rd Paper presented at 3 conference of European Association of Taiwan Studies
Paris, France, 30-31 March 2006
Preliminary draft, not for citation
From Local Theatre to National Symbol of Identification:
Process of Taiwanization in The Theatre P±-tē-hì
Chen, Longting
Diwan College of Management in Madou
The puppet theatre (p±-tē-hì) is one of traditional cultural arts, which were once
assumed to inevitable decline in Taiwan. It is a miracle that the puppet theatre
unceasingly survived and presented Taiwan as a result of the icon election. The campaign “Show Taiwan to the World” launched last year (2005) by the Government
Information Office, it consisted in asking Taiwanese citizens to vote on which of 24 different images most distinctively symbolize Taiwan. With some 780,000 people voting, an image depicting the folk art of glove puppetry has emerged as the top choice of the people, garnering over 130,000 votes. The runner-up was an image of
Jade Mountain, the highest peak in Asia east of the Himalayas. In third place was
Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building. The selected icons will be used to promote the nation internationally. It is interesting to note that the main process of Taiwanization in the puppet theatre developed from a form of local entertainment to symbol of national identity. In the age of globalization, this campaign is highly meaningful events that can help the Taiwanese people rediscover aspects of their country of which
they can feel proud, and maintain their Taiwanese identity.
A great deal of effort has been made on Taiwan’s puppet theatre. What seems to
be lacking, however, is its relationship with identification. Based on the analysis of
“phenomenon Sú Iān-bûn”, we will discuss the relationship among of Taiwanese theatre, language, and political symbol. The results of this study show that the
“resistance” of folk culture is a contributing factor to promoting Taiwanese identity.
Introduction
First of all, we have to consider one historical event. The puppet theatre played
an important role on election campaign in Taiwan. One of remarkable events is “who
murder Sú Iān-bûn” in 1994, which evoked the bitterest passion and collective
memories under the authoritarian historically. Sú Iān-bûn was a very famous role of
puppet theatre in the age of 1970s, which was created by œg Chùn-hiông and was
broadcast live on Taiwan Television. Both the introduction of mass media and
government interference influenced this ancient form of performance. Before its
arrival of television, the puppet theatre was an important element of local religious
worship and entertainment. The most audiences have been exposed to television for
many years in 1970s, and pupils preferred to imitate the dialogue in Taiwanese
language of the puppet theatre. Because of opposition to the national language policy
of KMT government, the outstanding program of œg Chùn-hiông “Sú Iān-bûn, the
Great Confucian Hero of Hûn-chiu” which performed in Taiwanese was prohibited from mass medium.
The event “who murder Sú Iān-bûn” had a great influence on election campaign and then the politician was apt to take a picture with the glove puppet. The importance of this political gesture is not the performance at all, but awakes the identity of
2 Taiwanese consciousness, or pronounces his Taiwan’s love. The glove puppet (p±-tē-hì ang-á) as the name suggests is a cloth bag fitted over the hand. The head, hands, and
feet of the glove puppet are joined together with cloth shaped to resemble a body. The
puppeteer manipulates the puppet by inserting his hand；the politician manipulates the
knowledge of the Taiwanese history by posing the gesture. Although passing away,
this event drives us to these questions: why Sú Iān-bûn was mentioned, which meaning
this role symbolizes and its relationship to the process of Taiwan’s democratization,
how the puppet theatre maintained the Taiwanese language under the authoritarian,
and how the puppet theatre resorts to modern mass media and continues to survive. As
space is limited, we have concentrated on three categories: 1) development of puppet
theatre, 2) official language policy of KMT, 3) the political symbol of Sú Iān-bûn.
