Intervention from Central Government Represented by Council for Cultural Affairs and Its Adjunct Organizations

i. The Folk Arts Preservation and Transmission Project of the National Center for Traditional Arts

In 1995, CCA launched a “Folk Arts Preservation Project” to doc-ument dying traditional art forms. After the Preparatory Office of National Center of Traditional Arts (hereafter NCTA), an adjunct organization of CCA, was founded in 1996, it took over the above project and expanded its scope to include both preservation and transmission, hence the new title “Minjian yishu baocun chuanxi

jihua” (Folk Arts Preservation and

Trans-mission Project, hereafter FAPT Project). After the first term of the project was over in 1998, NCTA launched the second term of the project, which lasted until 2003 (Huang 2001a:41). The total budget

for the FAPT Project is over NT$300 million⁴⁵(Lü 2002:28; also con-firmed by Huang 2003) and was meant to fund scholars or artists to carry out projects in three categories: preservation, transmission, and investigation.⁴⁶

In the last eight years, ten nanguan projects have been com-missioned by FAPT Project, with four to transmit nanguan opera, three to transmit nanguan music, two to preserve nanguan music, and one to investigate nanguan music in southern Taiwan. In addi-tion, Changhua County Cultural Bureau (CCCB) was commissioned to simultaneously transmit both nanguan music and opera in addi-tion to beiguan music and opera. Most of these projects lasted for more than one year. The total funding for the above projects approx-imates NT$53 million, with the funding for each project ranging from NT$0.4 million to NT$17 million. If we discount the beiguan portion from the CCCB project, the total funding for nanguan music and opera projects approximates NT$47 million (see Table 1).⁴⁷

45. The exchange rate between US and NT dollars from 1998 to 2002 averaged around US$1=NT$33 (see Guo 2002).

46. The call for proposals for the FAPT Project was announced once every year. After the proposals had been received, a reviewing committee consisting of scholars was formed, and it held a meeting to select the projects to be commis-sioned. For projects in the conservation and investigation categories, there would be a mid-term review and a final review. During such reviews, the project leaders had to submit written reports and to present the progress and result orally. Each project would be reviewed by a committee, whose membership might or might not coincide with that of the committee that selected the proposal of the project. For transmission projects, scholars and NCTA staff members would be sent to visit the projects on site to check on their mid-term progress and their final presentations through actual performances.

47. I am grateful to the NCTA staff for providing me with the data about the amount of funding for each project. Since this information was not openly announced by NCTA, the funding is not shown in Table 1. A comprehensive list of the projects funded by FAPT Projects from 1997 to 2001, albeit without details of the funding, can be found in Huang (2001a).

*This is based on the governmental fiscal year.

**Although Hehe yiyuan was officially founded in 1999, it already started its activity in 1993.

***Although Zhonghua xianguan yuetuan was officially founded in 1986, it already started its activity in 1984 and its precursor was Zhonghua nanguan yanjiushe , founded in 1971.

Beside the FAPT Project, NCTA also supported nanguan through other means. For example, NCTA provided subsidy for Table 1: Nanguan Projects funded by NCTA’s FAPT Project

Categy Object Group (Year Founded) Year Funded* Total Transmission Opera Qingya yuefu (1953) 1997-1999 3 year

Transmission Opera HTYF (1983) 1997-1999 3 year

Transmission Opera Hehe yiyuan (1999)* 2000-2003 4 years

Transmission Music Huasheng she (1986) 1997-1998 2 years

Transmission Music Zhonghua xianguan yuetuan (1986)***

7 years Transmission Music/

Opera CCCB’s training courses 1997-2003

3 years Transmission Music Tainan Nansheng she (around

1910) 1998, 2002-2003

1 year Preservation Music Tainan Nansheng she (around

1910) 2003

1 year Preservation Music Lukang Yazheng zhai (mid-18^th

C.) 1998

1 year Investigation

Survey of Nanguan in Southern Taiwan

Lin Poji (a researcher) 1998 Transmission Opera

Gang-a-tsui juchang nanguan yuefu

(1993)

1997-2001, 2003 6 years

short-term projects on nanguan,⁴⁸ and gave financial aid to tradi-tional artists who were seriously ill or encountering financial difficul-ties.⁴⁹ Sometimes NCTA voluntarily presents honorarium to senior nanguan musicians as a token of appreciation on annual holidays.

