When Taiwanese 3D filmmaker Charlie Chu made Unforgettable, a documentary depicting national treasures working in traditional arts that earned the Feature Film – Best Picture prize at the 2015 3D Korea Inter­national Film Festival, he included Wu Teng-hsing. Though not yet 30 years old at the time the movie was shot, Wu was included among the ten folk artists profiled because he was already a national-caliber lion-dance coach and international-­class lion-dance trainer and judge. 

A 1950s Beigan Mazu procession. In those days, the whole community took part in what was then a major event. (courtesy of Gao Shuhui)

Relentless training

Wu was born in Beigang, Yunlin County, to a family deeply involved in the traditional arts. His father, Wu Yanlin, was well known as the fourth-generation leader of the Deyitang martial arts school. But even though the younger Wu first took the stage at the age of four and was invited to perform in Guangdong, mainland China, while still just an elementary-school student, his father didn’t want the boy to follow in his footsteps.

But Wu loved performing in temple processions, and wanted to learn to make lion heads, too. Recalling his apprentice­ship, he laughs and tells us, “My father flatly rejected my request. But I was determined to learn and sought out another student of my father’s own master to apprentice to.”

He studied with this master for many years, and acquired a solid foundation in lion dance built on more than 1000 performances. At that point, his master told him he had taught him all he could and sent the boy back to study with his father. “It’s a good thing I really loved lion dance, because no one without that love could have learned anything from my father’s ‘method.’” Wu says his father was the kind of classic “genius” teacher who’d tell you, “Watch me do it, then you do it.” Regardless of whether he was being taught a lion-dance move or a technique used in making lion heads, Wu was required to silently observe his father in action. If he didn’t immedi­ately internalize the process presented, his father would scold him as an “idiot.” The younger Wu therefore grasped ­every chance he could to watch his father dance or make lion heads, studying his every move even if it meant staying up all night.

This harsh and personal learning process honed Wu’s focus and perseverance. “Later on, I could pick up pretty much whatever he did on just one pass.”

Wu recalls, “I didn’t have much confidence as a child because my father was always telling me I was dumb.” But he loved lion dancing, and resolved to keep practicing the art until he became good at it, regardless of whether he had any native talent for it. His memories of his childhood are of squatting in the horse stance, practicing martial arts, making lion-dancing props, and learning new techniques. It was a time of constant, grueling training, and then even more training. Though Wu’s skills skyrocketed throughout this period, it was only later that he realized that he did in fact have a good deal of talent.

Wu Teng-hsing paints his lion heads freehand, working from patterns and proportions that are in his head rather than from sketches. He even does the eyes all at one go.

The Longfeng Lion Dance Troupe

The Longfeng Lion Dance Troupe is uniquely Taiwanese, and specific to Beigang’s Deyitang martial arts school. The troupe’s unique dance style features a phoenix and dragon dancing along with the lions to music played on traditional instruments. Its performances are an important part of the Mazu processions organized by Beigang’s Chao­tian Temple, and are among the more unusual lion dances associated with Taiwanese temple events. Though the complex performances require the help of many people to pull off, there used to be no systematic means of handing the practice down to younger generations. This led to a break in the tradition that very nearly caused it to be lost.

“Lion dancing is a folk tradition with a long history. Over time, different regions have developed their own particular styles, as well as lion heads that look completely unlike one another.” Wu explains, “Beijing has Beijing-­style lions; Guangdong has Guangdong-style lions; Fujian has Fujian-style lions; and Taiwan has Taiwanese-style lions. Longfeng Lion Ensemble is built on the foundation of Taiwan­ese lion dancing. It’s a unique style that only exists in Taiwan.” In fact, Wu is the only person left who still knows the whole tradition, from how to produce the props to how to execute all the moves. He has established the Chinese Longfeng Lion Ensemble Cultural and Sports Federa­tion to promote the art and ensure that it doesn’t disappear. The content includes techniques from other forms of lion dancing—even those of Bagua lion dancing, which other teachers consider a closely held secret—that Wu has learned through more than 30 years of study.

These days, Wu teaches at schools all over Taiwan, and takes students to dance in competitions. He has also taught abroad in Nakhon Sawan, Thailand, at the invitation of the city’s association of people of Fujianese ancestry. “Overseas Chinese in Thailand have preserved lion-dancing culture, but have no one left who can teach the art.” It was this break in the tradition that led the associ­ation to look abroad for help.

“The president of the association watched YouTube videos of lion dances from all over the world and thought my style was the best, so he came to Taiwan in person to invite me to teach [in Nakhon Sawan].” Wu doesn’t care what form the promotion of Longfeng Lion Ensemble takes: he takes every opportunity offered and teaches every detail of the art, without holding anything back. To date, he has given training to more than 3000 people, both in Taiwan and overseas.

Making a lion head is a complicated process that takes months to complete. In one important step, glutinous rice flour and tapioca starch are mixed into a natural paste that is used to glue on ghost money. After the head-in-progress is dried in the sun, this step is repeated four more times.

