Seeing the Light of Traditional Culture
Throughout its journey to the present, the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation has overcome all manner of hardships in labor and funding. Through test after test, the Foundation has helped the traditional art of glove puppetry (poo-te-hi) to continue to move forward in an era of gradual decline. The strengths that have enabled the Foundation to pass those tests stem from the ongoing relationships between its partners, and the generous commitments of many people. Chen Jinci remembers very vividly all the work he has been involved in with cultural preservation for these past 30+ years.
A Small Stage Filled with Infinite Imagination
“Having grown up in the countryside of Taipei, I ran barefoot on the ground when I was a kid. What made my fondest childhood memories is glove puppetry.” The five- or six-year-old Chen Jinci was too young to understand what the puppetry shows were about, but his eyes were always drawn to them unconsciously. When the gongs and drums sounded, his tiny body would tremble along with the stage.
Chen has grown older, but his memory of watching Burning of the Red Lotus Temple during his childhood is still vivid today. In addition to the fast fight choreography, “I couldn’t see such opera in other plays”. The play is unlike the delicate Peking or Kun opera. Chen talks about the duel between Chan Buddhist Master Zhi Shan and Taoist Master Bai Mei, where the suona wind instrument sounds, the gongs and drums are beaten, and the fight between the masters shakes the mountains. When Zhi Shan’s head hits Bai Mei’s belly, there is absolute silence; space and time freeze, and the rapid snare drums in the back, boom! Zhi Shan collapses and the frozen space-time is freed instantly. All the audience are overwhelmed.
For the “dramatic effects” that it generated, glove puppetry was very popular among children back then. “Although the stage is small, the puppetry show tempo can go fast or slow, be static or dynamic, be real or virtual, be compressed or exploded – it creates unlimited imagination.” Unlike operas where the actors are real people, the main characters of glove puppetry are of course puppets. Therefore, whether it is flying through the clouds, speaking or rushing toward a fire, astonishing artistic effects can be created through the hands of the puppet masters.
Chen grew up surrounded by glove puppetry. Whenever there was an outdoor play at a temple in the afternoon, sitting in his classroom, Chen always looked forward to the dismissal bell. He had poor grades in school, and his teacher determined that he would not be successful in the future, as he spent all day with people who wore bamboo hats and had bare feet (that is, people in the lower classes of society). “I think this is the tragedy of that era.” It was only later that Chen realized that educated people in the society viewed folk operas through such lenses. So of course local culture was not given its due in the education back then. In 1981, Chen invited his advising professor from Stanford University to visit Taiwan. For the purpose of experiencing the authentic tea culture, Chen invited him to a famous teahouse, where there was the sound of a piano playing in the background and the aroma of tea suffusing the area. However, the professor found the tea too bitter, leading Chen to the realization that appreciating an aspect kind of culinary culture first requires cultural cultivation. The professor had not grown up in an environment with tea culture, so he could not appreciate its beauty. After all, culture must be nurtured in an appropriate atmosphere in order to discover where the beauty lies. “Our education does not reserve a space for traditional culture; it even despises and rejects it. When children grow up drinking coffee, how could they know the correct way to sip tea? The loss of soil will inevitably lead to the withering of traditional culture," Chen says.
Let us look back to the 1970s when Chen returned home from his studies. That was also when television was on the rise; many Taiwanese people clustered in front of their TV sets at home, creating smaller audiences for glove puppetry, and the artform’s gradual shrinkage. As Chen remembers it, the I Wan Jan Puppet Theater was disbanded in 1978, leaving only Xiaoxiyuan to survive in Taipei. Such a precious cultural art was dumped by the times, like dumping a baby out with the bathwater.
Around 1980, Japanese puppeteer Miyamoto Yoshio visited Taiwan for field research. He was deeply attracted to Taiwanese glove puppetry. Miyamoto went from not being able to understand Taiwanese, to becoming a fan of glove puppetry. In 1983, he even invited Xiaoxiyuan to perform a puppet show in Japan. After he saw a news report about this on the TV, Chen Jinci visited Xu Wang, about whom the United Daily News had also reported. At the same time, Professor Xu Xiaohu of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University (NTU) offered the general education course “Introduction to Contemporary Art”, and invited Chen and Xiaoxiyuan to perform a show at NTU. It was the first time that these outdoor plays had entered a university classroom. Reprimanding the Younger Brother at Gucheng was performed that day; it touched the hearts of many NTU teachers and students. This was part of the inception of the Seden Foundation.
Back then, Wu Xianyao advocated the establishment of a Taiwan Traditional Culture Foundation; the other partners of the Seden Foundation, though, thought that they should first focus their efforts on glove puppetry, and could broaden their development if the shows received positive response from the community. “In hindsight, if the Taiwan Traditional Culture Foundation had been established, the picture would have been much bigger by now.” Although there is no way to turn back the clock, we can always find the sight of Chen in events that help to preserve traditional culture. And so began his path toward the Seden Foundation’s later operations.
Pushing Through the Difficulties, and Never Ceasing
After the establishment of the Seden Foundation, a space on Wenzhou Street near NTU was rented as a venue for activities. The area was bustling with people, making it easier for people who like glove puppetry to gather. Furthermore, NTU started to set up glove puppetry societies with other schools. Chen Jinci says that, in addition to the regular quarterly performances held by the Seden Foundation, students later became involved and held performances themselves. “Once, there was a show performed at the NTU entrance for three days in a row. It was an exceptionally grand occasion.” Even the taxi drivers on the road were attracted by the festive event, and pulled off to watch the show. Chen felt very gratified to see the packed audiences, as well as the vitality and creativity demonstrated by the young generation.
