Honoured at 88, a Taiwanese opera master keeps teaching

Taiwanese opera performer Wang Qingfang has received a special honour at the 37th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music, recognising a career spanning more than 80 years and his work passing on traditional performance skills. At 88, he is still teaching, and some of his pupils have won the awards themselves.

Wang was among the artists and groups celebrated by Taiwan’s Miaoli County government on 6 October after they secured four awards. He began training at six, and his career has crossed several operatic traditions, including luantan, Hakka tea-picking opera and Taiwanese opera.

Although luantan has declined, Wang continues to perform, teach singing and pass on classic works. Taiwan’s cultural authorities formally recognised him as a preserver of the tradition in 2020.

His approach to teaching rests on patience. He told the Central News Agency that he neither hits nor scolds students: if they struggle, he simply keeps teaching. He praised younger performers’ memories and movement skills, and welcomed seeing his pupils surpass him.

Miaoli’s other three awards highlighted creativity alongside preservation. They recognised music design drawing on several traditional styles, an audiovisual opera production and an album of Hakka instrumental music, showing different ways artists are carrying their cultural inheritance forward.