Doing It Himself: Finding a Modern-day Zhong Ziqi
Compared to Chen Jinci, Wu Xianyao has appeared less frequently in past reports or public scenes in relation to the Seden Foundation. When Wu Xianyao began to talk about his connection with glove puppetry (poo-te-hi) and the Seden Foundation, his calm voice suddenly turns emotional, mixed with excitement and memories. His sentences almost trip over each other, as if the scenes of his heart-warming performances are appearing before his eyes. Looking at his expression, one always feels that if it had not been for the Seden Foundation, it would have been hard to meet such a passionate fan of glove puppetry.
Addiction to Glove Puppetry: Making Notes while Watching Since His Childhood
“Prof. Chen (Chen Jinci) is the same age as my older brothers. When I was young, I loved going to watch glove puppetry shows with my brothers and sisters.” When he was young, Wu Xianyao watched the southern school of glove puppetry shows. These were generally similar to those in the north, except for the absence of decorated proscenium arches; also, they were mostly traditional operas, such as Spring and Autumn of Stabbing Swords and Southern Shaolin Monastery. To Wu Xianyao, glove puppetry is not only a shared memory with his siblings, but also a great influence on his childhood and growth.
Wu describes his childhood craze for glove puppetry as being such that he could not help but crawl in front of the stage to touch the puppets every time he watched a show. He even took notes during the show. “I learned a lot of history and literary Chinese from there!” Because of his love of the plots and his deep involvement in it, Wu always wrote down the poems and lines he heard that day when he got home in order to re-experience it. He was often told by his elders that it would be nice if he could take his school studies so seriously.
Whenever students were asked what their future aspirations were in composition class, Wu always obediently answered “doctor and teacher” on paper. “But what I really had in my mind was glove puppetry!” It almost goes without saying that he was obsessed with glove puppetry, yet he did not become a glove puppet master after he grew up. Although he chose a different path, he never let go of his passion for glove puppetry.
When the Seden Foundation was preparing for a performance at National Taiwan University, one of the students Chen Jinci was advising had a personal relationship with Wu Xianyao, and knew that Wu was very fond of glove puppetry, and so invited him along for the show. After that, wherever there was a performance of traditional glove puppetry, either on or off NTU campus, Wu would show up. Wu even learned some techniques from Xu Wang of the Xiaoxiyuan troupe.
In the era of martial law, in a time when your relatives’ relationship to China was also full of complex considerations, Wu Xianyao not only followed the glove puppetry shows himself, but would also invite so-called Mainlander teachers (whose relatives had emigrated to Taiwan after 1949) along for the show. “I like to show people this good side of Taiwan.” It seems that the desire to promote the culture of glove puppetry began to sprout from that time. When the Seden Foundation slowly developed and was about to establish a foundation, with this sentiment in mind, “I suggested to Prof. Chen that we should go off campus, since the promotion would be too restricted if we only performed on campus.” In view of Wu’s dedication, Chen Jinci invited him to serve as a board member and participate in the foundation’s operations.
A Key Character Behind the Scenes
In the early days of the founding of the Seden Foundation, Wu Xianyao was passionate about preserving Taiwan’s traditional culture. “In fact, traditional glove puppetry faces the problems that all traditional arts and cultures in Taiwan are facing.” Wu describes the traditional glove puppetry back then as a candle flickering in a storm; it was hard for the organization to finally take shape, but perhaps the Seden Foundation could also do its part to preserve other traditional arts. Therefore, in the early years, the Seden Foundation produced traditional Taiwanese opera (kua-a-hi) works. Chen Jinci often invited different scholars to give lectures on topics including traditional architecture, Nanyin opera, Beiguan music, and Taiwanese opera at the Foundation. The Seden Foundation strove to do its best for anything related to traditional culture.
Despite their wide range of activities, the continuation and promotion of traditional glove puppetry is still the main focus of the Seden Foundation. The base of operations in its earliest days was in Chen Jinci’s dormitory, until it moved to Wenzhou Street in 1987. Because of its proximity to National Taiwan University, many students and members of the community participated in the Seden Foundation’s activities and lectures, such as Fu Yue’an and Yang Yunyan. In order to help more people to participate and learn about the culture of glove puppetry outside of the activities, the Seden Foundation asked Yang Yunyan, who was a student in NTU’s Department of Computer Science & Information Engineering at the time, to establish a glove puppetry club on campus. This was the birth of the NTU Glove Puppetry Club, whose first and second leaders were Wu Zhengde and Zhang Juncheng. Other colleges and universities then set up their own glove puppetry clubs. When Wu Xianyao talks about that period of time, the names come out, one by one. It is these people who participated in the growth of the Seden Foundation during its younger years.