A slash life

When Wu was six years old, he brought home a pretty lantern and told his family he wanted to earn money making lanterns like it. Though his parents were persuaded, he had to stop soon afterwards, when Beigang’s small lantern makers ended their lantern produc­tion. “When I was 16, Beigang reestablished a lantern competi­tion. I took the prize money I won from it and what I’d been able to work out for myself about lantern making, and went into the business.” By the time he was 18, he’d already become skilled enough to take home third prize in a national lantern festival, and only missed out on first place by a narrow margin. Then while fulfilling his military service he won a lantern competition at Beigang’s Chaotian Temple, and formally began what would be his “other” career, outside of lion dancing.

In 2004, Taipei’s Longshan Temple scoured all of Taiwan with great fanfare, looking for a lantern-making master to craft an important annual lantern. The temple ended up choosing Wu for his creativity. Just 23 years old at the time, he was the youngest master the temple had ever selected. The large lanterns that Wu has made for the temple for the past 17 years have been widely reported in the media and delighted innumerable visitors, both domestic and foreign.

Invited by the Ministry of Culture to be a Lantern Fest­ival instructor at the age of 28, Wu produced lanterns with high levels of cultural meaning and artistic value. One of these, a lantern in the likeness of the bodhisattva Guanyin, was described as “even more beautiful than a statue of her.” When Yunlin County organized a Taiwan Lantern Festival event in 2017, it hired Wu to make a set of lanterns referen­cing the aphorism “all birds look up to the phoenix.” Displayed on the Beigang Bridge, the lantern series was named one of the ten most beautiful in Taiwan. Meanwhile, the Beigang Cultural Center continues to exhibit two of Wu’s lanterns as part of its permanent collection.

Wu’s lanterns show such a deep respect for traditional religion and ­culture that the abbot of Malaysia’s Kong Leng See temple was moved to invite Wu to Malaysia twice to create Chinese New Year lanterns for the temple.

Besides making lanterns, Wu also works to preserve historical sites and artifacts. His interest in the field has its origins in the Jiya Society, a community-­level fraternal order founded in 1851. The modern-day society preserves many artifacts connected to traditional rituals, which helps us understand how our ancestors made offerings, delivered con­dolences, and prayed.

“As a child, I’d go to the society with my father to practice and perform,” recalls Wu. “Its building is on a route that the Beigang Mazu procession has been using for more than a century.” As a result, when Wu heard that the society was facing a crisis, he began digging into the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act, and taught himself to write and submit reports on historic sites and cultural artifacts. “I’ve never studied harder! The Jiya Society has since been registered as a county-level historic site and fully renovated, and its 150-year-old unfired clay sculpture of [the deity] Xiqin Wangye has been fully preserved,” says Wu with a joyous smile.

A lover of lion dancing, not book learning, Wu gritted his teeth and reviewed arcane laws, treatises and documents until he understood them, burning the midnight oil to write report after report on Beigang’s historic buildings and cultural artifacts. His efforts have led to several historic Beigang buildings and scores of cultural artifacts being registered as “tangible cultural heritage,” and helped many masters of traditional arts and crafts, such as the elderly jiannian (ceramic “cut and paste” sculpture) artisan Xu Zheyan, get registered as preservers of intangible cultural heritage.

Wu’s passion for traditional culture has turned him into something of a historian and archaeologist, and resulted in the preservation of many precious aspects of Taiwan’s traditional folk culture.

Wu’s personal collection includes more than 100 lion heads of more than 60 types. The photo shows a Beijing lion.

Perseverance makes dreams come true

“I have an important responsibility to pass on the handicrafts and dance techniques of Longfeng Lion Ensemble.” His dream is that future generations of ethnic Chinese will be able to experience lion dances in person, not just in documents and films.

“I’m the kind of idiot who never gives up. Luckily, my wife is very supportive. She gets my dream.” At the mention of his family, Wu’s expression becomes tender. He is over the moon that his son, who is just two years old, is already showing a love and talent for lion dan­cing. “He watches from off to the side as my students practice, and he can do the movements along with them. He dances pretty well.” Like father, like son: Wu’s boy not only looks like him, but has also inherited his talent.

On the other hand, Wu believes that talent isn’t every­thing. “I got where I am today because God doesn’t give opportunities to the talented, but to the persistent.” As director Charlie Chu’s documentary film says, “No matter how unsettled the environment, no matter the influences of the times, these people have never given up on their objectives. They want to ensure that our ancestors’ wisdom and our traditional arts will be passed down through the ages, from generation to generation, so that generations to come will remember their roots and retain that vital spirit.”            

a Taiwanese lion

an aluminum Taiwanese lion made in the 1960s

a Keelung lion

A Hong Kong qilin-lion.

Wu Teng-hsing made this lantern in the likeness of the bodhisattva Guanyin as the centerpiece for the Chinese New Year festivities at Taipei’s Longshan Temple. (courtesy of Wu Teng-hsing)

Wu’s “Flying Dragon in the Sky,” a traditional-style “long dragon” lantern, is part of the Beigang Cultural Center’s permanent collection.

Wu travels to Thailand every year to teach lion dancing to Overseas Chinese students ranging in age from elementary to high school. The group photo shown here was taken after a 2019 practice. (courtesy of Wu Teng-hsing)

Founded in 1996, YiTzy Folk Dance Theatre has performed in more than 100 cities around the world. The group, whose works highlight Taiwanese folk customs, has asked Wu Teng-hsing to be its Longfeng Lion Ensemble coach.