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Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum
Tradition‧Creativity‧Locality‧Internationality

Dr. Paul C.F. Lin, founder of the Taiyuan Arts and Culture Foundation and a relentless promoter of Taiwanese culture, established the TTT Puppet Centre together with its director Dr. Robin Ruizendaal in 2000. From its very first days, the Centre has been at the very forefront of traditional puppet theatre in Taiwan organizing both exhibitions at the Centre while, simultaneously, pushing the art to new vistas and new modes of performances.

In 2003, the TTT Puppet Centre entered a new phase of development performing overseas in several countries. In the past few years the company has performed in France, Hong Kong, Macao, Turkey, Russia, Italy, Vietnam, Korea, Holland, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize, United Kingdom, Cambodia, Spain etc. Its performances extended from the world famous London Royal Festival Hall to a South American tropical forest, Cambodian temples, as well as a 16th century European churches and the Casa Mila in Barcelona. Along with increased performances, the TTT Puppet Centre increased the number of museum artifacts to over 6000 pieces acquired from all over the world. They include traditional puppets, scripts and stages from South-East Asia, India and China, masks and from Africa and Latin America and many other items.

In November 2005, the TTT Puppet Centre moved to a permanent residence generously donated by Mrs. Lin, the widow of late Mr. Lin Liu-Hsin. In concert with such generosity the Centre changed its name to Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum. This new location also enables the Museum to gather all the departments that make it up, into a central location. As a result, its collection, exhibition, theater, and educational promotional programs can all take place as a collective. The museum is equipped with its own 100-seat mulit-purpose Nadou Theatre.
In order to promote both traditional and modern puppet theatres, apart from the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum, two theatre troupes were founded in 2004. On one hand, there is, the traditionally-oriented Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company that synthesizes northern Taiwanese traditional lyrics and refined modern stage techniques in order to preserve the more traditional part of puppetry. On the other hand, the new and creative Nadou Theatre Company emphasizes story-telling in a more modern context combining the visual imagination with modern stage acts including stylish drama and music performances.

The Museum is located on Xi-Ning North Road, Dadaocheng, one of the oldest districts of Taipei and just a few steps from the Danshui Pier off historical Dihua Street.

The Museum consists of two historical buildings, the Museum itself and the Nadou Theatre. The Museum includes a workshop and four floors of exhibitions. The Nadou Theatre designed so that it is suitable for all small-scale performances, including puppets, music, dance and theatre. In addition to eye-opening puppet shows, the Museum also offers workshops such as puppet carving, puppet-master demonstrations, children’s puppet theatre and training in traditional puppet techniques. The Museum also provides in-depth tour and state-of-the-art performance for local schools in order to elevate the appreciation for the art and pass on the feeling for such performances to new audiences. The Museum has officially been designated as a “Cultural Hall” by the Ministry of Culture.

The aims of the Museum is dedication to preserve and promote traditional Asian puppet culture, to become a puppet educational center, as well as provide a stage for puppetry from all of the Asia-Pacific area and promote interactions between local and international puppet troupes.