Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Monday conducted a question-and-answer session with Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) using a puppet.
Hsieh’s performance, made in character and using a stage voice, appeared to cool tempers, providing welcome relief to councilors and officials, whose nerves had been frayed by days of acrimonious debate over a ban on Japanese food imports from prefectures near the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
The councilor was conducting a normal questioning session with the mayor when he took out a hand puppet of Mi Diao (秘雕), a disfigured fictional hero from Taiwanese budaixi, or glove puppetry, put it on his hand and began to claim that Mi Diao’s deformities were the result of radiation.
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
“I blame my ugly mug and ungainly limbs on radiation and I call on you, sirs, to oppose the contaminated food imports by signing the honorable Mr Hsieh Lung-chieh’s petition for a plebiscite” against the imports, Hsieh said, speaking for the puppet.
Lai responded by saying that neither he nor the central government should be held responsible for Mi Diao’s condition, as the character’s story was dated to an uncertain period in imperial China and the character’s appearance was believed to be congenital.
Continuing to speak in character, Hsieh called Lai’s comment “a grave an insult to myself, Mi Diao,” and said that according to the plot, his disfigurement was the result of war wounds and the mayor should show respect.
Lai replied by making a reference to Mi Diao’s romantic interest from the character’s TV show.
“What period was Da Jie Nu (大節女) from? What was the energy source used at that time? They had kerosene lamps, as I recall,” Lai said.
“So you are admitting that you will let in the nuclear-disaster food imports?” Hsieh asked.
The mayor guffawed during the exchange, while members of the press and city councilors were heard laughing out loud.
At the end the meeting, Lai congratulated Hsieh, saying: “Well played, Councilman Hsieh. You missed your true calling.”
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