Passing the Torch - Taiwanese Opera

Origin

Exploring traditional Taiwanese theatre

Everyone has a favorite play or idol. Some people like to watch drama movies, some prefer musicals, and others enjoy watching TV serials. In today’s era where Blackpink and many K-pop groups are popular among the younger generation, we were surprised to come across an article titled “Theatre Maniacs” in our Chinese textbook. The article introduced us to the beauty and value of traditional Taiwanese Opera, which differs greatly from the modern entertainment we are accustomed to. We could only get a rough idea of how popular Taiwanese Opera once was through the illustrations in the textbook.

We read about how emotional the author’s grandma was after watching a Taiwanese Opera show.

Illustration in our Chinese textbook

When given the opportunity to select a topic for our CyberFair project, our team chose to conduct research on the realm of traditional local art by exploring Taiwanese Opera. We learned about Taiwanese Opera in our Chinese textbook when we were in 5th grade. In the textbook, the author shared their experience of watching Taiwanese Opera with their grandparents and how this type of traditional opera captured their attention, describing the unique features of this art form. This art form holds significant cultural value for Taiwan; however, it is unfortunately on the verge of fading away. This is evident as many adults, including our parents and grandparents, fondly recall growing up watching Taiwanese Opera, yet it is rare to hear children in our generation express the same sentiment. We believe this would be a great opportunity for us to delve into this fascinating topic.

Illustration in our Chinese textbook

An old picture of the early Taiwanese Opera

Photo Credit: https://www.facebook.com/mhyfans/photos?locale=zh_TW（The Ming Hua Yuan Facebook page was hacked on 3/24. Fortunately, we were able to download the images before this event occurred.）

Introduction of the Project

Learning Taiwanese is a whole new experience!

Taiwanese Opera is a crucial aspect of Taiwan’s cultural heritage, representing the essence of the country. When it comes to traditional opera, the once-popular Taiwanese Opera stands out since it is the first traditional opera that originated in Taiwan. To the older generation, opera is akin to movies today, and it’s considered a blessing to sit and watch a performance during festivals or family celebrations. The most distinctive aspect of Taiwanese Opera is its emotive singing style, known for evoking tears from the audience due to its dramatic atmosphere. It has been said that “Taiwanese Opera is a native product of Taiwanese society,” illustrating its deep roots in the country's past agricultural society. Taiwanese Opera not only served as a popular form of entertainment but also provided spiritual sustenance to the people outside of their work.

Taking notes about the elements of Taiwanese Opera

This is why our project website holds significant importance. Within our website, we provide comprehensive information about Taiwanese Opera. Furthermore, we address the importance of preserving Taiwanese Opera as many individuals in our current generation lack knowledge of the Taiwanese language. Our aim is to raise awareness locally and globally about the existence of Taiwanese Opera and its uniqueness in Taiwan. Through our efforts, we aspire to elevate the prominence of Taiwanese Opera.

Survey Data Analysis

Our research members conducted
a survey on our schoolmates.

The primary audience for promoting Taiwanese Opera comprises school students. Before launching our project and promotional efforts, we aim to understand the knowledge and preferences of upper elementary school students (5th-6th grade) regarding Taiwanese Opera. To achieve this, we formulated eight questions to gain insights into the interests of the targeted group, which resulted in approximately 317 responses. By assessing the students' understanding and appreciation of the Taiwanese language and opera, we can tailor our promotional activities to better suit the tastes and preferences of our school students.

Taiwanese (Language)

Q1:

According to the pie chart, 12.3% of our respondents understand Taiwanese, while 26.5% do not. The majority, comprising 61.2% of them, have some understanding of Taiwanese.

Q2:

From this pie chart, we can see that 9.1% of respondents know how to speak Taiwanese. 53% of the respondents speak a little Taiwanese, while 37.9% do not speak any Taiwanese at all.

Q3:

As 62.1% of the respondents know how to speak Taiwanese, we asked them how often they speak the language. 8.6% of these respondents speak Taiwanese every day,33.5% do so occasionally, 30.5% rarely speak Taiwanese, and 27.4% hardly ever do. Additionally, 30.5% rarely speak Taiwanese, and 33.5% do so occasionally.

Taiwanese Opera

Q4:

70.7% of the respondents are familiar with Taiwanese Opera.

Q5:

32.5% of the respondents are unfamiliar with Taiwanese Opera.

Q6:

44.8% of the respondents express an interest in learning about Taiwanese Opera, while 55.2% do not.

Q7:

As 44.8% of our respondents expressed interest in learning about Taiwanese Opera, we then asked if they had watched any Taiwanese Opera performances. 54.2% haven't, while 45.8% have.

Q8:

We also inquired whether they would like to watch the performance or view it again. 84.5% of them responded that they want to watch it if they haven't or watch it again if they have.

Survey Findings

These survey results provide a comprehensive overview of respondents' familiarity with the Taiwanese language and opera, as well as their proficiency and frequency of speaking the language. Through the survey, we are glad to know that a significant majority, comprising 70.7% of respondents, are familiar with Taiwanese Opera. This might be because our Chinese textbook introduces different local traditional arts, including Taiwanese Opera. We feel it will be much easier to promote Taiwanese Opera as the higher graders are familiar with it. Also, we have an idea of the respondents’ understanding of Taiwanese, and we are glad to know that the majority, comprising 61.2% of them, have some understanding of Taiwanese. Thus, we can plan to try to promote Taiwanese Opera with some basic tones, even though the proficiency in speaking Taiwanese is low, as more than 50% of our respondents speak little or no Taiwanese. As the rate of familiarity is high and nearly half of the students would like to know more about Taiwanese Opera, we hope we can reach out to the rest of the respondents and have more students gain curiosity in this local art.