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 puppetry show in Japan. After he saw a news report about this on the TV, Chen Jinci visited XAround 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.

A Love for Glove Puppetry That Has Never Faded

As you enter Li Hongxi's house, what comes into view is a rich collection of books, political banners, and promotional materials all around, followed by a whole wall of souvenirs collected from places around the world that Li has visited. One corner in particular draws the eye, though: Two glove puppets given by the Seden Foundation. Perhaps this echoes how in Li Hongxi's life, despite his busy schedule, he always makes space in his life for glove puppetry (poo-te-hi).

Glove Puppetry, the Only Comfort in His Childhood

Born in 1937, Li Hongxi recalls that there was nothing in his childhood except for turmoil, plague and foreign domination. “At that time, there was a saying among the people from Fujian and Guangdong who came to Taiwan: If your family had been able to get two meals a day, you would not have risked your life crossing that black ditch of ocean to Taiwan.” Li added that life was hard in those days; people didn't even think of things like recreation or entertainment.

“I've been very hyperactive since I was a child, even in my mind; I see myself as a curious child.” According to Li Hongxi, when he was young, he often went out of home to make fun for himself by watching the ong-lok-a-sian itinerants¹ selling medicine, or wandering in temples and observing the god statues and temple carvings.

The only entertainment at that time was those temple gatherings. Back then, only a few rich temples could afford to hire traditional Taiwanese opera (kua-a-hi) performances; instead, most temples hired glove puppetry (poo-te-hi) performances. The glove puppetry shows would bring with them other stalls to set up nearby, selling candied plum li-a-tshiam², honeycomb toffee, or malt candy that people could enjoy while watching the show. This was a happy memory shared by most children in those days.

Nevertheless, glove puppetry is not only a pleasant memory for Li Hongxi, but also a spiritual pillar for the younger Li. Li's father passed away when he was seven, so the responsibility of raising all his siblings fell on his mother. “I worked all kinds of jobs back then, and it was tough for me as a child. Therefore, glove puppetry became the only thing that could bring me comfort.” During the period when the family was in extreme financial difficulties, Li couldn't afford to pay for shows at the movie theater. For that reason, the glove puppetry so commonly found in front of temples became Li's favorite. Watching and enjoying the performances allowed Li to escape temporarily from all the hardships of real life.

When Li Hongxi, who was born in Chiayi, recalls his childhood memories of glove puppetry shows, it's like he was just there yesterday. The Rishengxuan, Changyixuan, Jingzhongxuan glove puppetry troupes, as well as the Wuzhouyuan troupe (headed by Huang Haidai in Huwei Township) and the Hsin Hsing Ku Puppet Show Troupe (headed by Zhong Renxiang and Zhong Renbi in Xiluo Township) were the glove puppetry troupes that Li most often watched. It is hard to imagine that these memories of events and people from more than 70 years ago haven't faded at all.

When asked what puppetry troupe most impressed him, Li Hongxi answers, “Rishengxuan”. “It happened to be not far from our home. And they were remarkable at performing the glove puppetry; I used to go there when I was little to see how they performed and taught.” When Li was about seven or eight, he watched a play called How Song Jiang Slew His Mistress Yan Poxi⁴ by Rishengxuan, and felt that it was very lively the way that Song Jiang strutted with a majestic gait, while Yan Poxi moved her hips from side to side as she walked.

“I was impressed by the very delicate movements; it made me realize that this is really a tradition of Taiwanese culture.” Li describes how Yan Poxi held the mirror in her left hand and slowly combed her hair with a comb in her right hand, then held an embroidery frame to embroider stitch by stitch. Li doesn't miss a detail of Yan Poxi gingerly biting the threads off; Li's hands naturally start to move as he talks. Watching his gestures gives the feeling of what it was like watching the glove-puppets back then, as well as the amazement that Li experienced then.

As he grew up, Li Hongxi's connection with glove puppetry remained unbroken; he began learning to control puppets' heads, hands, and bodies. “Since becoming an adult, if asked about my favorite artist, I will always say Xu Wang from the Xiaoxiyuan.” It was only after Li got to know Xu Wang himself that Li realized it takes a master eight to ten years of practice to control a puppet through the seemingly-simple act of taking a seal-stamp out of its sleeves. Skills that take this long to master began more and more to not keep pace with modern society. When stages were moved from the temples to TV and movie studios, the glove puppets were also made larger, and lighting and animation effects were added. “Sometimes I want to see those glove puppetry skills on display; but shows that use the traditional techniques are getting fewer in number. They're getting increasingly modernized.” For that reason, Li Hongxi has come to cherish the experienced puppetry masters who are still working in the profession of traditional glove puppetry today.

Not Street Performers, Glove puppetry Masters Are Men of Culture

During the interview, Li Hongxi takes out a book of his collection, titled 神々と人形と男たちの宴―台湾から人形劇の源流を求めて (The Feast of Gods, Puppets and Masters: Exploring the Origin of Glove puppetry in Taiwan), published by the Japanese puppetry expert Miyamoto Yoshio in 1984. “I feel ashamed that the Taiwanese people's understanding of glove puppetry is not as delicate as what's shown in this book written by Japan's Miyamoto.” The book carefully organizes information on how Taiwanese glove puppetry (poo-te-hi) derives from China, and how the northern, central and southern schools of Taiwanese glove puppetry differ from each other. “According to Miyamoto, when he went to watch the shows in China, they were not as delicate as those in Taiwan,” Li added.

This is how a Japanese person sees Taiwanese glove puppetry. But how do Taiwanese people, who grew up in the same land with this aspect of culture, see glove puppetry?

“Xu Wang was very depressed for a while, as the government treated them like street performers; however, in my mind, they were Taiwan's people of culture.” In the 1980s, traditional glove puppetry had relatively declined, and Xu Wang was feeling despondent about the situation. After learning he was feeling this way, Chen Jinci, one of the founders of the Seden Foundation, invited Li Hongxi and Yang Weizhe to console and encourage Xu. “When the three of us went to visit him and invited him to a meal, he was shocked.” Li recalled that when they arrived at the hotel, Xu Wang was touched by the presence of distinguished professors in the community who had gathered only to encourage him, and this boosted his confidence. Chen Jinci then suggested that the university professors establish the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation. “Because the Xiaoxiyuan was an important northern glove puppetry troupe, and the guardian deities worshiped by the Taiwanese puppetry troupes are the Xiqin Wangye and the Tiandu Yuanshuai, [the Foundation's name should derive from Xi and Tian (that is, Seden)]”. Li mentioned that the Foundation's name was created in hopes of conveying the utmost respects to puppetry masters who have dedicated their lives to glove puppetry.

