We interviewed Mayor Ma of Taipei City on November 11^th, 2004 to learn his opinions on the achievements of Ming-Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Company. There were many reporters attending that interview, the followings are some of the news clips covered for that day.

Sina news update 2004/11/10, 6:30AM PST
By Chen,Yen-Jiun, Taipei, CNA
Students from Taipei Municipal Xi-Hu Elementary School visited the City Hall to have an interview with Mayor Ma for their upcoming Homepage competition. A student asked Mayor Ma what he thought about Ming-Hwa Yuan. Mayor Ma said that the company is very successful because it keeps up with the pace of the world and is always renovating.
Taking “The King of Ducks” and “Wishes Revisited” as the examples, he pointed out that “The King of Ducks” is dotted with Taiwanese, Hakka, Chinese, French, and English which symbolized the incorporation of different races. “Wishes Revisited”, on the other hand, adopted some plots from Shakespeare which provided new elements for the traditional drama to entice more audiences.
When asked about his first encounter with Taiwanese Opera, Mayor Ma stressed that he was a “Ban Ga kid” and had watched Taiwanese Opera since he was a kid, but he was not able to distinguish between Chinese Opera and Taiwanese Opera then.
He also pointed out that Ming-Hwa Yuan not only blended tradition and contemporary, but also employed props and special effects to lure the audience, their singing also acutely reflects the characters and the plot to impress the audience.
Xi-Hu elementary School has won the First Place on the category of Culture and Education in Homepage Competition. This year, they will use Ming-Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Company as their theme to take part in the national competition.

RTI 2004/11/10 15:47
By Bai, Bing-Yin Edited by Shia, Chih-Ping
Stimulating the new cultural creativity by means of withstanding the traditional culture is the universal effort of most Metropolitans in the world. During his interview by the students of Xi-Hu Elementary School, Mayor Ma took Ming-Hwa Yuan Taiwanese Opera Company as an example which renovated constantly.
Since his inauguration, Mayor Ma has been working toward making Taipei an International Metropolitan. When attending cultural occasions, Mayor Ma frequently advocated that we should find new energy within the traditional culture to make it everlasting. During the interview, he also sang a short skit to demonstrate his involvement in culture.
Mayor Ma took Ming Hwa Yuan as a fine example. It revitalizes traditional dramas by adding new ideas. The abstract body movement of Chinese Opera and Shakespearean Macbeth, for instance, were adapted and changed to make it more appealing to the audience. Daring to make changes and insisting on acquiring the cultural heritage are the reasons that traditional culture still flourishes.
Taiwanese Opera was a commoner performing art from its origin, and became popular because it could reflect the real life. In this culture diversified age, to entice more audience to the traditional culture, embodiment of reality has become a must.
The students of Xi-Hu Elementary School had interviewed Mayor Ma for his views on the Taiwanese Opera and Ming-Hwa Yuan, because they will be participating in the 2005 World CyberFair. Taipei City has won champions for three consecutive years in this international homepage competition.

World News Paper 2004/11/11 Thursday
By Leung,Chau-Jen, Taipei
Students of Taipei Municipal Xi-Hu Elementary School visited Mayor Ma of Taipei City on November 10^th, 2005 to discuss the effort and inheritance of Ming-Hwa Yuan on the traditional theatrical arts. Mayor Ma mentioned that Ming-Hwa Yuan was able to renovate tradition by adding modern language to enrich Taiwanese Opera. Upon the request of the students, Mayor Ma sang a tune of Taiwanese Opera at the end of the interview. Xi-Hu Elementary School had won Outstanding Award on the Cyberfair last year, and is working on another project with Ming-Hwa Yuan as the subject. Mayor Ma was interviewed because he had written a foreword for Ms. Tsui-Feng Sun’s Autobiographical book, and the students had come for his comments on the achievements of Ming-Hwa Yuan and Ms. Sun,Tsui-Feng in this traditional theatrical arts.
Mayor Ma stated that Ming Hwa Yuan has exalted traditional theatrical art to popularity. On play script, for instance, Wishes Revisited adopted parts from Shakespearean play to add new flavor to the plays. On the theatrical presentation, in Eight Gods Crossing the Sea, for instance, a dialogue of been trapped in the traffic jam always incur laughter from the audience.
When Students asked about Ms. Sun. Tsui-Feng, Mayor Ma said that he admires Ms. Sun’s passion and hard work for Taiwanese Opera. He told them that Ms. Sun did not start her learning the art until the age of 26, worse yet she was not a Taiwanese speaker, therefore, the time and the effort engaged must be immense to make her the leading character of the Taiwanese Opera.
Visiting the Mayor at the same time are the executives of the World CyberFair, Ms. Yvonne Marie Andres, Ms Kathleen O’Sullivan and Ms. Karrie Dietz. Mayor Ma shared his experience of watching Ming-Hwa Yuan’s plays, and Ms. Andres expressed her appreciation for the efforts Taipei City had made in advocating long-distance teachings.