In response to the establishment of the student troupe, the Seden Foundation began to focus on mentoring students. The Foundation invited glove puppetry masters such as Zhong Renbi to teach front and back stage techniques; even Chen Hanzhong, the founder of the later famous A-Zhong Glove Puppetry troupe, came to learn the skills from him. As time went on, not only students, but also more and more people from the community formed troupes. In addition, the Seden Foundation also worked together with external arts and cultural organizations and venues to promote troupes performing everywhere. The Foundation also cooperated with Taiwan Public Television Service Foundation and the Heluo Cultural Exchange Foundation produced a series of programs called In the Palm of Your Hand. These programs introduced the culture of the front and back stage of glove puppetry, with the Xiaoxiyuan troupe as an example. The Seden Foundation at that time spared no effort in training and promoting the art of glove puppetry.
In addition to all the promotion works mentioned above, Wu Xianyao also contributed quietly in his own way. For example, before the foundation was established, the famous stage of the Seden Foundation was handed over to Chen Maoxiong for carving; during the process, Chen wanted to discuss some ideas with Wu, who was working in Taipei at the time. Wu immediately flew to Tainan for the discussion, without a second thought. Chen Jinci was touched by this act. “In fact, he is a key figure in the Seden Foundation, for his major contributions.”
Not only did he rush to Tainan, but in order to gain a deeper understanding of glove puppetry, Wu even made a trip to Quanzhou in 1988 to visit Jiang Chaoxuan, the son of Jiang Jiazou, the inventor of the Huayuantou. He also visited local glove puppetry masters and observed cultural development. After returning to Taiwan, Wu continued to assist in conducting an inventory of the glove puppets that the Seden Foundation had so far received. Wu organized and numbered them according to role: sheng (male characters), dan (female characters), jing (villainous characters), mo (middle-aged or old male characters), and chou (comic characters). This laid the foundation for heritage preservation.
The Stories Need to Keep Up with the Times to Allow Glove Puppetry to Shine Again
During that trip to Quanzhou, Wu Xianyao saw in Hui’an performances such as that of Master Wang Yan’s Hahaxiao troupe, which adjusted the height of the proscenium with a rope. Wu also watched a most original glove puppetry performance that required only one person, a bench, and a cloth towel to create a performance the simplest way possible in an indoor hall. The traditional Taiwanese glove puppetry has a complete front and back stage, and a decorated proscenium archway; not only can it be performed in both static and dynamic ways, but it can also perfectly interpret plays such as The Seven Heroes and Five Gallants, The Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms, and Wang Dulu’s martial art novel The Crane Shakes Kunlun. “Taiwan’s traditional glove puppetry can perform any kind of play; it is fully developed,” Wu said.
For these reasons, when he was often engaged with Xiaoxiyuan, Wu also asked the troupe to try adapting Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It was clear that the combination of Eastern performance forms with Western scripts still worked perfectly. “Sometimes the strength of art may be related to the strength of a nation; but the excellence of art has nothing to do with the strength of a nation.” Wu thinks that every art and culture that has been accumulated over time has its own unique beauty. So, too, does traditional Taiwanese glove puppetry, yet it faces a cultural transmission crisis.
“If we take a thorough look at traditional glove puppetry, it has the beauty of sculpture, painting, embroidery and, at a higher level, poetry and language.” Although Wu is highly aware that traditional glove puppetry is not perfect, it has developed quite maturely. So what can we do to make this art and culture more viable? “We may just need a good script,” Wu offered his answer.
Wu cites his past experience of watching the performance of Wu Zixu in Xiaoxiyuan as an example. “Wu Zixu’s singing would always be heard before he physically appeared, as if a high-pitched and pure voice penetrates from the air in the cold, full of sorrow and grief. This made people understand the state of mind of the main characters, and immerse themselves in the plot.” A good staging of a play can bring the unique effects of glove puppetry to the fullest. Even Chen Jinci was impressed.
“Nevertheless, how do we create a good script? We should not be too restrictive, in order to meet the needs of modern people,” Wu says. Times are changing, and each era has its own stories and topics. If we can keep the content of the plays up to date, perhaps we can find today’s Wu Zixu, and traditional glove puppetry will be able to shine again. “When Zhong Ziqi Met Bo Ya was performed by the Seden Foundation for its first performance that year. Since art is unique, different ethnic groups and regions develop different artistic cultures and characteristics in the world of glove puppetry, and this is why we have to preserve and promote the culture. The Bo Ya’s of today need to meet their Zhong Ziqi’s, so that they will not be forgotten by the world.” Wu deeply believes this.