Xu Wang was invited to do the first performance to celebrate the establishment of the Seden Foundation. Additionally, Li Hongxi and his wife invited a number of professors to watch the performance. It was only after that day that Li only realized how significant it was for Xu Wang. “The number of people watching our show indicated that we were people of culture, not street performers,” Li Hongxi relayed what Xu Wang had told his apprentices after the performance that day.

Traditional culture and glove puppetry masters deserve to be cherished, and they should be cherished. Therefore, after Li Hongxi served as board chairman from early the 1980s until 1997, he traveled extensively to promote glove puppetry. At that time, as the founders, the three of them also put aside their roles as scholars to raise funds for Seden Foundation, and invited friends from the corporate world to join as directors. That was when the Seden Foundation was established, after a donation was received from Cai Chennan of Cathay enterprises. Subsequently, a stage was carved for the Seden Foundation; it was “about five feet wide, six feet four high, with a depth of less than 60 centimeters from front to back. I think this stage is an unprecedented creation in Taiwanese glove puppetry.” It seems like everything happened yesterday; Li Hongxi can describe the dimensions of the stage in detail. But today there are very few talented people left who would be capable of carving such a stage.

Looking back on those years, Li often says modestly that his contributions were nothing. “Chen Jinci and Yang Weizhe were the real insiders, more focused; I was only an amateur.” Apart from fundraising, Li wasn't very involved in later internal operations. Even so, at that time, Li had many speaking engagements, and he would always encourage the organizers to invite glove puppetry troupes to perform. When Li went abroad to participate in conferences and international exchange occasions, he would always bring along glove-puppets to perform a few tricks. One reason is that he just liked glove puppetry; the other was that he wanted to share this aspect of culture to more people.

“We want to restore Taiwan's culture, and treat street performers as people of culture.” With such a sentiment toward advocacy for glove puppetry, and due to his own promotion of the Taiwanese (Hoklo) language as well as government opposition, Li was under some pressure. There was, for example, always the possibility of attracting police attention if he wrote a preamble in Taiwanese. Despite all this, Li still spared no effort to invite Huang Haidai, the founder of the Wuzhouyuan Glove Puppetry Troupe, to teach at the Seden Foundation when Huang was 90 years old; nor did Li fail to write the preface for Li Tianlu's A Life of Plays and Dreaming. He has done all this with an aim to record as much as possible about contemporary glove puppetry and these people of culture.

A Place Without Culture Is No Country

More than 30 years have passed; the relics of Seden Foundation are now taken care of by National Taiwan Museum and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University for collection and promotion. “It would be a shame to let them shrivel up and die; but luckily Chairman Chen Rongxiang knows how to digitally preserve them.” Li Hongxi is also happy to see that through technology, there are more possibilities for the survival of these relics and the culture as a whole.

In 2020, when National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University held a press conference for the donation of cultural relics from the Seden Foundation's collection, Li attended: “I was very impressed to see that remote control could really make glove puppetry come alive.” Additionally, he started to think about whether the intervention of technology could take cultural arts to a higher level. Rather than taking the approach that technology eliminates the traditional arts, it is better instead that technology incorporate more diversity in its connotations and presentations of traditional arts.

Even though technology and digitization have given the traditional arts a new lease on life, Li is not optimistic about the revival of glove puppetry in society: “I personally know that at the current speed of society, I'm afraid that it's inevitable that glove puppetry will shrink and wither.” What is different from Li's childhood is the rapid changing society today where countless channels of entertainment are available for people. For traditional glove puppetry to be in decline in such a world seems inevitable.

Nevertheless, Li Hongxi still hopes that traditional culture can be preserved in some way, to allow people in the future to be aware of an aspect of culture that Taiwan once had, and which deeply influenced the people of this land. As he says, “A place without culture is no country.” Perhaps, only when we really know where we came from in the past can we be more certain of where we should go in the future.

¹“Itinerant” (ong-lok-a-sian) was a profession in the early days that moved from village to village, set up stalls, and sold medicines through martial arts performances, acrobatics, magic tricks, and singing “Songs of Exhortation”. Back then, social life and entertainment were relatively monotonous, so temple celebration events or watching itinerants sell medicine was an important entertainment for locals.
²李仔攕, pronounced lí-á-tshiám: Candy-coated plums on a stick.
³Rishengxuan, Changyixuan, and Jingzhongxuan were the famous glove puppetry troupes in Chiayi at that time.
⁴In the play, Song Jiang discovers that his wife, Yan Poxi, has been cheating on him; he kills her and her adulterer in a fit of rage. Later, Song Jiang is hunted down by government officials.

