Echoes of Taiwan III: The Story of Taiwanese Men (1997) Actress Li Xiu gives actor Wu Wencheng a towel bath, symbolizing the relationships between Taiwanese men and women during that era. The little boy in the bamboo-leaf field hat sitting behind them on the right and cowering in a dark corner represents a boy's childhood in the face of an uncertain future. (photo by Liu Zhenxiang)

During an international art festi-val performance in March of 1998, Wu Wencheng, an old Taiwanese man, performed The Story of Taiwanese Men, imitating a Taiwanese man cleaning himself with a wet towel. From taking off a bamboo-leaf field hat, to wetting the towel with water from a showerhead, to wringing it out, he didn't speak a word, and no explanatory text was projected on screen. Yet those five minutes of silent performance brought the crowd to tears. Afterwards, Greeks, Germans, Dutchmen and Englishmen hugged him and blubbered: "You did it just like my father!"

Not a professional actor, Wu simply demonstrates with great passion what he has experienced in life. He is a member of a group of older Taiwanese who, though lacking backgrounds in dramatic arts, now perform interpretations of their own life experiences. Some have proven so determined as to continue even after contracting cancer, performing through their chemotherapy to the very end of their lives. They are members of the Uhan Shii Theater Group, Asia's only theater company that is devoted to performing stories drawn from oral history and composed entirely of amateurs who are over 60 years of age.

The driving force behind the Uhan Shii Theater Group is its director Peng Yaling.