Traditional Marionette Performance Art

• Tweet
• 

• Tweet
• 

Jia Li Xi (嘉禮戲) is a traditional string-puppet performance art popular in Southern Taiwan. Chin Fei Feng Marionette Theatre Troupe (錦飛鳳傀儡戲劇團) from A-lian (阿蓮鄉) is one of the few remaining practitioners and a fine example of this art.

Third generation puppeteer Hsue Ying-yuan (薛熒源), whose grandfather, Hsueh Po, founded the Quanzhou style puppet troupe in 1920, performs with his wife at Soulangh Cultural Park in Tainan.

The Chin Fei Feng Marionette Theatre Troupe (錦飛鳳傀儡戲劇團) currently has an exhibition at Soulangh Cultural Park in Jiali.

An exquisitely crafted Guan Gong on display.

Jia Li Xi (嘉禮戲) performance art is valuable not only for its entertainment value, but also for all the other traditional arts it preserves.

The finely embroidered clothing adorning the puppets, once worn by emperors and nobility, is still used in many facets of traditional culture; from performance troupes’ costumes, temple and shop banners to god statues’ adornment.

Traditional craftsmen were once employed to carve and paint the marionette bodies.

A hundred year old script of the Yellow Flower Prince. Jia Li Xi traditional string-puppet performance art preserves ancient legends and passes on important traditions.

This San Xuan is one of the many traditional instruments that create the music to accompany a performance.

From its roots of a simple religious play performed at temple festivals, the innovative Chin Fei Feng Marionette Theatre Troupe struggles to bring a greater aesthetic to their performance while continuing to promote and preserve Jia Li Xi’s important traditional customs.