I just returned back to the States after 11 years in Taiwan with my daughter. Taiwan is an excellent base for us explore Asia, while living in relative (gun free) safety, while benefiting from a cheap and efficient national health care system. The people are amazing too. I have Taiwanese friendships that are 20 years old and I'm always making new ones! My coworker here in CO is from Taiwan.
Great news in today's paper this morning (for once), Pili Puppets will start airing free shows with English subtitles for free on YouTube (article is here). They usually air on our channel 8 at 9 pm which is past my kid's bedtime, but on Fridays, she stays up late and will translate the Taiwanese for me (she reads the Mandarin subtitles as her Taiwanese is just ok.)
Just the other day I told my 7th graders about how I like Pili and they were shocked. "But teacher, that show is for old grandfathers!" As if Pili isn't cool. I guarantee the fighting scenes, special effects and attention to detail will blow you away!
You can not flip through the channels here and not see Pili Puppets 霹靂 on somewhere. From my first moments here, Z and I were pretty mesmerized (well at least for a few minutes). I appreciate how Taiwan has preserved Chinese cultural history. When Fujian immigrants came to Taiwan and intermarried with the indigenous, they brought their hand puppets and their old Taoist/Gong Fu legends and stories. Taiwan has taken this folk art to the next level, an international TV series and film (Legend of the Sacred Stone).
The Taoyuan airport has this incredible exhibition of the Pili Puppets of Taiwan. As I was checking in at Singapore Air, there on the TV monitors were the Pili puppets explaining the airport's rules and regulations using their typical drama. I found it entertaining at 4 in the morning.
The Roles/Characters:
The Sheng Role生 has the three variations: The Elegant scholar (wen sheng), the man with martial arts skills (wu sheng) and the older male (lao sheng).
The Dan character is the female role and has four variations: The young, unmarried, mischievous adventurer (xiao dan), the refined daughter from a wealthy family (zheng dan), the elderly woman (lao dan) and the comical female character (chou dan).
Su Huan Jeng素還真
Fei Yu Yuan J
The Mo role末is the elderly man character and has to variations, the man who speaks (bai kuo) and the ones who don’t speak (cun gong).
Hao KunL
The Jing character 淨 is the face painted role. A race painted red means he is loyal, if yellow, honest, black represents a violent temper and green signifies a villain.
Luo Huo
The Chou character丑is the clown and usually has a white spot painted on the nose.He/she is also called the ‘little white flower’ (xiao hua lian) and there are four types; the female comic relief (chou dan), the military chou, the literary chou, and the regular chou.
Qin Jia Xian
葉小釵Ye hairpin, xiao chai(scar) is the most tragic and popular character. His famous nickname is “crazy sword” or ” mad blade” he is a silent swordsman. His shoulder length white hair and the slash of a sword on his face make him more distinctive. His unbeatable fighting techniques make him the number one warrior.
Animation Collective developed Wulin Warriors for American television, created the show bible and episode scripts and 13 half-hour episodes, which premiered on Cartoon Network in February '06. Check out the opening theme song below:
Some of the characters from the series人名：
Su Huan-jen 素還真
Su Hsu-lu 素續緣
Feng Tsai-ling 風采鈴
Ye Hsiao-chai 葉小釵
Jian Jun 劍君
Luan Shi Kuang-dao 亂世狂刀
Ching Yang-zi 青陽子
Mou Kuei 魔魁
Hua Jue Bai-lian 花爵百鍊生
The Mysterious Swordsman 神秘劍客
Mysterious Maiden 神秘女郎 (不可思議的少女 ^_^)
Thousand Mountain ancient woodsman 千山樵老 (一千個山頭的老樵夫 ^_^)
Heaven Lifter 擎天子 (上帝舉起者???，這個譯法有點敏感，會不會
引起耶穌的抗議呀?)
Little Metal 小金剛 (小金屬 ^_^)
Hai Hsi-jun 海殤君
Wu Wang Tian-zi 無忌天子
Han Tan Leng Yue Du Chue Ying 寒潭冷月渡鶴影 (好長的名字呀~~~)
Mr. Boneskin (Lord Jian) 骨皮先生 (劍上卿)
Jian Ru-bing 劍如冰
Seven Creation Knights 造世七俠
Eight Sky Tiger Generals 天虎八將
The settings地名：
Porcelain Celestial Land 琉璃仙境 (陶瓷天地? How about Lazurite Fairyland?)
