Taking the World by Storm: High Energy Puppet Theater Sweeps Taiwan

When the subject is budaixi (tradi-tional Taiwan puppet theater), everybody has heard of Shi Yanwen, the Yunzhou Confucianist; of the Man Behind the Mirror, the master of a thousand crimes; of Nu Shenlong, who weathered numerous vicissitudes of fate; and also of the amusing Two-Tooth. Their lives lasted for 583 TV episodes, and are part of the collective memories of people who are today about 40.

Tragic hero, cold and isolated. Signature poem: Love has already passed into the other world, my heart is already dead, so I will live my life sword in hand.

Today budaixi is making a comeback. The fourth generation of the family of Huang Churn-hsiung (who created the first wave of televised puppet theater all those years ago) have come up with their own look, which they call "High Energy Puppet Theater." They not only have their own cable channel, but their characters-like Su Huanzhen, Ye Xiaochai, and Yi Yeshu-have become beloved idols of the younger generation. Each has his or her own fan club, and they have appeared in comic books, novels, computer games, and small theater performances. There are even more than 40 websites devoted to High Energy Puppet Productions (HEPP).

Clever even if sometimes double-dealing; at times a villain, at times a hero. Signature poem: Part deity, part saint, part spirit; fully Confucianist, fully versed in the Way, fully virtuous.

Tension! Excitement! What magical ancient artifice has HEPP resorted to in reviving budaixi, this entertainment form long in the wilderness? How has it attracted hip "new new youth" to this traditional art form?

In June of 1997, the cover of the Chinese-language edition of People magazine was graced by the presence of Ye Xiaochai, the most popular of all the characters of High Energy Puppet Productions. With People, HEPP co-sponsored a contest to compare their budaixi characters to contemporary political figures. When the blizzard of votes-more than 12,000 in all-had been counted, the cultured and handsome crimebuster Ma Ying-jeou, the former Minister of Justice, was deemed the best fit for the Confucian hero Shi Yanwen. Provincial Governor James Soong was chosen as best match for the character of Su Huanzhen-a wily tactician who confuses opponents and always wins in the end, and who is always concerned about the country and the people. Also paired were Ye Xiaochai, he of the unlucky love life, with actor Cheng Yi-chien; and the Dragon Lady with Sisy Chen, spokeswoman of the Democratic Progressive Party. These matchups of the fictional and real, ancient and modern, attracted a lot of attention and commentary.

Descendants of Shi Yanwen

After the voting, HEPP then did a show with the avant-garde Crown Experimental Theater. Video images, real actors, and puppets were brought together on a single stage. What's traditional budaixi doing mixed up with alternative theater? Huang Wen-chi, program director at HEPP, finds nothing strange about it at all: "Our puppet theater has always been alternative!"

To be sure, HEPP is a aberration in today's world, in which most traditional art forms rely on government subsidies to exist. On their own, they have held a series of promotional activities and have managed a resurgence of puppet theater. Even people who aren't budaixi fans wonder what their secret is.

Though HEPP has only been attracting attention in the last year or two, its roots can be traced back four generations. Chairman Huang Chung-hua and vice-chairman Huang Wen-cheh are the sons of televised-budaixi pioneer Huang Churn-hsiung. His father is Huang Hai-dai. Now 97, Hai-dai was the founder of the "Zhou School" of budaixi, and is considered a "national treasure" in Taiwan. His father was Huang Ma, the successor to the famous late-Qing puppet master Shi Ajun. Thus this clan has been involved in puppeteering for four generations.

Budaixi first became a TV favorite back in 1970. At that time, Huang Churn-hsiung drew upon the unusual dialogue and speech patterns of the Zhou School, and added lighting, special effects, and contemporary music, to produce The Yunzhou Confucian Hero Shi Yanwen. The show had an audience share of up to 90%. If you watched it, you can probably remember how Shi always came on to the strains of music borrowed from the film The Ten Commandments, or the theme song for the heroine Nu Shenlong.

But all good things must come to an end. Competing TV stations began doing copycat shows, and the novelty wore off. Moreover, the show was criticized in the press for its weak plots. After four years on the air, it was dropped, on the grounds that it "disrupted the normal routine of agricultural and industrial work and thus shook the foundations of the nation."

A new wave for budaixi

The government decided to allow puppet theater to be televised again in 1982. Huang and his sons went back on screen. But they faced a myriad of entertainment competitors, and the use of Mandarin alienated much of the traditional (mainly Taiwanese) audience for budaixi. Ratings hovered down around 30-40%, and there was no repeat of the astounding impact of the early 70s when the streets virtually cleared at broadcast time.

