Finding a new way of living, half way between two worlds

Last weekend, on the final day of the eight-day Matsu Pilgrimage from Tachia, the religious event turned nasty. Groups of teenagers, members of various "Eight General" (八家將) groups, started fighting each other using the weapons that came to hand -- spiked cudgels, saws, maces and axes, all ritual implements that they use in their performances. As a result, six people were sent to the hospital, two of them in critical condition.

The images, broadcast around the country that night, seemed only to confirm the stereotyped image of the youths who make up a high proportion of the Eight General performance groups -- that they are kids gone bad, involved in gangs, sporting tattoos and generally school drop-outs.

Teen movies

"Such fights are a very ordinary occurrence in their culture. But now it's been shown on TV, the whole thing may be amplified," said film director Chang Tso-chi (張作驥), whose film Ah-Chung (忠仔) chronicles the life of such teenagers. His debut film, it picked up Best Supporting Actor in the 1996 Golden Horse and Best Director at Thessaloniki the same year.

"When we were shooting the film, we witnessed many fights. Most of them were not so serious," he said. Chang said the Eight Generals groups had become a particularly Taiwanese phenomenon. "And there is also a strong sense of drama," he said.

In the film Ah-Chung, a leader of an Eight Generals troupe trains his students in the required rituals. Some of this involves self-flagellation with spiked cudgels that soon has the kids covered in blood. Using a spiked cudgel to strike the forehead is usually the climax of an Eight Generals performance.

With the Generals calling out "Kill!" and the crowds chanting "Yao-la-yao-la" (shake, shake), the generals shake their heads and strike themselves with various weapons. Some might even go so far as to pierce their tongues or beat their bodies into a lather of blood and sweat.

"If it got really extreme, some kids would throw sharp knives up in the air and let these knives fall on their heads. Of course, these kids quickly end up in hospital," said Chang.

"Boldness and cruelty are important elements of the Eight Generals culture," Chang said. The key point is the bravery of self-torture. "Hitting other people and making them bleed is not unusual. But the question is, `Do you dare do it to yourself?'"

But, of course, these instruments of self-torture came in handy when they wanted to hit out at others during the Tachia Matsu Pilgrimage.

According to the book The Mighty and Mysterious Street Dancers -- The Eight Generals (神秘威武的街頭舞者－八家將淺釋) by Chou Ming (周明), the origin of the Eight Generals dates just 100 years. One theory of their origin is that they were the bodyguards of a Qing Dynasty god who protected the people from plague. Another theory is that they were guards of the City God Temple (城隍廟).

The Eight Generals wear gaudy, embroidered clothing, fierce face-paint and straw sandals. They walk in an exaggerated swagger called "tiger steps" and their performance, traditionally, represented them bringing criminals to justice and protecting the people.

"But in the early 1990s, when I began shooting documentaries about Taiwan's problem teenagers, I saw how the Eight Generals phenomenon was changing," said Chang.

"The self-torture was emphasized. It had become more violent -- something the crowd seemed to like," he said. "A common belief is that the more bloody and violent the performance is, the better the Eight Generals are. It proves they are real gods."