"Three feet of silk make a stage, Ten fingers perform all the play; By moonlight beneath a lighted window-Springs laughter from the palm of a hand."
At the end of October, at the invitation of the Taipei City Government, the Fuhsingko Shadow Puppet Troupe from Mito in Kaohsiung traveled north to present two shadow puppet plays in the Taipei New Park, as part of the program for the Taipei Drama Festival. At 7:30 p.m., the performers started to beat their drums and gongs to announce the beginning of their display, and within minutes, the area in front of the open-air bandstand was crowded with some 1,000 spectators. They forgot for a while the bustle and tension of life in an industrial society as they were immersed in the charm of this ancient folk art.
Shadow puppet theater consists of using sticks and strings of marionette-style to control the movements of the strongly outlined leather figures, while a lamp is used to cast their shadow on a cloth curtain. To the accompaniment of such musical instruments as drums, gongs, cymbals, fiddles and flutes, the performers present historical stories and folk legends to spectators in a vivid and animated style.
The origins of shadow puppet theater can be traced to the Western Han Dynasty some 1,800 years ago when Emperor Wu's favorite consort died. The emotional monarch, stricken with grief, fell seriously ill. A Taoist priest known as Li Shao-wen lit a dim candle to cast a shadow of a girl resembling the dead consort on to a screen. The old Emperor was overjoyed at seeing the image of his beloved approach him, and was cured as a result. Later, Ton Chin Men Hua Lu recorded that during the time of Emperor Hui of the Sung Dynasty, shadow puppet theaters were set up for emperors and noblemen. As the entertainment became more well known among ordinary people, the golden age of the shadow puppet play started, coinciding with the end of the Ming and beginning of the Ching Dynasty. Among the schools most popular at that time were Luan Chow, Yueh Ting and Chien Chiao.
The folk art was brought to southern Taiwan from Chaochou in Kwangtung province some two hundred years ago, and later became an indispensable part of rural festivities. The shadow puppets are made from cow, mule or sheep leather tanned to extreme thinness. After being soaked in tung oil until they become translucent, they are painted in brilliant colors. Each individual part is cut out separately, joined with brass clips, and moved with wires or strings concealed behind the figure. The puppets are then attached to slender sticks which are manipulated to control the puppets during a performance. As in Peiping opera, the characters in shadow puppet plays are roughly divided into two categories--good and evil. To animate the puppets convincingly, the manipulators must have nimble fingers, sonorous voices, and above all patience and perseverance. According to an old master's estimate, it takes at least three to four years for a puppeteer to perform solo, and a lifetime to fully grasp the abstruse art of shadow puppet theater.
Traditionally, the puppets appear only in profile--facing left or right. They moved across the screen without any sense of depth, and gestures were restricted to movements of the head, arms, and legs. An ox cart placed in front of a temple was often used as a stage. A four by five feet cloth curtain hung up as a screen, and two oil lamps placed on either side of it were the main props. Over the years, several improvements and adjustments have been made to the presentation of shadow plays, however. The East China Shadow Puppet Company of Kaohsiung and the Fuhsingko Shadow Puppet Troupe, two of the leading groups in Taiwan, perhaps present the highest perfection of the art today.
East China is a family style shadow puppet company, with Chang Chuang, Chang Wang, Chang Chuan, Chang Chiao and Chang Te-cheng, five generations in all, each passing on to the next the family secrets, the set of puppets and the scripts. Chang Te-cheng, the current director, has devoted most of his time and energy to renovating the shadow puppet theater, carving the figures so that two eyes and most of the faces are showing, and adding colors, up-to-date furniture, animals, birds and sometimes even airplanes and artillery. He also departed from tradition by presenting the plays on television or on bandstands.
Compared with the East China Company, the Fuhsingko Shadow Puppet Troupe has a more traditional performing style and is therefore more popular with purists and conservatives. The screen has dimensions of four by five feet while the puppets are shown only in profile and are painted in the four traditional colors of green, red, black and white. After four years of practice, Chang Ming-son, its founder, became a master in the field at the age of 24 and has since held islandwide tours to give performances. When hostilities broke out between China and Japan. in 1937, the Japanese banned all forms of local theater. Chang, however, never neglected his puppets, and recruited Hsu Fu-nen, his future daughter-in-law, as his student. After several years of dedication, the troupe finally won the top prize in a shadow puppet play competitions this year.
This traditional folk art has helped to introduce Chinese culture to the world, and by so doing attracted many foreign tourists to come to Taiwan to marvel at its beauty and mysteries.
[Picture Caption]
The old masters of shadow puppet shows now stress making leather puppets to preserve this ancient folk art.
A shadow puppet show under way (opposite), and the operators arranging all kinds of puppets for the show (below).
The performers beat drums and gongs to announce the beginning of their display, and within minutes, the area in front of the open air bandstand is crowded with spectators. Below: The Fuhsingko Shadow Puppet Troupe presents plays in the Taipei New Park.
The old masters of shadow puppet shows now stress making leather puppets to preserve this ancient folk art.
A shadow puppet show under way （opposite）, and the operators arranging all kinds of puppets for the show （below）.
