Incorporating New Themes and Ideas:
How Traditional Culture Can Still Be Timeless
Peking opera is one of the many forms of Chinese traditional theater and opera. But it underwent many transformations during its time in Taiwan. In the 1960s and 1970s, Peking opera became very popular in Taiwan. If it was on TV, every household would surely tune in. That was how Yang Xingzhi grew up, sitting in front of the television, being mesmerized by this amazing artform. After martial law was lifted, people began to grow more conscious about their local identity. Peking opera gradually also took on ideology and meaning beyond sheer performance.
Finding That Which Touches Your Heart
Just like many families in Taiwan, Yang grew up in an environment where Taiwanese was always spoken. When it came to sharing about the things that she loves, she often couldn’t find the right words to express her emotion and feelings. “When I saw Peking opera broadcasting on TV, I was immediately captivated. I realized this is what I love. People often spend much time looking for their passions or things that would touch their heartstrings. For me, it was not difficult to find. I was deeply drawn in.”
While majoring in Chinese literature at Soochow University, Yang joined the Peking Opera Club and Kunqu Club. Liu Nanfang, the famous screenwriter for an opera television show also came from the same department. Back in the day, Liu worked on a series of experimental theater events at the National Theater and Yang was her assistant. The very first event she participated in was a Taiwanese opera seminar. When talking about the culture and arts of that time, Yang recalled that there were few discussions and focus on Taiwanese opera. Glove puppetry and Taiwanese opera were regarded as a less elegant art form, more suitable for those in the countryside. They were often not considered as formal performances. Apparently, within society and in the performing arts community, there were still invisible standards and judgment.
Yet Yang was true to her heart and paid less attention to the judgments of others. When she was serving as Liu Nanfang’s assistant, she went to Baoan Temple to watch a Taiwanese opera called The Most Memorable Person. As one who often admires Peking opera and Kunqu and has also performed many times herself, she was deeply moved by this performance. In this production, the main actor wore denim clothing with fringe trims sewed all around his shirt, guns in both hands. The costume didn’t make sense to her. Besides that, there were unrelated characters strolling across the stage multiple times. This was definitely a bizarre yet special performance, which opened Yang’s imagination into the many possibilities traditional performing arts could be.
After that, Yang went to Yanping Social Education Center (now Taipei Social Education Yanping Activity Center) and learned from the renowned Xiao Shouli. Thus began her journey of learning to perform Taiwanese opera. During the process, she became interested in Beiguan style opera, which led her to learn it in Seden Foundation. Yang later on met with NTU Beiguan Club’s founder Cai Zhen Jia, learning from him and also gaining opportunities to perform. Because of this, Yang finally got connected with Seden.
Yang became familiar with many different forms of traditional performing arts, including Peking opera, Kunqu, Taiwanese opera, and glove puppetry. Developing her own unique understanding and ideas about traditional arts, she began working on writing scripts for Taiwanese opera. When Seden was low on finance and manpower, they sought Yang’s assistance. She resigned from her eight-year job of working as an environmental consultant and started working at Seden full time managing basic operations, serving there for over ten years.
Seden Traditional Theater: A Stage to Pass On
Yang recalled the early days when she just took over the administrative work at Seden. She chuckled saying “I had a talk with the director at the time, Xie Dexi, for about an hour. He gave me the keys to the office and that was that! There was no one at the office. No one to fill me in on the details. All they left me was an answering machine.” The office was located inside Hong-gah Museum, established by Seden’s board member Qiu Zaixing. Qiu generously offered this space to be used by Seden as an office.
Starting from 2006, the Taipei City’s Department of Cultural Affairs implemented the Creative Arts Space Project, by allowing art groups and artists to turn unused public space into their workshop and office. Because of this project and under Yang’s efforts, in 2009, Seden Foundation was able to finally have their own space on Zhongshan North Road.
“If we’re going to talk about what I’ve achieved over the 11 years, I have to admit, it wasn’t a lot. Simply put, it’s just making sure that the foundation could continue operating, one year at a time. As long as the foundation exists, naturally, people would come to us for collaboration. And that gave us opportunities to host different activities and events.” Under Yang’s management, she once invited the Director of National Taiwan Museum Hong Shiyou to give a speech and also supported and participated in many political movements, including the “Outside of the Ruling Party” movement (Tangwai movement). Even though these affiliations were unrelated to glove puppetry, they still brought value to the foundation. She always worked to the best of her ability.
"When the market demand is low, you must find one locomotive that can carry on and push forward all kinds of activities and events." Yang described the foundation as a locomotive, trying to connect with different organizations within this niche art sphere. And also to build bridges between theater companies and the general public. Most people don’t understand the operations of a theatrical company. There weren’t any channels of communication between the two. Even though both sides grew and resided on the same island, that is Taiwan, they were two completely different worlds.