After seven years of on-and-off broadcasting, because of poor advertising revenues and other reasons, budaixi again withdrew from TV. But what else was there for these professional puppet artists who had been doing it all their lives? The Huang brothers, Chung-hua and Wen-cheh, always alert to opportunities, built themselves a huge studio in their hometown of Huwei in Yunlin County with the aim of developing programs for video and cable TV, which offered more freedom.

Chung-hua, 43, recalls that then was the peak era for video rentals, and HEPP wanted to get into videos quickly to take advantage of the existing consumer base of budaixi viewers. At that time, budaixi was one of the three pillars of the video rental market (the others being Hong Kong serials and videotaped stage variety shows). The success of video sales allowed HEPP to build up a war chest. Then, by chance, came the opportunity to establish a satellite broadcasting station.

A satellite station had signed a contract to broadcast HEPP. But the station folded, owing HEPP tens of millions of NT dollars. The Huang brothers begged and borrowed funds wherever they could, and took over operations, establishing the High Energy Channel in 1995. Chung-hua, who was insistent upon buying the station, explains: "It wasn't enough to rely on video alone; in this mass media age, having a satellite station puts one in an even stronger position." Wen-cheh adds: "In an age when there was no mass media, my grandfather took 20 years to build up a widespread reputation, but my father, relying on TV, became well-known overnight. It's vital to control a media outlet."

New-style martial-arts dramas

In moving from the wooden puppet stage to the TV studio, the biggest change was in being able to cut the film to portray amazing feats of martial arts prowess. This involved introducing the specialized division of labor of TV production.

On-screen, Ye Xiaochai walks confidently through a sand-blown wilderness. Suddenly, from behind, there seems to be something sinister. Ye stops, sighs, looks around, and then sticks his sword into the ground. The magic power of the sword rends the earth, reducing rock to dust. This forces the enemy out, and the two fly through the air as they battle. One turns, lands on the branch of a tree, then flies into the air again. After countless exhausting rounds, Ye finally is able to drive off his foe with his incredible martial skills.

Chiang Wu-chang, an ethnologist who specializes in traditional puppet theater, says that, with their meticulous recreations of martial arts combat and intense background music, HEPP is working very much in the same vein as Hong Kong action film director Tsui Hark.

On screen everything looks seamless, but it's another story when you go to the studio. There are nearly 20 members in the filming team, working in a studio with nearly 30,000 lights. First, the special lighting and magic effects are done using computer animation. The cameramen and puppeteers then superimpose the actions of the puppets. Meanwhile, people responsible for lighting, props, and puppet costumes, as well as apprentices, run about doing their various tasks.

What appears to be a single sequence on TV is, in the studio, filmed as a series of discrete actions, and then later tied together. Take for example the fight scene involving Ye Xiaochai that was described earlier. There is one shot for the two puppets grappling hand-to-hand, one shot for a leap into the air, one shot for the character landing on the tree. . . . Editing turns these into a continuous action sequence. High Energy gets a lot of praise for its efforts in making the actions of the puppets look real, for capturing the right feel, and for the precision of the martial arts moves. Chiang Wu-chang remembers one time when he was watching the filming and HEPP shot a single motion as many as 40 times.

Budaixi goes Hollywood

Senior director Wang Shun-chung notes that puppet theater is filmed, like the movies, using only one camera. The work is much more precise than in the traditional three-camera TV format, but requires triple the time. A big difference between budaixi and live actors is that for the former the dialogue track is recorded first, and then it is up to the puppeteers to make the movements fit the dialogue and story line. Puppeteers today must thus adapt themselves to the camera, doing the required movements within a definite camera field and with precision timing; but they understand nothing about live performances on the puppet stage.

Hsu Kuo-liang, director of the Little West Garden Puppet Theater, which is well-known for its preservation of tradition and great refinement, agrees that through editing, televised budaixi achieves a strong visual impact. But he says that the puppeteer-ing techniques are simple and crude. From this you can see that TV and live puppet theater are actually two completely different art forms. As for how HEPP should be categorized, Huang Wen-cheh laughingly says: "The latest budaixi should be called high-tech budaixi!" In fact, they do not aspire to become an elite troupe in the circle of traditional puppet troupes. "We want to be the Steven Spielbergs of budaixi, creating high-entertainment Hollywood-style films," says Huang Chung-hua.

