen-year-old boy then. It was his first time to watch Chinese opera and he was quickly enchanted by this amazing art. In his point of view, Chinese opera was complete, brief but powerful, and much more compact than Pei Kuan, which could make plots smoother.

Due to the advantages and his affection for Chinese opera, Li Tien-Lu tried to introduce individual use of percussion instruments and orchestras according to the story into the back stage, put Chinese opera-style asides into Pei Kuan-based drama, and used lots of Chinese opera-style songs.

Even, the facial paint, clothes and crests in the puppet theater were made after Chinese opera. So, people used to regard I Wan Jan as the sect of “Wai Jiang”, which means non-local drama, and Li Tien-Lu himself was called the founder of “Wai Jian Puppet Theater”.

The war ended the art.
In 1937, the war between China and Japan broke out. With the attempt to repress Taiwan people's national consciousness, the Japanese colonial government began to implement so-called “Kominka movement”.

The content of the Kominka movement includes canceling Chinese column in the papers, encouraging Taiwanese to have Japanese surname, forbidding worshiping Chinese gods, restraining performances outside, and so on. In view of this, Li Tien-Lu decided to stop performances of I Wan Jan for a while.

Leaving the stage, Li Tien-Lu invested himself in tea and oyster business for a short time but all ended in failure for his improper management. Then, by his friends, he served as a rehearsal director in Taiwanese opera troupes, “De Yue Club”, “Da Lung”, “Hung Yue”, “Dung Shing”, “Dung Ya”, and “Gau Sha” successively. Sometimes, he also played a role on stage.

In 1942, Japanese colonial government established “Taiwan Drama Association”, allowing only seven puppet troupes at Taiwan to perform Japanese-style puppetry in the theater. Li Tien-Lu was thirty-three years old then. He participated in Chen Shuei-Jing's “Shin Guo Feng Ren Shing Troupe” to play the Kominka drama and became a member of Anti-Anglo-America propaganda force to propagandize for Japanese government by puppetry back in Shihding Mountains. By doing this, Li Tien-Lu usually took opportunities to perform traditional dramas secretly. In this way, traditional dramas had its little space to survive in the turbulent period.

Rising from the ashes, I Wan Jan became the king of North Puppet Theater.
In 1945, the year that Taiwan regained its sovereignty, the silent gongs and drums in puppetry finally got their sound back. Puppet dramas troupes sprang up all over Taiwan like mushrooms.

Since Li Tien-Lu had lost most of his properties in war times, he stayed at his first apprentice, Jang Huo-Mu's troupe, “Jing Jung Chi” temporarily to wait for a chance to return to the spotlight. Next year, Li Tien-Lu bought properties in troupes “You Shan Jing”, “Shin Sai Yue”, “Shin Guo Feng” and “Wan Ruo Jen” one by one. I Wan Jan then came back to the stage.

By the overall disinhibition of outdoor performance in 1951, I Wan Jan like a tiger out of gate had founded the prosperous heyday of puppetry.

Since 1952, Li Tien-Lu had led I Wan Jan to win the champion of north area in the national puppet competition for the past twenty years and thus founded his esteemed status as the king of puppetry.

Taiwanese traditional art on international stage.
At the end of the 60s, due to the prosperity of new entertainment media like television and Jin Guang puppetry, traditional puppetry comparatively lost its competiveness and grew sluggishly. Yet the worst time was actually the best time.

It was then that Li Tien-Lu met the French professor Jacques Pimpanean who taught oriental language and drama in Université de Paris VII. Professor Jacques Pimpanean started to study Chinese drama since the 60s.

In 1972, in order to do the field research about puppetry, he left Hong Kong for Taiwan and found Li Tien-Lu for help. They not only became best friends ever but their friendship grew a hope for the future of traditional puppetry.

With Professor Jacques Pimpanean's introduction, Jean-Luc Penso and other two French girls, Claire Illouz and Catherine Larue came to Taiwan to learn the art from Li Tien-Lu. These French students started from the most basic skills.

From the gestures, basic movement, to drama telling and interpretation, they spent about three years intermittently at Taiwan to learn. Then, in 1978, three of them established Theatre du Petit Miroir in France and started a tour in France, Europe, to the world.