In addition, NCTA also supported nanguan through special projects, such as organizing nanguan concert series, sending nanguan groups abroad, sponsoring nanguan gala concerts, and so on.⁵⁰

Through the above projects and subsidies, NCTA has obviously become the largest source of state patronage for nanguan groups in recent years. Not only did it provide large amounts of funding to selected groups that were deemed worthy of full-fledged financial support, but it also took active steps to reach out to a wider range of nanguan groups through various subsidies and special projects.

Despite NCTA’s efforts, however, the end results are not as satis-factory as one would expect. For example, an analysis of the nan-guan projects funded by FAPT Project reveals that nannan-guan opera

48. Applications for such subsidy were accepted four times a year and were also selected by a reviewing committee. For such subsidized projects, the funding was usually no more than NT$0.5 million and there was no follow-up on the results by NCTA. Although no statistics are available for these subsidized projects, as a reviewer, I remember that several nanguan groups (such as Taipei Minnan yuefu, Lukang Juying she, Huasheng she, Nanguan xinjinzhu jutuan

) received subsidy for their training courses. In addition, Zhuo Shengxiang also received subsidy for the publication of his anthology of nanguan tunes (CDs and books).

49. Applications for such subsidy had to be submitted by certain organizations on behalf of the artists in question and were also determined by a reviewing com-mittee.

50. For example, NCTA commissioned Qingya yuefu to hold the nanguan gala concerts in 1998 and 2000, during which nanguan groups from all over the island were invited to play nanguan together and to enhance freindship. After 2000, this responsibility was transferred to CCCB’s nanguan/beiguan museum. In 1998, NCTA commissioned CCCB to make audio-visual documentation of Lukang Yazheng zhai.

In 2000, it sponsored a series of nanguan concerts, with each concert featuring one nanguan group. In the same year, it sent a group of nanguan musicians to attend the nanguan international convention held in Singapore. No statistics are available for most of these projects and therefore cannot be analysed in details here.

projects tended to get more funding and last for more years than nanguan music projects, and new groups founded in 1980s and 1990s tended to get funded more frequently than veteran groups (see Table 1).⁵¹ In addition, Tainan Nansheng she was the only vet-eran group commissioned, and, even though this project was begun in 1997, it was interrupted for several years until it resumed again in 2002. In contrast, all the three groups funded for the transmission of nanguan music are newly founded groups whose projects carry more the function of “promoting” nanguan to newcomers rather than “transmitting” nanguan’s artisty to experienced students. Such a lack of distinction between “transmission” and “promotion” in the selection of the groups to be funded greatly reduced the potential contribution the FAPT Project could have brought to the transmission of nanguan music through the teaching of veteran musicians in the traditional nanguan groups.

Why was there such a heavy concentration on nanguan opera and on newly founded groups in the FAPT Project? Bureaucracy and cultural politics among officials, scholars, and performers certainly affected the selection and evaluation process. Newly founded groups were also better at dealing with the bureaucratic procedures than veteran groups. In my opinion, however, a more basic problem lies in the lack of knowledge and genuine understanding of and respect for the nature and artistry of “nanguan as a music of amateur clubs”

on the part of the officials, the scholars involved, and even of some nanguan musicians themselves (more later).

Fortunately, things seem to be improving. In 2001, the NCTA held a conference to review its FAPT Project. One of the important conclusions of the conference was to emphasize the so-called “huoti baocun” (literally “live preserving”), interpreted by NCTA

51. It should be noted that, among the four nanguan opera projects, the two on Qingya yuefu and Hehe yiyuan should be considered as one continuous project commissioned to transmit the nanguan opera artistry of Wu Suxia, who first taught at the former group until she left to form the latter group in 1999. A recipient of the Heritage Ward, Wu has been regarded as the only native nanguan opera teacher and has therefore won ample support from the FAPT Project.

officials as (1) the preservation of the artistry of veteran musicians through teaching, (2) the revival of the original context of the artistic genre in question, and (3) the revival of the context for traditional arts in society (Huang 2001b).

