Name: Music in Taiyupian: Screening and Discussion
Start: 2026-06-11T14:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-06-11T16:30:00+01:00
Location: School of Journalism, Media and Culture

Music in Taiyupian: Screening and Discussion

JOMEC is delighted to host a special screening and discussion marking the 70th anniversary of Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan 薛平貴與王寶釧.
About this Event

Released in 1956, Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan marked a significant moment in Taiwanese cultural history. Based on gezaixi 歌仔戲, the film emerged from a close relationship between Taiwanese-language cinema and vernacular performance traditions, including local opera, glove puppetry, and spoken drama, all of which had flourished during the Japanese colonial period. Yet the central role of opera films in the early Taiyupian 台語片 industry has not always received the attention it deserves.

This event brings that musical and performative history back into view. Through a screening and talks by Nancy Guy, Chris Berry, and Chen-Yu Lin, the event will explore the connections between gezaixi and Taiyupian, considering how vernacular performance traditions shaped one of the most important periods in Taiwanese-language cinema.

The screening will focus on Xue Pinggui and Wang Baochuan and its place within the wider cultural history of Taiwanese-language film, music, and performance. It offers an opportunity to reflect on Taiwan’s distinctive cultural history through cinema, sound, and popular performance.

The event will be followed by a reception.
Please RSVP.
Presented by Cardiff University, King’s College London, and Tainan National University of the Arts Multi-Media Center, in collaboration with The Taiwanese-Language Cinema 70th Anniversary Project, Taiwan Ministry of Culture, and Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.
Chris Berry
Chris Berry is Professor of Film Studies at King’s College London. His research focuses on Chinese-language cinema, East Asian screen cultures, queer media, and national and transnational cinemas.

Nancy Guy
Nancy Guy is Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, and a leading ethnomusicologist of Taiwan, with research spanning Chinese opera, Taiwanese music and politics, and environmental sound cultures.

Chen-Yu Lin
Chen-Yu Lin is Lecturer in Creative and Cultural Industries at Cardiff University. Her research explores Taiwanese popular music, transnational censorship, Sinophone cultural industries, and creative labour, often through ethnography and documentary filmmaking.