Miao-Li Chen Family Pei-Kuan Pa-Yin Group was founded by Hakka Pa-Yin Master Chen, Zhao-San more than 100 years ago. In 1987, the group was awarded with “Third Folk Art Heritage Awards” from the Ministry of Education. Apart from participating in various important festivals in Taiwan, the group took part in the 2003 performance of “Presidential Office Hosting President of Malawi State Banquet,” and participated in the ceremonial accompaniment for “President Ma Ying-jeou attending Ma ancestral worship in Chinese New Year.” The group also performed overseas in the United States, Holland, France, Japan, Thailand, and China. In 2009, Miaoli County Government registered the group as a conservation group for “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Miaoli County” in traditional art category of “Hakka Pa-Yin.” By 2010, the Council for Cultural Affairs assigned Miao-Li Chen Family Pei-Kuan Pa-Yin Group as the conservation group of state “intangible cultural heritage” in the important traditional art category of “Hakka Pa-Yin.” 

The group is now led by the fifth-generation leader Cheng Rom-Shing, who is the advisor to many Pa-Yin clubs and disciple classes. His students are distributed all over Taiwan and the group has now grown to the 8th generation. There are more than 30 group members consisting of performing artists in Pa-Yin, Pei-Kuan and Hakka operas. Cheng is also the advisor to various seminar classes in “Hakka Pa-Yin.” Miao-Li Chen Family Pei-Kuan Pa-Yin Group spares no efforts in the promotion of Hakka music and the conservation of traditional folk songs. At the time, the group provides people all over Taiwan to appreciate the traditional music culture of Hakka people through the rich and colorful traditional Pa-Yin performance. Not only can the audience commemorate the function of Hakka Pa-Yin in Hakka ceremonies and celebrations but they will further understand, value and recognize local traditional culture, thereby provoke the interaction between modern urban culture and traditional folk arts.

Backstage Tour and Performance by the GuoGuang Opera Company

18:00  Gather at the Main Theatre, NCTFA

18:00-18:30  Pre-show Tour + Backstage Patriarch Shrine Tour

18:50-19:30  Audience Admission

19:30-22:00  Official Performance, Play Title: Mr. Goodman Dumps His Wife（王有道休妻）

Starring: Sheng Chien, Chu An-Li, Chen Mei-Lan, Tsou Tzu-Ai, Hsieh Kuan-Sheng
Executive Producer: Chen Yueh-Yi

Co-Executive Producers: Liang Chin-Chih, Lai Ming-Jen
Producer: Chang Yu-Hua

Dramaturg & Program Planner: Wang An-Chi
Playwright: Wang An-Chi

Director: Tai Chun-Fang

Vocal Arranger & Music Designer: Li Chao
 
Synopsis & Highlights
A Classic Reborn: Unlocking the Forbidden Inner World of a Traditional Masterpiece

Wang Youdao Divorces His Wife is adapted from the traditional Jingju play The Imperial Stele Pavilion. It tells the story of a married woman, Meng Yueh-Hua, who seeks shelter from the rain and ends up spending the night alone in a pavilion with a scholar named Liu Sheng-Chun. This incident sparks the suspicion of her husband, Wang Youdao, leading him to divorce her.
Unlike ancient versions that focus on praising "female virtue," GuoGuang Opera Company's revival boldly deconstructs female desires and human nature. The play specifically features an "alter ego" for Meng Yueh-Hua, laying bare the suppressed true feelings of the traditional Qingyi (virtuous female) role. While the outward Meng Yueh-Hua is bound by propriety and easily frightened, her inner alter ego reveals a genuine thrill of being "joyful and romantically entangled," challenging the audience's preconceived notions of traditional morality.
Modern Theatrical Aesthetics: A Personified Witness to Space and Time Visually and narratively, this play breaks conventions. It abandons the traditional Jingju abstract formula of "one table and two chairs" and instead personifies the "Imperial Stele Pavilion." The pavilion transforms into a worldly-wise storyteller; he not only guides the plot but also acts as a mirror, reflecting the playwright's creative intent. Through the words of this "living" pavilion, the audience can easily grasp the subtext beneath the characters' dialogue. This elevates the stage from a mere performance space into a modern experimental theater filled with conversational engagement and intellectual depth.
The Extended Imagery of Rain: Pure Emotion Drenching the Strictures of Propriety "Rain" is the most romantic and central imagery in this play. The playwright transforms the relentless overnight downpour into poetic lyrics. Through the voice of Meng Yueh-Hua, the rainwater is described as strings of pearls that are "endlessly intertwined and lingering."
This rain serves as a metaphor for the endless entanglements and unspoken emotions inherent in human nature. Through organic modifications of its theatrical form, this play leads the audience across the generational divide, returning to the most natural and pure expressions of human emotion. It is a groundbreaking masterpiece that will resonate deeply with everyone, regardless of their familiarity with Peking Opera.