The last of Singapore's Chinese puppet performers
The last of Singapore's Chinese puppet performers The elderly members of Sin Hoe Ping, one of the last Chinese puppet troupes in Singapore, belong to a fading tradition. Singapore - It is 1.30pm on a rainy, humid December afternoon and the Sin Hoe Ping puppet troupe is busy making sure that everything is in place before they perform for Da Er Ye Bo, the two Taoist gods of the underworld. It is the first feast day at the shentan or shrine festival for these deities, and the troupe wants the celebrations to begin smoothly. Knowing that they will be singing for two hours without a break, the grey-haired puppeteers are clad in loose, comfortable clothing and slippers. Two life-sized figures of Da Yi Er Bo glower at them from behind, macabre guardians of a dark curtained area where a spirit medium will be offering consultations to devotees in the evening. The medium, along with the getai singers whose traditional performance dates back to the era of the Japan...