With this understanding, NCTA began to take a more context-sensitive approach toward the transmission and preservation of nan-guan music. First of all, it resumed Tainan Nansheng she’s transmis-sion project in 2002. In 2003, NCTA further commistransmis-sioned the group to carry out a preservation project that included both the recording of the instrumental suites, which are becoming extinct, and the reconstruction of the traditional way of holding gala concert (known as “zhengxian dahui” ) , which has long ceased to be prac-ticed since the 1960s.⁵²

Since Nansheng she is arguably one of the few veteran nan-guan groups that have been able to maintain a substantial number of veteran musicians as well as the traditional practices of nanguan clubs, it is certainly one of the most promising groups to be able to carry out the above plans and to make important contributions to the transmission of nanguan music and its cultural practices. But, will the large amount of funding from the FAPT Project eventually help the group to continue its tradition, or will it corrupt its tradition instead? This will depend on the wisdom of NCTA officials as well as that of the nanguan musicians and the scholars involved.

ii.The Subsidy from National Culture and Arts Foundation

Beside NCTA, the founding of National Culture and Arts Foundation (hereafter NCAF) in 1996 opened anoth-er new venue of state subsidy for nanguan musicians. Since NCAF keeps very clear and open records of its subsidies, I have compiled a list of the nanguan groups that have been subsidized from 1996 to 2002 and summarized it in Table 2.

Table 2 shows that, although a total of NT$17.051 million had been used to subsidize eleven nanguan groups, half of the subsidy

52. For the traditional way of holding such gala concerts, see Wang 1999.

went to HTYF and a quarter to Gang-a-tsui juchang nanguan yuefu (Gang-a-tsui Theater Nanguan Ensemble , here-after Gang-a-tsui), a newly founded professional nanguan group in 1993. These fundings were given to cover their expenses in space rental, administrative staff, hiring of teachers, annual productions, and domestic and foreign concert tours.

That NCAF’s subsidy on nanguan has been concentrated on HTYF and Gang-a-tsui is only natural if we consider the difference between the nature of HTYF and Gang-a-tsui and that of the other nanguan groups. As mentioned before, HTYF is a new group founded in 1983, which quickly rose to stardom due to its ability to put on nicely packaged concerts. Since 1986, HTYF has been per-forming in all parts of the world. In 1996, HTYF created a new artis-tic form, which used nanguan music to accompany dance

choreo-Group (Year Founded) Number of Times Subsidized

Total Amount of Subsidy Received (NT$ in millions)

HTYF (1983) 20 7.84

Gang-a-tsui nanguan yuefu

(1993) 17 4.74

Tainan Nansheng she (1910) 2 1.46

Liyuan yuefang (1995) 2 0.72

Nanguan xinjinzhu jutuan

(2000) 3 0.668

Taipei Minnan yuefu xuetuan (Taipei Minnan yuefu Students’ Group) (1990’s)

3 0.66

Chuanman nanyuetuan

(1992) 3 0.54

Lukang juying she (around 1880) 1 0.40

Qingya yuefu (1953) 1 0.36

Tungning yuefu (1997) 1 0.25

Taitung Juying she (early 1900’s) 1 0.10

Table 2: NCFA Subsidy on Nanguan Groups from 1997 to 2003

Sorce: National Culture and Arts Foundation

graphed from a few basic nanguan operatic movements. Combined with delicate, luxurious costumes and state-of-the-art lighting and stage design, this new production won HTYF wide acclaim both in Taiwan and abroad. HTYF invented a new term “Liyuan yuewu”

(Music and Dance of the Liyuan Opera) for this new art form. From then on, Liyuan yuewu has become HTYF’s trademark and has enabled HTYF to become even more active not only domes-tically but also internationally.