Passing on the Many Facets of Culture

While he lists the names of people he's known, the feelings are just as fresh as always. Even though years apart may be long, and the exact years may not even be clearly calculated, one can still feel the warmth in Yang Weizhe's narrative for each important person who resides in his memory.
Born in Fengyuan, Taichung in 1939, Yang Weizhe considers himself to be neither urban nor rural. In the environment he grew up in, he had no opportunity to watch glove puppetry (poo-te-hi) shows or play outdoors. “Before I was nine, the largest theater in Fengyuan, the Fengyuan Theater, was located about 50 meters away from our house. You had to buy a ticket for the show, but they would open the doors in the last 10 minutes and let in people without charging. Many children would then rush to watch the last part of the play for free; this was known as 'catching the tail-end of the show'. Among all the different plays performed at the theater, I remember that there was a play about the vigilante Liao Tianding. I saw the tail end of that one. While he's taking a nap, Liao Tianding is killed by his mistress' brother with a hoe. However, I don't remember anything about the glove puppetry.”
When asked about his connection to glove puppetry, Yang laughs and says that it was only after he became director of Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation that he discovered his deep connection, through his father Yang Qidong. “I told my father that I became the director of the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation; he was overjoyed, and said, 'Oh, that's great! This is also part of your inheritance!' I wondered, what's that got to do with inheritance?”
In fact, Yang Qidong was a well-known painter in Taiwan, and was mentored by Japanese painter Ishikawa Kinichirō when he was a student at Taipei Teachers College during the period of Japanese occupation. Yang Weizhe mentions that his grandfather (Yang Qidong's father) was born in Wuqi, and spoke the Taiwanese Hoklo language with a Haikou (Quanzhou) accent. Yang Weizhe's mother spoke in a Quanzhou accent, but after marrying Yang Qidong who was born in Fengyuan, she switched to Zhangzhou accent (the prevalent accent in Fengyuan, which Yang Qidong's family adopted). This was the background in which Yang Weizhe's maternal language took root. When he became director of the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation, his father, Yang Qidong, was elated and replied, “I can perform glove puppetry too! When we were busy with farming and during New Year's eve, Grandpa would put on a glove puppetry performance for people in the village and entertain everyone.” Who would have guessed? Yang Qidong's grandfather was a glove puppetry master.
Yang Weizhe mentions that he was lucky to have become lifelong friends with Professor Chen Jinci, a person with remarkable talents and virtue. At that time, the young professor Chen was pained to see the decline and demise of glove-puppetry culture, but felt powerless to do much to stop the decline himself. As a result, he invited Yang Weizhe to found the Poo-Te-Hi Foundation. “I was touched to see how serious he was about founding the foundation. The situation in general was terrible, and he thought there was no way that glove-puppetry could earn someone a living; but if this whole aspect of culture was destroyed, well, he didn't want to see that happen. That's why he wanted to establish this foundation.” Yang Weizhe adds, “I told him that I couldn't give him artistic advice or help, but if he needed support, I'd be the first to back him up.”Yang Weizhe mentions that he was lucky to have become lifelong friends with Professor Chen Jinci, a person with remarkable talents and virtue. At that time, the young professor Chen was pained to see the decline and demise of glove puppetry culture, but felt powerless to do much to stop the decline himself. As a result, he invited Yang Weizhe to found the Glove Puppetry Foundation. “I was touched to see how serious he was about founding the foundation. The situation in general was terrible, and he thought there was no way that glove puppetry could earn someone a living; but if this whole aspect of culture was destroyed, well, he didn't want to see that happen. That's why he wanted to establish this foundation.” Yang Weizhe adds, “I told him that I couldn't give him artistic advice or help, but if he needed support, I'd be the first to back him up.”
“When Chen Jinci proposed founding the Foundation, his attitude was very touching. He insisted that puppetry masters are all remarkable, and that in any country that respects culture, they would undoubtedly be human treasures.” For Yang Weizhe, even though he did not have many chances to come into contact with glove puppetry as a child, he had read a lot of stories about the most impressive artisans from his childhood. “I enthusiastically supported Chen Jinci's establishment of the Foundation for the purpose of cultural preservation, and I believed that we would resonate fully because we shared the same vision.”
The other founder of the Foundation, Professor Li Hongxi, met Yang Weizhe around 1976 and 1977, through the introduction of a student, Lin Xizhang. “Lin Xizhang, a first-year medical student, learned Japanese with Prof. Li Hongxi. How do you teach Japanese? Well, he picked up a Japanese book on constitutional law and taught from that… Chen Yuehua, Lin's mentor in the third year of his studies, was the wife of my student, Cai Congming, so Lin called me 'Grand Master'. My life has been blessed to have made friends with Cai Congming and his wife, Lin Xizhang and his wife Lin Shuxuan, and then with Li Hongxi and his wife Li Fengyi.” Yang's remarks clearly express how special these friends are in his eyes.

All Those Experiences in the Seden Foundation

When asked about the affairs that Yang Weizhe handled in the Seden Foundation, he always smiles heartily and says modestly that he made no contributions. Yet then he can tell stories from the Foundation in detail.
“I served as chairman of the Seden Foundation for three terms, about eleven years in total. I am probably the longest-serving chairman, with the least contribution made.” The first three chairmen of the board were, in order, Chen Jinci, Yang Weizhe, and Li Hongxi. The chairman's term of office is explicitly stipulated by the regulations as a three-year term. Nevertheless, the Ministry of the Interior at the time was relatively lax in managing these cultural and educational foundations, so directors often extended their terms of office for a few months, or even a year or two. After the three of them each took a turn and no one wanted to take over for the next term, that last person often had to take another turn. “When I served as the chairman of the board for the second term, my term was actually extended four to five years, and I said, 'Li Hongxi, it's your turn!'. Li was serving as the principal of the Ketagalan Institute at the time, so he responded, 'All right! Then you're going to take over as Institute president!' With a single word from him, I had to surrender! So, I was re-elected as chairman for the sixth term. The seventh chairman, who over from me, was Ye Rongjia. Since then, the Foundation chairmen's terms of office have been square and regular.”
Ye Rongjia, who took over as the seventh chairman, has great taste in painting, calligraphy, and sculpture, and has integrated this taste into glove puppetry. As a result, he has been an enthusiastic supporter and sponsor of the Seden Foundation since its inception. The main credit for funding the Seden Foundation's stage - the Foundation's great treasure - goes to Ye Rongjia. During his tenure as chairman, the Seden Foundation would often submit projects to government agencies for different levels for funding; Chairman Ye would always say, “This is something worth doing, so I request that the executive director try writing up a plan and applying for it. I'm sure we'll get some amount of funding, and if it's not enough, I'll figure out what to do.”
The successor to Ye Rongjia was Chen Rongxiang, who adapted to the trends of the times and led the Seden Foundation's transformation toward digitization. As a result, there is no longer any worry that the Foundation's cultural assets will damp due to moisture or rot due to heat. Instead, they can be used in many ways by academics and artistic communities, both in Taiwan and abroad.
Speaking of his initial contributions to the Seden Foundation, Yang Weizhe says, “We dare not say we 'made contribution' to the foundation. The two backbones, Li Laifu and Yang Xingzhi, were the first and second chiefs of staff. Yang Xingzhi was very capable and assertive in applying for and executing projects for us. Li Laifu was the soul of the Seden Foundation in the early days, expanding our contacts in all walks of life, especially in the medical field.”
“Among the many benefactors of the Seden Foundation, the one I recall particularly with deep emotion is Qiu Zaixing.” Since the Seden Foundation did not own a fixed place for its activities, the storage of the puppets and the collection had always been a problem. They were stored initially at Professor Chen Jinci's home, followed by the Wenzhou Street office, then moved to Hong-gah Museum. Yang Weizhe mentions that Qiu Zaixing was very interested in arts and music; for a while, he served as the director of the Seden Foundation and provided a safe place for these treasures by housing the Foundation's collection in the Hong-gah Museum. Later, with the assistance of director Wen Qiuju, the puppets were temporarily housed in a campus space at Taipei National University of the Arts. “The Seden Foundation is lucky to have always met with benefactors.” There are too many benefactors to list all of them, but the love and support given by all of them are carefully cherished.

