Hellish persona
According to Chang, the Eight Generals became popular as part of any event seeking blessings from the gods. Even when a small business opened, an Eight Generals troupe would be hired to give a performance.
"In fact this goes against custom, because the eight generals are spirits from the nether world [from hell rather than heaven]," he said. But now the Eight Generals are very much part of this world, and also very market oriented.
"I like to go to Tachia's Chenglan Temple to practice the Eight Generals performance. It's a lot of fun. We follow all the different gods as we tour around Taiwan. ... The greatest thing about being part of an Eight Generals group is that you can get red envelopes along the way. We split the money among group members. I became more confident, because as long as I am a member of the Eight Generals, nobody dares bully me," one junior high school student was quoted as saying in a study of Eight Generals teenagers conducted by the National Taiwan Normal University.
"We emphasize honor. Our performance must stand out. And as for fights, we can only win, not lose. We support each other. If one of us is in trouble, all of us will help. None of us is chicken shit. Anyone asks for trouble, only one thing will happen -- death," said a 15-year-old, drop-out quoted in the research.
The violence, the gang spirit, the religious mysticism and the red envelopes, all add to the appeal of the Eight Generals.
"They inhabit a gray area between god and human, between acting and magic. It is also an area between real gangsters and the police," said Chang.
According to Chang's observation, most of Taiwan's thousands of Eight Generals groups belong to minor criminal gangs rather than the major organized crime groups.
It's easy to start a group, said Chang. As long as you have a small temple, or even just a small shrine, you can recruit some teenagers with not much to do," he said.
"The temples may be an unlicensed building and the practice field a parking lot illegally taken over by the group. But no one will complain, or even bother to call the police," said Chang.
The reason. First, because they would say, "I'm of the gods." And second, these gods are violent. Eight Generals groups have been linked to a number of brutal killings of teenagers, but, despite this, Chang cannot help but find this a fascinating teenage phenomenon.
Most of the teenagers Chang used in his film Ah-Chung began their life of crime at 14 or 15. "It is almost impossible for adults to teach them what is right and wrong," he said.
"As drama, it is all interesting and fascinating. But from the point of view of education, it is very difficult," Chang said.
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