The Ming Hwa Yuan started out as a traditional local theater troupe and later becomes a world-renown theater company. The transformation lies not only in the solid foundation that the founder Mr. Chen Ming-ji had built but also the innovation and courageous attempts that the second generation has carried on.
The Ming Hwa Yuan produced an opera called Father & Son in the 1980s, which was a breakthrough at the time and was awarded as the national champion. Before that, none of a local theater troupe had ever performed in the national theatre hall. Not only did they keep producing new scripts, but also utilize the scores of movie production, thus making the tempo of the opera faster in order to attract the attention of audiences. The Ming Hwa Yuan’s opera is even more enriched with Chinese music incorporated with its original accompaniment.
With innovation and improvement in mind, the Ming Hwa Yuan earned its place in Taiwan as well as other countries. In 1990, the troupe was invited to participate in Asian Games’ Arts Festival, and its performance was greatly admired by Chinese audiences. Later the troupe was invited to perform in Paris and Tokyo, which was overwhelming experience for foreign audiences. As a family troupe, the Ming Hwa Yuan experienced the Japanese colonization period, the early recovery and the falling of Taiwanese opera, yet it didn’t wither. It grows stronger. The Ming Hwa Yuan has made itself a brand name and prospered the Taiwanese Opera industry, making the opera the mainstream drama in Taiwan. Therefore the Ming Hwa Yuan is indeed the pioneer of Taiwanese opera.

Since Mr. Chen Ming-ji started his career in theater, there had been two stages that had serious impact on Taiwanese opera. First is the Japanese colonization period, and the second is the TV era. In 1930, Japanese militarism had huge impact on the development of Taiwanese Opera. Japanese old Offices of the Taiwan Governor-General implemented the Kominka Movement（the assimilation policy）in Taiwan, which aimed to change the mentality and the life of Taiwanese. Taiwanese Opera troupes that had mass audience foundations were dismissed. If not, they had to present new operas, or better ones. Chen Ming-ji’s troupe “Jin Ho-Hsin” was facing the same fate; but the troupe was renamed as the “Ming Hwa Yuan” theater company. During this period, it was the most difficult time for Chen’s career. In an adopted performance, an emperor was changed to a chairperson; civil servants became office workers. In such an environment, Chen still played old operas secretly where actors dressed Japanese wardrobe inside traditional theater clothes. When Japanese cops came, they would remove their outer clothes.
Besides the constraints on mind and actions, Japanese asked troupes to perform sample drama to education Taiwanese people. This was called “outdoor-stage opera.” In addition to the same script approved by Japanese administration, any local scripts were to be submitted and examined before they were made into a drama. During performances, there were tables below the stage exclusive for Japanese police to check the script and monitor the play. Chen found that the Japanese ruling period was the most difficult time, because what was bitter about life wasn’t so unbearable. It was really bitter when mind and freedom were forbidden.

For-profit performances during the Japanese ruling period were the result of the booming economy. Major cities including Taipei, Taichung and Hsinchu helped form and prosper the theater. Chen Ming-ji, was running theaters for indoor stage performances, mainly in Southern Taiwan. Although indoor performances were much easier for actors, the troupe had to take the risk of losing money. Once the revenue declined, they might face the crisis of shutting down the troupe.
Theaters faced challenges and comparison from audiences so they had to feature young actors with attractive stage appearances; at the same time, the visual effect of gadgets and backgrounds became the focus of indoor stage performances. Indoor stage performances dominated the development of Taiwan’s theater art since then. The changes and special effects of performances onstage were the key to theater success, where word-of-mouth played an important role among locals. This period was the time that troupes worked their best to attract audiences.

During Japanese colonization period, Taiwanese Opera had already established its solid foundation that captured legions of audiences. After Taiwan’s restoration, indoor-stage performances began to prosper again. It was a golden era of Taiwanese Opera. In 1948, the Dou Ma Theater Troupe arrived in Taiwan from Zhang Zhou, Fukien to perform. After the Mainland China fell into the hands of the Communist Party, Dou Ma Theater Troupe was forced to stay and settle in Taiwan. Therefore, Dou Ma Diao（Dou Ma tune） was gradually absorbed by Taiwanese Opera, and became one of the two major tune categories of Taiwanese Opera（The other one is Chi Zi Diao－Seven Syllables Melody）. Taiwanese Opera survived through the imprisonment of Japanese ruling. Strong vitality of Taiwanese Opera prospered right after World War II. Within a few years, hundreds of Taiwanese Opera troupes emerged throughout Taiwan.
From modern perspective, traditional theater houses were no larger than an auditorium of a rural school. However, it was a place that holds local people’s spirit together. The Ming Hwa Yuan strive to go through the most difficult time and began to prosper with freedom. Mr. Chen Ming-ji added a word “Yuan（meaning garden in Chinese）” after the original name of his troup, “Ming Hwa” to symbolize the future prosperity of his family clan.
During this period, the Ming Hwa Yuan had a brave new attempt. The male and female characters of Taiwanese Opera used to be all played by males. In order to highlight romantic effects, he decided that the female characters（siao dan）would be played by female actors. This attempt was a success. However, this may inevitably arouse family disputes because most of the troupers’ families live together, while the characters of lovers on stage may not be real couples in real life. Therefore, Chen Ming-ji made all characters in Taiwanese Opera all played by females. This decision became the common practice of opera troupes. Almost all famous stars of Taiwanese Opera we know are all actresses cross-casting the male lead（siao sheng）.

