真快樂掌中劇團
  • Founder : Ms. Ko Chiang, Szu-Mei
  • Artistic Director : Ms. Ko Chiang, Szu-Mei
  • Administration Director : Mr. Ko, Chia-Tsai
  • Contact Person : Mr. Ko, Shih-Hung
  • Address : 1F., No.5, Ln. 23, Ziqiang St., Xinzhuang Dist., New Taipei City 242, Taiwan
  • Telephone : 886-2-2994-4216, 886-2-2993-1963
  • Fax : 886-2-2994-2660
  • E-mail : newhappy@ms31.hinet.net

The Happy Puppetry Company is directed by Taiwan leading female puppeteer, Ms. Ko Chiang, Szu-Mei with her son, Ko, Chia-Tsai, and grandson, Ko, Shih-Hung, Ko, Shih-Hua,serving as puppeteers.

Since the Company's establishment in 1967, it has traveled all over Taiwan putting on performances of traditional hand puppetry at temple fairs and in rural communities. The Company's performances are enormously popular, and it has acquired a high reputation. The Happy Puppetry Company has won first prize in the Taiwan Local Puppetry Competitions several times, and has put on performances at theatre festivals organized by the Ministry of Education on a number of occasions. The Company has also represented Taiwan at the Fourth Asia-Pacific Festival of Puppetry, to great acclaim.

The Happy Puppetry Company has always seen its main task as being the revitalization of traditional puppetry. The Company has devoted considerable effort both to the preservation of traditional arts and the training of new generations of performers. The Company's director, Ms. Ko Chiang, Szu-Mei, is a veteran puppeteer, and was the first female puppeteer to gain prominence in Taiwan. Under her direction and guidance, the Company's chief puppeteer, Ko, Chia-Tsai, displays his impressive skills, magnificent narration and voices. The Company's performances are made even more spectacular by being accompanied by traditional musicians, a rare sight in Taiwan these days. In 1998 the Happy Puppetry Company was awarded First Prize in the Taipei City Local Theatre Competition; the Company is one of the most active puppet theatre troupes in northern Taiwan.

The Happy Puppetry Company has devoted itself to the preservation of local culture and to displaying the essence of traditional puppetry. The Company's performances have a very high reputation within puppet theatre circles, representing as they do the handing down of tradition through three generations working together to preserve the puppet theatre tradition.

Carnival of Taiwanese Hand Puppetry
The show brings the audience to the unbelievable journey to the exquisite traditional art, presenting the highly skilled movements of calligraphy writing, smoking, fighting and etc. by hand puppets. Shih-Hung Ko and Shih-Hua Ko, the puppeteers of the show, were received The Most Popular Puppeteer Award in The Golden Dolphin International Puppet Festival, Bulgaria in 2002.

Wu-Song, The Tiger Fighter
Wu-Song left his family when he was a child and practiced Kung-Fu whenever he met a mentor that was willing to teach him. One day, he had to see his brother back home and passed the Jing Yang Gang area.

Legend says that there is a tiger that often attacks people passing this place.

Wu-Song drank 18 bowls of strong liquor and went to Jing Yang Gang to hunt for this tiger and rid this danger once and for all. At the same time, the four brothers from the family Do were busy in training and getting in shape. They had heard of the news of the tiger in Jing Yang Gang and had decided to hunt the tiger down. Although the four brothers were skilled in martial arts but they were no match for the ferocious tiger and had to retreat in their attack. They encountered the drunken Wu Song by chance. Upon seeing the tiger, Wu Song sobered instantaneously and fought heroically with the tiger.