Development of Puppet Theatre
There is fairly general agreement that the glove puppet theatre was originated
about three hundreds years ago in Hok-kiàn province, China. The local theatre can be
reasonably dated from the early years of the 19 th century (Chiu 1992：173). During
the middle years of this century, these puppeteers left China to settle in Taiwan and
brought it to Taiwan. Nevertheless, it was one of the most popular performances and
was presented on its own style. The glove puppet theatre has developed and charmed
generations of audiences in Taiwan. In the beginning, it is possible that the majority of
puppet operators in Taiwan were formerly with the Hok-kiàn opera troupes and left to
join the puppet theatre. The music of the glove puppet theatre consists of different
vocal melody and speech types as well as percussion music, each associated with
different dramatic function. According to these music styles, there are three main
tradition or “schools” of glove puppet theatres in Taiwan: lâm-kóan, pçh-jī-á and
3 tiô-tiāu. In the early years of the 20 th century, the musicians of pak-kóan created the
new tune for puppet theatre. The new style of music is more and more fashionable,
which characterized by simple and variety. This tendency provided the more powerful
and more improvisational performance (Chen 2000).
After the World War II, a few of the glove puppet troupes succeeded in the
commercial theatre. Nevertheless, the post-war development of puppet theatre was not
smooth. After the 28 February incident in 1947, the restriction on “freedom of
assembly” implemented affected theatre performance directly. Including outdoor
performance, public gathering were banned for one year in order to prevent possible
trouble and provocation. Besides, the policy of reforming folklore was implemented,
restricting the frequency and the scale of religious festivals since 1951. In response,
many puppet troupes transformed themselves into an entertainment business. The
commercial troupe of glove puppet performed in a building is called “Indoor Theatre”
(lāi-tâi-hì). The ritual theatre that is performed commonly in honor of deities and played in open-air is called “Outdoor Theatre” (gōa-tâi-hì), “Open-Air Theatre”
(iá-tâi-hì) or “Folk Theatre” (bîn-hì). In theatrical troupe’s angle, the latter provides
basic technical training and survival main source of income; the former lets the
performance display the imagination space. A good puppeteer must be able to make
puppets juggle with weapons, somersault, carry out fighting scenes, and other
acrobatic feats. The master-puppeteer is not only to know how to manipulate, but also
to act with different vocal melody and speech types. He has an essential character to
influence the quality of the performance. The orchestra in the puppet theatre is made
up two sections: the military ensemble (played by two percussionists) and the civil
ensemble (played by two or three instrumentalists). The head-drummer is the soul of
the orchestra, who directs to play the percussion when there is a change of scene,
before and after the curtain is raised and to accompany the puppets when they are
4 about to leave the stage or to appear again. Stringed and wind instruments forming the
“civil” ensemble, accompany the singing and provide background music when need.
These musicians produce live sound effects and also use tape recorders and
phonographs to play Taiwanese music. We may say that the glove puppet theatre had
been changed from the quasi-opera style into the narrative style (Chen, 1997).
More noteworthy is that Beijing opera was granted the official status as the symbol of “national culture”, and it was crowned with the title guoju by KMT
government, representing orthodox Chinese performing arts. In contrast, all the other
forms of theatres were grouped as “local theatre”, implying a parochial and somehow
secondary limitation. Nevertheless, the performance of puppets, which accompanied
the Taiwanese fashionable music with women singers, was victorious. The remarkable
troupe Ng¯-chiu H£g which started performing in the 1950s and made a revolutionary
change in the manipulation of puppets. Many puppet theatre troupes today have
started making new clothes to replace the century old partly ones from China. These
new clothes usually have sequins and a large size, which glitter to attract audiences.
Instead of silk and satin, some of these new costumes are made of colorful nylon
material. Old costumes from China, which require elaborate embroidery work, are
still used as higher-ranking role. The costumes of puppet theatres of television have
various forms (Chen 1990). In the 1970s, a famous puppeteer œg Chùn-hiông began to
reform the size of the costumes, from 20cms to 60cms, and 90cms. In the middle of
1990s, the size of the costumes of puppets had changed to 100cms, which is the most
fashionable one of puppet theatres of television. Another puppet theatres of television
in the 1990s of Phek-lçk or Thian-ú, which attempt to use the multi-media’s technology,
were under the influence of œg Chùn-hiông. Those new and hit puppet theatres had
made a name for himself as a good creator of considerable talent.
