The Puppetmaster (In the Hands of a Puppet Master / Xi meng ren sheng / 戲夢人生)

The treaty of Shimonoseki...

signed by the Manchu government in 1 895...

ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores toJapan.

Subsequently, Japan controlled Taiwan for 50 years...

until the end of World War II.

Ahui, how many tables will you set for your grandson's birthday?

Just a few.

For close friends and family...

why be so extravagant?

If you are generous to others, they will be generous to you.

That's how it should be done.

No, no.

Just close friends and relatives...

so that the boy will have people to look after him when he grows up.

That's not the way to do it. You should throw an extravagant party.

That's right.

That's how it should be done.

Mangdang, now that you're a father...

you're going to be very busy.

Here comes the baby.

How cute.

What a nice big head and round face.

Come!

Tienlu, let grandpa hold you.

To speak of man's fortunes--

My father was married...

into my mother's home, losing his own family name.

When I was born...

my maternal grandparents...

who went by the ancient traditions...

had my fortune read by a fortune-teller...

who said that...

my fortune was a tough one.

To change things, I had to change the way I called my parents--

so I should call my father "uncle"...

and my mother "aunt."

This is how we did things in the old days...

all through the advice of fortune-tellers.

In the days of theJapanese occupation...

births had to be registered within one month.

My father, whose name was Ko...

went and registered me as Ko Tienlu.

But right after that...

my maternal grandfather went and registered me as Li Tienlu.

The police said, "You can't do that.

His father's last name is Ko, so his last name should also be Ko.

If you call him Li...

it's like writing a composition with the wrong title."

That made my grandfather real mad.

But, he thought, if he were to insist...

that would really create a feud.

The man who witnessed...

the original agreement...

that gave my father in marriage to my mother's family, came to help.

His name was Li Yinhok.

A real just man.

He advised my father...

not to make a big issue out of it.

He said, "Don't forget, it's you who's given up your family name in marriage.

At the time,your father-in-law made it very clear...

that your firstborn...

be it boy or girl, be given his family's name, Li.

After the first, no matter how many children you have...

you can name them Ko or anything you want."

So when I was born, they called me Li...

all because of the conditions of my father's marriage.

So that's how I was born.

"Moon sets, crows caw, the frosty sky...

Dim boat, lanterns through river mist, where melancholies lie...

Beyond Goso City walls from cold mountain temple...

To the traveler's boat, midnight bells sigh."

I thought you were a smart boy.

Why weren't you thinking when you did this?

You deserve to be beaten to death!

You have disgraced my good name.

- What happened? - What happened?

He stole some calligraphy manuals...

from Granduncle Songling's house.

Stole?

Yes.

They punished him right before me.

But he's usually a good boy.

I tell you, Granduncle Tikim's wife is responsible for this.

She told him to go to Songling's to get the books.

She told him to take over 100 of them.

How was he to know?

Would you kill yourself if someone told you to?

Sooner or later you'll get your fingers chopped off.

Did we raise you to be a thief?

Come here.

Come here.

Ahui.

Officer!

What a rare visit. Please have lunch with us!

- No, thank you. - Have a seat.

What's on your mind, Officer? What's up?

We're here to take a count of...

how many of you still wear pigtails.

We're here to tell you to cut them.

Cut our pigtails?

And then come to see the opera, as our guests.

I see.

Would you please ask everybody inside to come out?

Dang!

Liu!

Coming.

Gimto!

Mangdang!

Come over here.

- They'll be right here. - Fine.

What's up?

The officer wants us to cut off our pigtails.

You are...

Dang.

- Lien Pikdung? - Yes.

- Li Teallui? - That's me.

- Li Setsuan? - That's my brother.

What about Ho Gimto?

I don't think he's here.

And what about Ko Mangdang?

Mangdang!

What are you doing? Where is Li Tienlu?

That's him eating here.

These are tickets for the opera.

Are they enough?

Sure.

The officer is treating us to an opera in front of the temple.

Here is Ko Mandang.

Mandang.

What?

Get your pigtail cut off.

Where are you going?

I'll do it myself. Forget about the opera.

Piya is back from the hospital.

This time you were away so long.

- Yes. How are you? - You're back.

Tienlu, take this upstairs.

- Are you feeling better? - Much better.

Go upstairs and rest.

Do you want to lie down?

Come down later to eat.

I'll see you later.

To speak of living...

the hardest things are separation and death.

I was eight years old at the time.

My grandmother was gravely ill.

Her whole belly was swollen up.

My mother was very devoted to my grandmother.

She set up a special altar...

to pray to the heavens.

She asked the Gods to take her life in exchange for her mother's.

If you call it superstition, it's superstition.

But if you believe in it...

it will prove itself very swiftly.

After only one month...

my grandmother recovered...

but my mother fell ill.

She was taken to a Japanese doctor.

The diagnosis was bad news.

She had tuberculosis.

The doctor insisted that...

she had to stay in the hospital.

So, against her will, that's what she did.

She stayed for another two months, and was released...

on the 1 3th day of the 7th moon, two days before the Ghost Festival.

She was recovering slowly, and was hungry.

She discussed with my father, and they decided...

that since the Ghost Festival was coming, they would buy a duck.

This duck could be used as an altar offering.

Maybe this would help her appetite.

And so...

my father took me to the market to buy a duck.

We ate it on the evening of the Festival.

The next day, my mother had a serious relapse.

Through the night of the 1 6th...

until almost the break of dawn on the 1 7th--

that was when my mother died.

Come sit here.

- You must call her Auntie. - Auntie.

From now on, you must be good to Auntie.

Auntie will be good to you.

Come on, put on your new belt.

Tienlu, come on.

Take off your old belt. Put on the new.

- Say thank you to Auntie. - Thank you, Auntie.

Now it's Big Eyes' turn.

Big Eyes, take off your old belt and put on the new.

It is Chingming Festival, when we remember the dead.

The rain falls on the families who have come to clean the graves.

My name is...

Ko Hsien, also known as Hanmun.

My parents brought only my sister and I into the world, and unfortunately...

they died early.

Through sister's kindness, I now run a medicine shop.

Today is the Chingming Festival.

Having swept my ancestral graves...

I shall visit the famed West Lake on my way home.

Alas!

Dark clouds gather. A storm approaches.

Let me look for shelter.