The opening poem of the puppet show

Usually, every important actor in a puppet show will have his own four poems when he appears, and these four poems are the so-called appearance poems or fixed poems; The reason why it is called "four thoughts and a hundred thoughts" is that the appearance poems usually consist of "four sentences", "five sentences" or "seven sentences" of Fujian ancient poems.

As far as drama performance is concerned, the appearance poem is actually a major feature of puppet show performance. As a matter of fact, lengthening pronunciation and paying attention to intonation and melody not only make dramatic characters announce themselves and make them easy for the audience to understand, but also their classical Chinese words often represent the role, identity and character of puppets. For example, in the puppet show, the classic poem of the role of Guanyin Bodhisattva is: "Putuo in the South China Sea is at ease, saying that there are three thousand generations; Buddhism is boundless, and it is difficult for ordinary people to climb the lotus platform. " The poem of an old student can be written like this: "After the fifteenth day of the month, there will be little light, and people will rest in middle age." Children and grandchildren have children and grandchildren. Don't be an ox or a horse for future generations. The old gentleman's surname is Wei and his name is Ji. " Xiao er's walk-on poem written in the shop can be: "Tea (wine, vegetables) welcomes three island guests, and soup sends five lake guests." If it's not delicious, it's hard to get close to the rich. Small, selling tea (wine, vegetables). " Generally speaking, puppet shows use a long tone, which is between oral singing. Except for Hua Dan, it only appears in fixed-field poems. That is to say, apart from the opening poems, the key of the puppet show is mainly telling stories.

During the development of Taiwan Province puppet show, the tradition of "four readings" of poetry changed greatly in the1980s, but it still maintained a certain level. For example, Twelve Hatreds written by Jianjun, a well-known figure in Taiwan Province province's thunderbolt puppet show, is adapted from the appearance poem Twelve Hatreds written by Zhang Chao in the Qing Dynasty. In fact, since 1990, every character of Taiwan TV puppet show has extended his appearance poems into a unique personal score or even a title song, so that the audience can know which role is coming soon after listening to his performance. This type can also be called the extension mode of appearance poetry.