The Beauty of Traditional Arts in Taiwan
The spectacular parades always gather a crowd of audience in temple fairs.
The artists of Shadow Puppets, squatting or sitting, manipulate the puppets in the back stage.
The Wood block (wooden fish) and other three Peikuan ritual instruments are settled in intricate wood seats, while other musical instruments hanging above.
The appealing color painting of the Door Gods.
Appreciating the lanterns is one of the traditional activities in the Lantern Festival.
Contents 16 Preface 1 From Indigenous Reinforcement to International Perspective
20 Preface 2 Sharing the Beauty of the Traditional Arts
Ko Chi-liang
24 The Beauty of Opera 30 40 46 48 54 58
Taiwan Opera Shadow Play String Puppet Show Hakka Tea-picking Opera Nankuan Opera and Peikuan Opera Taiwan Glove Puppet
72 The Beauty of Music 78 80
Nankuan Peikuan
86 The Beauty of Architecture 92 100 104 110 112 120 126 128
Major Support Wood Carving Color Painting Brick Carving Stone Carving Ceramics Cutting and Pasting Mortar Shaping Koji Pottery
Tchen Yu-chiou
134 The Beauty of Folk Workmanship 140 144 146 148 152 154 156
Divine Statue Joss Stick Embroidery Paper-pasting Forge Steamer Lantern
160 The Beauty of Dance
170 The Beauty of Folk Festival Parade 176 180 182 184 186 188 194 196
Escorting Generals The Twelve Nursing Goddesses Lion Puppet Dancing Stilt-Walking Bamboo-Horse Formation God General Cart-Drum Array Sung-Jiang Formation
198 Photo Credits
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“Tiao Chia Guan” (praying for luck, official career and so forth) is performed before the main Taiwan Opera show.
From Indigenous Reinforcement to International Perspective T
he traditional art of Taiwan is rooted deeply into daily life, and pulse synchronically with the society. Based on its way of life and culture, Taiwan has developed such a culture, delicate and exotic, extremely to the others. It is, indeed, the true heritage of Taiwan. Under the impact of modern life style, the traditional art, derived from agricultural society, has been struggling for continuity, due to the lack of proper successors and the loss of elderly artists. How to break the ice and revive the traditional art, as it has lost its fertile ground, has been the most important consideration. Whereas the plight, the government has taken action against the stranded situation, not just to record and preserve the past, or sponsor festivals in the name of promoting traditional issues, but to root it deep into everyday life again, or, while transforming, to maintain its classic elements. In short, it is a process to recruit the participators, performers and audiences, in order to sustain the traditional art, and this is the most essential spirit of the presently promoting concept of “cultural originality industry� is about. The profound significance and wisdom embedded in the traditional art, and the manifestation that is so close to the land and life will form a solid ground for the cultural originality industry. In other words, to promote the cultural originality industry, the integration of the traditional art and modern cultures is inevitable.
The issuing of The Beauty of Traditional Arts in Taiwan is the pleasant result of such an idea, and that is to take advantages of nowadays publishing methods to promote the traditional art, and to increase the participators. We have been assisted, encouragingly and gladly, by the knowledgeable scholars of various fields relating to the traditional art of Taiwan: Cheng Hsi-ho, Cheng Chao-min, Chen Yi-fang, Chao Chi-fang who wrote the articles; and intellectually accomplished professors, Wang Chi-yong, Lu Chui-kuan, Lin Huei-cheng, Chiang Shao-ying who examined and revised the publication. We sincerely hope that the accuracy of knowledge and the cordiality within will help the promotion, and through proper marketing, the traditional art of Taiwan will become one of the best-sellers, in a conventional and culture sense. The traditional art is a crystallized presentation of the Taiwanese culture. For better and more efficient expressing the value of Taiwan’s existence and contribution in our global village, and to promote the traditional art in the brilliant international stage, we managed the bilingual edition, for sharing with our honorable friends around the world.
Minister, Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan
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Painstakingly accomplished wood carving.