Cultural Heritage Embodied in a Family

Language, literature, arts, and music are all parts of culture. Even though Yang Weizhe wasn't very involved in glove puppetry as a child, he was influenced by his father, Yang Qidong, and developed a degree of interest in writing poetry and articles.
“Perhaps I was also influenced by my great personal friend, Lin Zhenghong, who is highly proficient in Chinese poetry and writings. The Annals of the Warring States, The Water Margin, and The Scholars are all the books that he recommended I read. Of course, I have read “Yu Boya Smashes His Zither in Gratitude to an Appreciative Friend” in the Spectacle of Ancient and Modern Times. Xu Wang chose this play because he was moved by the Seden Foundation. The first time I saw the show, I swore to be part of the Seden Foundation with all my heart.”
Yang Weizhe talks about his two children's family education. “Before the Taiwanese language was banned, my wife and I used to invite our children to watch traditional Taiwanese opera (kua-a-hi) with us. Yang Boyin didn't always watch, but Yang Hanru was good at art, so she would draw pictures of the sheng and dan characters from the opera,” he said. When Yang Hanru was a student at Tamkang University, she joined the NTU Taiwanese Opera Club, even though she wasn't an NTU student. After graduation, she went to learn Taiwanese opera in Lanyang, and subsequently went on to study Kunqu, which has had a lifelong impact on her. Yang Boyin, on the other hand, discovered the differences between Taiwanese (Hoklo) and Mandarin at an early age. Yang Weizhe believes that if parents require their children to speak Taiwanese at home from a very young age, they will be able to grasp the subtle differences in vocabulary between different languages.
While serving as a teacher in Mathematics Department at National Taiwan University, Yang Weizhe was best known for teaching in Taiwanese. He recalled that the Dean of Academic Affairs added a note stating “It is inappropriate to teach in a dialect”. Additionally, a member of the Legislative Yuan questioned the Ministry of Education, who considered it unconstitutional to teach in a dialect. “In the course description, I simply stated: 'The course only requires a good level of Taiwanese listening; students do not need to be proficient in speaking the language to register. If you want to ask questions and discuss with the professor, you are free to communicate in Mandarin or English.' This is an elective course, and such a course requirement does not in any way harm the rights and interests of any student. Which article of the Constitution says that Taiwanese is a 'dialect'? Which article of the Constitution says that teaching in dialects is unconstitutional? Later, I served as a member of the Ministry of Education's National Languages Committee, and the committee discussed and agreed on a definition of national languages that included Taiwanese, Hakka, Indigenous languages, and Mandarin.” When Yang Weizhe talks about this past, he shows his insistence and love for Taiwanese-language education.
In hindsight, a family may include any number of professions within it. Each member has a different perspective on concern for “culture”; and this is a reflection of cultural diversity. “What matters is our attitude. Since the Chiang family came to Taiwan, the culture of Taiwanese language has been facing a gradual extinction crisis. In contrast, the New Zealand government later reflected that it was an inhumane policy to force that country's Indigenous cultures to adopt Anglo-Saxon culture.” Yang Weizhe firmly believes that cultural diversity is the only way to make progress. The founding of the Seden Foundation is proof that “We're not alone on our path” and “we're certainly optimistic about the future of glove puppetry”, Yang says.

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 wuxia chivalry 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.

Motivated by Taiwanese Culture: Actively Harnessing the Power of Local Culture

Glove Puppetry was the Daily Bread to My Soul

Since the age of two, Chen Rongxiang would watch puppetry troupes come and go at the temple gate with his mother, who was also a lover of Taiwanese opera and glove puppetry. Chen studied at three elementary schools. Besides being located by the sea and in the countryside, there was one more thing all the schools had in common. During the holidays, there would always be glove puppetry performances to watch. For a child, transferring schools was not easy. You'd have to adapt to a new environment and meet new faces. But for Chen, when recalling those school days, it didn't matter where he went. As long as there were glove puppets, it would always be a safe haven for him.

Chen, in fourth grade, had to transfer schools from Dongshi Township to Puzi City. He had to ride his bike for three to four kilometers to the new school. By then he was already a fanatic of puppetry. Oftentimes, right after school, instead of heading home, he would follow the sounds of gongs and drums to the puppet show venue. One time, he was so immersed in the performance, he still wasn't home by 11PM. Frustrated, his father also followed the sound of gongs and drums to find his child. Chen laughed happily saying “For me, growing up in the countryside, that was the daily bread that nourished my soul. ”

When asked why glove puppetry was so fascinating, Chen replied, it's not one component. It's its entirety, the characters, the monologues, the storyline, including the backstage. Art and culture altogether is part of one's daily life. All the components are interconnected.

The 1960s of Taiwan was when Golden Light Puppetry was most popular. Besides the open-air performances, glove puppetry shows were also moving into theaters. Chen mentioned that it felt as if every stage of his life was carefully intertwined with the changes that were happening to glove puppetry culture and the local theaters that housed these performances. During that time, the glove puppet shows were performed mainly in two theaters in Chiayi City. When Chen was studying middle school in Chiayi, his dormitory was right next to Xingzhong Theater on Wenhua Road. As a student who was studying far from home, the puppet shows enriched his life, “I was very mesmerized by the plays that focused on loyalty, justice, love, and piety. Even though they were plays of gratitude, as offering to the gods. It also taught me a lot of life principles and wisdom. I was attracted by this combination of performances. I also adored many of the heroes and main characters.”