The other group, Gang-a-tsui, was originally an experimental theatre troupe when it was first founded in 1993 under the sponsor-ship of the Taipei County Cultural Center . Led by its director, Zhou Yichang , who aspired to incorporate tradi-tional elements into experimental theatre, the group began to study nanguan opera and nanguan music as part of its basic training.

After two years of training, the group gave its first nanguan concert in 1995. Now the group has become a professional nanguan group and, since 1999, has begun to perform in foreign countries, including Mexico, Japan, Korea, and the United States.

From the above, we can see that both HTYF and Gang-a-tsui are professional performing arts groups rather than traditional ama-teur nanguan music clubs. Consequently, it is no wonder that they could win the subsidy of NCAF much more frequently than the other nanguan groups, since NCAF’s budget is mainly used to subsidize modern art forms instead of traditional arts.⁵³

As for the other nine nanguan groups subsidized by NCAF, five are veteran groups and four are new groups founded in the 1990s.

Most of these groups applied for subsidy to offer nanguan training courses, which reflects the increasing trend for nanguan groups, both old and new, to rely on governmental subsidy to sustain their teaching activities and the groups’ continuity.

53. Although such a principle is not clearly stated in NCFA’s official papers, it was in operation at least when I served on the reviewing committee for NCAF in 2001.

iii.Council for Cultural Affairs’ International Performing Arts Groups CCA’s “International Performing Arts Groups Project”

(hereafter IPAG Project) was initiated in 1991 to help sustain and promote outstanding professional groups that exhibited high potential to become internationally active.⁵⁴ Not sur-prisingly, HTYF and Gang-a-tsui were the only two nanguan groups that met the qualifications and were selected and funded. Starting in 1995, HTYF succeeded in getting annual funding from this project until it was finally cut in 2003.⁵⁵ Though a late comer, Gang-a-tsui quickly caught up and was funded by this project annually from 1998 up to now (2003). The total funding the two groups received was NT$32.58 million, with HTYF getting NT$14.23 million and Gang-a-tsui NT$8.35 million.⁵⁶ The funding was aimed to assist the groups with their regular expenses, to strengthen their administrative efficiency, to enable them to create large-scale productions, and to help increase their chances of performing abroad.⁵⁷

54. This project was later renamed “Outstanding Performing Art Groups Selection and Award Project” in 1998 in order to de-emphasize the international aspect of the project. In 2000, the project was renamed again as “Performing Art Groups Development Project” . For details, see Xie 2001.

55. Even so, HTYF immediately applied for CCA’s newly established subsidy for performing abroad and was awarded NT$1.6 million. See http://www.cca.gov.

tw/news/2003/04021.htm This newly founded subsidy is called “Regular fees for international performances” .

56. For details on the amount of money received by the two groups up to the year of 2001, see Xie 2001: 192-98. The information about the amount of subsidy received by Gang-a-tsui in 2002 and 2003 was provided by the group. The amount of subsidy received by HTYF in 2002 can be found at http://www.cdn.com.tw/live /2002/02/01/text/910201e8.htm.

57. Beside IPAG Project, CCA has also sent several nanguan groups abroad to perform in its New York and Paris branch offices. In 1999, when Wu Suxia was still teaching at Qingya yuefu, the group was sent to CCA’s branch in New York to per-form nanguan opera in its Taipei Theater. In 2000, Lukang Yazheng zhai was also sent to New York. In 2002, Wu Suxia’s own group, Hehe yiyuan, was sent to CCA’s Paris Branch to perform both nanguan music and nanguan opera. This reflects the rising prominence of Wu Suxia and her nanguan opera teaching in state-fund-ed projects.

iv.Center for Musical Heritage

In 2001, the Preparatory Office of the Center for Musical Heritage , which was founded in 1999 as an adjunct organization of CCA,⁵⁸commissioned two nanguan projects.

One was to document the life history and artistry of Wu Kunren. The other was to make audio-visual recordings of nanguan songs repre-senting each of the tune families in nanguan songs classification system.⁵⁹