Taiwan as A Young Man (少年台灣), a musical based on a memoir by literary icon Chiang Hsun (蔣勳), is a quiet love song to Taiwan.
“This production has a small-but-beautiful, delicate and chamber feel to it,” said Mel Yang (楊忠衡), artistic director of the All Music Theatre (音樂時代), which will debut the 10-act musical on Double Ten National Day.
The musical is about Chiang’s trip to visit his painter friend, and about the physical and spiritual journey that ensues. It’s adapted from Chiang’s memoir of the same name: a collection of 27 prose pieces about his backpacking experiences during the past decade, including cherished encounters with the people from Taiwan’s grassroots.
Photo Courtesy of Ho Ching-Tai
For musical accompaniment, Director Fu Hung-cheng (符宏征) eschews the usual full orchestra in favor of a piano trio to allow the actors’ vocal nuances to shine.
Wish (願), a theme song from the show, sees Yin declaring his love to the homeland: “If you are the dust, I would be the ash...I would make a wish to continue my love with you.”
“Historically, the Taiwanese people are immigrants who accommodate each other and seek to thrive together,” Chiang said. “This book is my canto to the land and its spirit.”
Taiwan as A Young Man will be at the Nanhai Theater (南海劇場) from Oct. 10 to 20. The production features lyrics by Chiang, songs by Jan Tien-hao (冉天豪) and a cast including famed folk singer Johnny Yin (殷正洋).
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50