Guangdong puppet in early Singapore?

I have previously mentioned that there are a few puppet types in Singapore during the early twentieth century:


1. Hokkien (Nanguan 南管) glove puppet/string puppet
2. Teochew iron stick puppet
3. Hainanese rod puppet
4. Henghwa string puppet
5. Waijiang (外江) string puppet


However, to my surprise, I have recently gathered some information which may hint at the existence of Guangdong traditional puppet in early Singapore. The advertisement below is one of them, even though it might not fall into the category of 'traditional' as I suspect that it is only a one-time kind of performance where the Merry Opera Company employed puppeteers who can perform in Cantonese. The puppet type is unknown.

Source: The Singapore Free Press, 22 October 1924, Page 2

Thanks to a friend who kindly shared with me a Chinese article on the various puppet/opera types in Malaya (and later Malaysia and Singapore), the author also mentioned that in 1911, there was a Guangdong puppeteer by the name of Zheng Wan Kai (郑万楷) who performed in Malaya. His son later performed in Singapore during the years 1916-1922. As the article did not state the exact source, I have reservations on its credibility but it is nevertheless an important view to be made. I will also reserve the use of "Cantonese puppet" as Guangdong may refer to various dialects like Chaozhou (Teochew) and Hakka (客家话), both of which are existing dialect groups in Singapore.


More discovery on the way!

Century-old temple at Port Klang due to be demolished soon!

Just learnt from a friend who lives in Klang that she recently encountered a century-old temple by the name of Cheng Neong Teng (清凉亭) in Port Klang, Malaysia. The sad thing is it is going to be demolished soon! Looking at the pictures and the supposed date of establishment, both of us felt that perhaps UNESCO should do something about it.

Here are some of the pictures which are not of high quality, but nevertheless clear enough to see the fine details of the architecture:

  One of the more prominent effigies inside the temple: the 18 arhats

No strings attached: Hainanese rod puppet performance at Mazu temple

I have read about Hainanese rod puppets but it was my first encounter with them yesterday at the Mazu temple located at Beach Road.


Venue: 47 Beach Road
Time: 2pm, 7.30pm (Day and night performances)
Troupe: Xin Xing Gang Qiongnan Theatrical Company (新兴港琼南剧社)

          A photo to keep your brain cells moving first: what exactly are these holes used for?

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Answer revealed: the thick rod used for holding the puppet (indicated by red arrow) will be placed in these holes in a scene when there are too many puppets for the puppeteers to handle

A better picture: if there are a number of puppets appearing on stage, they will be placed in these "holes"

It was definitely an eye-opener especially when you see puppets that were often likened to woodblocks but these puppets have the ability to move their eyes!

Marionette performance at an industrial site

A rather unusual sight to see a marionette performance being staged at an industrial site..


Venue: Blk 31 Defu Lane 10
Time: 2pm, 8pm (Day and night performances)
Troupe: Sin Hoe Ping 新和平


From my observation for the past few hours, I guess it's a Henghwa manufacturer dealing with woodcraft who employed the troupe to perform for the deity Liu Gong Yuan Shuai (刘公元帅)

A peep inside..they have an altar ready and the stage was situated right opposite as it always should.

                      Marionette performance "Chen Wen Long" (陈文龙) at night which started at 8pm

View from afar..it was like a tiny yet lively Henghwa community enclave tucked in a remote part of Singapore

Remembering Mr. Lee Chye Ee (b. 1919)

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150114226493607&id=585226875

Reading the old articles of the late Mr. Lee Chye Ee (b. 1919) reminds me of what it is meant to be "人才被埋没" (a talent gone to waste). He was a remarkable puppeteer, priest and carver from Yongchun, Fujian. During his darkest times, he never gave up and carved more than 100 puppets, including those where the eyes, mouth could move. I hope, in the near future, I will be able to do something to commemorate this remarkable man of talents.

Some information about Mr. Lee:

Learnt the puppetry art at the age of 15

Learnt the art of carving at the age of 17

Set up his own troupe "Ri Yue Xing" (日月星) in Yongchun, Fujian

Came to Singapore (Nanyang) in 1947 and established his troupe "Ri Yue Xing" here

"Ri Yue Xing" performed in the Nanguan (南管) style

In the 1950s, due to lack of popularity of Nanguan music, he founded "Shi Ye Fei" (是也非) and sang in the Gezai style

1960s: the semi-retired Mr. Lee shifted his operations to Malaysia

1970s: Came back but business was worse than before, stayed at home to carve puppets; over 100 marionette heads were carved over the 3 years but sadly, they were never really put to good use

Puppets carved by Mr. Lee Chye Ee (photo from Sin Ming)

Mr. Lee Chye Ee with his marionettes

Mr. Lee Chye Ee as a dan actor

Mr. Lee Chye Ee with his glove puppets

Singapore's very own puppeteers: The Yeos

There have been far too many backlogs until I'm not sure which one to post first. I will start with a brief outline of some of the happenings of my puppet encounters early this year, there were many 'firsts':


1. Interaction between Singapore's very own puppeteers: Mr. Yeo Lai Hoe and Frankie (Yeo) Malachi
2. Encounters with 2 Teochew puppet troupes left in Singapore: Lao Sai Poh Hong (老赛宝丰) & Sin Sai  
    Poh Hong (新赛宝丰)
3. 1st trip to Kiew Lee Tong 九鲤洞
4. 1st encounter with Zhangzhou glove puppet performance @ Esplanade
5. 1st puppet writeup in the media


7 January 2011, a day before the actual performance @ Bukit Merah Library


It was a heartwarming experience for the elderly folks who probably had not watched puppet performances for a long time. A day before the performance, I witnessed the interaction between two Singapore's very own puppeteers: Mr. Yeo from Sin Hoe Ping and Frankie from "Mascots and Puppets". Both were interested in each other's arts and Mr. Yeo even played with Frankie's self-created "Modern Monkey King" complete with retro clothes and eye-catching boots.

    The setup by Mr. Yeo before the arrival of Frankie, characters from "Journey to the West"

                                      Frankie with his monkey marionette playing with the peaches

           (the peaches were said to be stolen by the Monkey King from Queen Mother of the West)

The actual performance was on 8 January. Basically, the performers were trying to tell the story about the Monkey King and his encounter with Queen Mother of the West. The interesting part was the transition from glove puppet to opera actor to modern marionette in which all of them are renditions of the Monkey King.

Here are the mini (glove puppet), traditional (opera) and modern (marionette) versions of Monkey King. Interesting indeed!

Marionette performance at Ann Ren Gong retreat 2 Dec-6 Dec 2010

Apologies for the backlog of updates.

There was a major event held at Ann Ren Gong (安仁宫) from December 1 to 6 and the Tangkis came out from their retreat on Dec 5. I wasn't there to witness the whole retreat but thanks to Raymond from API, he managed to take shots of the post-retreat procession and marionette performance.

According to Raymond, the retreat started on December 1 at around 3-5pm. Doors would be sealed during the retreat.

On Dec 5 around 5am, there were already crowds of people/devotees visiting the temple. The Sin Hoe Ping puppet troupe members were on standby and taking a short nap as they would be performing soon for the deities.

Photo courtesies of Raymond

Note the couplets on both sides of the stage, especially the right one. It indicated that the retreat session was over (持戒功完).

I went over the next day on Dec 6 and here are some more pictures of the marionette performance.

At the gate entrance of Ann Ren Gong, the backstage of Sin Hoe Ping could be seen and the stage was facing the temple. 

A glimpse of Ann Ren Gong after the retreat: devotees and temple members mingle