台灣人的文化遺產

作者鄭良光

今年二月「台灣歌仔戲班劇團」的藝術總監劉南芳博士路過洛杉磯, 來阮教會用「走到水深之處」做見證. 伊對台語文化滅種的焦慮, 傳福音的熱情, 震撼我安逸的信仰生活.

本來伊來美國的目的是要去紐約「台灣宣教基金會」參詳10 週年演出「路得記」的代誌. 互伊的熱心感染著, 我向伊挑戰, 「路得記」是聖經故事,只有教會內的人有興趣, 為甚物不演荷蘭時代的台灣農民革命故事「郭懷一」？想不到南芳一聲就應好. 「郭懷一」是卡司48人的大戲 neh！

在幫忙籌備「郭懷一」這齣戲北美巡演時, 我問家己, 做一個成長佇台語教會第三代的基督徒, 我的文化遺產是甚物？要留甚物文化遺產給後代？這個問題嘛是生活佇異文化海外台灣人常常在問的問題：欲穿啥款衫代表台灣？欲按怎給家己的囝孫講咱的傳統是甚物？欲按怎向外國人介紹台灣的文化？欲按怎向世間人講我信仰的內容甚物？

台美人二代嘛仝款咧問, 我是甚物人： ABC? ABT? Taiwanese American? Asian American?

這對喪失母語的台灣人是一個真困難回答的問題, 母語若消失, 猶剩甚物文化遺產可留給囝孫？精神文化價值, 信仰價值的傳承需要靠語言文字, 通過口傳故事, 文學, 音樂, 戲劇, 藝術等才會當一代一代傳落去.

北美「台福（原台語福音教會）傳播中心」創辦的「遺產雜誌」www.InheritanceMag.com 的封面底頁台美人主編嘛咧問遺產是啥意思：1. 父毋留落來的文化種族認同？ 2. 出生地的西方思想價值？ 3.上帝國地面上的繼承人？ 4. 基督教信仰及亞美文化對話所產生的故事？

這二十年來台灣歌仔戲佇表演形式有真大的進展, 一寡經費卡濟的劇團開始採用交響樂團伴奏, 用現代舞配合表演內心戲等, 可惜內容方面攏猶停留佇中國文化封建思想. 「郭懷一」這齣戲所表現是上帝創造人人平等的民主精神, 靈魂比金錢較重要的思想價值, 以及原住民貼近大自然的後現代進步的永續生態觀念.

民族音樂權威駱維道教授對郭懷一的藝術表現有真高的評價：「這齣歌仔戲將台灣的歷史寫出來，不只這樣，將基督教和台灣的關係、和原住民的關係、和漢人的關係都放在一起，是一個很了不起的作品，這音樂所寫出來的，有歌仔戲的型、有一點現代的型，也有一點西方的型，是很棒的組合，我看了很感動！…透過這個歌劇，對台灣更加的認識，不止如此，開始對台灣的文化也有不一樣的看法, 我欽佩作曲及編劇的人, 可以將這款的音樂表達出來, 所以若有人看輕歌仔戲, 請他來看這齣戲, 就一定會對歌仔戲有不同的看法, 一齣歌仔戲可把基督教精神的中心點表達出來, 我感覺真好.」

「台灣歌仔戲班劇團」的台灣故事及福音故事, 傳承台語文化, 啟示基督教思想文明. 這兩項攏是我從信仰前輩所得著的重要文化遺產, 這就是我支持這次「台灣歌仔戲班劇團」北美巡演的原因. 咱做伙來及台灣歌仔戲班劇團來kā咱的遺產傳落去

Taiwanese Cultural Inheritance

by Simon Cheng a.k.a Tēⁿ Liôngkng

In this past February, Professor Liu Nanfang, Artistic Director of Taiwanese Opera Troupe, came to Los Angeles to share her testimony titled Go Out Into Deep Water. Her anxious agony about the survival of endangered Taiwanese languages and her passion for spreading gospel through Taiwanese opera has shaken up the comfort zone in my faith journey.

She was on her way to New York to meet Taiwan Mission Fund to discuss an opera performance for its 10th anniversary. Originally, they planned to play the Bible story Ruth. Emboldened by her passion, I challenged her that Bible story had limited potential to reach out to non-Christian Taiwanese, why not play the lost mission story “Koeh Hoâi-it” based on the peasant revolt history in 17th century’s Dutch colonial Taiwan. To my surprise, she said without hesitation: Yes, let’s to do it. Oh my God, I murmured, Koeh Hoâi-it is a 48 cast members big production.

During the process of helping her planning for the North America tour, I ask myself, as a third generation Christian grow up in Taiwanese speaking churches, what is my inherited culture identity? And what kind of inheritance I want to pass on to future generations. This question has often been asked by oversea Taiwanese living in foreign cultures as well: What clothes should I wear to represent Taiwan? How do I tell my children about Taiwanese traditions? How to introduce Taiwanese cultures to foreigners? Or, how to profess my Christian thoughts as a Christian raised up by Taiwanese churches.

Second generation Taiwanese Americans are also asking: Who are we? ABCs, ABTs, Taiwanese Americans, or Asian Americans?

This question is difficult to answer for those who have lost their mother tongue. Once one’s mother tongue is lost, so as his cultural inheritance. The value system of a culture or faith need spoken words and written words to pass on to the next generation, through preaching, literature, folklore, drama, and arts.

On the cover back page of INHERITANCE MAGAZINE www.InheritanceMag.com , dedicated to the intersection of FAITH and CULTURE, the Taiwanese American editing team is also asking how to define inheritance: 1. Cultural and ethnic identities? 2. Western thinking in North America? 3. Hope in the promises of God as His Children, co-heirs of His Kingdom on Earth? or 4. Stories about how Christian faith interacts with Asian and American cultures?

During the past couple decade, Taiwanese opera has gone through big transformation in its art form. Some have started to incorporate symphonic orchestra and modern dance into their performances. However, majority of the story lines still tend to reinforce ancient Chinese Confucius values. Koeh Hoâi-it’s story line focus on the democratic values rooted in God’s given human rights; that soul is more important than money; and valuing progressive sustainable ecology.

Taiwanese Opera Troupe’s Taiwanese Story Series and Gospel Series pass on Taiwanese Language and culture with Christian thoughts minded gospel. These are important inheritance that I inherited from my predecessor of faith. This is the reason I passionately support Taiwanese Opera Troupe’s North America tour. Let’s join Taiwanese Opera Troupe to pass on our inheritance to our next generations.

台灣歌仔戲班劇團-北美巡演, San Gabriel, CA on 09/09/2017