As traditional Taiwan drama troupes become a rarer breed these days, a popular tale steeped in legend and romance will give audiences a chance to experience this theatrical genre.

Ming Hwa Yuan, the leading Gezaixi Opera ensemble from Taiwan Province, presented the novel play The Legendary Lu Dongbin at Tianqiao Theater yesterday evening in Beijing. One more show will run today at the same venue, which is also the closing performance of the Beijing-Taiwan Cross-Straits Cultural Week.

Based on the popular legends of Lu Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals (baxian) in Chinese folktale, the two-hour long, two-act drama written by Chen Shengguo tells a tale of a love triangle involving Lu, a Tang (618-907) princess and her maiden. Suen Tsuei-feng performs the title role of Lu.

Chen Sheng-fu the son of Chen Ming-ji, founder of Ming Hwa Yuan said the reason that many of Taiwan's local traditional drama troupes are becoming extinct lies in the failure to pass down the art.

"Impartation does not simply mean handing over the techniques and performances or training more actors," said Chen, now the head of the drama troupe. "What's more important, we need to impart the sense of heritage to viewers. We need to cultivate more people to be able to appreciate our tradition."

That's what Ming Hwa Yuan has been doing these past years. They tour around campuses, making the local opera known to more of the younger generation and attracting more intellectuals and students to support this traditional theatrical form.

Gezaixi originated around 100 years ago in Taiwan. At the turn of the Ming and the Qing dynasties in the 17th century, inhabitants in East China's Fujian Province migrated to Taiwan island, bringing along a dozen categories of traditional operas. These operas later formed the Gezaixi.

Founded in 1929 by Chen Ming-ji, Ming Hwa Yuan, under the direction of the Chen's family, has devoted 76 years to passing down the traditional theatrical form.

In 1979, Chen Ming-ji passed down the torch of the Ming Hwa Yuan to his third son Chen Sheng-fu.

Ming Hwa Yuan produced Father and Son in 1982, which depicts an exotic romance and the story of how an illegitimate son is reunited with his father. This drama won Taiwan's Drama Contest, Best Group Acting Award, Best Director Award, and Best Male Lead Award. Since then, Ming Hwa Yuan has become a household name in Taiwan.

In the past, there were no scripts for the opera. Before performing, actors had to obtain the general idea of the drama from a "storyteller" and improvise on their own.

"The lack of professional playwrights and directors was the worst problem of traditional Chinese Opera," Chen said. The actors simply performed what the storyteller had told them despite the substandard quality of the story as well as the sloppy and illogical narration.

Thus, after taking over Ming Hwa Yuan, Chen immediately recruited a team of playwrights, and appointed Chen Shen-guo, his younger brother, to be chief playwright and director. Each year, they present unconventional new plays that successfully attract sizeable audiences.

These productions integrate traditional and modern elements together with three-dimensional props and special effects in the drama. They further grab the audiences' attention by applying abundant light and sound installation to reinforce the characters and plots of their dramas.

The Beijing-Taiwan Cross-Straits Cultural week is organized by the Culture Bureau of the Beijing municipal government.

On Saturday evening, Peking University will stage a pop concert.

The folk arts during the week also include Gezaixi, Budaixi (puppet show), a three-day cultural industry seminar at the Temple of Heaven, a Chinese ink painting exhibition featuring more than 10 artists from both Taiwan and the mainland at the Gallery of the Beijing Academy of Arts, and a Taiwan movies showcase.

(China Daily October 28, 2005)