Cultural preservation is not merely about continuous promotion; it is also crucial to record the historical evolution. Around 1986 and 1987, the Seden Foundation started to record oral scripts and oral histories from glove puppetry masters, starting with Master Li Tianlu of I Wan Jan. “At that time, Li Tianlu came to the Seden Foundation every Monday to talk about his experiences and oral scripts.” With week after week of effort, the record was finally published as A Life of Plays and Dreaming. It was even made into a movie by Hou Xiaoxian later, helping the history of glove puppetry to be seen by more people.
As all that was happening, on the eve of Taiwan’s martial law being lifted, both sides of the Taiwan Strait had begun some private exchanges. Consequently, puppets in the Fujian and Quanzhou areas were bought by antique dealers and imported into Taiwan. “I actually did not have much money at that time. But with those relics sitting in front of you, if you don’t retain them now, you won’t know where they would end up.” In the face of the puppets encompassing artistic value, Chen spared no efforts to retain them. He invited not only Wu Xianyao, Yang Weizhe, Li Laifu, Ye Rongjia and others to make donation, but also contributed his own savings. “Let’s see what we can buy first. In fact, the glove puppetry shows and the puppet shows being exported at that time were the most wonderful ones.” Those relics must have cost two or three million NT dollars. Had it not been for that expense, we might not see such a large number of precious relics sitting in National Taiwan Museum and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University today.
There were many things they wished for, but the lack of funding held them back. Looking back on the financial difficulties of the Seden Foundation, Chen can still clearly name the companies and friends who lent them support. For example, Cai Chennan of Cathay enterprises and Chen Jianan of Formosan Magazine Press, Inc. shifted funds to meet the Seden Foundation’s temporary needs; Gao Zhiming of I-Mei Foods sincerely handed over a red envelope with the words “I wish the Seden Foundation a long and prosperous future”; and after they saw the news that the Seden Foundation was in financial difficulties and wanted to sell some of their puppets, Happy Mount Cultural and Educational Foundation and Fiat’s agent in Taiwan at the time offered to take in the puppets while making monetary donations.
More than 30 years have passed, but all of these events are still in Chen Jinci’s heart. Over the years, the Foundation has been faced with a lot of financial challenges, the puppetry masters are aging away, the loss of culture seems irreversible, and the Seden Foundation has almost come to a halt. “I would like to thank the current chairman of the board, Chen Rongxiang, for taking on the responsibility under such circumstances”, allowing for the restoration of the relics that are now housed at National Taiwan Museum and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, as well as the infusion of new energy.
“Frankly speaking, I feel grateful to the Seden Foundation for the many friends I’ve made there.” Not only Chen Rongxiang; Chen also thanked Wu Xianyao several times during our interview, as well as the enthusiastic friends who silently dedicated their help, such as Xu Jiwan, Huang Zhenfang, Liao Guozheng, Ding Shihu, and Xie Dexi. All of them are the spiritual support of the Seden Foundation. Cultural preservation is never an easy task, but thanks to these people, the Seden Foundation can grow in a steady manner.
Let Glove Puppetry Find its Own Ground
“Now I feel that the Seden Foundation has breathed in new life, as National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University has infused new vitality.” While visiting National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in 2020 to attend a press conference on the donation, Chen Jinci witnessed the input of teachers and students, and the use of technology to create new forms of glove puppetry performance. Truly, the times have changed, and it seems to be time for traditional culture to evolve into a new look.
“I think a genre of theater must keep up with the times, and be able to respond to the times in order to keep an audience and keep its vitality.” Chen said that if a genre of theater is to survive, it must find its own ground, that is, an audience. “You will have to explore where the ground of this era is.” It could be the form of technology, or the performance venue; if we can find the audience of this era, then not only for glove puppetry shows, but all traditional culture has the possibility of blossoming everywhere.
Nevertheless, Chen also hopes that the preservation of traditional culture will not degenerate into a formalistic illusion at the expense of substance. “Arts and culture have a life of their own after all; a theater genre must contain something touching to be able to keep growing.” To be in line with the contemporary technology and performance forms can indeed draw audiences closer to the show. However, Chen hopes that the beauty and connotation of the traditional glove puppetry that has touched his generation can be preserved, in order to offer this generation an opportunity to learn about and develop love for glove puppetry.
Chen talks about his precious collection of glove puppets. “This is the only puppet I have by Jiang Jiazou; it must be at the peak of his work.” Jiang Jiazou was once a famous sculptor of glove puppets. After purchasing a large number of puppets, Chen had little money left; only through an acquainted antique dealer was he able to purchase the puppet at a low price. It is a puppet of an old female character; anyone who holds it can feel the weight of history it carries, as if it is the accumulation of all the things that the Seden Foundation has done along the way. Furthermore, a closer look at it reveals a few signs of age on the forehead. Yet they do not dim the glow of the exquisite carving, like glove puppetry culture itself, which withstood the test of time but still beautifully survives.
That glow is probably the glow in Chen’s eyes; he was so devoted to the affairs of the Seden Foundation back then, but now, after more than 30 years have passed, the light in Chen’s eyes as he sees glove puppetry and traditional culture, is still as passionate as before and has never dimmed.