An international puppet theater festival, which plans to feature 123 shows by troupes from Taiwan and abroad, is to begin in Yunlin County next Saturday.
The Yunlin International Puppet Arts Festival is to run until Oct. 14 at the Agriculture Expo Park in Huwei Township (虎尾).
Among the performers are award-winning Taiwanese troupes, such as the Hsin Hsing Ku Puppet Show Troupe, Liao Wen-ho Puppet Show Troupe and Chen Wu Chou Palm Puppet Troupe.
Utervision Company Japan, Israel’s Far Theater, Thailand’s Phuket Marionette, Vietnam’s Baby Style Productions and other overseas troupes also plan to stage shows at the festival.
“To me, puppets are not only puppets. They are people,” Chen Hsi-Huang Traditional Puppet Troupe founder Chen Hsi-huang (陳錫煌) said.
“When I can’t fall asleep at night, I’ll examine my puppets closely and observe the way they walk, turn or raise their hands,” said Chen, who specializes in hand puppetry.
Chen is the oldest son of Taiwanese master puppeteer Li Tien-lu (李天祿). In 2009, he was certified by the Ministry of Culture as a “living national treasure,” or a preserver of important traditional arts in the puppetry category.
Ministry of Culture’s Department of Arts Development director Chang Hui-chun (張惠君) said she was surprised to learn that there are 102 puppet theater troupes in Yunlin’s 20 townships alone.
Puppet theater was first performed outside temples in Taiwan before it was brought to the TV screen and now to theaters, she said.
“It has become a cultural brand that represents Taiwan,” Chang said.
Yunlin County has been dubbed the hometown of Taiwan glove puppetry. By inviting international puppet artists, the Yunlin International Puppet Theater Festival, which began in 1999, hopes to enrich the puppet theater art form so that it can continue to develop and innovate.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS