Establishing the Subjectivity of Glove Puppetry Culture
Before joining Seden, Xie Dexi was head of the Data Room at The Capitol Morning Post, collecting and organizing documents and data related to Taiwan. He wrote the article, Modern Figures of Taiwan, focusing on influential people who shaped Taiwan’s history in the 20th century. He also wrote the 1949 to 1966 timeline of Chronicles of Taiwan, published by Jinxiu Publishing Company, documenting important historical events of that era. Dedicating many years into the historical research of modern Taiwan, allowed him to gain many cultural experiences. This became Xie’s foundation for collaborating with puppet masters Huang Haidai, known as the Grandmaster of Heaven, I Wan Jan Puppet Theater’s Li Tianlu, and Hsin Hsing Ku Puppet Show Troupe’s Zhong Renbi.
Childhood Years: Times Spent at Glove Puppetry Alley
Xie Dexi grew up in Dadaocheng, a historical district known for being the intersection of culture and talented people. At that time, Dadaocheng Cisheng Temple was one of the main performance venues for glove puppetry. Puppet troupes, large and small, would always perform there when doing tours. The outstanding monologues performed by the puppeteers and the beating of drums and gongs became engraved in the memories of Xie’s childhood. He studied in Taiping Elementary School with Liangzhou Street nearby, which was renowned for being the base of many puppet troupes, thus giving it the name Glove Puppetry Alley. Xu Wang’s Xiaoxiyuan Puppetry Troupe and Li Tianlu’s I Wan Jan Puppet Theater, all had offices on that street. What amused him was there was even a stationary store that named itself Ha Ha Xiao: Wang Yan Puppet Theater, which became a popular place for kids to shop.
Xie recalled his childhood memories of watching plays by Xiaoxiyuan. He saw how Xu Wang was able to change character within seconds. One minute performing as Cao Cao, all commanding and treacherous. The next as Guan Yu, all loyal and righteous. They thought to themselves “Wow! This is amazing! How was Cao Cao able to become Guan Yu in a matter of seconds?” That was how people learned about traditional culture in those times, through these open-air performances. Children learned about the virtues of loyalty, filial piety, love, and justice. They learned about stories from the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Three Kingdoms. They picked up wisdom on how to navigate relationships with people in society.
Humble Beginnings: Early Years on Wenzhou Street
Xie Dexi and Seden’s relationship began in 1986 and lasted for 15 years. He started as a supporter but in the end became the director and manager of the theater. He also participated in writing scripts, training the next generation, and so much more. Yet how did this relationship begin?
In the 1980s, Seden’s founder Professor Chen Jinci came back to Taiwan. Right after earning his doctor’s degree from Stanford University, he became an associate professor at National Taiwan University's (NTU) Math Department. Passionate about Taiwanese local culture, Chen often wrote articles for newspapers about his opinion on local culture. Through the invitation of a mutual friend, Chen and Xie went on to become good friends. They would often talk in the teacher’s dorm, from traditional culture to glove puppetry. They would also talk about the vision and future of Seden. When the foundation moved to a new base on Wenzhou Street, Chen asked Xie to help with arranging and decorating the space. Having collected many books and documents, Xie effortlessly found the book Glove Puppetry: Chinese Palm Art by Shen Pingshan. He read it, organized the notes, digested it, and wrote a summary about the development of Taiwan’s glove puppetry. He framed the summary and hung it at the center of the office. When visitors walk in, they would immediately be able to understand the origins and history of Taiwan’s glove puppetry. This was Xie’s first time working with Seden. What started as just helping a friend set him up to become an irreplaceable figure in the foundation.
Xie recalls in the early stages of the foundation, their biggest concern was finance. They needed NT$ 1 million to establish the foundation, the interest from that alone wasn’t even enough to hire a full-time administrator. In the beginning, most of the funds came from board member donations, including from the three founding professors Chen Jinci, Li Hongxi, and Yang Weizhe. A lot also came from the director at the time, Ms. Li Laifu’s multiple fundraising campaigns. To preserve and retain the antique puppets, the foundation used their own savings and even borrowed from friends. Li also actively assisted the board and encouraged those that were doctors, lawyers, publishers to step out and help with personnel and administrative expenses. So that the foundation did not need to worry about finances and could continue to promote puppetry. Many private groups and non-governmental organizations helped out so that the foundation could develop and grow sustainably.
The purpose of establishing the Seden Foundation was to pass on cultural heritage. Early on, they hosted many classes and seminars. Between 1988 and 1990, they selected students that were part of these seminars and in the August of 1990 founded the Seden Glove Puppetry Experimental Theater. In 2002, the theater changed its name to Seden Traditional Theater. Traditionally, puppetry was passed on through apprenticeship or within the family. But what differentiated them was that anyone who was interested could participate. Many members were amateurs, coming from different backgrounds. Including teachers, interior designers, office workers, university students, and even taxi drivers. They all gathered because of their enthusiasm for glove puppetry. The youngest at that time was Chen Hanzhong who was in his 20s. He then went on to form A-Zhong Glove Puppetry Troupe which became a hit. Students from the NTU Glove Puppetry Theater also came to help out. Wu Zhengde who was a graduate student studying agricultural machinery at the time, then went on to become the Artistic Director of Seden Traditional Theater.
New Responsibilities: Serving As Seden Director and Theater Manager
Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation was established in 1985. During that time open-air performances started to decline and glove puppetry started to enter the television era. Due to regulations and censorship enforced by the government, viewership rapidly declined as well. People gradually grew indifferent to puppetry, including the traditional aspects of the front and back stage. Puppets, costumes, and props were at the risk of being sold overseas. Fortunately, Seden had enough funds to retain them in Taiwan.