As Hsiao, Hisn-huang pointed out that the 1970s was the period of cultural
5 awakening in Taiwan (Hsiao 2004). In the trend of searching for Taiwanese identity, the tide finally turned. The traditional theatre overturned the old superstitious stereotype and began to take on a new role, representing native culture. Since the end of Chiang regime, Taiwan’s government was pressurized to take measures abandoning
China centric policies and recognizing Taiwan’s indigenous roots. Against the backdrop of political change, the policy of funding Taiwan became increasing obvious.
The emphases have been shifted from preserving Chinese tradition to native culture, and from protecting Chinese legacy to Taiwanese heritage.
Official Language Policy of KMT
Taiwan is a multilingual and multiethnic society. There are currently four primary ethnic groups: indigenous (1.7%), Hakka (12%), Holo (73.3%), and
Mainlanders (13%) (Huang 1993: 20-21). In addition to being a multiethinic society,
Taiwan has been colonized by several foreign regimes science the 17 th century. The most recent regimes are Japanese regime (1895-1945) and Chiang regime
(1945-1988). Due to the colonial language policy, the native languages were prohibited in public domain, and Japanese and Mandarin were adopted as the official language, respectively.
Official Language Policy or monolingual policy was adopted by KMT,
Taiwanese people were not allowed to speak their vernaculars in public and were forced learn the official language through the national education system. Educational institutions are important places for the study language ideologies because it is through them that dominant ideologies surrounding language are transmitted. The expressed goal of an educational institution is to socialize those into the desirable roles and ways in participating in society, including the attitudes towards and uses of
6 language (Bourdieu 1991). To accomplish this goal, educator may institute explicit
punishment for speaking the “wrong” language from 1950 to 1987, such as the
monetary fine that children pay for speaking Taiwanese in school (Huang
1993:110-111).
Beginning in March 1970, the puppet theatre of “Sú Iān-bûn” was a popular program in Taiwan, and it was probably one of the most distinguished performances
in Taiwanese language. On account of subtitles of TV programs, even the people who
can’t understand the colloquial in Taiwanese, including Waishengren, Hakka, also
enjoyed the story of “Sú Iān-bûn”. Beyond the control of martial law, it was a few of
public space where Taiwanese people assemble before television to imagine the fate
and suffering the sorrows that their hero brought. The success of puppet theatre “Sú
Iān-bûn” is a popular spontaneity in conflict with official language policy and
dominant ideologies. In June 1970, one legislator of mainlander interrogated the
administration during a parliament session. He blasted the dangerous phenomenon
that school children and farmer spontaneously was fans of “Sú Iān-bûn”, and they
completely had forgotten their duties. It is said that “National Hero Whom I Adore the
Most” was a theme of composition, a pupil wrote that he adored Sú Iān-bûn, a
protagonist of puppet theatre. Generally speaking, the goal of this theme is just to
practice again the historical lessons. The standard norms of National Hero in 1970s,
which controlled by official ideologies is Chiang Kai-shek, or the other famous
personage on Chinese History.
One evening paper of clearly official standpoint wrote a leading article to express
their anxiety about the challenge on Official Language Policy in 1972. It said that it
should forbid speaking Taiwanese in school, and should institute explicit punishment.
Official Language Policy went backward recently as a result of the colloquial in
Taiwanese had spread on radio and on television. The parliament should legislate
7 “Broadcast Law” against the programs in Taiwanese, etc. (Dahoa Wanbao 1972/8/17)
Prohibition against the broadcast programs in vernacular language on television is more and more severely. The rate of programs in Taiwanese 20% in the beginning of
1970s declined finally to below 10% in 1990s (Huang 1993：363-365). There is evidence in plenty to show that the official language policy under the martial law controlled the educational institution and limited the broadcast programs in vernacular.
The policy was supported strongly by parliament where mainlanders predominated over the natives until 1980 (Shu 1992：218-219).
After 1974, the broadcast programs of puppet theatre in Taiwanese disappeared, and it was forced to give up their distinguishing characteristic and their native language. At one time their performance on television was dubbed in official language, and therefore had lost quickly its audiences. In their search for a scapegoat, the government KMT found “Sú Iān-bûn” that performed in Taiwanese and presented the native culture. From this viewpoint one may say that Sú Iān-bûn became a tragedy hero to fight bravely against official language and the dominant ideologies of Chiang regime.
