PILI Exhibition

Head back on to the 1914 Huanshan Creative Arts Center to take in the Art of PILI Exhibition....   PILI of course are a cross between dolls and puppets made and quite popular all over Taiwan and a few Chinese speaking countries....   PILI has grown from performing in night markets during the Chinese Holidays...  to their own popular TV SHOWs and Serials.... and soon capturing the 3D movie going crowds with their very own 3D film...

The exhibition boasts so many of the original puppets/dolls used in their many serials....   so this is quite exciting to see for the shows' followers....  Original art, illustrations and planning sketches were also on hand...  various intricately designed weapons....   elaborate settings....  and of course, the glorious costumes are enough to marvel at....    even if one is not a follower of these shows, it will still be quite an amazing exhibition to see - just to revel at the artistry and craftsmanship's of all the people who make these dolls/puppets come to life!!!

a few mass produced merchandise, based on the much loved characters, were also on display...

Premiums Galore

Been so busy the last couple of months am sooooo behind even on one of my most FAVE pastimes in Taiwan - Collecting Premium Toys... and boy, oh boy, a fine time to behind., too... so many cool stuff have been put on the market since the beginning of May.... am not quite sure what is what yet.... so I have just been taking photos of the posters and the displays as I happen upon them.... so far here are the ones from 7-11, Family Mart & McDonalds...


7-11 brought Maruko-Chan, her family and friends...

...set in the classroom world of Maruko-chan... each of the premium vinyl toys is set on a school desk diorama that doubles for real working, useful things such as scissors, staplers, tape dispenser, hole puncher, etc.. So far I have this one to start of the collection... it doubles as a stapler...

Family Mart has the local PILI characters for their current Premium program...

and the latest SHREK Movie is the subject of McDonald's latest Happy Meal Toys....

Lovely Evening Puppetry

June 20th - An Evening at The National Palace Museum to revel in the art of Puppetry.
For Two weeks, The National Palace Museum held an outdoor event highlighting the wonders and splendours of the world of Puppet Theatre. As most people know, Taiwan is pretty much well known for it's Chinese Puppetry, commonly known as PILI. On the eve of the last nite, with the weather agreeing, David and I ventured to the Museum, about a 15 to 20 mins ride on a scooter. Indeed, with the rain on a hiatus for the nite, the turn out was pretty good. It was truly a beautiful nite, to take in the Puppet show, get to see and hear the Master and founder of PILI talk about the history of Chinese Puppetry & PILI itself. And even see a few people dress in Ancient Costumes -- as they take part on a Museum Contest prior to the start of the Puppet Show.

After the show, we rewarded ourselves with another one of Taiwan's Specialty - Pearl Drink!
COMPLETE PHOTOS HERE.