The origin of Electric-Techno Neon Gods
▲Some said the trend of Electric-Techno Neon Gods began from Chiayi Puzih Prince Assembly, some said from Beigang Prince Assembly.
(Source：PChome Beigang Prince Assembly- “Beigang Prince Assembly” is getting famous）
Electric-Techno Neon Gods is the combination of Third Prince Holy General of Din Tao in traditional temple fair with electronic music and pop dance. Some Electric-Techno Neon Gods even wear sun glasses, gloves, or put pacifiers in their mouths. To compare with the traditional one’s Seven Star Footwork, Electric-Techno Neon Gods offer delighter and more vivacious impression, which is a sub-cultural performance combined with tradition and innovation, and became popular rapidly in recent years. There are usually three Holy Generals in the performance; they are also Li Jing’s three sons, JinZha, Muzha, and Na Zha.
About the origin of Third Prince, there are two versions, one is that in Third Prince folk art group called “Puzih Prince Assembly” from Chiayi Puzih, a member from college, Hou Zhi-Yong, who loves Free Style dance, had danced with electronic music when group practice finished. The group leader and the other members thought this genre of performance is quite good and innovative, therefore, they decided to develop their group in this way. Besides, the embroidery armor Third Prince wearing is closely related to the embroidery industry in Puzih, the electronic dance steps of Puzih Prince Assembly not only rise up the ideology of Folk Art Parade, but also rise up local industry; both of them are complementary to each other.
The other version is that the leader of Beigang Prince Assembly, You Zhong-Bin , has changed the Holy General culture to the pop dance and participated yearly Mazu (goddess) parade since decades. At that time, Beigang Prince Assembly acquired high popularity because of A Ya’s Shaved Ice Dance, and became the top issue at that year. The Electric-Techno Neon Gods performances we see now have mixed with Healthy Dance, Wu Bai’s Taiwan Dance, and electronic music.
(Reference：Slideshare thesis Taiwan folk belief)