The political symbol of Sú Iān-bûn
It is impossible to discuss completely the detail about the serial of “Sú Iän-bûn”, but a model of these plots. The scenario always begins by a rebellion against the emperor. The patriotic hero Sú Iän-bûn falsely incriminated by rigging events and he was treated unjustly. In the beginning he was sentenced to exile for many years, and then he lived the life of a drifter in order to exposure the crimes and to attack the evil.
It appears that is a very common play as though as the other traditional theatre. As a matter of fact, the common story is a skillful camouflage that helps the puppet theatre avoid unnecessary difficulties and pass through the inspection of KMT government in
8 the period of martial law. It appears that“Sú Iān-bûn” was a normal role of traditional theatre, for example reciting the Chinese poem and disguising as a man of letters, etc.
But the ambiance of ancient pseudo-China likely was a trick to avoid the official inspection. A nickname of Sú Iān-bûn is “Great Confucian Hero of Hûn-chiu”. It said that this role was born in Hûn-chiu. But we can’t confirm where Hûn-chiu is situated in ancient China. It is obvious that this place impossibly accords with the China history, or anywhere of the Mainland China. Although the puppeteer œg Chùn-hiông never explain the message of his works, it is possible that Hûn-chiu hints the homeland of œg
Chùn-hiông himself, Hûn-lîm.
The question that has been touched from time to time but not explored, is the background music of Sú Iān-bûn. So far, we have seen that puppet theatre more and more use tape recorders and phonographs and changed their performance style from quasi-opera into the narrative. The music “Exodus” of disk record accompanied Sú
Iān-bûn at the beginning of his presentation. The meaning of this role is ambiguous as a result of hybridity. The original composer of this music is Ernest Gold (1921~1999) for a movie “Exodus” in 1960. The movie was probably inspired by story of Old
Testament ascribed to Moses; it deals with a shipload of Jewish immigrants caught on board a boat from Cyprus, where they are attempting to gain entrance into Israel.
Naturally, the British are doing all they can to prevent the immigrants from entering as per following instructions of Arab anti-semites. It is very interesting to understand why the puppeteer œg Chùn-hiông adopted this music. The mood of the music was almost funereal and sorrowful. It is highly probable that the puppeteer performed Sú
Iān-bûn accompanied by “Exodus” for express this role’s irreversible fate and his assertion of justice. Additionally, Sú Iān-bûn was the image of political exile, his hair sprawled that meant a prisoner or a drifter in the sense of traditional theatre. In short,
Sú Iān-bûn was a man of letters but lose all of his social position.
9 It is important to consider of his character and his heroic image. Once someone
treated him with indignity, he was never anger until exceed a maximum of his
patience. Sú Iān-bûn is a man of very powerful and forbearance. Much research has pointed that this special character was inspired by the context of puppeteer œg
Chùn-hiông himself (Chen 1999). To put it briefly, the theatre must confront a danger
of violence and of injustice all alone after World War II. The puppeteer wanted an
outlet for his emotion of experience and created a protagonist of forbearance, who
affirmed that the last victor belongs to justice. Beyond his expectations, many
audiences were in sympathy with such a character that is a model of Taiwanese
mentality.
A famous writer Zhang Dachun presented an article “Invisible Revolution of
Culture: Populism Carnival in Taiwan”. Nonetheless there are some errors of his data,
he acutely pointed out that this completely fictional world “ancient pseudo-China” is
precisely the resistance of folk culture against the “China discourse” of Establishment.
From viewpoint of KMT, the representation Sú Iān-bûn is truly dangerous. Taiwan
was dominated by KMT after the Japanese period (1896-1945). This is first time that
the popular Taiwanese made use of tragically imagined hero to overturn the “China
discourse”. As a prisoner or a drifter, the image of Sú Iān-bûn blended with the
tragically native hero. And the resistance of plebeian antedated the native identity of
intellectual by six years at least.
As an elite of mainlander, Zhang Dachun felt an animosity towards Taiwanese
culture and native identity, but he described exactly the resistance of folk culture.
