How did the puppet show in Taiwan Province Province inherit and develop?

In the Ming Dynasty, a man named Liang went to Beijing to take the exam. On the way, I visited a temple in Lu Yu, where incense was flourishing, so I followed the believers to ask God for divination and stayed in the temple.

That night, Liang dreamed of holding his hand and writing the words "fame and fortune" on his hand. Liang was very happy when he woke up. He thought it was a good sign and went to the exam happily. Unexpectedly, he finally came to Sun Shan and had to pack up and go home.

After Liang returned to his hometown, in order to support his family, he carved some puppets to match his clothes and manipulated his own performances. As a result, he was greatly appreciated and became a local celebrity. Later, he realized the mystery of "fame and fortune". It is said that the puppet show was invented in this way.

In the late Ming Dynasty, puppet shows were introduced into Taiwan Province Province from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in southern Fujian. For hundreds of years, influenced by the special historical and social environment of Taiwan Province Province, the traditional puppet show in Chinese mainland's hometown has gradually developed into the "Taiwan Province puppet show" with the culture of Taiwan Province Province.

Generally speaking, with the passage and development of time, puppet shows in Taiwan Province Province can be divided into classical puppet shows, Beiguan puppet shows, Waijiang puppet shows, Gezaidiao puppet shows, Golden puppet shows and TV puppet shows.

Early immigrants from Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in southern Taiwan Province brought local belief in gods from their hometown. After successful reclamation, they began to build temples to worship gods. Every year, the God's Birth Day often becomes the most lively local ritual activity, including not only a parade to welcome the God's Games, but also a large sum of money to hire a troupe from hometown to stage a well-known hometown drama in front of the temple.

Among these troupes coming to Taiwan from Tangshan, the puppet show is the one that has changed the most. The "Nanguan Puppet Show" introduced by Quanzhou immigrants and the "White Character Puppet Show" and "Tide Puppet Show" introduced by Zhangzhou immigrants were originally based on the "Falling Cage Show" handed down from ancient times.

In Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in southern Fujian, there are strict rules in the traditional drama circles, and the types of drama performances should be in accordance with the classical drama items handed down from the ancestors and recorded in the Luolong Biography. Therefore, after the puppet show was introduced into Taiwan Province Province, the classical drama handed down by the masters of Taiwan Province Province was called "cage-falling drama" or "cage-bottom drama".

There are not many scenes in the classical cage bottom drama. There are only thirty or forty plays by a master in Tangshan, and only twenty or thirty plays can be performed accurately, which is often called a famous teacher.

According to the origin of learning and the use of backcourt music, these classical cage-bottom operas handed down by master Tangshan can be divided into three types: Quanzhou Nanguan puppet show, Zhangzhou Chaozhou puppet show and Bai Zi puppet show.

Nanguan puppet show takes Quanzhou Nanguan music as the background music, and the puppet show is mainly literary drama. The connotation of Nanguan puppet show, in addition to expressing talented people and beautiful women, shaking fans, using pens, combing hair and holding umbrellas, should be read and recited in elegant Chinese, spoken in classical Chinese as far as possible, and sung with euphemistic and touching Nanguan Qupai.

The performers of Nanguan puppet show not only have good acting skills, but also have high social status. Nanguan puppet show mainly enjoys crowds, mostly Quanzhou immigrants, especially local gentry and businessmen who like Nanguan folk music.

Due to the limitation of audience, the puppet shows in Nanguan, Taiwan Province Province are mostly confined to urbanized communities, with famous artists in Tainan, Lugang and Hsinchu. Later, the base camp of Nanguan puppet show was in Mengga area of Taipei. The main troupes and actors were Chen Po of Longfengge Troupe, Tong Quan of Jinquantong Troupe, Lu Azao of Haha Troupe, Hongfu of Art Troupe and Zheng Jinkui of Qiwenge Troupe.

"Bai Zi" generally refers to the local traditional mother tongue and folk music which are different from the official Mandarin and pronunciation. White-character puppet show refers to the puppet show performed in local traditional mother tongue, folk music and aria.

White puppet show music belongs to Nanguan music system. Although the plot and content are similar to Nanguan puppet show, the overall style is quite different from Nanguan puppet show. Traditional opera singing is simpler than traditional Nanguan Qupai, and it is also expressed in plain language and local slang.

White-character puppet show is a kind of common people's drama, which is widely appreciated and loved by people in Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, and has a great performing market in Taiwan Province Province.