High-Technology NFTs Support Traditional Taiwanese Art Form
2022-04-06
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1Taiwanese puppeteers are bringing their traditional art form into modern times by using non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
2An NFT can be attached to a piece of digital artwork.
3The NFT can be used to provide proof that the pieces are real.
4The prices of some NFTs rose so fast last year that buyers around the world sometimes re-sold them within days of purchase for a profit.
5Pili International Multimedia makes Taiwan's longest-running television show featuring the puppets.
6The company says it wants to use NFTs as another way to make money.
7Seika Huang is Pili's brand director.
8"The sort of imagination everyone nowadays has for the online world is developing so fast that we are almost unable to grasp it," Huang said.
9"Instead of sitting on the sidelines, the best approach is to go ahead and understand fully what's going on. This is the fastest way to catch up."
10Sitting on the sidelines is an expression that means to be inactive and watch as something happens.
11Pili has thousands of puppet characters, a traditional part of Taiwanese street entertainment culture.
12The puppets are carefully created, and expertly moved around during the filming of shows.
13The puppets wear colorful clothes.
14They are used to tell stories of courage and romance.
15Many of these stories involve the martial arts.
16Pili said four of their puppet characters were made into digital copies and 30,000 sets have been sold as NFTs.
17The company said prices for each set started at $40, creating at least $1.2 million in earnings since their listing in early February.
18The company did not say how much of that money was shared with the marketing company that supervises the selling of the NFTs.
19VeVe, the marketing company that sells the NFTs, said the stories of the puppet heroes are popular with young people.
20The company added that the NFTs could draw in foreign fans of superhero films, such as those based on characters from Marvel Comics.
21"Westerners actually really like our martial arts heroes and kung-fu," said VeVe's brand manager Raymond Chou.
22Kung-fu is a traditional Chinese form of self-defense, a marital art.
23Huang said their first listings had sold out seconds after launching on VeVe.
24The company is now working on turning up to 50 other puppet characters into NFTs, possibly providing millions of dollars for the studio.
25I'm John Russell.
1Taiwanese puppeteers are bringing their traditional art form into modern times by using non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. 2An NFT can be attached to a piece of digital artwork. The NFT can be used to provide proof that the pieces are real. 3The prices of some NFTs rose so fast last year that buyers around the world sometimes re-sold them within days of purchase for a profit. 4Pili International Multimedia makes Taiwan's longest-running television show featuring the puppets. The company says it wants to use NFTs as another way to make money. 5Seika Huang is Pili's brand director. 6"The sort of imagination everyone nowadays has for the online world is developing so fast that we are almost unable to grasp it," Huang said. 7"Instead of sitting on the sidelines, the best approach is to go ahead and understand fully what's going on. This is the fastest way to catch up." 8Sitting on the sidelines is an expression that means to be inactive and watch as something happens. 9Pili has thousands of puppet characters, a traditional part of Taiwanese street entertainment culture. 10The puppets are carefully created, and expertly moved around during the filming of shows. The puppets wear colorful clothes. They are used to tell stories of courage and romance. Many of these stories involve the martial arts. 11Pili said four of their puppet characters were made into digital copies and 30,000 sets have been sold as NFTs. 12The company said prices for each set started at $40, creating at least $1.2 million in earnings since their listing in early February. The company did not say how much of that money was shared with the marketing company that supervises the selling of the NFTs. 13VeVe, the marketing company that sells the NFTs, said the stories of the puppet heroes are popular with young people. The company added that the NFTs could draw in foreign fans of superhero films, such as those based on characters from Marvel Comics. 14"Westerners actually really like our martial arts heroes and kung-fu," said VeVe's brand manager Raymond Chou. 15Kung-fu is a traditional Chinese form of self-defense, a marital art. 16Huang said their first listings had sold out seconds after launching on VeVe. The company is now working on turning up to 50 other puppet characters into NFTs, possibly providing millions of dollars for the studio. 17I'm John Russell. 18Ann Wang reported this story for Reuters. John Russel adapted it for VOA Learning English. 19_______________________________________________________________ 20Words in This Story 21puppeteer - n. : one who manipulates puppets - a small-scale figure (as of a person or animal) usually with a cloth body and hollow head that fits over and is moved by the hand or strings 22grasp -v. to understand (something that is complicated or difficult) 23approach - n. : a particular manner of taking such steps 24character - n. one of the persons of a book, play, or movie 25courage -n. the ability to do something that you know is difficult or dangerous