Paper Windmill Theater: The Don Quixote That Set Taiwan’s Dreams in Motion, an Artistic Long March Spanning Three Decades

30-second overview: Paper Windmill Theater is not merely a performing arts troupe, but a civic experiment in “goodness and passion.” Founded in 1992 by Lee Yong-feng, Ko I-chen, Lo Pei-an, Wu Jing-ji, and Hsu Li-kong, its name symbolizes the spirit of “actively pursuing dreams.” Through its original model of private-sector sponsorship, the troupe traveled across all 368 townships and districts in Taiwan, bringing works that combine glove puppetry, folk arts, and modern theater to rural and underserved communities. Even after the 2020 Bali fire and the low point of more than NT$100 million in debt, founder Lee Yong-feng persisted through depression in his belief that “Taiwan needs Taiwanese children’s theater.” He led the troupe through rebirth, using the giant Rain Horse and local stories to weave Taiwan’s collective memory, so that every child in Taiwan could have an equal right to encounter art.

In November 1992, on a winter night in Taipei, several young writers and artists gathered to weave a wild dream. Among them were Lee Yong-feng, newly emerged from Greenray Theatre, as well as film producer Hsu Li-kong, director Ko I-chen, writer-director Lo Pei-an, and scholar Wu Jing-ji [1] [10]. This group wanted to do something different for Taiwan: create children’s theater that belonged to Taiwan’s children. They named the troupe “Paper Windmill,” a name with an exceptionally simple meaning: a paper windmill symbolizes children’s dreams; even if it is as ordinary as paper, it can turn with the wind, and if there is no wind, it can run on its own to create wind [1] [6]. This grassroots resilience of “moving when there is wind, and making its own wind when there is none” became the core spirit with which the troupe would face countless storms over the next thirty years.

Founding Background: A Theatrical Reverie from Greenray and the Promise of the “First Mile”

When Paper Windmill was first founded, Taiwan’s performing arts environment was still in a phase of “encouraging people to buy tickets and enter the theater,” with extremely limited funding and audiences. Lee Yong-feng and the early members mostly had professional theater backgrounds, yet they chose to devote themselves to children’s theater, a field then seen as peripheral [10]. They were dissatisfied with children’s theater as mere moral instruction and instead hoped, through professional production, to let children encounter aesthetics through laughter. This commitment allowed Paper Windmill to top the box office at the National Theater and Concert Hall for many consecutive years in the decade-plus after its founding, but it also kept founder Lee Yong-feng asking himself: must art serve only urban children who can afford tickets? [1] [11]

Lee Yong-feng was one of the founding members of Greenray Theatre and had worked for years in the theater world with Ko I-chen, Lo Pei-an, and others. In 1992, he gathered this group of like-minded arts workers to establish the “Paper Windmill Theatre Workshop” as a performing arts administrative center, while also founding “Paper Windmill Theater,” with himself as troupe director and chief writer-director, focusing on original children’s drama from Taiwan [1]. In 1998, the Paper Windmill Cultural and Educational Foundation was formally established to integrate more resources, cultivate theater talent and audiences, and build the artistic “first mile” for Taiwan’s children.

An Artistic Long March: The 319 and 368 “Adoption” Revolution and the Echo of Local Stories

In 2006, Lee Yong-feng launched the “319 Rural Children’s Art Project,” which shook Taiwan’s arts and culture world. The project’s most distinctive feature was its fundraising model: an “one township, one enterprise; one township, one group of people” adoption model [1] [11]. As long as a township could raise approximately NT$350,000 to NT$450,000 in donations, Paper Windmill would drive in with a large truck and bring a stage built to National Theater standards to a local elementary school playground or temple square [11].

📝 Curator’s note: This was not merely fundraising, but a form of hometown redemption. Lee Yong-feng once shared that when many entrepreneurs who had left their hometowns returned to rural communities to watch a performance, sitting below the stage were childhood friends and neighbors. That night’s stage reconnected fractured memories of the land and allowed them to form an emotional bond with home once again [1].

In 2011, after completing the first round of touring across 319 townships, Paper Windmill did not stop. In 2013, the project transformed into the “368 Townships and Districts Children’s Art Project,” reaching more deeply into every administrative district of the cities and adding “local stories” tailored to each county and city [11]. These stories helped children realize that heroes are not far away, but in their own hometowns:

Yilan: Staging the myth of “Princess Kavalan and General Turtle,” presenting the connection between the Lanyang Plain and Guishan Island [16].
Tainan: Telling the story of the dedication of Dr. Wang King-ho, the “father of blackfoot disease,” highlighting humanitarian concern [1].
Pingtung: Paying tribute to Taiwanese musician Tyzen Hsiao and conveying love for the land through the form of musical theater [1].

Objects and Symbols: From Wu Ding’s Treasure Chest to the Giant Rain Horse

Paper Windmill’s works have a strongly Taiwanese style. The troupe excels at weaving traditional elements into modern theater, creating distinctive visual and emotional experiences:

Wu Ding: This figure, who calls himself “the most experienced witch in all Taiwan,” is a shared memory for countless Taiwanese children. His classic phrase, “movement and sound,” can instantly narrow the distance between stage and audience, leading viewers into a magical theatrical world [1].
Rain Horse: This giant art installation, 10 meters long and weighing 7 metric tons, is Paper Windmill’s most representative “object” in recent years. Adapted from the picture book of the same name by Ono, its blue horse body is inlaid with Hakka indigo dyeing and patterns, symbolizing cross-ethnic integration and love. Its production combines large-scale art installation, Hakka music, fire dance, stunts, and theatrical lighting effects. The stage breaks through the traditional proscenium structure and can move flexibly among the audience, giving viewers a markedly different theatergoing experience [12] [17].
Cultural fusion: Paper Windmill incorporates Taiwanese local elements such as glove puppetry, folk arts, temple festival culture, and traditional opera into modern children’s theater. For example, Nezha Stirs Up the Dragon Palace combines traditional glove puppetry; Wu Song Fights the Tiger incorporates folk arts and the “luo-ti-sao” floor-show style of Taiwanese cabaret; and The Legend of the White Snake is presented in the form of lanterns [1] [10]. The troupe brings traditional culture back to life in children’s theater, making it a bridge through which children can understand their own culture.
A diverse body of work: In addition to the above works, Paper Windmill has also created many widely loved classics, including the “Chinese Zodiac Series” (such as Wu Song Fights the Tiger, Nezha Stirs Up the Dragon Palace, and Chicken City Story) and the “Witch Series” (such as Wu Ding Around the World, Paper Windmill Fantasy, and Taiwan Fantasy) [1]. These works are not only part of many Taiwanese children’s memories of growing up, but also demonstrate the troupe’s inexhaustible creative energy.

Rebirth from Fire: A Don Quixote Dancing Through Depression and Debt

Yet this artistic long march by a group of Don Quixotes was far from smooth. Founder Lee Yong-feng once fell deep into depression and the pressure of debts exceeding NT$100 million [13]. He once mocked himself: “He is someone who works hard to make children happy, yet he is trapped in a depressed midlife crisis” [14]. In June 2020, a merciless fire destroyed more than twenty years of props and labor at the Bali workshop, including props and costumes for classic productions such as Don Quixote and Paper Windmill Fantasy [7] [9]. The COVID-19 pandemic that followed brought all in-person performances to a halt, leaving the troupe facing an unprecedented survival crisis [11].

“Paper Windmill belongs to everyone; it cannot fall!” This slogan rang out across Taiwan after the fire. At the most difficult moment, more than 170,000 small donations poured in, allowing Paper Windmill to rise from the ashes within just half a year, remake its props, and return once again to children [11]. Lee Yong-feng said, “Rather than worry, let’s take action!” [15] This passion regardless of cost has allowed Paper Windmill not only to tour within Taiwan, but also to perform in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Hungary, and elsewhere, showing the world the vitality of original Taiwanese children’s theater [1] [11].

The role of the Paper Windmill Cultural and Educational Foundation has long since gone beyond that of a simple theater troupe. The many projects it has promoted are deeply rooted in Taiwanese society and have become an important cultural force:

Youth Anti-Drug Theater Project: Traveling to more than 82% of junior high schools nationwide, it uses the play Saving Faust to build a campus anti-drug line of defense, allowing students to absorb anti-drug ideas subtly through joyful performance [11].
Taiwan Rural Truck Art Project: In cooperation with enterprises, trucks are transformed into mobile stages, bringing various arts groups into even smaller villages, realizing true art equity and integrating art and culture into everyday life [1].
International exchange: Paper Windmill has performed in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Hungary, and elsewhere, introducing Taiwanese culture to overseas audiences and increasing Taiwan’s visibility in the international arts and culture world [1] [11].
Talent cultivation: Over 32 years, it has cultivated more than a thousand professional theater workers, becoming an important cradle for Taiwan’s performing arts sector and continuously injecting fresh vitality into Taiwanese theater [1].
Changing the ecology of children’s theater: Paper Windmill changed the situation in which children’s theater was performed only in cities, cultivated large numbers of young audiences, raised social attention to children’s arts education, and became one of Taiwan’s most representative children’s theater troupes [1] [2].

📝 Curator’s note: Lee Yong-feng is often called “Lee America.” His grassroots yet forceful drive has changed the ecology of children’s theater in Taiwan. He helped society see that children’s art is not a luxury good, but the foundation of civic education and the psychological resilience with which Taiwan’s children face the challenges of the future world [1].

What keeps Paper Windmill turning is not only wind, but also the goodness with which people across Taiwan jointly protect children’s smiles. As Lee Yong-feng said when completing the 319 tour: “This is a memory written together by more than 30,000 donors, NT$210 million in donations, 290,000 kilometers traveled, and nearly 800,000 audience members” [1]. This artistic long march continues to move forward with the wind in every corner of Taiwan, still setting the dreams of Taiwan’s children in motion.

References

Paper Windmill Theater: The Don Quixote That Set Taiwan’s Dreams in Motion, an Artistic Long March Spanning Three Decades

Founding Background: A Theatrical Reverie from Greenray and the Promise of the “First Mile”

An Artistic Long March: The 319 and 368 “Adoption” Revolution and the Echo of Local Stories

Objects and Symbols: From Wu Ding’s Treasure Chest to the Giant Rain Horse

Rebirth from Fire: A Don Quixote Dancing Through Depression and Debt

References

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Paper Windmill Theater: The Don Quixote That Set Taiwan’s Dreams in Motion, an Artistic Long March Spanning Three Decades

Founding Background: A Theatrical Reverie from Greenray and the Promise of the “First Mile”

An Artistic Long March: The 319 and 368 “Adoption” Revolution and the Echo of Local Stories

Objects and Symbols: From Wu Ding’s Treasure Chest to the Giant Rain Horse

Rebirth from Fire: A Don Quixote Dancing Through Depression and Debt

Social Impact: Weaving Taiwan’s Psychological Resilience and Cultural Equity

References

You might also like

Taiwan Theater and Performing Arts

Chao Tzu-chiang: The Undefeated Soul Behind the Grandma's Apron

Taiwan Paper Umbrellas: From Rain Gear to Art, Holding Up a Century of Hakka Cultural Splendor

Vanished Amusement Parks: From the “First Park” to Ghost Legends, the Childhoods Confiscated by Urban Planning

More aspects of Taiwan