Theatre du Petit Miroir successfully let Taiwanese traditional puppet drama to be known to the world so did the master, Li Tien-Lu. All of a sudden, people from France, America, Japan, Korea and Australia came to Taiwan to learn the art. These foreign apprentices with their new learned skills back to their countries also founded their own troupes. Thus, more and more overseas invitations relived I Wan Jan, which once dismissed in 1978 and began its cultural journey ever since.

Sowing the seeds of the traditional art made it a forest in the future.
In July, 1984, with the effort of the principal, Lin Shiou-Di and teachers, Guo Ruei-Jen, Weng Jian, and Li Han-Duen, Banciao Jeu-Guang Elementary School became the land for I Wan Jan to pass traditional puppetry on.

The school decided to add puppet instruction to the group activities in extracurricular activities as soon as the beginning of the school, in September.

They selected 32 children in the fourth grade with interest to take the class. Li Tien-Lu, Chen Shi-Huang and Li Chuan-Tsan were in charge of the stage while backstage masters as Liou Jin-Sung, Li Shuen-Fa, Tsai Wen-Cheng and Yang Tsai-Ming joined the class on by one. In the following year, Jeu-Guang Elementary School officially founded Wei Wan Jan, which showed its blood from I Wan Jan.

The success of Jeu-Guang Elementary School once again attracted people's attentions to traditional puppetry and encouraged the rise of puppetry-learning movement in campus. The participation of Chinese Culture University, National Taiwan University, Hsin-Pu Junior High School, and Ping-Deng Elementary School made this art be known and loved by new generation.

The seeds those teachers sew then had become a forest now.

Many of members in I Wan Jan nowadays were those children in the puppetry-learning movement. Other traditional puppet troupes faced the problem of lack of successors while masters became older and older. I Wan Jan had already taken over by the third generation.

Hou Shiau-Shian’s movie opened a whole new page in life.
There was an anecdote about Master Li Tien-Lu. Back to 1977, one day, a fortune teller from Tauyuan Dashi told Li Chuan-Tsan (the second son of Li Tien-Lu) that because of one good deed his father had done when he was young, the older he was, the farther he would go.

When Li Tien-Lu went to France at his French apprentices' invitation, Li Chuan-Tsan thought that's it. However, he didn't think that by the director, Hou Shiau-Shian's unique insight, the name of Li Tien-Lu was going to become wildly known to non-puppetry fields around the world.

In 1986, the director, Hou Shiau-Shian went around to find a perfect person for the role, a grandfather in《Dust In The Wind》.

Through Chen Huai-En and Yang Li-Yin's recommendation, director Hou met Li Tien-Lu and then invited him to perform the grandfather in his movie. This childish old master thought that he had almost performed all kinds of drama at Taiwan, except movie. Thinking of this, he immediately said yes to the director and thus got into the world of movies.

Li Tien-Lu's natural acting was exactly what director Hou asked for. Since then, Master Li could never be absent from Hou Shiau-Shian's movie.

The movie,《The Puppet Master》 which was filmed based on the story of the young Li Tien-Lu came out in 1993. Since the film was nominated in Festival de Cannes, Li Tien-Lu had the chance to lead I Wan Jan to perform on stage.

When it was announced that 《The Puppet Master》won the Jury Award, the director Hou supported Li Tien-Lu with his hand to receive the award together.

On the stage, Li Tien-Lu with a pair of black sunglasses enunciated “Merci” (that is, thank you) in French. This interesting scene amused all the audience. This good new back to Taiwan caused another great sensation which he never expected.

The inauguration of the museum, the end of the old master's journey.
Late in Li Tien-Lu's life, he moved to Sanzhi with his second son, Li Chuan-Tsan and didn't show up in public activities as much as he used to be.

However, those properties that he spent most of his life with were still the most concerned thing in his heart. He always tried to find a perfect place to settle them.

By chance, a local landowner knew his aspiration and as good luck would have it, he had available houses for sale. In view of this, Li Chuan-Tsan bought the two houses in front of his own for building the Li Tien-Lu Hand Puppet Historical Museum.

The museum was started to build on 19, September in 1995 and was inaugurated on 31, December in 1996. Officially, it was named Li Tien-Lu Hand Puppet Historical Museum.

