Xujiu Glove Puppet Theater

Xujiu Glove Puppet Theater (established in 1992) is Taiwan's first glove puppet-themed restaurant. For 30 years, its "Taiwanese Glove Puppet Feast" has attracted tourist groups from various countries to the capital for a nostalgic reunion, where they sit on benches, appreciate Taiwanese culture, and enjoy Taiwanese-style cuisine, thus beginning a joyful journey on this "Treasure Island." Government agencies often arrange for distinguished guests and dignitaries from various countries to experience the performances. The President of Palau (then a senator) and the President and First Lady of Nauru have specially watched the show twice (during the pandemic, while hosting foreign guests via diplomatic bubbles). In 2013, American TLC featured it as one of the "world's strangest restaurants." Xujiu Glove Puppet Theater also has its own namesake traditional puppet theater troupe, utilizing various types of Taiwanese puppets, including glove puppets, golden light puppets, TV cosplay puppets, and indigenous puppets (which vary by show). It features "local, easy-to-understand, and joyful" performance characteristics. In addition to Taiwanese and Mandarin, it uniquely offers performances entirely in English. Adopting a lively and interactive performance style, it allows domestic and international audiences of all ages to understand, interact with the puppets, perform on stage, and enjoy continuous laughter, bridging the gap between traditional Taiwanese arts and audiences worldwide. For many years, the troupe has been continuously invited by various organizations to perform both domestically and internationally. It has performed in mainland China, Japan (at the 2014 National Palace Museum's National Treasures Kyushu Special Exhibition and National Day Reception), South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia several times (e.g., in 2017, accompanying Mayor Ko to Kuala Lumpur to promote the Universiade), Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany (at the Berlin ITB International Tourism Fair). It also performed at the Ministry of Culture pavilion at the 2022 ITF (its featured story won first prize in the "Folk Arts" category of Chunghwa Telecom's "Stories of Taiwan" competition in 2022).