A group of traditional Taiwanese puppet theater companies yesterday asked the Tainan City Government to allow them to perform at temple festivals, as the troupes have been unable to stage shows amid a level 3 COVID-19 alert in effect since May.
Tainan City Councilor Chen Yi-chen (陳怡珍) of the Democratic Progressive Party said he received a petition from the groups, led by the Goodoo Puppet Troupe (古都掌中劇團), calling on the city to permit small-scale puppet shows as COVID-19 restrictions are eased.
These performers need shows to survive, as they could go bankrupt after not performing over the past two months, Chen said.
Photo courtesy of Tainan City Councilor Chen Yi-chen
Budaixi, or glove puppetry, is a traditional Taiwanese folk art that is often stage performed during temple festivals.
Tainan Civic Affairs Bureau Director Chiang Ling-huang (姜淋煌) said that while some restrictions have been eased, the level 3 alert remains in effect.
“If we allow outdoor events for traditional puppetry, it would run counter to current regulations,” he said.
Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau Director Yeh Tse-shan (葉澤山) said his agency would assess ways to allow for outdoor shows.
Proprietors of puppet troupes said the government’s ban is due to concerns of large crowds gathering at temples, so they prohibited Taiwanese opera and puppet shows.
“The thing is that puppet theater is small-scale, the purpose of which is to entertain the gods at temple events. Puppet shows nowadays have a different function than other cultural events; usually, not many people gather to watch, as they are staged to thank the gods residing at that temple,” one proprietor said. “We would like to urge the government to enable us to survive- by permitting shows.”
More than 60 puppet companies have signed the petition asking for central and local authorities to help them, Chen said.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
FATALITIES: The storm claimed at least two lives — a female passenger in a truck that was struck by a falling tree and a man who was hit by a utility pole Workers cleared fallen trees and shop owners swept up debris yesterday after one of the biggest typhoons to hit the nation in decades claimed at least two lives. Typhoon Kong-rey was packing winds of 184kph when it slammed into eastern Taiwan on Thursday, uprooting trees, triggering floods and landslides, and knocking out power as it swept across the nation. A 56-year-old female foreign national died from her injuries after the small truck she was in was struck by a falling tree on Provincial Highway 14A early on Thursday. The second death was reported at 8pm in Taipei on Thursday after a 48-year-old man