On the opening day, besides the president, Li Deng-Hei and many other important politicians, Li Tien-Lu's friends no matter they lived at Taiwan or in other countries all came to congratulate in person, which made the old Master's face glow with honor.

More importantly, the construction of Li Tien-Lu Hand Puppet Historical Museum signified a landmark on history of traditional puppetry which meant the new history was going to be created.

In July, 1998, on the eve before I Wan Jan leaving for Festival d' Avignon in France, Li Tien-Lu was sent to Taipei Veterans General Hospital and thus had to pass the visit. Yet, even though he was in a sickbed, he still concerned their performance far in France all the time.

On 13, August in the same year, since Li Tien-Lu became seriously ill, the families followed the traditional custom and took him home. With company of all his families and apprentices, the puppet master, Li Tien-Lu passed away by heart and lung failure at the age of eighty-nine.

LOGO

Mook's introduction

墨客Bu Dai Show將會介紹布袋戲界的大師、布袋戲偶的故事、布袋戲的樂器，還有目前台灣的布袋戲文物館…等。

在戲偶故事中，我們會介紹不同時期的布袋戲偶。像是日本時期的布袋戲偶、金光布袋戲偶時期，以及古早時期的布袋戲偶，最後還有霹靂布袋戲偶。除此之外，還會介紹布袋戲偶的製造過程、服裝。

Our Mook “BuDai Show” will introduce you a Glove puppetry master, the story of puppet dramas, Glove puppetry and musical instruments. In the story of puppets, we introduce the puppets at different historical moments. For example, Japanese occupation period, Anti-communist and Anit-Soviet Puppets, and the early puppet dramas.

After we introduce the story of puppets, we will try to promote how to handle the puppets show and produce costumes for the handy puppets. At last we will introduce different characters in the famous Pi Li Glove puppetry.

Logo

Amy Ma's promotion video

Promotion Video

In our Mook, we introduce about a Glove puppetry master, the story of puppets, Glove puppetry musical instruments, and exhibit information and so on.

2010年4月7日星期三

Create own memory in Pi Li exhibition.

After you coming Traditional Hand craft Artists’ Studios, will discover many puppet carve exquisitely, wear gorgeously cloth in a shop window. This specialty shop exhibit the puppet is once fashion in Taiwan, called Pi Li puppet show.

Most surprisingly is after entering the shop will see not only Pi Li puppets but digital correlation goods, like cloth, poster, cup etc.

In addition, the second floor has some setting about Pi Li puppet show; the tourist can take a picture with Pi Li Exhibition. It’s the best souvenirs to tourist after coming Pi Li Exhibition.

Amy, Cindy, Leo, Tahki

Experience Glove puppetry by oneself.

The National Center for Traditional Arts is not exhibits hand puppet in Exhibition Center, but also sales hand puppet correlations goods in Traditional Hand craft Artists’ Studios.

Ho Lo mill is one of them, it sales mush nostalgic goods. To promote the puppet’ value, it used the characteristic packing.

Before entering the shop, will see a color pavilion in the entrance. The tourist can use the puppet on color pavilion performed their own puppet show in Ho Lo mill.

In Ho Lo mill, the puppet in The Journey to the West, Romance of Three Kingdom, and Chivalrous swordsman from Yuan Districts etc was exhibited; through the game by poking the box will get the weapon for puppet or retrospective toys.

Tahki & Cindy
photographer: Amy

Cindy, Amy, Tahki
photographer: Leo

Learn more about Glove Puppetry in NCTA.

The National Center for Traditional Arts have a specially exhibition for traditional drama. The most stunning production is Stage Components of Hsiao Hsi Yuan.

The traditional hand puppet show’s stage are called “color pavilion” is used the great camphor wood to carve; stuck on gold-foiled color painting, the stage seen like a dazzling, grand, splendid and magnificent palace afar.

Color pavilion can not only segment between the stage and backstage also the performers and audiences; it offers a setting of the show, too. The color pavilion’s carving well or not will affects the show’ complete.

Except color pavilion it has exhibit some representative of puppet, like Liu Pei, Kuan Kung etc; valuable, rare celluloid puppet.