During the mid 1950s, Taiwan’s economy was reviving and the entertainment activities were thriving. Besides Taiwanese Opera, forms of entertainment include movie, magic show, and dances fulfilled people’s demand. Since the advance of television in the 1960s, the status of Taiwanese Opera was seriously challenged, mainly because the indoor troupes were forced to turn to outdoor stages. During this period, Taiwanese Opera was transforming. In the early 1960s, radio broadcasted Taiwanese Opera focused on listening and the long hours of playing forced performers to work hard on their tune and singing styles, as well as requiring musicians of the accompaniment to add more elements in addition to traditional tunes.
Another impact was the emergence of televised Taiwanese Opera in the 1970s. At the time, not only radio broadcasted Taiwanese Opera was affected, but also indoor and outdoor performances were hard to survive. In 1964, Chen Ming-ji sold the troupe to a business man, Mr. Ou. To help out the life of his troupers, Chen assisted them to work for other troupes, but many of them were reluctant to leave. These troupers stuck together with the Chen family and worked hard on sewing clothes and making props, in the hope to revive the Ming Hwa Yuan some day in the future.
Supporting a big family isn’t easy. Therefore Mr. Ou loaned some money to Chen but Chen didn’t want to drag his family and troupers down so they joined Ou’s Taiyue Troupe. Since then, Chen’s family was free from trouble and poverty for a while. For about one year, Chen repaid his debt and brought his family members back to the Ming Hwa Yuan. In 1965, the Ming Hwa Yuan’s performance was widely recognized and former troupers came back to join the troupe while Taiyue troupe was dismissed due to Mr. Ou’s reluctance to run his troupe business.

During the 1980s, due to the fact that Mr. Chen Ming-ji was already eighty years old, the burden of running the Ming Hwa Yuan gradually fell on the shoulders of the second generation. With their progress to mature and devotion to Taiwanese Opera, the second generation began to come up with new performing styles, and a different tempo to perform on stage. They tasted the fruit of their brave attempt in the National Local Drama Competition in 1982. The first drama Father & Son released by Mr. Chen Sheng-guo, the second generation of the Ming Hwa Yuan, was a huge hit. This drama not only won the First Prize, Best Male Lead (enacted by Chen Jau-shiang), as well as Best Director, but it also offered them the chance to perform in the National Culture and Arts Festival of the following year.
After the grand honor in 1982, the status of the Ming Hwa Yuan evolved overnight. The great sensation caused by the public performance in Nantou the following year was almost comparable with the hit it made fifty years ago. Afterwards, invited by the Ministry of Education, the Ming Hwa Yuan began to tour to different Cultural Centers around Taiwan. No seats were empty wherever they went. The most important performance of all was the one was in 1983, the Ming Hwa Yuan was invited to perform in Culture and Arts Festival held by the Council of Cultural Affairs under the Executive Yuan. Not only was it a chance to participate in a big convergence drama display at the national level, which symbolizes absolute recognition and honor, but it also revealed the government’s affirmative attitude toward Taiwanese Opera. With the help of consecutive news reports with the headlines like “Taiwanese Opera Steps into the National Auditorium”, “Local Plays onto the Arena”, and “From the Sod to the Red Carpet”, the Ming Hwa Yuan was able to perform in the Sun-Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. The dream of the founder, Chen Ming-ji finally came true. The Ming Hwa Yuan was back on the stage of grand auditorium.

After Chen Shen-fu, the third son of the Ming Hwa Yuan’s founder Mr. Chen Ming-ji, took over the Ming Hwa Yuan, the second generation has successfully become a renowned theater troupe in the 1980s. It has approached a new era of enterprise management. In the 1990s, Taiwanese Opera was already people’s major entertainment. The cultural and artistic circle was amazed by the way the Ming Hwa Yuan spread into our lives. In fact, the roadmap of the Ming Hwa Yuan is to extend its stage worldwide and seek for sustainable management.
The above mentioned goals came from the dreams of the current chief of the Ming Hwa Yuan, Chen Shen-fu. In the fall of 1990, the Ming Hwa Yuan was invited to perform in Beijing for the 11^th Asian Games’ Arts Festival. The drama the Lord Ji did a perfect interpretation of dramatic tension on stage. In 1994, the performance in Paris was the Ming Hwa Yuan’s debut in Europe. The following year, Japan invited the troupe to give performances in six major cities of Japan.
While the Ming Hwa Yuan took its step on the world stage, this unique family group attracted the attention of the United Nations. In 1994, the UNESCO organized an activity called the “International Family Year”. The Ming Hwa Yuan was selected to be the delegate family of Taiwan.
With its outstanding performances and splendid history lasting for more than seventy years, the Ming Hwa Yuan carries through the torch of Taiwanese Opera, and paves for its bright future into the world as an honored representative of the Taiwanese performing art.