Taiwanese opera star Sun Tsui-feng (孫翠鳳) is to play a modern-day criminal who knows little about the traditional art form in a new comedy adaptation of the folk legend Lord Jiaqing and the Journey to Taiwan (嘉慶君遊臺灣), the creators of the work said.
In Clan of Crooks!? Reincarnation Into Another World (轉生到異世界成為嘉慶君——發現我的祖先是詐騙集團！？), Sun plays a money mule who ends up in a Taiwanese opera set in the Qing Dynasty’s Jiaqing era after a car accident and wonders why people around him begin singing out of nowhere, director Sung Hou-kuan (宋厚寬) and playwright Tsai Yi-hsuan (蔡逸璇) said.
Under the identity of Liu Jiaqing in the opera, the money mule finds himself caught in a land development scam plotted by his ancestor Liu Biyu (劉碧玉), a real-life Qing Dynasty criminal, they said.
Photo: CNA
Sun’s character was created to ask questions like a novice who does not understand what is happening, providing comedic moments throughout the show, they said.
Traditional theatergoers would enjoy her silly performance, while audience members new to Taiwanese opera can learn about the art form, they said.
The complicated story is intentional, as the new production by Sun’s family-run Ming Hwa Yuan Arts and Cultural Group focuses on scams, Sung said.
“We have prepared layers of plots and twists,” Sung said. “I believe traditional theater can take on any genre — science fiction, thriller or the reincarnation theme popular among anime fans.”
Clan of Crooks!? Reincarnation Into Another World is a flagship production of the 2025 Taiwan Traditional Theatre Festival, organized under the theme “within/out boundaries.”
Four performances to be held at the Taiwan Traditional Theater Center in Taipei from May 16 to 18 have sold out.
Sung and Tsai said they started the project with Liu Biyu’s story, brought to them by Taipei National University of the Arts professor Chang Chi-feng (張啟豐), a cocurator of the festival.
Liu’s story was discovered in documents in the National Palace Museum’s online archive, notably the Jiaqing Emperor’s (嘉慶帝) instructions after the criminal — who profited from forging documents — was linked to an uprising against the Qing Dynasty, they said.
The story ends in mystery after a ship carrying Liu to China “vanishes” upon leaving Tainan, Sung and Tsai added.
“Everyone has a Lord Jiaqing in their memories — why not create an alternative world where Jiaqing had visited Taiwan?” Sung said.
Meanwhile, Tsai highlighted Sun Tsui-feng sharing the stage with her martial arts actor brother, Sun Jung-hui (孫榮輝), for the first time in more than two decades, as one of several nostalgic or intriguing aspects of the production — alongside the memory of “Lord Jiaqing” and the reincarnation storyline playing out in a Taiwanese opera.
The reincarnation plot has sparked online discussions among anime fans and attracted younger theatergoers, Tsai said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS