Issued on: 4 Feb, 2008
Taiwanese Puppet Theater, a form of traditional operatic art with a rich, folksy appeal, has nearly 100 years of history. To celebrate Taiwan’s traditional folk art and culture and to give people greater understanding about Taiwanese puppet theater, this Post is releasing a new set of four stamps and a souvenir sheet based on Taiwanese puppet theater, featuring four famous characters from the much celebrated television show the Scholar Knight of Yunjhou: Shih Yan-wun, Dragon Lady of the Bitter Sea, Mirror Man, and Old Oddball. For better design of the stamps, Shih Yan-wun and the Dragon Lady of the Bitter Sea were matched in one horizontal se-tenant strip while Mirror Man with Old Oddball in another.
The Scholar Knight of Yunjhou, the puppet drama, was adapted by Mr. Huang Hai-dai, founder of the Wujhouyuan Hand Puppet Theater Troupe, from an 18th century novel. In the 1970s his second son Mr. Huang Jun-Xiong brought the drama to the television screen. It created an instant sensation around the island. The designs of the stamps follow:
1. Shih Yan-wun: A native of Yunjhou, Shih was both an accomplished scholar and a warrior. Honorably saving people from danger and helping the weak, he was known as the Scholar Knight. Loyal to the emperor, Shih was framed by a treacherous court official and banished to the frontier. Fortunately, with help of other knight-errants and lady friends, he survived.
2. Dragon Lady of the Bitter Sea: Originally the third princess of Tatarstan, she was displaced by a palace coup and fled to seek help. She transformed herself into Dragon Lady of the Bitter Sea and then went to China, where she met Shih Yan-wun and became his best friend.
3. Mirror Man: The son of the headless general of Jiaojhih (what is today northern Vietnam), Mirror Man was also known as “the spirit of Jiaojhih.” Because his father died fighting Shih Yan-wun’s father, he regarded Shih as his archenemy and had vowed to kill him.
4. Old Oddball: A renowned medical doctor, Old Oddball was also a great musician. His music tamed a primal beast as well as the heart of the little King Kong, and the two became great friends despite the difference in their ages.
official website
http://movie.pili.com.tw/en/about/history.htm
Taiwanese Hand Puppet Theater is a popular type of performing arts in the Taiwanese spoken societies. According to reliable documents, the initial wooden puppet show can be traced back from Tang and Sung Dynasty, although it hadn't developed into significant performing arts. The mostly common saying nowadays proclaims it rooted in Chuanchow between the late Ming Dynasty and the early Ching Dynasty around the 17th century. Although it was evolved from string puppet, the first hand puppeteer was Liang Bing-Lin who was an unsuccessful scholar. He began to operate wooden puppets by hand behind the
curtains along with narrations of tales. Hand puppet theater is so called due to the movement is managed by hand. (from official website)
布袋戲在臺灣已有近百年的歷史，是極富鄉土特色的傳統戲曲表演文化之一。為發揚本土藝術文化並使國人進一步認識布袋戲，本公司續以史艷文、苦海女神龍、藏 鏡人、怪老子為主題，將史艷文搭配苦海女神龍、藏鏡人搭配怪老子採橫聯刷設計，發行「地方戲曲郵票─布袋戲（雲州大儒俠）」1組4枚及小全張1張。
雲州大儒俠是五洲園掌中劇團黃海岱先生改編的布袋戲劇本，70年代，黃俊雄先生（黃海岱次子）將其搬上電視螢幕，受到全臺灣人民的喜愛。茲將本組郵票主要角色簡介如下：
一、史艷文：雲州人，文武雙全，常濟弱扶傾，既儒且俠，人稱「大儒俠」。忠君效主的史艷文為奸臣百般陷害而發配邊疆，幸有許多江湖俠義之士、紅粉知己相助，得以百劫餘生。
二、苦海女神龍：韃靼國三公主，因宮廷生變，離家尋求支援，化身苦海女神龍來到中原，巧遇史艷文，並結為生死之交。
三、藏鏡人：交趾無頭將軍之子，號稱交趾魂精。因其父與史艷文之父交戰身隕，因此藏鏡人視史艷文為不共戴天之仇人，亟欲除之而後快。
四、怪老子：深諳歧黃之術而遠近馳名，除了醫術，怪老子琴藝亦精，一曲馴化原始野獸，致使小金剛心生佩服而結為忘年之交。
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