Most traditional Taiwanese opera troupes have faded into oblivion. Ming Hwa Yuan, nearly seventy years old and going strong, has bucked the trend. How has Taiwan's oldest troupe managed to survive and even expand?
"Bravo! Bravo!" In the packed auditorium, young students of Chiayi's Hungjen Girls High School break into thunderous applause as the curtain comes down. The performers emerge to take a bow, enjoying the kind of accolade kids normally reserve for their favorite rock idols. A glance at the costumes, however, is enough to show that this is no pop concert: The stars are all members of the island's oldest Taiwanese opera troupe, Ming Hwa Yuan. How good were they? "The performance was terrific," bubbles Yen Luo-sang (顏羅桑), 16. "Wonderful acting, a moving plot, colorful costumes and sets, marvelous sound and lighting. You can see how hard the actors worked. They really made a fabulous team."
Another student, Huang Tzu-yi (黃慈乙), is equally enthusiastic, even though she does not understand Taiwanese well. "I could follow the story through their tones, gestures, facial expressions, and movements," she says. "The music and the sets helped, too. The actors lightened things up by speaking a few lines in Mandarin, and even some in English. It was a really fresh and interesting performance."
Hsieh Shu-ping (謝淑平), one of Hungjen's Chinese teachers, attributes the popularity of Ming Hwa Yuan to its greatly improved dramatic content, which can actually appeal to young people. "Although they're mostly based on popular Chinese historical stories or legends, the troupe's operas are full of contemporary spirit, thus making it easier to attract young audiences," she says. "I find their performances doubly impressive, because they place more emphasis on gestures than singing. That makes the operas livelier, which in turn makes them more attractive to audiences, particularly people who don't know Taiwanese."
Hsieh also approves of the way in which Ming Hwa Yuan has largely ditched the "tearful tone" that used to characterize Taiwanese operas in former times, along with a satirical way of examining the dark side of government and society. Larded with slang and mounted with the help of modern technology, the troupe's operas strike audiences as considerably more upbeat, interesting, and innovative than their predecessors. According to Hsieh: "Their success stems from a willingness to adjust and improve in the light of changes in society."
Hungjen's principal, Wu Chung-hu, adds his voice to the chorus of praise and would like to see more public support for all such performing folk arts. "Taiwanese operas are educational," he points out. "They have something significant to say. It's not mere entertainment. The students find it easy to identify with certain characters who can throw light on their own thinking and behavior." But such enlightenment does not come cheap, and Wu pays tribute to the Ministry of Education, which has sponsored this performance to the tune of NT$800,000 (US$23,296). Without that, the school could not afford to invite the troupe to perform.
Since it was founded in 1929, Ming Hwa Yuan has witnessed many ups and downs. At one time Taiwanese opera enjoyed massive popularity, only to fade from public awareness. "Taiwanese opera was my father's life," says Chen Sheng-fu (陳勝福), the president of Ming Hwa Yuan and its leading producer. His father, Chen Ming-chi (陳明吉), the group's founder, died last year at the age of eighty-six. "When I was a child, my family was very poor," the son recalls. "Often, we didn't know where our next meal was coming from." This background was destined to have a profound influence on the troupe's development. Its operas frequently deal with themes such as loyalty, filial piety, unity, and morality--qualities that are reflected in the daily lives of the troupe's 156 members, more than one-third of whom come from the same family.
Chen's father was undoubtedly the driving force. "His determination and his lifelong dedication to the preservation of Taiwanese opera had a profound impact on all of us," the son says. "He constantly kept to his ideals, even in the most trying circumstances. He was an example to everyone. He made Ming Hwa Yuan what it is today."
Fortunately, Chen the elder formulated a program for continuing the family's operatic traditions, while he was still active and in good health, by matching needed skills to his descendants' respective personalities, interests, and talents. "That's one of the main reasons why Ming Hwa Yuan was able to keep going and develop, even after my father's death," Chen says. Now he and his seven brothers share responsibility for maintaining the troupe. One is the director, another the scriptwriter, and yet another is the leading actor. Chen modestly disclaims any particular operatic talent, but as the troupe's president he is in charge of its administration.
