Chinese Puppets have a story to tell (Part II)

After much suspense and waiting, here is Part II and the final installment of the story of Chen Wenlong.

Chen Wenlong left the Su household and thought he could finally escape from the evil clutches of Mr. Su. He was wrong. A mystic character appeared in the next scene. He was highly skilled and this character later turned to be Chen Wenlong's saviour.

         Mystic character appears

Thinking that he had finally escaped from the evil Mr. Su, Chen continued his way to the capital city. He was shocked to see that the servant of the Su household had followed him all these while and was going to take his life. Fortunately, the mystic character appeared in time and had a fight with the servant.

Fight between servant and mystic character

Chen Wenlong thanked the mystic character for saving his life. Before he left, the mystery man even gave him some money for travel. 

Chen thanks mystery man

Chen wanted to ask for the mystery man's name to show his gratitude in future but he was long gone. Meanwhile, in the Su household, Mrs. Su reprimanded her husband for his ill-treatment of Chen Wenlong. She was further angered when Mr. Su decided to arrange another marriage for his daughter. 

Mrs. Su is angered by her husband's actions

Su Bixia was in love with Chen Wenlong and how is she going to escape from the marriage that her father had just arranged? She knew very well that her father would never change his decision about the marriage and decided to come up with an escape plan. She pretended to agree with her father on the marriage but when her maid went to find her, Bixia was nowhere to be found. The anxious Mr. Su did not know what to do since he had already agreed on the marriage. Desperate, he decided to adopt their housemaid as foster daughter who would replace Bixia in this arranged marriage. 

Maid kneels down and agrees to be Su's foster daughter

Su Bixia's escape was an act of courage as it was not acceptable in the olden days for a girl to be out of the household unaccompanied. Moreover, she had left the family and would be regarded as unfilial. But she could turn back no longer. Cold and alone, she was at a loss of what to do next. Fortunately, she met Chen Wenlong on the road. Chen almost could not believe his eyes when he saw his lover out in the cold. 

Chen Wenlong meets Su Bixia again

The lovers had gone through a couple of bad times and could finally meet. However, they were aware that their reunion was short-lived as Mr. Su had not agreed on their marriage. Sadness filled the air. The couple hug each other and cried. 

A teary hug

Chen comforted Su Bixia and told her the good news that he had succeeded in the imperial examinations. However, he wanted Bixia to keep a secret because he wanted to test her father again. 

Chen comforts the teary Bixia

Chen Wenlong made his way to the Su household again. He did not tell the Su family of his new status. Mr. Su did not change his attitude for Chen Wenlong and continued to treat him badly. Chen was angry that Mr. Su still did not repent on his past actions and decided to reveal his identity. Mr. Su immediately beg for mercy. Chen demanded to see his daughter and Mr. Su was at a loss because his daughter Su Bixia had run away from home. Revealing his true identity, Chen thanked Mrs. Su for helping him during his difficult times. At this moment, Su Bixia also returned home. Mr. Su again begged for forgiveness. 

Mr. Su begs for forgiveness

Chen Wenlong forgives Mr. Su and he finally won Su Bixia's hand in marriage. The story ends with a happy reunion of the Chen and Su families! 

Reunion

Chinese puppets have a story to tell (Part I)

Traditional Chinese puppet theatre is typically performed in dialect and in modern day Singapore, it has lost a large part of its audience as many youngsters do not understand their ancestral vernacular. The Henghua community whose ancestors came from Putian (Eastern Fujian) is a minority dialect group in Singapore, making this vernacular comprehensible to only a small group of people. Having the fortune to read through the playscript, I shall try my best to use the photos as a storyboard to tell a classical story of Henghua puppet theatre. The title of the show is the same as the protagonist of this story: Chen Wen Long (陈文龙)

 Main protagonist Chen Wenlong 

Chen Wenlong was born into a rich family but was reduced to rags when his father passed away. In imperial China, one of the ways to escape poverty is to take the imperial examinations which would allow successful candidates to get a post as an official. However, Chen was so poor that he could not afford the money for travelling to the capital to take the examinations. His mother advised him to pay his betrothed family a visit to seek financial assistance. 

