Grandpa's ketzai theater:
But such examples are few and far in between. There's simply no way for these songs to gain much of a following in the modern life of today. Now, you've got to go to Ilan, the center of ketzai theater (Taiwanese opera) or to the parks of such towns as Luotung or Taoyuan, where the genre once thrived. There you can still see old folk, hair thinning and eyesight bad, singing ketzai.
Some bring their suo-nas to blow on, and others their fans, flicking them demurely. And still others have brought nothing more than their voices. A 92-year-old gentleman named Hsiao can neither play an instrument nor sing many ketzai tunes, but alone, to the rhythm of a poem he learned in his village school, he chants out ketzai lyrics that have been enlarged on a copier, loudly singing of the stories, romance and youth of his generation.
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Leaning on each other for support, the blind diva Yang Hsiou-ching would sing ketzai as her husband, Yang Tzai-hsing, provided accompaniment on strings. They used the ketzai to attract customers for the medicine they were selling. Now, at evening folk concerts, it's pure performance. (photo by Pu Hua-chih)
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In the 55 hand-copied Taiwan adaptations of the story of Liang Shan-po and Chu Ying-tai, Liang is a hero of northern wars against the Huns, and he and Chu Ying-tai come to life again and marry.
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From the epic "Song of Hirohito's Defeat" to the "Tainan Freight Canal Incident," which describes a tragic incident on the margins of society, to the amusing "War of the Fly and Mosquito,"ketzai booklets serve as a record of their age. (from the collection of Chen Chien-ming)
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The publishing house Chulin, located across from Hsinchu's City God Temple, is Taiwan's last publisher of ketzai booklets.
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Lin Yu-lai, the deceased former owner of Chulin, was a Taiwanese opera performer in his youth. Besides performing, he would often speak in stanzas of four lines and lines of seven characters. He put together numerous ketzai booklets. (rephotographed by Cheng Yuan-ching)
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With ketzai booklets in their hands, a few friends sing the songs they so love. This is how songs became popular in the old days.(photo by Vincent Chang)
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People would pick one of the songs whose names were tied to his arms, and he would use the song to tell their fortunes and put food in his stomach. (from Taiwan Folk Customs)