Despite his modesty, Chen Sheng-fu obviously possesses great talent in the fields of communication, marketing, and overall management. Under his leadership, Ming Hwa Yuan has not only survived at a time when few Taiwanese opera troupes have, but has also won a name for itself both at home and abroad. The troupe currently mounts some 250 performances a year, in Taiwan and overseas. The troupe is now so popular that it has been subdivided into five "core groups" of about thirty members each, able to call on the services of other groups as manpower needs dictate. Without the core group system, it could not hope to meet all the many calls on its time.
Nevertheless, Chen is adamant that each performance is of the same high standard. "Our close family ties, and the ongoing participation of the younger generation, are our greatest assets," he stresses. "We're all one big family, closely attached to one another, and that's why we make such a formidable team."
Tradition is obviously of central importance to Taiwanese opera, but if fresh audiences are to be attracted, innovation is equally vital. "Taiwanese opera is the only traditional drama form that was born here, that grew up here, and is truly representative of Taiwan," Chen claims. "But if it wants to enter the performing arts mainstream, it has to become more sophisticated and professional." He has therefore applied modern business management concepts to its operations, introducing advanced technology and demanding improvements in quality that extend to professional marketing techniques, often focusing on schools and cultural associations.
Chen has also encouraged the troupe to search for ways to update their performances in terms of dramatic content, acting, costumes, sets, and props, because he recognizes that better performances generate the best publicity. Specialized teachers now visit the troupe to teach advanced acrobatics, while professionals advise on the authenticity and design of costumes and sets.
"We have committed ourselves to reinvigorating traditional Taiwanese opera by introducing the sort of tempo you'd normally associate with a movie, to spice up the local myths," Chen says. "We've also drawn on experimental theatre, as a result of which each work builds from climax to climax, holding the audience's attention." The reforms have proved hugely successful. Ming Hwa Yuan's new-look performances have caused a great sensation around the island, generating a lot of money at the box office and winning much critical acclaim.
After winning first prize in the 1982 national traditional drama competition, Ming Hwa Yuan began to receive increased attention from artistic circles. At the suggestion of the Council for Cultural Affairs, the troupe was invited to perform at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in 1983. "We felt so proud and excited to be the island's first troupe to perform at a national venue," Chen says. "My father had been waiting twenty years for the day when Taiwanese opera would come in out of the rain and onto a proper indoor stage."
The fame of Ming Hwa Yuan has subsequently spread far and wide. In 1990, the troupe was invited to perform at the Asian Arts Festival, held in Beijing. "We were honored to be selected to represent Taiwan on such an important international occasion," Chen says. "What's more, we were among the first groups to initiate cross-strait cultural exchanges."
Some people doubted the appeal of such performances to audiences who could not understand Taiwanese. "But when you're performing on an international stage, the only important thing is whether your performance reaches international standards," Chen notes. "Language needn't be a problem as long as there is at least a printed program that summarizes each scene."
Chen's view is borne out by the number of invitations the troupe has received to perform abroad. Previously, most cultural and artistic groups used to have their overseas performances subsidized by the government or the private sector. "But the Ming Hwa Yuan troupe sells tickets and gets its audiences that way," Chen says. "In Japan, for instance, a ticket cost up to NT$6,000 [US$175], but the performances were all sold out." Success on that scale takes preparation and hard work, how ever: Six months before the scheduled date of an overseas performance, he and a few colleagues will visit the host country to check out the venue, educate themselves about local market conditions, and organize promotional activities.
Some three years ago, Ming Hwa Yuan was invited to perform in Paris, after a group of French delegates from the French Ministry of Culture came to Taiwan to watch the troupe's performance and deemed it truly representative of Taiwan's culture. "The response was so good that we ended up staging seven performances," Chen says. " Le Figaro acclaimed us as 'the alternative voice of China.' The writer of the article noted that until our performances, the French only used to know about mainland China and nothing about Taiwan; they knew Beijing opera but not Taiwanese opera."