Pop music, pop language

Despite the fact that TV and traditional budaixi have taken different paths, one thing that is still maintained is that one person does all the voices. Wen-cheh, known as the "master of a thousand voices," says that the voicing of the dialogue is the very soul of budaixi, and gives a special flavor that cannot find a substitute in ensemble overdubbing. But HEPP's voice-overs, like its soundtrack music, have a unique style.

In the past, for TV, Huang Churn-hsiung integrated the various regional pronunciations of Taiwanese, creating his own personal dialect that transcended geographic boundaries. Now Wen-cheh is trying to break through the prejudices many young people feel about Taiwanese dialect.

Traditionally, budaixi used a combination of Beijing and Taiwan dialects, with each role having its specific linguistic form, some using vernacular, some using classical Chinese. But in his voicings Wen-cheh creates a language mode for each role. The hero speaks in the most highly literary form; his pronouncements are virtually poetry. But minor comical characters use the slang of contemporary youth, and no terminology is out of bounds. Indeed, in usage Huang has even created a kind of "Mandarinized Taiwanese." Thus some terms from Mandarin are not translated into Taiwanese according to their meaning, but simply have their written characters from Mandarin pronounced in the Taiwanese dialect. Other times, Taiwanese terms come out in Mandarin. Though many traditionalists are critical of this, these terms are now tripping off the tongues of young people. You might even hear a kid say, "That is just too High Energy!"

I rejoice at the failure of others!

Last June, the China Times sponsored an essay contest on the subject "My favorite budaixi character." They received more than 2000 submissions in less than one month. Devoted fans treat their favorite characters as real, and do more research into the roles than even the scriptwriters.

Chung-hua is in charge of role development. He says that the biggest differences now, as opposed to traditional scripts or those of the Shi Yanwen era are that, first, HEPP uses a different conception of time and space, and second, the characters are not one-dimensional embodiments of good or evil.

The events of New Energy puppet theater lack clearly defined delimitations of time or space, so anything can happen. Thus Ye Xiaochai is a grandfather, but retains his youthful good looks. Dead characters are perhaps only pretending to have died, or maybe it was some other character who died instead. It is even more likely that they have simply been resurrected through taking over a living person, reincarnation, reattaching severed body parts, or being subjected to magical cures.

"The definition of a hero in HEPP is a character who knows how to survive," explains Chung-hua. Thus the lead character, Su Huanzhen, frequently feigns death or surrender, and in one battle at the "Gate of Death," he sacrifices his friend to save himself. He also causes enemies to slaughter each other by sowing rumors. This type of character-adaptable and not above double-dealing-never existed in the old days, when there was always a clear line between the good guys and the bad guys. Chung-hua feels that such characters are popular because they "reflect modern society." "In the complex world in which they live, there is no absolute good guy or bad guy," says writer Chuang Ya-ting, "but after all, that's only human!"

Chung-hua quotes from the great master of martial arts novels, Jin Yong: "I've always felt that in fiction, an individual's character and feelings are more important than his or her social significance." Huang feels that stories designed to make a moral point are oversimplified, and real life is much more complicated. What he likes is to capture human nature, as in the Chinese opera classic The Fourth Son Visiting His Mother, which retains its emotional impact today because the son is torn between family and country, wife and mother.

Dead fish back to life

In making the transition from a traditional theater group to a satellite TV network, besides integrating new technology, it has also been necessary to leave behind the old marketing style in which the key to a lucrative business was cultivating good relations between the troupe and temples. "Some people focus on the fact that we have been continually innovating in terms of production, but I think that, for a traditional arts troupe, our operating innovations are even more important," says Huang Wen-chi.

Puppet theater has always been deeply rooted in local Taiwanese culture, and has been especially popular among older, more traditional people in central and southern Taiwan. (That's why virtually all the ads are for old-fashioned remedies!) In those areas, 100% of the cable providers purchase their programming. The High Energy Channel is also very popular in Taipei County, where most of the residents are immigrants from southern and central Taiwan. But for a long time budaixi couldn't break into the urban market of Taipei. In an effort to change its image to enable it to reach all Taiwanese, traditional and cosmopolitan alike, HEPP began a series of promotional activities.