Even though it may be difficult to recall all the details and storylines of a play, the message it sent subtly influenced the values and perspective of teenagers who were in the audience. Chen easily gave an example, as if these heroes and characters were still vividly living in his memory. “There were two very famous characters, one was the Old Monk, who was extremely skilled in martial arts. But he would often forget his powers. Only when he was in battle would he recall them. This made many young people admire him very much. The other was Great Hero Jiangshan (大俠一江山)…”

Besides the conflicts between heroes and antagonists, the plays also incorporate themes of justice and social issues. Besides a love for glove puppetry and martial art novels, in his middle school years, he often rode his bike chasing election parades. Even until now, Chen is still very much devoted to caring for social issues. Many of his influences came from the plays he watched, the martial art novels he read, and the election campaigns he was a part of in his teenage years. A seed was planted inside him and that was how he met Li Hongxi, who was also from Chiayi and shared the same interests and passions as Chen.

Maximizing Outputs with Limited Resources

Chen got to know about Seden through his wife. At that time, his wife was in the same choir as the wife of Li Hongxi, founder of Seden. Both Chen and Li had a passion for glove puppetry and cared for social issues. They got along immediately, threaded together by a common goal.

The 1980s was when Taiwan's native and local consciousness began to arise. The search for a core culture and spirit that represented the island and how to pass it on was a significant issue. Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation was born in 1985 in such a social climate. Li Hongxi, Chen Jinci, and Yang Weizhe, who were all National Taiwan University (NTU) professors at the time, sought to harness the power of society to create and preserve local culture.

The three professors took turns being the chairman of the board. Each taking over for two terms. Besides the chairman, there were also positions for a director and a chief executive officer. In the early stages, the director and chief executive officer were in charge of operations. The board was in charge of setting the annual theme, securing stable funding, and also support in promotional campaigns. There were many board members who all offered their expertise to focus on promoting glove puppetry.

“As long as it was beneficiary to the foundation, everyone offered their resources. Even though every board consisted of different people, everyone was more than willing to contribute. If we looked at how Seden developed, it wasn't a sudden explosive movement. It developed through the years, little by little. Reflected through the continuous contribution and promotion of everyone involved. ”

In 1996, nearly ten years after the founding of Seden, Chen was elected as a board member for the Fourth Board of Directors. Almost 20 years later, he took over as chairman. Chen mentioned, the early stages of Seden were also the most difficult for glove puppetry development in Taiwan. Besides making efforts to preserve puppet collections, they also provided a stage for many performers and helped many puppet troupes to overcome this difficult time. Including collaborating with Huang Haidai and Xu Wang, which proved to be very successful.

In the process of preserving relics and antiques, the Foundation was racing against time to avoid mold and damage of the collection by worms. Starting from the Eighth Board of Directors, the board began considering creating a digital museum, to digitize all the antiques, documents, and relics. The total budget was NT$3 million. After three years, the project was unsuccessful as the image resolution and results were not up to standard.

Around the year 2000, the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA, now the Ministry of Culture) began promoting digitalization of content. Seden's board advised to digitize all of their documents, relics, and collections. Under the full support of the board, Seden worked with Chiao Tung University (now Yang Ming Chiao Tung University) to apply to the National Science and Technology Council for the Digital Archives Project. In the end, they received funding for a two-year plan. By utilizing government funds, Seden was able to complete its first phase of digitization, along with the National Taiwan Museum and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) who gave technical support. This project was made possible by integrating resources from government, schools, and private sectors. The project was also featured on the CCA's Cultural Collection website, where the public can download files to appreciate personally.

In 2020 and 2021, Seden digitized all its collections including puppets, performance stage designs, video tapes, audio tapes, books, and files. And donated them to the National Taiwan Museum and NYCU. Even though Seden today is not abundant in assets, it is abundant in resources, including resources in academia like NYCU and museums like National Taiwan Museum. Along with theater troupes and puppeteers that have worked with Seden over the years. This is the unique way of how Seden Foundation grew and operated in every stage of development, through constant discussion and experimentation.

The More International We Become, The More Rooted We Must Be

Through the digital archives, we could digitally preserve our unorganized audio tapes, video tapes, and lyrics and prevent them from physical damage. When talking about digitizing the collections, Chen thinks the main goal is “sharing”. “Whether it's glove puppetry, the National Palace Museum's collections, art museum collections, what they need the most is a system to manage, organize, preserve, and exhibit the items. With the digitization project, we could share all these artifacts with the world through the internet.” It would be a pity to spend huge amounts of funds to build a magnificent museum, but only have a limited number of visitors.

By implementing modern and digital methods of organizing and categorizing, many relics and collections have been transformed into files and digital documents. They are categorized and preserved on the computer database, which makes it even more convenient to search, read, and use the files. Chen thinks that the Digital Museum is a place where culture can be massively passed on and interpreted. People nowadays have their own interpretation of the Mona Lisa but after a hundred years, people may interpret it from a different perspective. In other words, the Digital Museum is a place that encourages people to come up with their own unique interpretations and thus adding cultural value to society.

How do we incorporate traditional elements into technology and transform it into a curriculum that can be taught and applied in elementary and middle school? How do we transform exquisite traditional cultural elements into content that is adaptable to children? How do we design plays that children can interact with? How do we let children experience and draw them into local culture? These are all ideas and questions Chen has been proposing and pondering. It's something to think about, especially those of us who live in the digital age and who hope to pass on culture to the next generation.

In response to “How do we promote glove puppetry culture to elementary school students?”, we can look back on Seden Foundation's core values which is “to integrate with modern life”. Elementary school children today have drastically different lifestyles than those 50 years ago. Nowadays you don't see open-air puppet stages at the temples or alleyways. Without opportunities to interact and encounter traditional culture, how do we reintroduce these elements back into the lives of the children? So that traditional cultural heritage can be passed on. In order for that to happen, they need to experience it at a young age.

Chen quoted the pianist Gwhyneth Chen “To be a pianist, you must practice all the pieces you will perform in the future at least 20 times before the age of 14 or 15. They will be stored within your body, you can play them without thinking. Pieces you practice after 15, even with extra hard work, it's still difficult for them to be apart of your body.” For culture to take root, it requires people to begin learning at a young age. This is one of Seden's core values.

“Take a tree for example. The higher it grows, the deeper the roots. Therefore, establishing a foundation at a young age is very important. Establish the basic core and consciousness towards your own culture first. When you connect it with the world, your horizon and perspectives will be broadened.” The status and future of Taiwan is often determined by international trends and policies. Seden is a foundation that promotes traditional culture. But this time, we as Taiwanese are actively doing something and contributing, motivated by pure love for our heritage. Thus, the more international we become, the more rooted we must also be.

