Exhibition celebrating glove puppetry master opens in Yunlin

2017/01/04

A special exhibition commemorating the life and career of late glove puppetry master Huang Hai-tai kicked off Jan. 2 in southern Taiwan’s Yunlin County.
 
 Organized by the Yunlin County Government, the show features puppets used by Huang as well as scripts penned by the renowned performer. The exhibition, held to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Huang’s death, will run through Jan. 15 at the Yunlin Hand Puppet Museum in Huwei Township.
 
“Master Huang was the single most influential figure in the development of glove puppetry in Taiwan,” Yunlin County Magistrate Lee Chin-yung said at the opening of the show. “His work helped spawn many local troupes, transforming Yunlin into a major hub of the performing art.”
 
Born in 1901, Huang founded Wu Zhou Yuan Puppet Troupe in 1925. The group helped the art form achieve widespread popularity during the Japanese colonial period, which lasted from 1895-1945.
 
 Huang was renowned for his expert knowledge of Chinese literature and music, often incorporating classical elements into his troupe’s shows. He was presented with the National Award for Arts, the nation’s most prestigious honor for artistic and cultural achievement, in 2002.
 
 During the 1950s, Huang’s sons—Huang Chun-ching, who passed away in 2014, and Huang Chun-hsiung—gradually began taking over the family business from their father, expanding its appeal by introducing larger puppets with more contemporary appearances and costumes. Huang Chun-hsiung brought glove puppetry to television in the 1970s, helping popularize the art form and making it part of the collective memory of those who were in grade and middle school during this period.
 
 According to the Yunlin Hand Puppet Museum, the performing art originated in Quanzhou city of mainland China's Fujian province about 300 years ago. In the centuries since, local masters such as Huang have given glove puppetry in Taiwan a distinct style from that practiced on the mainland.
 
 In 2009, the Ministry of Culture labeled it a significant traditional performing art, an official designation requiring the government to organize regular promotional and talent cultivation projects for the practice.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=18&post=106669)