Taiwan's traditional Hakka opera, usually performed at religious festivals, dates back to the late Qing Dynasty and was brought to the island by migrants from mainland China
Members of the Jing Sheng Opera onstage during the first day of the Hakka Festival at the Yimin temple in Taoyuan
Image: Sam Yeh / AFP©
Dressed in a robe fringed with beaded tassels, traditional Taiwanese opera singer Jen Chieh-li applies the final touches to her heavily painted face as she prepares to take the stage.
The 34-year-old is a member of Jing Sheng Opera, one of a handful of troupes in Taiwan still staging traditional dramas in the Hakka language -- a dialect that is not widely spoken on the island because of its dwindling ethnic population.
Taiwan's traditional Hakka opera, usually performed at religious festivals, dates back to the late Qing Dynasty and was brought to the island by migrants from mainland China.
Even as its popularity dwindles, Jen, who has trained at a drama school since the age of 12, said she would not give up the fading art.
"I could find a regular job but it would be a waste of all the time and effort I have devoted to studying and performing Hakka opera," she told AFP.