Under this climate, Seden saw that many elderly Taiwanese puppet masters were well into their 80s and 90s. They hope to leave a written record of their history and stories. The job was entrusted to Xie, who spent a year interviewing puppet masters including Huang Haidai and Li Tianlu. This was the perfect job for Xie since he was familiar with the history of Taiwan from 1949 to 1966. He also had much experience in writing historic literature, and has collected information about these puppet masters previously. When the old puppet masters were narrating their own life, Xie was able to immediately verify due to his vast understanding of the history of that period. He handled this enormous project with ease, compiling and publishing successively the biographies Seden Historical Records of Greatest Performers Volume 1: Wang Yan (Ha Ha Xiao Puppet Theater), Volume 2: Huang Haidai (Wu Zhou Yuan Puppet Theater), Volume 3: Li Tianlu (I Wan Jan Puppet Theater), and much more. These biographies went on to become great resources for research on local Taiwanese glove puppetry culture.
Xie served as the director of Seden Glove Puppetry foundation from 1996 to 1999. Being fully in charge of management and also promoting Seden Glove Puppetry Theater. Even though he wasn’t a professional performer, he still did his best spending time with the children, taking them to Li Tianlu’s residence to practice. In order to give the children opportunities to perform, he arranged for them to perform at elementary and middle schools, and even universities. They also performed at department stores, inviting the public to dive into the arts of glove puppetry.
During his time as director, Xie collaborated with various puppet masters. Writing scripts based on stories from the history of Taiwan and then asking the puppet masters to adapt them into plays and monologues suitable for children to perform. He worked on two plays with Zhong Renbi from Hsin Hsing Ku Puppet Show Troupe: A-Huo of Huwei based on the Sino-French War in Taiwan and Pirates of Taiwan based on a pirate in the Taiwan Strait during the Qianlong and Jiaqing era. He believes by reinterpreting local history stories through puppet plays and sharing them with children, they can deepen their understanding of the land they grew up on.
Research on Cultural Background: Establishing the Subjectivity of Glove Puppetry Culture
During Xie’s time at Seden, in order to attract government funding, he began to expand into research, conducting two main research projects. One of them was focused on the origin of female puppeteers. He interviewed first generation female performers, including Jiang Cimei and Zhan Baoyu. In early days, it was a taboo for women to appear in the back stage. In 1949, the government banned outdoor puppet performances and so they turned indoors. It was until then when women started to take part in singing, monologues, and handling the puppets. Their performances were very popular and often guaranteed box office success. During the research, Xie nicknamed Jiang Cimei “The Dragon Goddess of the Sea of Plays”, which has stuck even to this day within the performing arts sphere.
The second research project was on Ge-style glove puppetry, in which Xie organized the full development of Golden Light Puppetry. 1950 to 1970 was the golden age of Golden Light Puppetry. Originally, plays were performed outdoors at temples for religious purposes. But due to government restrictions, they began to perform indoors. Wu Zhou Yuan Puppet Theater from Huwei and Hsin Hsing Ku Puppet Show Troupe from Xiluo were the two leading troupes at that time. Xie did further research on Hsin Hsing Ku’s development through five generations of performance, serving as a precious historical source of information. Thus establishing the discourse on local Taiwanese glove puppetry culture and deepening the roots of local identity.
On Heritage: Establishing Glove Puppetry Centers throughout Taiwan
When Xie was serving as the director, every winter or summer vacation, he would arrange courses and events for his students at the Social Education Center. These courses were usually three to five days, allowing children to fully experience what goes on during a puppet performance, from the front to the back. Simple plays were also taught for children to perform. From a children's psychological point of view, Xie believed that through the process of handling the puppets, children were able to freely express themselves. This was evident among kids with autism. In order for children to gain in-depth understanding , he published two glove puppetry books written for children. One was Taiwan Children’s Encyclopedia: Glove Puppetry of Taiwan for elementary school children to get to know the basics of glove puppetry. The other being In the Palm of Your Hands: Glove Puppetry, used as teaching material for elementary and middle school teachers.
Xie emphasized that glove puppetry is a significant part of local culture that must be passed on and promoted. For Xie, the ideal way to pass on this legacy is to set up a puppetry center in every city, just like the Hand Puppet Museum in Yunlin. “It doesn’t need to be a large space. Just a simple stage for regular performances so that the next generation has the opportunity to be exposed, to admire, and interact with this art. They need to see the full operation, from the front stage to the back. Let the children take part in handling the puppets or playing the drums and gongs. This could be part of their education of local heritage and culture.” Xie believes the essence of glove puppetry is in the techniques used in both the front and the backstage. Back when he was serving in Seden, they had passion but lacked resources and energy. In the future, he hopes that the government can work with private organizations to continue to invest in puppetry.
For Xie, glove puppetry is the optimal way to pass on local Taiwanese culture because even one person can put on a performance anywhere. A lot of Taiwanese people work or study abroad. If someone is overseas and is asked what type of play best represents Taiwan? Glove puppetry would be the best answer. Whether it’s glove puppetry in the Japanese era, Golden Light Puppetry, or puppetry on television and film, all reflect the history, politics, and culture of Taiwan in some way. If the children of the next generation could all have some basic understanding of puppetry and know how to handle the puppets, then we’d really be passing on the legacy of Taiwanese theater and laying a good foundation for local culture.