Carrying on Heritage for Future Inheritance:
Transmitting Puppetry Culture for Nearly Half a Century
In Shilin, there is a repair center; it was opened by Lin Fuquan’s son, and all of Lin Fuquan's props are here. Walking into the center, all that meets the eye is an ordinary repair shop. It’s not until you reach the second floor that you realize that this is Lin’s little world of glove puppetry (poo-te-hi). The first thing that catches your attention is the sheet music and cultural objects left behind by Lin’s grandfather. Next, the eye notes Lin’s collection of glove-puppets, and documents related to the Seden Traditional Theater; and finally, the eye sees the One-Person Puppet Stage that he designed and is so proud of.
A New Career as a Musician at Forty
Recalling his memories of glove-puppet shows and Beiguan style opera, Lin Fuquan recalls that it probably all traces back to his grandfather’s performances. His grandfather was the head of the Beiguan Sanyixuan troupe. “The clang-clang-bang-bang sounds I heard when I was a kid left a certain impression on me.” Those Beiguan sounds he had so often heard stopped abruptly with the death of his grandfather, but at the age of seven, they still left Lin Fuquan with strong memories.
When he was in elementary school, just like all children of the same age, Lin Fuquan was fascinated with the traditional puppet shows that were popular at the time. His favorite was Xiaoxiyuan puppetry troupe. “When I was little, I followed the troupe everywhere, from Yanping North Road to the Wanhua area.” Looking back now, he still remembers that his favorite performance is Dragon Head and Golden Swordsman by Xu Wang. This work continues to be performed today; it has now been handed on to the next generation of Xiaoxiyuan performers. That child who used to chase puppet shows all around town would perhaps never have thought that he himself would become a backstage musician.
In fact, before he became a musician, Lin Fuquan’s main job was as a carpenter in a shipbuilding company. One day, he happened to read in the newspaper that the Seden Foundation was recruiting students. Its professors were well-known performing artists such as Li Tianlu, Zhong Renbi, and Li Shunfa. Lin Fuquan was hugely moved; but this also happened to be a time when his children were still little, and his family’s financial situation was difficult. His wife once objected, “What’s the use of learning this?” Lin Fuquan thought of a reason: “If I retire in the future, this would be a fun hobby.” Perhaps his wife saw his enthusiasm; she did not object again. At about forty years of age, Lin Fuquan officially started his life as an apprentice.
Wu Zhengde, who is now the artistic director of Seden Traditional Theater, was in the Foundation’s first class of students; Lin Fuquan was in the second class. At the time, both went to National Taiwan University to practice two days a week. Although Wu and Lin would come into contact with both front-stage and backstage work, the two were mainly responsible for the backstage matters, including gongs, drums, strings, and suona (a type of woodwind). “What I learned was the martial (wu) stage style, which is all about clashing gongs and beating drums; playing strings and plucking qin zithers is the literary (wen) style.” The teacher who taught Wu and Lin was Li Shunfa, backstage artist of the I Wan Jan Puppet Theater.
The older generation has a phrase: “Three years and four months”. This means that becoming a master is no easy task. If you want to learn a skill, you must study for at least three years and four months. Lin Fuquan said that as far as the backstage of the puppet show is concerned, if one has a sense of rhythm and musical talent, the learning will be easier. If you can’t grasp the rhythm, then you’ll need additional practice in the literary style. For people like Lin Fuquan, with both a strong interest in puppetry and the basic foundation, it is naturally much faster to get started. Lin Fuquan says with a smile and a bit pride in his voice, "Wu Zhengde and I spent one to two years in learning before we went out and performed.”
Performing With Senior Puppet Masters
Thinking back to the days when Lin Fuquan was just getting his start in performing, it’s like he was learning as he went. As he lists the teachers who gave him guidance at the time, it seems that most of them have since passed away. “Those old masters have gone away, one after the other.” In the midst of a happy conversation, this topic brings a flash of disappointment to Lin Fuquan’s eyes.
Lin’s memories of time with those masters are still vivid. In addition to Li Shunfa, the backstage master with whom Lin had the most contact, master Zhong Renbi also left a deep impression on Lin. “I didn’t understand Japanese when I went to Japan to perform, but master Zhong could speak Japanese, so a lot of things were handled by him.” Lin remains grateful, not just for the help he had performing in Japan, but also for all the guidance master Zhong gave him, as well as master Zhong’s dedication to glove puppetry and the Seden Foundation.