When Yang served as director, she tried to also build a bridge for those who didn’t know where to go to enjoy a performance. She’d do field research at the temple, collecting all kinds of information on performance schedules. And provide the information on the weekly traditional theater newspaper, so that temple performances can be promoted to more and more people.
In 1990, Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation supported the founding of Seden Glove Puppetry Experimental Theater, which then registered as Seden Traditional Theater in 2002. In the beginning, the foundation spent much effort on promoting traditional theater. But when they wanted to enter the theatrical field, some theatrical companies felt that Seden Traditional Theater lacked professionalism. They even worried that Seden would crowd out demand. Most professional theatrical companies’ were focused on acting. Their target audience were people who already had a certain understanding of the production, language, and context of traditional theater. Yet Seden Traditional Theater wasn’t focused on acting but promoting and educating the general public about traditional theater. Its main goal was aimed towards “helping the public understand traditional theater”.
“We hope that the cultural and theatrical community can benefit from our participation and promotion. We established this theater, not because we have the funds and backing of a foundation, and we want to use an amateur troupe to carve out a piece of the audience for ourselves. The purpose of this theatrical company was to empower young enthusiasts who wanted to pass on the legacy to train and perform in a more developed environment. Seden would host smaller performances and events. Compared to performing at various temple events, this was much more stable. For me, the purpose of Seden Traditional Theater was to provide performance opportunities to students. Especially those who didn’t grow up in a troupe or do this for a living but still has a passion for passing on this cultural heritage.”
Under Yang’s leadership, she made efforts to ensure opportunities for performance, insisting that they host events every year. So that young students could keep on performing. Through consistent practicing they could improve and enhance their skills. Even though most performances were almost without profit, Yang still set a goal to try and not lose money. Thanks to board member donations, government funding, and actively promoting projects, the foundation was able to sustain itself.
Using Traditional Culture as Medium to Discuss Modern Issues and Ideas
There was a time when the foundation licensed photos of the puppets and relied on that for income. At that time, digital museums were just starting to appear. Xie Dexi once reminded Yang not to publicize photos of the puppets, as they could not control who would use it. Some might use it for commercial purposes and it would be difficult to understand their motives and attitudes toward traditional culture. For this reason, many photos and antiques were not displayed for safe keeping. Yet Yang had a different idea in mind. She proposed that resources should be shared so that the public could have access to it. Then more people would be able to admire the beauty and artistic value of traditional arts and culture. This shift in perspective also aligned with the purpose and spirit of the Seden Digital Museum Project.
Besides focusing on the administrative and operational side of the foundation, Yang also played the role of playwright. During this period, she wrote the children’s play The Legend of the Ghost Maiden. This play was an adaptation from National Award for Arts winner Zheng Qingwen’s novel. A great admirer of Zheng’s work, Yang took to heart what he said “An author’s last work should be a children’s book, written for the next generation.”
Yang believed that plays for children weren’t only for children, adults watched too. “We shouldn’t look down upon children and assume they can only watch childish content. We should provide productions that are more imaginative and creative with unexpected elements.” For example, during the play The Legend of the Ghost Maiden, children sat on the floor in the front. In certain parts of the play, they were allowed to go on stage and pick up dolls. The whole stage was also designed as a claw machine that could spin in different directions.
The performers, in addition to Xi'ouzi Puppetry Troupe Founder Qiu Fengrong and artist Huang Minglong, who they often collaborated with, also included two from small theater companies. Unexpectedly, after the performance, Zheng was awarded the Ninth National Award for Arts. The stage designer, Shih Shy Gong, who made the stage into an installation art, also won the Third Taishin Arts Award for Best Visual Arts. His stage design was also exhibited at Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Li Junyang, who was in charge of puppet design and graphic arts received funding from the National Culture and Arts Foundation to become an artist-in-residence abroad. Yang commented “I want to work with artists that have no knowledge of traditional theater and glove puppetry. That way we can incorporate new elements into these traditional forms of theater.”
For Yang, traditional theater doesn’t have to be old school and uninteresting. By collaborating with artists from different fields, it could be performed and presented in a new way. Take historical dramas for example. If you incorporate modern culture and social issues worth discussing, even if the premise is the same, it is still worth producing. “We have to ask ourselves as well, ‘What can the audience gain from this production? How can they grow? Can it touch people?’ In this day and age, we lost the art of touching the heart with our performances. If I’m not touched by a play, then I won’t have it performed.”
Yang used the inclusivity of traditional culture and theater to discuss many contemporary issues. For example, she’s written many Taiwanese opera pieces related to LGBTQ, which has also been performed at Taiwan Pride. Mirroring Seden’s history and development, Yang’s playwriting career also made efforts to embody innovative components within traditional forms of art. By accumulating multiple sources of rich materials overtime, Yang has created a contemporary style of art that is difficult to replicate and unique to its time.