As the result of that review by the influential French newspaper, many other representatives of the international media came to interview members of the Ming Hwa Yuan troupe and cover their performances. "It was a great pleasure to discover that we, as ordinary citizens, could do something to promote Taiwan abroad and help cement friendly relations with foreign nations," Chen says.
The troupe is concerned to raise general public awareness of its medium, with particular emphasis on attracting the younger generation. "Over the past seven years, we've sent more than a hundred senior troupe members to various schools, communities, and institutions," Chen says. "They give lectures and demonstrate basic singing and acting techniques."
One interesting discovery they made was that elementary schoolchildren are particularly interested in developing acrobatic and thespian skills. Most parents are supportive of their kids' participation in the training program, saying that it seems to lead to an improvement in their behavior. As Chen remarks, opera provides young people with suitable channels to vent their energies in a worthwhile manner, keeping them off the streets and out of trouble.
Despite the fact that Ming Hwa Yuan is currently riding a wave of popularity, Chen is not without his anxieties. "The biggest crisis facing all the troupes is the hemorrhage of talent," he sighs. "Without a rapid injection of fresh blood, Taiwanese opera is likely to fade away, until eventually it disappears from the cultural arena altogether." During a recent seven-month trip around the island, he discovered that most of the leading Taiwanese opera performers were over fifty. When they retire, who will take over their roles?
A problem that members of the troupe find particularly worrisome is the apparent absence in Taiwan of what in other places might be called a traditional night out. On their travels abroad, they have observed that most other countries offer cultural programs of one kind or another that can be combined with an evening tour of the capital. Not in Taiwan, it seems. "A few years ago, I read a report saying that a group of foreign tourists got a glimpse of Taiwan's 'folk customs' by visiting Taipei's Huahsi Street, where they saw snakes being skinned and cooked," Chen says. "That upset me a lot."
About forty years ago, eleven theaters regularly used to stage Taiwanese operas. But now, despite increased spending power, and the availability of more performance venues than ever before, even a prestigious group like Ming Hwa Yuan only gets to stage a performance in the National Theater twice a year. Chen, aware of these problems, is determined to reverse the trend. He plans to establish a complex that will house under one roof an art college and a folk village.
"Ming Hwa Yuan Drama World will be multifunctional, in that it is meant to combine education, performances, cultural communication, and leisure activities," Chen explains. "Apart from Taiwanese opera, the complex will also be made available to other traditional but threatened local dramatic forms, including Taiwanese puppetry, Peking opera, and Hakka drama."
Although this ambitious project is principally intended to reduce the shortage of talent faced by Taiwan's local drama groups, Chen is aware that the education it offers has to be market-oriented. Hence the importance of the second part of the project: the folk village, where performances will be mounted daily on indoor and outdoor stages. "We want Taiwanese opera to become a 'must-see' for overseas visitors to Taiwan," he says.
Some observers feel that Ming Hwa Yuan is in danger of overstretching itself with this ambitious plan, but Chen is not deterred. "During Taiwanese opera's most difficult era, my father sold all his land to hold the troupe together," he says. "Everyone laughed at him and called him a fool. At that time, who could have imagined that Taiwanese opera would one day be staged at the National Theater, and travel overseas to garner international acclaim as the 'alternative voice of China?'"
But achievement costs, as Chen emphasizes, and Ming Hwa Yuan's powers-that-be will need all their traditional will power and self-confidence to push this project through to a conclusion. Success came a step closer, however, when the Pingtung county government tentatively agreed to provide a sixty-hectare site for the planned complex. "If everything goes smoothly, we'll start construction next year and begin recruiting students the year after that," Chen says. "We hope that this school will be the means of passing on the torch from one generation to the next, increasing awareness and appreciation of Taiwanese opera both here and abroad."
It is a noble dream. The Pied Piper of Hamelin used the music of his flute to entice away the children of a whole town. Here in Taiwan, Ming Hwa Yuan hopes to seduce a whole new generation to the boisterous magic of gongs and drums.