Xujiu Glove Puppetry Theatre

Government bodies often bring foreign guests and officials to see it; visitors have included the President of Palau (then a senator) and the President of Nauru and his wife. In 2013 the US channel TLC featured it as one of the world's strange restaurants. It has a traditional puppet troupe of the same name that uses many kinds of Taiwanese puppets, including hand puppets, jinguang ('golden light') puppets, TV cosplay figures and indigenous figures, depending on the play. Its shows aim to be local, easy to follow and fun. Besides Taiwanese and Mandarin, it can, unusually, perform entirely in English, with a lively interactive style so that audiences of all ages from Taiwan and abroad can follow the story, handle the puppets and go on stage. The troupe has been invited over the years to perform in Taiwan and abroad: in mainland China; Japan (in 2014, at the Palace Museum national treasures exhibition in Kyushu and a National Day reception); several times each in South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia (in 2017 with Mayor Ke in Kuala Lumpur to promote the Universiade); Australia; the Netherlands; Germany (the ITB Berlin international travel fair); and in 2022 at the Ministry of Culture pavilion at ITF (its story won the folk arts category of the 2022 中華電信 'Taiwan with Stories' contest).

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.