Taiwan Today

From behind the stage come the sounds of traditional Chinese music, a complex competition among drums, gongs, and cym­bals. Along with the music, puppets take the stage one after another as the well­ known Chinese story "Journey to the West" unfolds before an appre­ciative audience.

But this show has a unique quality to it, first apparent from the music and then confirmed by the high-pitched voices of the characters: both the musi­cians and the puppeteers are children from the Ping-Teng Primary School in suburban Taipei. The Cheau-Wan-Jan troupe performers are all under 12 years of age. As the young students present an abbreviated rendition of the famous story, much more than entertainment is underway. The troupe is helping rescue one of China's major folk arts from extinction.

Cheau-Wan-Jan was established in March 1988, thanks in large part to the efforts of Chi Shu-ling, a music teacher at the school. Her exposure to the puppetry mastery of Lee Tien-lu the previ­ous summer had opened her eyes to the value of traditional puppet theater.

"To my surprise, I learned from the hands of Master Lee that puppet show performance was a delicate art. I used to think that hand puppetry wasn't an art at all, and that it would be of no use to have our children watch it. Moreover, I considered puppet performers to be people without a future in contemporary society. Master Lee's performances changed my mind."

Chi convinced her principal and school colleagues to take a closer look at the value of hand puppetry, and she eventually received approval to establish a troupe with Lee's assistance. Although the school has only 100 students, Chi found 12 fourth graders who were inter­ested enough to spend time learning the intricacies of the art. Fifth graders per­form the musical accompaniment.

"Rhythm and patience are key re­quirements," Chi says. "We ask the students to study the basic skills for at least one year before they can present a com­plete show." But a shortage of time and props has plagued the troupe since it was founded. "Puppetry needs a lot of prac­tice, but our children have only a little time because we want them to keep up with others in their studies," she adds.

Master Lee and his two sons teach the children puppet skills once a week. Lee Shun-fa, another skilled performer, gives instruction in musical performance. Although some students had to withdraw because they lacked patience or because their parents objected to the lost study time, Cheau-Wan-Jan successfully presented its first puppet show in May 1989. The next is scheduled for late April 1990.

"I worry about the decline of the puppet show," Chi says. "So what I'm doing now is to help pass the skills on and also providing children with a wonderful opportunity to mature through performing puppet shows and expressing their thoughts. Although the scripts are' old ones handed down from our ances­tors, we will also create new ones in the future after we have successfully saved traditional puppet theater before the old masters die away."

Although she is satisfied with the troupe's achievements, Chi is worried about the future. After they graduated, the senior troupe members stopped practicing puppetry, eliminating the possibili­ty of further development in the art. "It's a waste of time and effort if the stu­dents become skilled in puppetry, then all of sudden stop practicing it once for all," says Lee Chuan-tsan, one of Master Lee's sons who has been helping instruct the troupe.

Chi suggests that the government should help her students. She says, "It would be a good -thing for all troupe members to go to the same junior and senior high school together, and even to the same college," which would be a means of developing their skills as professional performers.

Lee Chuan-tsan says, "If the government really values puppet theater, it should try to include puppetry skills in the school curricula. For example, schools could teach students how to make puppet clothing or how to paint facial make-up as part of their art courses. "

Although a special "puppet fund" for the troupe was established by a few persons interested in keeping traditional puppetry alive, Cheau-Wan-Jan still suffers from financial problems. The short­age of support is clearly evident when the plight of the experienced puppet performers is considered. The troupe can barely afford to pay taxi fares for the puppetry teachers, let alone an honorarium.

"The lives of puppetry masters are always bothered by financial problems," Chi says. "We are terribly sorry that we can't offer them payment for their efforts in order free them from at least some of their financial difficulties."

Lee Chuan-tsan explains the problem he and his elder brother (who is also a puppeteer) have in making ends meet. They have to hold part-time jobs because they "can't live only by making and selling puppet heads and by performing puppet shows." As for their teaching of primary school students, "It's volunteer work," Lee says. "We just want to keep traditional puppetry alive by doing this. We don't expect that the students will make their living by performing puppet shows, since that is quite impossible now."

For the time being, it is dedicated people like Chi Shu-ling and the Lee family that will guarantee the survival of the Cheau-Wan-Jan troupe. "All that is possible now is for me to do my best with the troupe," Chi says." No matter what happens, I'll manage to carryon my work with the students."

Lee Chuan-tsan echoes the spirit: "I would rather risk the possibility of being criticized by the students because there are no career possibilities in puppetry, than give up what I am doing. The im­portant thing to do now is to save the art from disappearing and hand down the skills to the next generation. As for the future, just let it be."