{{Short description|Taiwan puppeteer}} {{Chinese|s=李天禄|t=李天祿|p=Lǐ Tiānlù|poj=Thian-lo̍k}} '''Li Tien-lu''' (24 December 1910{{snd}}13 August 1998) was a Taiwanese puppeteer. He is best known to the international audience for playing principal characters in several Taiwanese films directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien.
== Biography == Born in Taiwan in 1910,<ref name="ncgnsa"/><ref name="taitime"/> Li Tien-lu had been trained in glove puppetry by his father since the age of eight.<ref name="ncgnsa">{{cite news |title=Li Tian-Lu（李天祿）Hand Puppet Historical Museum as in "Puppetmaster" (戲夢人生) (1993) directed by Hou Xiao-Xian (侯孝賢) |url=https://www.northguan-nsa.gov.tw/gov/Article.aspx?Lang=2&SNo=04005733 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |publisher=North Coast and Guanyinshan National Scenic Area |archive-date=25 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825213236/https://www.northguan-nsa.gov.tw/gov/Article.aspx?Lang=2&SNo=04005733 |url-status=live }}</ref> He founded the puppet theatre troupe Almost Like Life in 1932, aged 22.<ref name="taitime">{{cite news |author1=Han Cheung |title=Taiwan in Time: The puppet master heads west |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/08/26/2003699211 |accessdate=26 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=26 August 2018 |archive-date=25 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180825212617/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/08/26/2003699211 |url-status=live }}</ref> The group ended performances in 1937, soon after the Second Sino-Japanese War began and Japanese authorities censored Taiwanese Hokkien entertainment.<ref name="taitime"/><ref name="mocli">{{cite news |title=Puppet Master {{!}} Li Tian-lu |url=https://www.moc.gov.tw/en/News_Content2.aspx?n=480&sms=10715&s=17455 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |publisher=Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China |date=18 November 2015}}</ref> Almost Like Life returned to the stage in 1941.<ref name="mocli"/> Li's troupe premiered one of its most famous performances, 300 Years of Qing Dynasty — Keng Yao, in 1948.<ref>{{cite news |title=Events and entertainment |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2009/11/20/2003458929 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=20 November 2009}}</ref> They became even more well-known under the Kuomintang government.<ref name="taitime"/> In 1962, Li's puppet troupe became the first to be featured in a television show.<ref name="taitime"/> Li considered retirement in the 1970s, as the popularity of glove puppetry lessened.<ref name="taitime"/> However, both Jacques Pimpaneau and Jean-Luc Penso visited Li from France,<ref name="taitime"/> and Penso remained in Taiwan to learn the art of glove puppetry.<ref name="mocliinfluence">{{cite news |title=Legacy Series II: Li Tian-lu and his disciples |url=http://english.moc.gov.tw/information_223_76989.html |accessdate=25 August 2018 |publisher=Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China |date=26 September 2016}}</ref> Penso established the Theatre du Petit Miroir troupe in Paris in 1975.<ref name="mocliinfluence"/> Penso later recalled Li's intense and challenging teaching style, and stated that Li refused tuition payments, as he had taught his children glove puppetry for free.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bartholomew |first1=Ian |title=Bringing new life to puppets |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2008/07/13/2003417313/2 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=13 July 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Yu |first1=Pei-ju |last2=Chin |first2=Jonathan |title=Exhibition puts spotlight on puppeteers Li, Penso |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/01/09/2003636793 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=9 January 2016 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826043853/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/01/09/2003636793 |url-status=live }}</ref> Other students of Li included his sons Chen Hsi-huang<ref>{{cite news |title=Festival invites performers to spark life into puppetry |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2017/09/30/2003679438 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=30 September 2017 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826043845/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2017/09/30/2003679438 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Mo |first1=Yan-chih |title=City government honors traditional folk arts masters |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2010/04/11/2003470313 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=11 April 2010}}</ref> and Li Chuan-tsan,<ref name="masterstudents"/> as well as Huang Wu-shan,<ref>{{cite news |title=Troupe sends gift to young patient |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/02/18/2003401784 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=18 February 2008 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826043843/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/02/18/2003401784 |url-status=live }}</ref> Madeleine Beresford, and Margaret Moody.<ref name="masterstudents">{{cite news |last1=Bartholomew |first1=Ian |title=Master of puppets |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2008/07/11/2003417052 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=11 July 2008 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826043851/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2008/07/11/2003417052 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Li also performed Peking opera, Taiwanese opera, and Hakka opera.<ref name="mocli"/> He received Taiwan's National Heritage Award in 1985,<ref name="mocli"/> and the National Cultural Award in 1991, which was bestowed with the title of "living national treasure."<ref name="jstor">{{cite journal |last1=Bosco |first1=Joseph |title=The Emergence of a Taiwanese Popular Culture |journal=American Journal of Chinese Studies |date=April 1992 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=51–64 |jstor=44289179}}</ref> In 1995, the government of France named Li a knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.<ref name="taitime"/> The Li Tien-lu Hand Puppet Historical Museum is named after Li and opened to the public in 1996.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Hyon Joo Yoo |title=The Trans-Pacific Imagination: Rethinking Boundary, Culture and Society |date=2012 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=9789814324137 |page=201 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTuUgUu8gBEC&pg=PA201}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Li Tian-lu Hand Puppet Museum |url=http://english.moc.gov.tw/information_251_77418.html |accessdate=28 August 2018 |agency=Ministry of Culture of the Republic of China |date=27 November 2015 |archive-date=28 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828170228/http://english.moc.gov.tw/information_251_77418.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He died at the age of 87 on 13 August 1998.<ref name="mocli"/>
==Filmography== Li featured in the role of the grandfather in Hou Hsiao-hsien's 1986 film ''Dust in the Wind'' and 1987 film ''Daughter of the Nile''. He also played the patriarch of the extended Chinese family facing the events surrounding ''A City of Sadness'' (1989). ''The Puppetmaster'' (1993) tells the true story of Li's life as a master puppeteer, spanning the years from Li’s birth in 1910 to the end of Japan’s fifty-year occupation of Taiwan in 1945. Li was posthumously featured in the 2001 documentary ''Tug of War: The Story of Taiwan''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Yu |first1=Sen-lun |title=Taiwan made for a US audience |url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2001/11/07/0000110494 |accessdate=25 August 2018 |work=Taipei Times |date=7 November 2001 |archive-date=26 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826043839/http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2001/11/07/0000110494 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Commemoration == Li Tien-lu was the subject of a Google Doodle on the occasion of what would have been his 110th birthday on 24 December 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Li Tien-lu's 110th Birthday|url=https://doodles.google/doodle/li-tien-lus-110th-birthday/|access-date=2020-12-26|website=www.google.com|language=en|archive-date=2024-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240202012033/https://doodles.google/doodle/li-tien-lus-110th-birthday/|url-status=live}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Tian-lu}} Category:Taiwanese male film actors Category:Taiwanese puppeteers Category:Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Category:Male actors from Taipei Category:1910 births Category:1998 deaths Category:20th-century Taiwanese male actors Category:Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Glove puppetry