From A Housewife to the Driving Force Behind Traditional Arts

It has been more than 30 years since the establishment of the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation. The original three professors' pure passion for glove puppetry and traditional culture has led to the establishment of a glove puppetry foundation. The process of the Seden Foundation deserves recording in the annals of time, from its initial planning, formal establishment, institutionalization, to the establishment of the troupe and doing performances. As the first non-governmental organization in Taiwan devoted to traditional Taiwanese glove puppetry (poo-te-hi), every step taken is a milestone. Executive Director Li Laifu filled in between the big events with her actions, quietly providing the Foundation's solid foundation.

The Story Begins Here

Born in 1943, Li Laifu, who is about 80 years old, always modestly calls herself an ordinary housewife. Nevertheless, the sincerity and eagerness in her voice makes people listen with rapt attention and be moved by her words.

After graduating from the Department of Philosophy at National Taiwan University in 1966, Li initially decided to return to teach in Douliu, Yunlin County. However, she changed her mind after watching an orchestral performance by blind children at the International House of Taipei (where Da'an Forest Park now sits). In that performance, she saw the children play pieces of music without a conductor, and she was deeply moved by the way they understood each other.

As a result, Li came to teach at Hueiming School for the Blind in Daya District, Taichung City, where she lived and learned with blind children. During the two-year period, she met her husband, Mr. Cai, who was a medical professional. They got married and have two sons. For their excellent performance in mathematics, they participated in the National Gifted Student Training Program. This led to a connection between Li Laifu and Professors Yang Weizhe and Chen Jinci of National Taiwan University's Department of Mathematics.

At that time, Chen and Yang had the idea of establishing a glove puppetry foundation. In order to thank the professors for taking care of her children, Li Laifu did her best to help, even though she was not deeply involved in glove puppetry. “I knew there would be lots of chores when I heard that they were going to establish a foundation, so I ran errands and worked for them out of gratitude.”

Partly through her efforts, the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation began its preparations for establishment in 1984, and was officially founded in May 1985, making it the first non-governmental organization in Taiwan dedicated to glove puppetry. For several years, Li Laifu worked behind the scenes, even without a title or a salary, but this did not trouble her. She did it out of passion and the goodness of her heart.

In 1996, the Reading Culture Promotion Association invited Li to be the founding chairman of the association. In addition to promoting reading clubs for mothers in the community, she also integrated government and non-government resources, with the aims to encourage women to pursue both further education and parent-child shared reading. In 1998, she stepped down from the role she had as Seden Foundation's Executive Director for more than a decade, and handed over the reins to Xie Dexi. Nevertheless, she did not stop there; she continued to be actively involved in an advisory role to the Foundation.

The Reading Culture Promotion Association ceased operating in 2021, but Li believes that it doesn't matter if the Association is no longer in existence, as parent-child shared reading clubs have exerted considerable influence. Looking back on the days more than 30 years ago when she was busy with the affairs of the Seden Foundation, Li does not see herself as the most important person in the Association, but rather she is grateful for what she did during the period; she assembled the stage for the old glove puppetry masters, held workshops, etc. All of these have enriched her life along the way.

The impact of events and what she did may not be immediate, but their influence are seeds waiting to sprout and grow in the future. The most important elements of Li Laifu's experience and advice to her successors are still her passion and kindness.

Each Difficulty Comes, Each Difficulty Goes!

Li Laifu's 13 years with the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation has not always been a smooth ride. It can even be said that every time she encounters difficulties, she always manages to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Li Laifu's passion and kindness are catalysts for the convergence of all good intentions.

A basic capital of NT$1 million was required to set up the foundation, but only half a million had been raised after six months of work. Hu Huizhao, who had also graduated from National Taiwan University and was the confidential secretary to the chairman of Cathay enterprises, heard about the Foundation's difficulties; he doesn't remember now if it was through newspapers or some other channel. Hu informed Cai Chennan, a passionate fan of glove puppetry and major leader of Cathay, of the Foundation's financial difficulties. Cai then demonstrated generosity by donating NT$500,000. This met the funding shortfall, and eventually the Foundation was successfully established.

However, the NT$1 million in capital could not be touched. In other words, the Foundation didn't have much funding to organize various activities; instead, they relied on the sincerity of the founding members, who contributed what money and energy they could. Their performances moved the hearts of glove puppetry masters, which led to the joint performance of Tianbo Tower by the two national treasures, Xu Wang of the Xiaoxiyuan troupe and Li Tianlu of I Wan Jan Puppet Theater. Even more glove puppetry troupes also attended the founding ceremony to share in the joy.

Out of love and passion for traditional culture, the Seden Foundation purchased a large number of puppets from Quanzhou, China, in the hope that they would not fall into the hands of foreign antique dealers. When the Foundation was short of funding, the chairman of the board, Chen Jinci, would pay out of his own pocket, or even take out a loan against his house. It is understood that in 1989, the Foundation had a debt of nearly NT$2 million. At that time, Chen Jinci wanted to give the puppets to his creditors, so as to repay the debt without losing these artifacts of traditional culture to foreigners.

In an article published in Wenhsun magazine about the Seden Foundation in 1991, Li Laifu said, “Many creditors donated or loaned money to us due to our friendship, as well as out of affirmation of the Seden Foundation's spirit. We couldn't just close up shop without ever having done anything.” For that reason, the financial resources of the Seden Foundation were then on her shoulders as executive director.

Chen Jinci handed over the reins to Yang Weizhe, because he was going abroad to further his studies. The Foundation became better organized with the help of Li Laifu. In addition, the Seden Foundation announced its financial difficulties through the newspapers, which attracted the attention of Gao Zhiming, the director of I-Mei Foods. Gao took the initiative to contact Li Laifu, whom he had never met before.

“Gao Zhiming of I-Mei Foods was very touching. When I first met with him, he prepared a large red envelope containing NT$100,000 in red notes and wrote ‘A long and prosperous future' in Chinese characters on the envelope.” Now, thirty years later, Li still remembers and appreciates this. Subsequently, Gao was invited to serve as a director of the Seden Foundation, and the two are still in touch today.