Chen faces Su's humiliation

Travelling for miles, Chen eventually arrived at his betrothed family-the Su family. Not only was Chen not welcomed in the Su family, Mr. Su humiliated him. Mr. Su had heard news of Chen Wenlong's  situation and had wanted to call off the engagement. When Chen arrived at his residence, Mr. Su jumped at the chance. He suggested giving Chen some money as compensation for calling off the engagement. Chen refused to call off the engagement and was locked in a cellar by the cold-hearted Su. Chen was even threatened that he would be beaten if he did not succumb to calling off the engagement. 

Maid related the bad news to Su Bixia

Meanwhile, the maid of the Su household overhead news of Chen Wenlong being locked in a cellar by Mr. Su. She immediately told Su Bixia (苏碧霞), the daughter of Mr. Su, who was engaged to Chen Wenlong. Su Bixia was astonished to receive the news and decided to think of a plan to save Chen. 

Servant of Su household threatened Chen Wenlong

As instructed by the cruel Su, a servant arrived at the cellar where Chen was locked in. He threatened to beat Chen to his death if he did not agree to cancel the engagement. 

Su Bixia to the rescue

The servant threw fists and kicks at Chen who tried to escape. Fortunately, Su Bixia and her maid arrived in time to stop the servant from hurting Chen further. 

Mrs. Su helped with the escape

Su Bixia rescued Chen from the cellar and just then, her mother Mrs. Su appeared. She also took pity with Chen's situation and advised him to quickly leave their house to avoid getting beaten up again. She also gave him some money for travel.

What will happen to Chen after he escaped? To be continued in the next post...   

Puppets from Quanzhou

In Singapore, the Hokkien (Minnan) performs mainly 2 types of puppet theatre: string puppet and glove puppet. Even though the performance is staged in the Hokkien dialect, the appearance of the puppets tend to differ, depending on where they are bought. I happened to spot the puppets from the Xiao Feng String Puppet Troupe (筱凤加礼戏班) which was performing at Geylang Lor 27A on 12 March.

The puppets hanging backstage caught my eye. They resembled puppets from Quanzhou, marked by their protruding earlobes and double chin. These characteristics are seen in Buddhist religious figures too (Ruizendaal 2006, 118-119).

Double chin, more obvious for the young male/sheng character seen here

For a good read on Quanzhou puppets, I will recommend Robin Ruizendaal, Marionette Theatre in Quanzhou (Brill, 2006).  http://www.brill.com/marionette-theatre-quanzhou

The puppet theatre in Quanzhou has received international acclaim for its exquisite string manipulation of 36 strings or more. In the Singapore case, there are only about 10-12 strings. It is believed that the more strings there are, it allows the puppeteer to better present the delicate movements of the puppet. 

According to Ruizendaal, the term "Jia Li" (ka lei in Hokkien) as seen in the troupe name of Xiao Feng, may refer to "excellent rites theatre" or "additional rites theatre" (Ruizendaal 2006, 184). The term "Ka lei" has become commonly associated with string puppet theatre in Singapore.

Sweets and puppet show

It was the second day of the second lunar month, also known as "Tou Ya" (头牙). The character "Ya" here refers to every second day and sixteenth day of the lunar month. "Tou Ya" literally means the beginning of the second day (hence second day of the second lunar month) where the Chinese will begin their praying and offering to the deities. For the Henghua (兴化人) in Southern China, "Tou Ya" is an important event to celebrate. This is also seen in the case of Singapore but the celebration is done only on a much smaller scale.

 Gathering of the Henghua community, consisting of the elderly, adults and young

I was told that there will be praying and offering made in the various Henghua temples in Singapore but chanting by the priest (道士) was only conducted at the Xing An Tian Hou Gong (兴安天后宫) which is likened to the "headquarters" of the Henghua community.

There was a puppet show by Sin Hoe Ping (新和平) and of course not forgetting, the famous delicacies like "beaten noodles" (打面 or 'pa mi' in Henghua) and glutinous rice balls prepared for the occasion.

Eating peanut & sesame coated glutinous rice balls and watching puppet show 

These photos may serve as a beautiful memory to those who had visited this temple before and for those who have not, this will be the last time you will see this temple as a new building will replace it soon.

For a brief history of the temple, you can read my earlier post: http://marionettetheatre.blogspot.com.au/2010/02/celebrations-with-marionette.html   

Happy Lunar New Year 2013!