First came an island-wide tour by two puppeteering "national treasures," Li Tien-lu and Huang Hai-dai. Activities on the tour included both highly refined traditional live budaixi and contemporary TV budaixi. HEPP wisely invited ethnologists-who have wide connections in the field of traditional culture-to organize the event. As a result, virtually all the major puppet theater families from all over Taiwan were brought together. In the world of budaixi, where each "school" carefully distinguishes itself from its competitors, this was truly unprecedented.

Repackaging puppet theater

Aiming to reach a new segment of society, HEPP has held its promotional activities in places crowded with the fashionable and cultured elite of Taipei-such as department stores, the Eslite bookstore group (a key cultural barometer for Taipei), and Crown Art Center. It has gradually modified the image of budaixi in the eyes of urbanites. And its other promotional activities (the previously mentioned matching of its characters with political figures, and the essay contest with the China Times) have also brought wide media attention.

This series of activities has had its intended effect, and last year the High Energy Channel broke into Taipei City. Now 90% of the Taipei TV audience can pick up HEPP through their cable networks.

Besides repackaging budaixi, HEPP is expanding its contacts through computer networks. In addition to the triple coverage of TV, video, and the Internet, HEPP has worked with a computer software company to produce its own computer game, attracting more from among the ranks of the plugged-in. Further, HEPP has struck out along another pathway currently popular with kids by having its own serial in a comic book weekly. "Young viewers are the future of budaixi, and university students in particular are the opinion-makers of the future. So we are focusing on attracting the youth audience," says Chung-hua.

At both the Taipei branch and the main headquarters in Huwei, you will find that all the advertising and PR people are of the "new new youth." Huang Wen-chi, who is management level, is not yet 30; the staff of the High Energy Club, which has the most direct contact with the public, averages about 20; and Wei Pei-hsien, editor-in-chief of the High Energy Monthly, was born in 1968.

For an operation in transition from traditional arts troupe to popular TV station, these young people are the key, as they are the ones who really understand what kids like. By spinning off websites, computer games, comic books, and martial arts novels from the original TV series, HEPP is flooding all the marketing channels that most interest youth. This is how their puppet kingdom has been able to expand.

Between tradition and innovation

HEPP grows out of the "jinguang (flashy) puppet theater" televised format. At first, this form, which was widely popular, was criticized by scholars and traditionalists. It was said to lack the traditional qualities of refinement in the movements of the puppets and elegance in puppet design. It was also said that the dialogue was too modern and idiomatic, and that the plots were filled with magic powers and feats too ridiculous to be credible (the "flashiness" refers in part to the common sight of characters smiting enemies with magical light rays emitted from their hands). Thus did traditionalists-who felt they were being hurt by the vulgarization of their art form-attack the "reformers" of the "flashy budaixi" school.

But now many realize that, even if there were no jinguang puppet theater, traditional budaixi would still be in crisis. Scholars and traditionalists are looking at "flashy budaixi" in a different light, placing traditional and innovative forms in the same genre. Puppet master Li Tien-lu notes that modern budaixi grew out of traditional budaixi, just as its innovations will be tomorrow's traditions. Just as budaixi shifted from nanguan music to beiguan in the past, so high-tech budaixi is moving toward science fiction. This is a question of progressive stages and different approaches, and there is no conflict amongst them.

Hsu Kuo-liang of the Little West Garden Puppet Theater feels that there is plenty of room for everyone; there is no need for uniformity. Today traditional puppet theater's main competition is alternate forms of live performance, not TV budaixi. Hsu is happy to see such a variety of forms, including refined traditional, educational (aimed at children), and even "flashy." However, he still feels that it is a shame that HEPP, by relying on the unbounded reach of TV, has created a situation in which the audience only consumes video budaixi.

Hsu also has reservations about the exaggerated and impossible feats of the characters in TV puppet theater, and of the plot twists, designed to appeal to the tastes of a certain audience segment. "I don't oppose accessibility to a mass audience, but vulgarity is going too far!" After 500 episodes, such plots become stale, and that's a problem that can't be resolved by packaging or promotion.

Innovation is our tradition

To be sure, after 500 episodes, breaking out of the established pattern is now the biggest challenge facing HEPP. However, for the Huang family, innovation is their greatest "tradition."

Huang Hai-dai changed the tradition of basing puppet theater on old tales of crime, instead developing swordsman dramas based on folk literature. Huang Churn-hsiung was the founder of "flashy budaixi." And the Huang brothers have turned puppets into a corporate enterprise.