The Hsiao Hsi Yuan Puppet Theater is skillful to performers and brisk overseas, like France, Spain, Sweden, Holland, Germany, U.S.A, Canada etc.
It has traverse the five continents to exhibit the Traditional Taiwanese arts, is called the best culture diplomacy ambassador.

The Hsiao Hsi Yuan Puppet Theater was joining the Ninth Puppet theater contest in Plaque, 2005, with the theme of “Taiwan Temple Fairs”, they won the prize of “the Best Performance”.

Protect the Traditional Arts by NCTA.

On January 28, 2002, National Center for Traditional Arts started to work on the park and commenced a series of events making us the main organization for traditional arts in Taiwan.

The park is separated by many areas. Among the areas, Exhibition Center is used for special exhibitions and research reports; Graduate School of Traditional Arts and Crafts is offer the artists’ studio to flow across tours; Traditional Music Hall and Modern Theater have a design which can accommodate plays, concerts, conferences and other performances; Traditional Hand craft Artists’ Studios are 33 shops in total including studios and some exhibition spaces, Besides it invite and welcome skillful and creative craftsman to com and work here where they can interact and mark direct contact with audiences; Head Aberdeen Kiln is sales the tradition souvenir. In addition, the park offers the places to difference performance in three difference open air areas.

The National Center for Traditional Arts official website is having an introduction for Traditional Taiwanese Arts. In classification of Traditional Taiwanese Arts likes Drama, Crafts, Music and Circus all have an exposition of words and photos. Traditional Arts is separated by an administrative division of Taiwan and in the light of culture and tourism. If you wanted to see more, they will offer the link to correlation organizations official website.

2010年1月21日星期四

PALMARDRAMA3

Videos refered from YouTube.

PALMARDRAMA2

Videos refered from YouTube.

PALMARDRAMA1

Videos refered from YouTube.

PALMARDRAMA

Videos refered from YouTube.
I cut the film myself.

Commercials (15X15)

Contributors' notes/ Editor's notes

MOOK, a classical English learning magazine, published with efforts. By reading, you would learn about Taiwanese Puppet Show, and understand the old past easily.
To promote the young’s learning vitality, MOOK could be an omnibearing reference book. It’s available to the public to increase their self-esteem, and help possess ones of great intelligence. If you don’t want to outstand becomes outlet, please be sure to read "MOOK".

Cover(NOT OVER)

The Historical Culture To The Visitors With Passion To Satisfy Tourists By Tahki Huang

Theme pavilion of Taiwanese Puppet Show was established in 2003 and operated by the folk art lovers who also care about local community over a long period of time. After many a setback, it has become the symbolized and cultural implied museum by JHENG, Siou-Siang who administers positively.
The original shopkeeper was attracted to the reconstruction of the street environment, and worked with puppet merchants to construct the local puppet theatre. In addition to the puppets, costumes and properties, there is a small teaching park. Siou-Siang is a daughter-in-law of Tamsui, watching over the Old Street. She often introduces the historical culture to the visitors and communicates with locals. Children also like to go there after school.
She often introduces the historical culture to the visitors with passion to satisfy tourists. So we can also name it “Story House” and “ Music House”.

The house shows characters of puppets; furthermore, we can get some information about Tamsui over here. The theme song of “ Beautiful Garden” was performed by the local young man, YOU, Jing-Yi, described the affection for the township.
The building was built in the medium-term of Japanese-Occupied Period, and decorated with washed pebbles. There is an attic up there and connected with stairs. It has been appraised as ancient sites. The origin of this building is a home school; although its indoor isn’t spacious, it has rich historical cultures.

Tahki Huang

Tahki Huang, 20, studies in Fu Jen Catholic University and major in Mass Communication.she was born from a middle-class family, and raised in Taipei since December 2th,1988. Art is her favorite subject, whenever just to believe herself, her heart is filled with great joy and interest.
She likes to drawing, playing music and she have many hobbies such as drawing, watching movies ,dancing, shopping and playing music . She should take her live seriously and cherish every minute. Besides, she is really an optimistic, lovely person, and she is confident that she can be a responsible one at this.
She had studied a lot. As for her future, It must be hard and full of mean tricks, but she is really enjoyed in the process of overcoming the obstacles and completing the tasks. She will accomplish her wish step by step. She could be do the best of her ability.