National Taiwan Museum (NTM) held a book launch for the first two volumes’ release of a monograph series on Taiwanese puppetry collection on Aug. 28 in Taipei. The event was attended by Secretary-general of the Ministry of Culture Chen Teng-chin (陳登欽), NTM Director Hung Shih-yu (洪世佑), Chairman Chen Rong-hsian (陳榮祥) of the Seden Society Puppet Theater Foundation (西田社布袋戲基金會) as well as the foundation’s founders Chen Jin-tze (陳金次), Lee Hong-hsi (李鴻禧), and Yang Wei-che (楊維哲). Several leaders of traditional puppet theater troupes were also invited to join in the book launch.
The first two books of the eight-volume series showcase a catalog of more than 400 puppets, which were donated by the Seden Society Puppet Theater Foundation and are included in the NTM’s collection of over 10,000 items related to puppetry. As part of MOC’s Reconstruction of Taiwan’s Art History Project (重建臺灣藝術史計畫), the publication of the book series is a fruitful result that folk arts have been cultivated and supported for a long time.
MOC’s Secretary-General Chen stated that Taiwanese puppetry can be described as a combination of various art forms. Not merely regarded as a religious ceremony, folk art, or an entertaining performance, Taiwanese puppetry is a fusion of different traditional crafts and designs, Chen remarked, saying that the books tell the story of Taiwan’s cultural heritage and allow more people to understand the importance of cultural preservation.
NTM Director Hung said that his museum has become an important place where traditional puppetry art is well preserved as the Seden Society Puppet Theater Foundation and Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum (台原亞洲偶戲博物館) have donated over 10,000 objects to the NTM in recent years. In the future, the NTM will continue to promote the art of puppetry and lay an important foundation for the construction of Taiwan's folk art history.