One afternoon, 97-year-old Hai-dai takes the bus by himself to visit the studio of his grandchildren. Still hale, he picks up two puppets and breaks into a routine. He declares that "a man's footsteps are rough, a woman's delicate." In his hands, the very feminine daughter of an established family, with graceful and refined gestures, bends her frame and seats herself with deliberation and elegance. Just talking off the top of his head, Hai-dai spins tales from King Wen of Zhou to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms with emotion and meaning.

"You can't destroy tradition, but you've also got to stay ahead of the modern audience," says Huang Hai-dai, praising both old and new. The grandfather of the group feels that traditional puppet theater is rich in meaning, and it is a shame no one wants to learn it today. But, he also has praise for high-tech special effects that have light rays blasting out of the characters' hands, calling them electrifying and progressive. The 97-year-old doyen concludes: "We live in the nuclear age, you have to be able to use technology."

As for the future of budaixi, Grandfather thinks the best mix would be "two parts tradition, eight parts modernization." So long as the influence of the classics is present throughout, there's no need for the form to stagnate within any particular parameters. By holding fast to traditional secrets and yet accepting a variety of innovations, the fun will never stop.

A Golden Palm in the works?

Amidst the onion and garlic fields of Huwei Township, the brothers Huang are building another studio. Inside, detailed scenery, complete with buildings and pavilions, is being hurried to completion. This is High Energy's new movie studio. Their first feature film, costing about NT$60 million, is scheduled for release this summer.

In recent days, Chung-hua has been holding discussions with Chan Hung-chih, who handled sales and promotion for the internationally acclaimed film The Puppet Master (about a budaixi master). They are talking about how to get puppet feature films into international festivals. Explains Chung-hua: "We are not out to win prizes, but to push budaixi films toward the international market."

Do you remember when you were small taking a stool to the front of the temple to watch the puppet theater? It seemed for a while that traditional budaixi was in its sunset years, but now it is leaping onto the silver screen, and wooden puppets will become movie stars. That's something Shi Yanwen certainly never would have imagined!

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It appeared to be curtains for traditional puppet theater, but now it is making a comeback by relying on high technology and stimulating plot lines.

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Great attention to detail and clever editing can make the amazing martial arts and magical feats of the puppet characters that much more believable.

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Ye Xiaochai

Tragic hero, cold and isolated.

Signature poem:

Love has already passed into the other world, my heart is already dead, so I will live my life sword in hand.

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Su Huanzhen

Clever even if sometimes double-dealing; at times a villain, at times a hero.

Signature poem:

Part deity, part saint, part spirit; fully Confucianist, fully versed in the Way, fully virtuous.

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The heart and soul of High Energy are the Huang brothers, Chung-hua and Wen-cheh. In the photo they are in their new studio, inspecting props to be used in their first feature film.

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Shang Jun

Many marks of a hero, but things never seem to work out the way he wants.

Signature poem:

Events shift and turn endlessly; he who fails to find the world absurd is a fool!

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From the street stage to satellite TV, the Huang clan of Huwei, Yunlin County, has built a puppet empire.

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Discussing the proper balance of tradition and innovation, Huang Hai-dai, now 97 and considered a "national treasure," says that tradition must not be eradicated, but it is also necessary to stay a step ahead of the audience.

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Heibai Langjun

Wears his feelings openly; partakes of the paths of both good and evil.

Favorite saying:

Others' failures are my happiness!

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The Development of a Puppet Theater Kingdom

First generation: Huang Ma

Second generation: Huang Hai-dai

Third generation: Huang Churn-hsiung

Fourth generation: Huang Chung-hua, Huang Wen-cheh (High Energy Group)

The Realm of the Puppet Kingdom

Video production

Satellite TV station

Computer websites

Computer game cartridges

Publications (comic books, novels)

Musical recordings

Product development and manufacture

Film making

Chart: Tsai Wen-ting

The heart and soul of High Energy are the Huang brothers, Chung-hua and Wen-cheh. In the photo they are in their new studio, inspecting props to be used in their first feature film.

Many marks of a hero, but things never seem to work out the way he wants. Signature poem: Events shift and turn endlessly; he who fails to findthe world absurd is a fool!

From the street stage to satellite TV, the Huang clan of Huwei, Yunlin County, has built a puppet empire.

Discussing the proper balance of tradition and innovation, Huang Hai-dai, now 97 and considered a "national treasure," says that tradition must not be eradicated, but it is also necessary to stay a step ahead of the audience.

Wears his feelings openly; partakes of the paths of both good and evil. Favorite saying: Others' failures are my happiness!