The Hsi Kang Hsiang fair, a festive religious gathering held once every three years, attracts music and drama troupes from 72 villages.

At the last fair, the Tou Niu (bullfighter) troupe dazzled its audience with an exciting and interesting show, the Niu Li (plowmen) troupe proved to be nimble and charming, and the Sung Chiang troupe performed powerful and courageous feats of Kung fu....

But one troupe, carrying a colorful banner in front of them that read the T'ien Tzu Men Sheng, marched through calmly playing beautiful Chinese music. The troupe's six young female singers walked in cool collection, fanning themselves in beat with their song. They were flanked on each side by musicians playing four-stringed Chinese banjos (yueh-chins), flutes and two-stringed Chinese violins (erh-hsiens and yeh-hsiens).

On the plaza in front of the temple, they sang a verse. Then the mixed group of young and old leisurely entered the temple, which was smokey with incense, and sat down to sing verse after verse of traditional southern Chinese songs. The May sun and fair crowds stayed outside.

It is somewhat startling that a troupe that appeals to the ears with exquisite classical music can hold up against flashier counterparts that grab their audiences' attention with active, visual presentations.

The king's beggar student: T'ien Tzu Men Sheng performance has its origins in the story of cheng Yuan-ho, a frustrated Ming Dynasty scholar. After failing his mandarin examinations and spending his travelling money, the young man wandered, destitute and down on his luck, until he was saved by beggars who survived by busking at the roadside. Later he was admired by the famous prostitute Li Ya-hsien, "who covered him with her embroidered coat and took him home with her." With the encouragement of a great beauty, he finally passed the examinations with high honors, and the emperor posthumously gave him the title of "T'ien Tzu Men Sheng." From this point on, beggars bestowed on themselves the title, and their busking laid the foundation for today's performance troupes.

A great number of troupes that are largely musical in orientation have their roots in begging for food. These include the Wen Wu Lang Chun, Pai Shou Chang and Chi Hsiang troupes, which are concentrated on the Chianan plain, particularly in Tainan County.

"Perhaps this concentration is because there have always been fairs held at temples in the south," suggests ethnologist Huang Wen-po. "These attracted a lot of beggars, who would come and beg for food, and they indirectly promoted gatherings of these kinds of performance troupes." The troupes share more than roots. They are all currently facing the same crisis: a dearth of musicians.

In fact, there are some troupes that perform dramas accompanied by music and dance, such as the Niu Li or Tao Hua Kuo Tu troupes, which have begun to play tapes backstage in lieu of live music. It's a problem that no traditional performance group can avoid. As soon as it hits the busiest part of the season, a company without its own band must book musicians long in advance. The less fastidious just go ahead and turn on the tape decks. If there's nothing to hear, at least there's something to see.

Get them from somewhere: Troupes that are purely musical, like the T'ien Tzu Men Sheng or Wen Wu Lang Chun, have had to make a choice: cut down on the size of the band or enlist the help of outsiders. Most of these companies are entirely made up of bewhiskered old men. The Chengshan Temple of Chiali Township in Tainan County has the only Wen Wu Lang Chun company in all of Taiwan, and its Chinese viola and two-stringed Chinese violin players have all been hired hands since 1988.

As for the singers up at the front of the stage, most of them come from families right in the community with a little encouragement from Mom and Dad. "At the beginning you've got to read the lyrics and know them so well you could read them backward before you can start singing them one line at a time. It will take at least three months before you won't be out of rhythm. If you want to get to where you're singing in harmony with the others, it's simply a bottomless pit," explains Wang Tienpen, the leader of the troupe at the Chengshan Temple. "But by the time the girls are well trained they're 20, and then one after another they get married and leave the area--and you've got to start all over again."

To the difficulty of training those at the front of the stage and the shortage of capable musicians at the back, add the problem of a simple style of performance--in comparison anyway to most of what's offered up at temple fairs. As a result, troupes uniformly bring together their performers from their community right before a procession, and none of them are full-time professionals. "If your own company is short of performers, how can you help out another company?" explains Wang Tienpen. Wang's wife, who takes care of making the tea and washing the group's costumes, sighs and adds, "If it wasn't for this being passed down since before our ancestors came from the mainland, would all this toil be necessary?"

There is, in fact, only one reason for all this hard work: tradition. Currently the five T'ien Tzu Men Sheng companies based in Tainan County and Taiwan's sole Wen Wu Lang Chun troupe all hail from the 72 communities of the Hsi Kang Hsiang fair. One hundred and fifty years have passed since the first fair was held in 1847. Of all the companies, the Chengshan Temple's T'ien Tzu Men Sheng, the Wen Wu Lang Chun and the Pa Chia Chiang have been called the Hsi Kang Hsiang fair's big three. The principal deity of the Chengshan Temple, Ch'ien Sui Yeh, has designated the three as his guards, and only they have the right to play inside.

And perhaps the T'ien Tzu Men Sheng has been able to survive only because of this special right. While the temples are still working hard to bring these troupes together once every three years, what of the future? As the old masters back stage pass away and the young lose interest, one can't help but wonder if the T'ien Tzu Men Sheng will succumb to convenience and fashion and become karaoke T'ien Tzu Men Sheng.

[Picture Caption]

T'ien Tzu Men Sheng has its roots in the story of the Ming Dynasty scholar Cheng Yuan-ho, who was first a beggar and then passed his mandarin examinations with high honors. In performance, the troupe's young women fan themselves as they croon, accompanied on ei ther side by musicians playing traditional southern Chinese instruments.

The Hsikang Fair's Wen Wu Lang Chun is the only troupe of its kind inTaiwan.

Troupes like T'ien Tzu Men Sheng that focus on performing traditional southern Chinese music are all facing a lack of musicians. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)

The Hsikang Fair's Wen Wu Lang Chun is the only troupe of its kind inTaiwan.

Troupes like T'ien Tzu Men Sheng that focus on performing traditional southern Chinese music are all facing a lack of musicians. （photo by Pu Hua-chih）