Budaixi (glove puppetry)

Budaixi began in southern Fujian in the 17th century and reached Taiwan with migrants in the 1750s. A traditional puppet stands about 30 cm tall: its head is carved from wood, its hands and feet are wooden too, and its body and limbs are a cloth costume into which the performer slips a hand. Puppets are grouped by role type (sheng, dan, jing, chou, za, and bei), and a troupe needs at least about sixty of them, known as "one load of baskets". The puppeteers out front are the front stage; the musicians are the back stage. Traditional Taiwanese budaixi includes a Nanguan style, strong in civil plays and accompanied by nanguan music, and a Beiguan style, accompanied by gongs, drums, and suona and given to martial plays. In the 1950s, northern Taiwanese budaixi thrived on demand for plays offered in thanks to the gods; communications equipment was still scarce, so troupes kept contact points in shops on Liangzhou Street in Dadaocheng, where people came to book a performance. The Dadaocheng Theater's exhibition on Puppet Theater Alley centres on three troupes, I Wan Jan, Hsiao Hsi Yuan, and Ha Ha Hsiao, showing puppets, instruments, and sound recordings and explaining how a play was booked.

Look at the puppet's carved wooden head, hands, and feet, and imagine how a hand hidden in the costume brings it to life; then look at the back-stage instruments beside it.

What role does this puppet play? How can you tell from its face, headgear, and costume?