Yang Siou-heng Traditional Hakka Drama Troupe: preserver of Hakka cod ba hi

Chinese Name: 楊秀衡撮把戲團

Year of Establishment: 1963

Founder: Yang Siou-heng (楊秀衡)

The founder of the Meinong-based Yang Siou-heng Traditional Hakka Drama Troupe is an expert in traditional Hakka ancient tunes, such as folk songs, mountain songs, and ballads. The troupe’s performances focus on spontaneous improvisation and interaction with the audience, blending in some magic tricks and kung fu movements. These shows are even interspersed with Minnan folk songs or pop music. The troupe’s incredible performing technique called “cod ba hi (撮把戲)” displays the characteristics of Hakka drama and has been registered as a traditional form of performing arts by the Kaohsiung City Government in 2011.

Yang Siou-heng Traditional Hakka Drama Troupe

(Photo: CNA)

In the past, a cod ba hi troupe usually traveled from place to place and conventionally earned money by selling pharmaceutical commodities. The group attracted its customers through live performances, including Hakka dramas, music, and acrobats. Cod ba hi, which literally means “playing tricks,” was similar to medicine shows.

The troupe’s founder Yang Siou-heng loved to sing Hakka folk songs from the time he was a child, but he was also fascinated with Hokkien operas. At the age of 14, he went behind his family’s back and secretly learned the Taiwanese opera at the Pingtung Opera Troupe. He later entered the Hakka drama class and met his future wife Hsu Wu-mei (徐戊妹).

Yang was not only familiar with the Hakka language in all kinds of accents, but also spoke standard Mandarin and Minnan or Hoklo. He also learned Taiwanese ballads, pop songs, and puppet theater songs from different places while he was traveling across Taiwan and entertaining varied ethnic groups.

After leaving the military at the age of 24, Yang started his cod ba hi career with his wife. Apart from their theater training, the pair furthered their skills by learning martial arts and magic tricks from other masters. Yang and his wife traveled all over the country to give their performances while promoting and selling household medicine to make a living for many years.

As time passed, this unique performing art entered a phase of decline around the 1970s because of the popularity of television, which changed audience’s entertainment habits. Nowadays, Yang’s troupe no longer performed for selling medical products. Instead, it has turned into a performing group that stages its shows in many cultural events, shouldering the responsibility to pass down the tradition.

The troupe’s cod ba hi, featuring various performing forms including drama, dance, magic tricks, and stunts, has become a perfect example of the improvisation of folk art. It is also the best interpretation and preservation of the Hakka art of cod ba hi. The troupe is not only passing on Yang’s personal skills to the new generation in Taiwan, but also serving as a historical testament to the traditional cultural heritage that has gradually disappeared.