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Liming Elementary School (2005 CyberFair Project ID 3898)
Taiwan,
Yi-Lan
Official Status:
Final Project: Ready for Judging
Teacher:
Category: 1. Local Leaders
We estimate 7 student(s) from 11 to 12 will work on this entry.
Description of Our Community: The history of Taiwanese Opera in Taiwan can be traced back to 130 years ago. Though there is still argument among which the earliest origin of Taiwanese Opera in Taiwan was, since Yi-Lan is still maintaining the oldest form of Taiwanese Opera, it is regarded as the hometown of Taiwanese Opera. When we say Local Taiwanese Opera, the word “Local” means Yi-Lan. The explorers sang their folk songs of their old hometown, plus Hakka songs, tea picking songs and the Pinpu tribe folk songs in the front yard, the front doors of temples or under trees where they spent their free time after laboring in the field. Slowly, they mixed Chegu play and developed the most primitive performance pattern, that is “ luo di sao, tu jiao suo ”-they can play roles anywhere and anytime, and they don’t even need a stage for performance. It was said that every village had their own teams. Master Chen was one of the members of Jhuang Three Sin Liang Taiwanese Opera Group.
The name of Jhuang Three came from Mr. Sha Wu’s son. When Mr. Sha Wu led the jhuang ding(jhuang ding-the strong man)to explore Yi-Lan, after successful exploring large piece of land, his son divided the land to reward the jhuang ding. This place was further split into Jhuang (jhunag ding) 1, Jhuang 2, Jhuang 3 …. Jhuang 7. Our school is just located within the Jhuang Three section, so when we heard about Master Chen, we hoped to take this opportunity to combine the story about Master Chen into the native courses of our school. This shall enable the students and teachers have better understanding of Local Taiwanese Opera. We also want more people to know more about Taiwanese Opera through our website and participate in the work of its preservation.
Project Description: Master Wang-Cong Chen, born in 1925 at Yi-Lan City, is the master of Taiwanese Opera and the leader of Jhuang Three Sin Liang Taiwanese Opera Group. Due to Mr. Mu-Gen Lin, the leading female impersonator of Jhuang Three Group, was sent to join the army in South Pacific, Master Chen was accidentally chosen to join this group and began his career of Taiwanese Opera at the age of 19 and taught by Mr. Mao-Ling Huang and Den-Kao Lu. Considering losing his left eye, Master Chen quitted the stage at the age of 31 and only self-entertained by performing at Chun Shan Park occasionally. To celebrate the grand opening of Fu-De Temple of Lo-Tung Park, Master Chen was invited by the local Taiwanese Opera performers. With an artificial eye granted by his uncle, Mr. Zan-Sheng Ye, Master Chen agreed to go on the stage again. Since then his uncle, the male lead, and Master Chen, the female lead, were known by their outstanding performance.
During the 1980’s, the traditional art was blooming. Gradually, the country culture was emphasized. At this time, Master Chen, who was able to direct and play all kinds of Taiwanese Operas, was known to public. He was not only the teacher of the National Taiwanese Opera Seminar, the Local Taiwanese Opera Club of Yi-Lan Business School, Taiwanese Opera Club of Wu Sha Junior High School, Lan-Yan Taiwanese Opera Company, but also the first as an amateur teacher teaching the professional group. He got Shin-Chwan Prize in 1989, which was to honor those able to pass the torch of skills to the next generation. He recruited new members under the assistance of Taiwan Theater Museum. The group was registered “Jhuang Three Shin Liang Taiwanese Opera Group” the next year. Preserving Taiwanese Opera is hopeful through this recruiting. In the fading period of Taiwanese Opera, Master Chen showed his persistence of it. He made a great effort on teaching and preserving Taiwanese Opera. He surely deserves to be called “the master of the local Taiwanese Opera.”