Since Edward Said’s Imperialism and Culture, the phenomenon of “cultural
resistance” has become a topic being widely dealt with. He argued that the cultural
resistance was important for the movement of decolonization. According to his
definition, “culture” means all those practices, like the arts of description,
10 communication, and representation, that have relative autonomy from the economic, social, and political realms and that often exist in aesthetic form, one of whose principal aims is pleasure. (Said 1994：xii) It is obvious that the goal of puppet theatre is pleasure, and the program “Sú Iān-bûn” absolutely is pleasure. But it is truly dangerous as a result of resistance against the official discourse of KMT. Besides, it is likely that Taiwanese people identify image of Sú Iān-bûn with the tragically native hero in the process of democratization.
Former President Lee Teng-hui is a native hero, but not tragic. Former President
Lee Teng-hui mentioned a topical subject of “sorrow of native Taiwanese” and
“Exodus”, when he got into conversation with in a famous Japanese writer Ryotaro
Shiba 1993. As a Christian, he preferred to quote from the Bible, and then “Exodus” became a symbol of political movement toward democratization in Taiwan. A political viewpoint, “Exodus” was the hot talk in the period of the presidential campaign in 2000. Many reviewers tended to ask the question that Lee Teng-hui were
Moses and then who could be Joshua? It is clear that “Exodus” is the political metaphor in Taiwan. Besides, there are other things to notes in this conversation. He spoke frankly of his feelings of sorrow that he could not do anything for the country
Taiwan where he was born (Shiba 1995：524). To put it more precisely, there is evidence in plenty to show that he is a man of iron, but very forbearance. There in no disagreement on this point that Lee Teng-hui once was barehanded to be a successor of Chiang Ching-kuo, and he repeatedly confronted the political conflict of ancient influence. Many native Taiwanese were in sympathy with the unusual utterance
“sorrow of native Taiwanese” of a native president, which implied the fact that
Taiwanese have no right and no chance to decide, or to change his fate. The mood of the “Taiwan discourse” was almost full of a sorrowful experience and a colonized history. It is probable to associate his “Taiwan discourse” with Sú Iān-bûn, who was
11 the image of political exile and of letters but lose all of his social position. From this
viewpoint, it seems reasonable to suppose that the suffering and pathos of Sú Iān-bûn is an epitome of Taiwanese under the Chiang regime.
Said made several important statements on decolonization and on resistance. Let us consider the following quotation (Said 1994：209):
After the period of “primary resistance,” literally fighting against outside
intrusion, there comes the period of secondary, that is, ideological
resistance, when efforts are made to reconstitute a “shattered community,
to save or restore the sense and fact of community against all pressures of
colonial system,” as Basil Davidson puts it.
From Said point of view, it is reasonable that “ideological resistance” is very important at the heart of decolonization. It follows from what has been said that the image Sú Iän-bûn against the “China discourse” and against the official ideology of
KMT, although it was inspired by personal experience. This example from Sú Iān-bûn makes it clear that the essential of cultural resistance is “ideological resistance”.
Based upon above analyses, it could be observed that the puppet theatre is linked with
“culture resistance” previously mentioned.
Conclusion
The Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2000. In order to construct
Taiwan as an independent state in its own right, the new government has to deal with
the pressing issue of culture building. It is obvious that the tactic of campaign “Show
Taiwan to the World” as symbol with which to understand our motherland, culture and
12 history serves to construct an identity full of native flavor. Unwittingly, the puppet theatre has become an articulation of native culture and representation of Taiwanese identity. Because of its symbolic connections with the past, and its close relationship with popular culture, it is comprehensible for choose the puppet theatre as disclaiming old narrative and negotiating new territory.
This article is trying to underline that the puppet theatre was performed in
Taiwanese and “cultural resistance” of folk culture is a contributing factor to promoting Taiwanese identity. Since the end of Chiang regime, official ideologies have shifted from the construct of a Chinese culture to emphasis on native culture.
The puppet theatre was once discriminated as local, informal, unrefined, rough, and it was forced to give up their native language on television. Sú Iān-bûn was as a scapegoat. Nevertheless, he became a tragedy hero to fight bravely against official language and the dominant ideologies.
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