| Though a transplant from Mainland China in its origin, the Taiwanese hand-puppet theatre has taken deep root in the indigenous soil and has developed a unique Taiwanese flavor. It was, for over a century, one of the most popular entertainment forms in Taiwan, and during some of the high points in its history, performances by famous hand-puppet masters created nothing short of a national craze. The colors and the sounds of hand-puppetry are so much a part of the collective memories of the Taiwanese populace that the genre is sometimes taken to be an emblem of the island's indigenous culture.;This dissertation is the first in-depth study of the Taiwanese hand-puppet theatre written in English. It seeks to understand the genre's artistic heritage by contextualizing it in China's longstanding tradition of puppet art. It seeks to understand the rich associations the genre evokes in the minds of contemporary Taiwanese by relating it to the island's social and theatrical histories. Based on over two years' field research, it also examines the genre's role in the system which sustains it at present, i.e., the Taiwanese folk religion. The ultimate purpose of the dissertation is to present a rounded study of hand-puppetry as a meaningful element in the socio-cultural world of Taiwan.;The unprecedented social transformations experienced by the island during the past two decades have radically changed the context of performance for hand-puppetry. As a popular means of religious offering to the gods, hand-puppetry continues to be the most-performed theatrical genre in Taiwan. Yet, in spite of the remarkable number of hand-puppet performances that take place on the island all year round, the hand-puppet theatre is increasingly left behind by the fast-moving Taiwanese society. The audiences are gone, and most puppeteers have to perform in front of empty seats. |
