Enjoy the Show With The Divine: Disappearing Tradition of Hand Puppetry

Hand puppetry, commonly referred to as budaixi (布袋戲) or “cloth bag opera” by the Taiwanese, originated from southern China in Fujian province during the 17th century.

In Taiwan, hand puppetry is closely associated with the temples. In celebration of special occasions, temples would often invite local troupes to put on a puppet show. These troupes would often set up a pop-up theatre across the street of the temple, with its stage facing the deity. Given that there’s a high density of Confucianist, Buddhist, and Taoist temples in Taiwan — with a total of more than 12,000 temples on record — it’s not surprising that these hand puppet theatres have become a common sight across the island.

“That moment when I became an audience alongside the temple’s deity, that boundary between men and the divine seems to have miraculously dissolved.”

Hand puppetry is an integral part of my childhood recollection. When I was little, I often found myself passing by these pop-up theatres on the street. As a kid, my limited height meant that I always had to look up in order to see the hand puppets on stage.

The puppeteers, standing on a raised platform behind the curtain, would manipulate these colourful puppets with their agile hand gestures while the story was recounted in an almost incomprehensible dialect. Yet, the excitement of running into one of these puppet shows remains vivid up to this day despite the fact that they have already become distant memories.

Pop-up puppet show found on the side of the road, New Taipei City

It’s been more than twenty years since I last saw a hand puppet theatre. Performance as such is less likely to be found in the northern part of the island than in the south where religious culture is a lot more vibrant. For the last couple of months, I’ve actually been praying in secret, hoping that I could run into a hand puppet theatre in order to relive that special experience I’ve been through as a child. And I knew that the universe heard my prayer when I stumbled across a pop-up theatre the other night.

It was drizzling that evening. With its stage facing Fude Temple, the puppet theatre stood there on the side of the road, illuminating itself in the dark with its colourful lights. The open-air nature of the theatre welcomed curious passerby to enjoy the show together with the deity. I grabbed myself a red plastic chair and made myself comfortable at the entrance to the temple, facing towards the puppet theatre across the street. When I became an audience alongside the temple’s deity, that boundary between men and the divine seems to have miraculously dissolved.

Looking at the puppet stall from behind

Though I could only understood less than ten percent of the dialect spoken by the puppeteers, the language barrier seemed insignificant when my attention was heavily focused on the vivid movements of the hand puppets on stage. Throughout the performance, I found myself fully immersed in the experience of watching and it felt as if I’ve time-travelled back to that same innocent child who was new to this world.

I’ve always asked myself what is it about hand puppetry that fascinates me?When hand puppets are brought to life by master puppeteers, I would feel as if I were watching miniature Chinese opera. What these two performing arts have in common is perhaps one of the reasons why I’m so drawn towards this disappearing tradition.

I have every reason to believe that my recent experience with the hand puppet theatre is more than just luck. This chance encounter arrived at a divine timing — just the night before I was going to a planned visit to the Li Tien Lou Puppet Museum dedicated to the respectful puppeteer master Li Tien Lou. I hope to recount the tale of my visit to this museum soon. Stay tuned =)

Shaopeng