Puppetry Art Center of Taipei

Day 28 con't
I took the metro blue line to Chen Yi Fu Xing exit #5 to Taiko and stood there for free Jing Hua Cheng shuttle a.k.a. Living Mall, the Puppet Museum is right next to it.  I had a cup of freshly squeezed OJ for 60 yuan.  It was great!  Fresh juice is the best!

These are original scripts hand written for shows.  

I learned that there are different types of puppetry: string, glove, shadow. 










The glove puppetry is reserved for historical stories and legends.  The modern ones appear on TV shows with special light effects.  The modern puppet's face has a distinct facial expression and costume.  A current popular type of show is called JinGangXi a.k.a. Vajra Show.  These stories are about marital art legends who have super natural powers of coming back from the dead.  They are called Vajra because of the indestructible nature of the life and body, depicting chivalry and courage. 













These items show how legends influence a culture.  The story is of a female who used these items to protect her wedding and today these items are a must have in modern culture in a wedding ceremony. 


These fire works are also used today to ward off bad luck or bad spirits in weddings. 
 





















These are traditional instruments for the puppetry theatre performances.  











Traditional string puppetry








Traditional shadow puppetry, which I love very much except it's made of cow hide.  



It rained earlier today and made the summer humid weather more easy to enjoy.  I seem to be having one of these shaved ice a day.  I like classic black syrup.