TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A 21-gun salute, a marching band, a national choir, a giant rainbow horse shooting steam with dancers atop it - Taiwan’s presidential inauguration had much to offer.
Yuma (雨馬), meaning Rain Horse in Chinese, rode in to steal the show on Monday morning (May 20) after Lai Ching-te (賴清德) was sworn in as Taiwan’s new president. In celebrations designed to reflect Taiwan’s multicultural society, the four-story tall blue and rainbow horse highlighted the culture of the nation’s Hakka people.
Paper Windmill Theatre director Jen Chien-cheng (任建誠) told Taiwan News the horse performed in a piece of musical theater to share Hakka language and traditions of Taiwanese kids. The design of the horse is taken from a 1991 children’s book of the same name published by Hakka Taiwanese author Hsiao Yeh (小野) and is painted with traditional Hakka floral designs.
The horse's rainbow mane and tail represent encouragement, Jen said. “We hope that when kids experience hard times, they can bravely face the challenges, and are like the rainbow after rain: gentle and also strong.”
Jen said the theater decided to build the horse during the pandemic to express hope that the children of Taiwan and the world could return to a normal life, and to bring them happiness through the horse’s blessings.
The horse is about 10 meters tall, 12 meters long, and weighs seven tons. Jen said the "bones” of the horse are made of pipe steel, weighed down with extra weights at its feet to keep it from blowing over.
Yuma moves on wheels, but is unpowered - it required a 16-person team to maneuver the horse at the inauguration. More operators worked the horse-actuated head and tail from inside the structure, while others controlled the steam that shot out from beneath the horse from a control panel below.
Jen said Yuma has also performed in New Taipei, Taoyuan, and Miaoli, the latter of which is a population center for Hakka people in Taiwan.
The Hakka are a Han Chinese subgroup with populations throughout Taiwan and the world. They are the second largest ethnic group in Taiwan, after the Fujianese Hoklo people.