As a result of Li Laifu's active efforts and extensive travel, sponsorships came in to support the foundation. At the end of 1989, Cai Chennan donated another NT$1 million, which not only helped the Seden Foundation pay off the debts and meet a basic capital shortfall, but also be able to continuously pay recruitment fees. This was a major turnaround for the foundation. Prior to that, in 1987, the Foundation moved from Chen Jinci's home to the rented space on Wenzhou Street.

“The chairman of the Hsin-yi Foundation, Zhang Xingru, and the president of FYF Inc., He Shouchuan, and Mr. He's wife, also helped the Seden Foundation through the difficult times. Zhang Xingru donated NT$600,000 in her name, and He Shouchuan even offered to donate a large amount for the operation of the Seden Foundation. However, Li Laifu declined their donations, due to her limited ability to meet the demands of the Foundation and not being able to live up to this goodwill.

Dr. Chen, a friend of Li's husband, also granted financial support by providing a blank check for the Seden Foundation to fill out freely. “I will never forget the trust and support given to the Seden Foundation by these friends,” Li said emotionally.

This was shortly after the founding of the Democratic Progressive Party; local cultural awareness in Taiwan began to grow. At that time, the existence of the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation was like a way for young Taiwanese people to find comfort in Taiwanese culture and communicate with each other at the Wenzhou Street office. To have such a warm-hearted and ordinary daily life became precious, after overcoming all the hurdles for the Foundation's operation. In a way, it is similar to the inheritance of the traditional culture of glove puppetry.

Going into the Schools and Flourishing

In the 1980s, the social tendency was to call glove puppetry masters mere “entertainers”. This shows the disdain with which traditional Taiwanese operas were treated. When Li Laifu was in elementary school, as the class monitor, she had to be part of implementing the “Mandarin-only” policy. Sadly, mother tongues and traditional cultures are quietly lost in such an environment. When asked about her hopes for the culture of glove puppetry, Li answers, “We have to preserve it first; only when we have roots can we have a chance to make the local culture bloom again. These are the roots of Taiwan; we can't let them disappear”.

After more than 30 years of being with the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation, it is clear that Li has seen and reflected very realistically on things. The promotion of glove puppetry culture as a performing art seems to have reversed its image of being “unpopular”. After all, many Taiwanese people grew up with glove puppetry as part of their childhoods; and the existence of the Seden Foundation has somewhat influenced the public's identification with glove puppetry and even local Taiwanese culture. For Li Laifu, this is an invisible sense of mission.

Activities such as assembling a stage for old glove puppetry masters and holding workshops for NTU students were born out of a sense of identification, and a mission for local culture. Under the guidance and support of the Seden Foundation, three local opera societies have been established at NTU: the NTU Glove Puppetry Theater, the NTU Taiwanese Opera Club, and the NTU Beiguan Club.

Wu Zhengde of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who founded the NTU Glove Puppetry Troupe; Liu Xiuting, who founded the NTU Taiwanese Opera Club, and Cai Zhenjia, who founded the NTU Beiguan Club, were all trained in Seden Foundation workshops. Later on, the workshops were opened not only to NTU students, but to anyone interested in traditional culture.

The workshops not only provide an arena for professional glove puppetry masters to employ their skills and techniques, but also to build a connection with younger generations of university students. For example, the NTU Glove Puppetry Troupe invited performers from the famous glove puppet troupes I Wan Jan and Hsin Hsing Ku, such as Li Tianlu and Zhong Renbi, to instruct the members. The NTU Taiwanese Opera Club also invited folk artists, such as Liao Qiongzhi and Xu Yafen, as instructors; and the NTU Beiguan Club invited Beiguan musicians Qiu Huorong and his disciple, Zheng Rongxing, as teachers.

All of them are still active in their respective fields, either set up an off-campus troupe, or have entered academia to promote traditional arts. As Li Laifu recounts the names, it seems like it all just happened yesterday. “Where would a housewife like me meet so many people? You may think I've done a lot, but in fact, I've gained so much from this place,” Li says with a grin. There are many more anecdotes that Li cannot remember in detail, but any time someone asks, she continues to tell the stories.

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.¹

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 Taiwan² 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 Taiwan³ for elementary school children to get to know the basics of glove puppetry. The other being In the Palm of Your Hands: Glove Puppetry⁴, 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.

¹Lu, C. (1991). Reviving the Traditional: Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation. Wenhsun, 30, 109-112
²Pirates of Taiwan was a play written by Seden Traditional Theater. It tells the story of Taiwanese pirate Cai Qian who was based in Changhua during the Qing Dynasty. The theater also performed A-Huo of Huwei, which was written by Huang Minglong.
³Xie, D. (2000). Taiwan Children's Encyclopedia: Glove Puppetry of Taiwan. Planter Press Co., LTD.
⁴Xie, D. (2000). In the Palm of Your Hands: Glove Puppetry. Taipei City Government Department of Education

Even If You Get Tired, You’re Having Fun!

The More I Enjoyed It, The More I Invested: My Journey of Becoming a Puppeteer by Chance

Wu Zhengde's first impressions of glove puppetry came from Wangye Temple in his hometown of Hsinchu. He recalls “On the first month of every year, there would always be local performances in front of the temple. In accordance with local tradition, each performance had its own status, Taiwanese opera was often ranked higher than glove puppetry. Therefore, on Wangye's birthday, opera is performed. Sometimes, believers come and give offerings of gratitude to the gods. So the puppetry stage had to be placed at the side instead of the center. Thus, two performances would be going on at the same time, puppetry and opera. For children, the puppet performances were much more entertaining than opera.”

Before the modernization of television, watching glove puppetry performances was a daily treat for children. Like the childhood of many Taiwanese people, Wu started watching glove puppetry shows at a young age. Before going to college, he spent most of his time watching performances with friends, taking part in the exciting atmosphere. The temple would always invite the same troupe to perform. Over the years, he witnessed the passing on of a legacy from generation to generation. The father of the troupe retiring and his son coming to take over. Wu was growing up as well. He forgot the name of the troupe and the plays they performed, but he will always remember the name of the main character, Great Hero Jiangshan (大俠一江山).

“Children don't remember the disputes and conflicts between characters, they only remember how entertaining and lively everything was. That's when glove puppetry left an impression on me. I wasn't learning it intentionally. I fell in love with it naturally. Just like how many people nowadays like celebrities.”