Recalling the days when he worked with other members of the Seden Foundation, Lin Fuquan says with a laugh that there are no anecdotes about it. “When we were done for the day, we’d just go to our own homes. We didn’t hang out together after work. We just went our separate ways.” To just get together, set up the stage, prepare for the performance, and then after the performance just each go to their separate homes sounds like it must have been a very strait-laced affair, all business and no pleasure. However, viewed from another perspective, everyone wanted to put their whole hearts into their glove puppetry. Perhaps only a puppet show could bring such a group of people together.
In the old days, Lin had 17 or 18 puppet performances a month, in Taiwan alone. Lin and other members of the Foundation also went abroad for performances often; this is an important memory for everyone. “About ten years ago or so, we were often going abroad to perform – Japan, Europe, the US, we went to all of them.” With invitations and funds, even if they knew that they would face barriers in food, lifestyle, language, or time constraints, everyone would always fly abroad without hesitation. They hoped to show the world the beauty of glove-puppetry.
“The most troublesome was the language barrier, so I rarely spoke during the performances.” Lin recalls that when he performed puppet shows in the United States for local children, since they wouldn’t be able to understand the dialogue, he used acting through gestures. Surprisingly, with only movement to rely on, the children in the audience still enjoyed every minute of it. It was only then that Lin Fuquan realized, “It turns out that they can understand even if I don’t speak, and only do gestures.” It turned out that the puppetry Lin has been fascinated with for so many years could overcome language barriers and amaze people on the other side of the world.
Passing Down Glove Puppetry Needs to Start with Children Loving It1.
If the beauty of puppet show can transcend language barriers, then is there a chance to bridge the gap between generations and help younger generations love puppetry to the point where they desire to preserve the culture?
About 20 years ago, in addition to his already-busy glove puppetry performance schedule, Lin Fuquan also performed on school campuses with the Seden Foundation, to help students become familiar with puppetry. “I performed mostly with Wu Zhengde on campus, doing that clang-clang-bang-bang with the kids.” They hoped that, through their explanations and teaching, children born into an age of glove-puppet shows on Taiwanese TV would have the opportunity to see what a traditional puppet show looks like.
“Passing down traditions to the next generation needs to start in the childhood years.” Lin is confident that if children today can feel the fun and beauty of puppetry as he did back then, then this cultural heritage will have a better chance of being preserved. Therefore, to this day, Lin Fuquan, Wu Zhengde, and Qiu Fengrong from the Xi'ouzi Puppetry Troupe still tour campuses every year. Lin Fuquan, who is nearly 80 years old, said about his recent schedule, “We have about a dozen shows every year; we’re still doing them. A few days from now, we’re going to Dihua Street.” Li is just as happy to do it now as he ever has been.
“Sometimes I get these puppets out to play with my grandchildren.” It is not that Lin Fuquan has not thought about teaching his grandchildren puppetry; it’s just that his children and grandchildren are more attracted to the highly-produced Pili puppet shows on TV than to traditional puppetry. But that does not affect Lin Fuquan’s dedication to puppetry. He still takes out the puppets he has collected to play with his grandchildren whenever he has the opportunity. Just like his dedication to glove puppetry, as long as he has the opportunity to perform, he goes with the Seden Foundation to give performances.
Lin takes out a one-person puppet stage that he designed himself. Only on asking does it come to light that Lin learned the wood-sculpting skills on display in the stage during his days as a carpenter in a shipbuilding company. The company included master sculptors; Lin, who was responsible for woodwork decorations, learned by observing those masters. Lin in turn applied these techniques to the making of puppet props. Not only the stage, prop knives, spears, tables, and chairs were all creations he handled ably. The idea of the one-person stage comes from a childhood experience, when he saw a blind person playing a gong with their feet, the drums with both hands, and all while singing. “I thought that I could do that, too. I wanted to have a stage I had made myself, so I designed it.”
Back to the little world of puppets in the second floor, Lin Fuquan sits within the stage he designed and begins to display the backstage skills he’s developed over more than 30 years. Looking at the scenery in front of him, he thinks again of what he said to his wife back then when he asked her if he could learn puppetry. “If I retire in the future, this would be a fun hobby.” But on the path of promoting poo-te-hi glove puppetry, Lin Fuquan has not, and will not, retired.