Like many college students, after getting admitted, he began a rich and exciting campus club life. Some joined dance clubs and some joined guitar clubs. Wu was originally in the boy scout club, but then by chance he encountered glove puppetry again. At the time, he just felt that it was more interesting compared to other activities. But he never thought that the more he participated, the more serious about it he became. After graduation, he didn't look for a job like other students. He became a performer for a puppetry troupe. “My club life had nothing to do with my future career. Nobody knew what I would be doing after I graduated.” Wu said.

In February of 1987, Wu Zhengde, who was in his third year of National Taiwan University's (NTU) Department of Mechanical Engineering, founded the NTU Glove Puppetry Club and became its first club leader. The club was divided into two main committees, the academic and the theater. The academic was responsible for researching the Taiwanese language. The theater was responsible for performances.

When asked what's “fun” about puppetry, Wu replied “Not only could you act, you could also write scripts. You could learn to play many instruments, including drums, gongs, strings, etc. There was no limit to the things you could do. If you don't have a good voice and couldn't perform on stage as a xiaosheng (younger male character) or laosheng (older male character), you could play the suona. If you can't play the suona, play the drums. There's just so much you could do.”

The Same Exceptional Quality: Seden Traditional Theater

Wu mentioned, a lot of people mistaken NTU Glove Puppetry Club and Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation as the same organization. But they're different, one is a student club and the other is a social organization. In fact, you could say that NTU's club was inspired by Seden. There is indeed a relationship between the two.

Besides NTU Glove Puppetry Club, Seden Traditional Theater, who have continued performances even until now, was also inspired by Seden. Seden Traditional Theater was founded in 1990 and was supported by the Foundation for the first three years. Xie Dexi, the director of the Foundation was the first theater manager. Everything, including hiring teachers, coordinating props and sets, purchasing instruments and puppets, and setting up the stage, was all handled by the foundation.

Wu, at the time, was in charge of basic day-to-day affairs of the theater. Due to Seden Traditional Theater not being a professional theatrical company. Practice hours were not based on a fixed schedule. There were only around 10 members, who each had their own full-time jobs. Everything needed managing and coordinating, whether it was deciding on what play to perform, when to perform, or who was attending or not.

At the same time, the Seden Foundation was also hosting seminars, exhibitions, and promotional events. After three years of support, the Traditional Theater officially registered itself as an independent theater company. Wu became the second manager of the theater, being responsible for teaching and performing. From then on, Seden Traditional Theater was no longer affiliated with the Seden Foundation. The two became good friends who supported each other.

Yet the founding of Seden Traditional Theater was not achieved overnight. It all started with Seden Foundation's glove puppetry course. The purpose of the course was to train future performers. The duration of one course was three months, once every week. The course included learning to handle the puppets on the front stage and playing instruments in the back. Anyone who was interested could participate with a maximum of 30 students per course. The course continued to operate for three years. Some students became more and more interested and later on became members of the theater.

As time went on and as most members had their own plans for life, the members of the Traditional Theater began to decrease. Today, the Theater is still running but events are not as common as before. Wu mentioned that Seden Traditional Theater insists on only performing traditional puppet shows with the same exceptional quality. They don't allow themselves to put on low-quality performances just because they have less members. There is no compromise. “We want to perform the traditional shows that made us fall in love with glove puppetry at first!” Wu said.

Speaking on recent times where there are less performances, Wu looked disheartened but calm, “I'm going to be frank, this theatrical company is no longer profitable. It's like we're back in the beginning. There was a time when the theater was lively and we even hoped to turn professional. But now, it feels like we're back at square one. Anyone who wants to join and have fun is welcomed. We're still having fun and we still persist on our founding vision. This is how we're a bit different from the Foundation.”

Legacy and Promotion: It All Comes from the Heart

For Wu, Seden reflected Taiwan society's change of attitude towards local and traditional culture. In the 1980s, when the Seden Glove Puppetry Foundation just began, three NTU professors called for the preservation of glove puppetry. This indeed caught a lot of attention and glove puppetry was on the rise again. But later on, most people were more attracted to the Pili glove puppetry television show. And the traditional drums and gongs, suona-blowing glove puppetry became less popular.

“Sometimes I would dream that maybe some kids of this generation would be interested in preserving glove puppetry. Then we may have a chance of maintaining some interest. But now it's almost an impossibility to recreate the thriving popularity my teacher Huang Junxiong had in his days. In his time, glove puppetry show viewership was 90% high. Nowadays, it'd be nice to even have 3%. I can only say, times have changed.” Maybe in the future, glove puppetry would be a representation of traditional culture. Just like the dances of the Amis or the Pasibutbut of the Bunun. It could fully represent our traditional culture but would not be part of our daily lives. You'd never know.”

Promoting and preserving are two different aspects. Though both are not easy, preserving is relatively more difficult. Wu explained, from a performers point of view, compared with antiques, documents, and relics, performing techniques are what really needs preserving. Furthermore, mentoring is for the long term, promoting is for the short. Glove puppetry classes and seminars are usually for children in the 4th Grade and over. In order to reach younger kids and leave an impression at an early age, they focus more on promotional activities. For example, giving the gongs to children and letting them smash away. They might not understand what's going on, but they enjoy the process. Give them two puppets and they'd play with it the entire recess. For them it's solely for fun. You don't need to teach them any specifics.

“For me, you don't have to teach the children anything technical. Just let them play and have fun. If they have fun, it'll leave an impression. If they stumble upon it one day, then they'll have memories of playing with it before. Just like how I stumbled upon it in my college years, the memories of my childhood came back. They may not necessarily be a performer, but they may be part of the audience.”

Looking back on Wu's career as a puppeteer, he was introduced to puppetry at a young age. Even though he didn't watch performances every day when he was young, it still left a clear mark on his life. For Wu, when he hosts promotional puppetry events, he wouldn't split his participants into different age groups, such as middle-aged, elders, or kindergarten children who may not even pronounce properly. For Wu, it doesn't matter what age group you belong to, what matters is if you have the heart. “I usually don't teach a lot. I just stay there and let them play around for 40 to 50 minutes. It's not a long time. They'll play until they get tired. But what's most important is that they're having fun.”

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.