楊金祿

The Bittersweet Life of Top King

Yang, Chin-Lu

The literature regarding Top can be traced back to Song Dynasty of China. According to the information from Meihua Top Museum at Daxi, a Top is called "Kan Lok" in Minnan Language. The traditional shape of a Top is close to an inverted bell (or an inverted cone), made of wood or iron. A modern Top today comes in various shapes and materials.

Yang, Chin-Lu lived in the mountains in his childhood, when his father made Tops for him to play. It was also the moment when his fate was tied to Top. It was even to Yang's surprise that he becomes the only Top maker in Daxi later on. Around 1979, Fu Ren Temple of Daxi began to throw Top Festival. It was not until 1981 that Yang began to participate in the contest. Nevertheless, he failed to pick up the trick to play huge Top at the time. Later, he figured out the mean to use the rope, and successfully created a huge Top weighed 73.2 kg in 1983. In the same year, Yang, Chin-Lu performed on the Double Tenth Day (the National Day) at the Top Festival in front of the Office of President. Ever since then, he started to promote Top-playing techniques in schools in various levels.

To date, Yang, Chin-Lu at the age of 80 can still play Top weighed 48 kg at ease. Hearing that media at home and abroad coming to cover his story, Yang laughed and said "I don't know why they're interviewing me, either. All I know is that I feel happy playing Top."

根據大溪美華陀螺博物館的文獻資料指出，陀螺，一作陀羅，閩南語稱作「干樂」，傳統陀螺的形狀大致為倒鐘體（倒圓錐），原料為木或鐵製，到現今已有各式各樣的材質與形狀出現。有關陀螺的文獻目前可追溯到宋朝，據《武林舊事》等古籍記載，當時有一種類似陀螺的玩具名喚「千千」（或稱千千車），是一個中心軸（鐵製）長約一寸的圓盤形（直徑約四寸）物體，用手捻在盤中旋轉，比賽誰轉得久，這是當時深宮後院的嬪妃宮女，百無聊賴，用以打發寂寥時光的遊戲之一。

陀螺發揚之地–大溪

大溪究竟何時跟陀螺結下不解之緣呢？據陀螺博物館追溯研究發現，在民國57年，大溪鎮雕石師傅簡武雄，基於「小孩打小干樂，大人打大干樂」的想法，於是以打石的鑿子為軸尖，首創五斤重的陀螺獨特打法，漸漸在大溪這個地方，不論長幼都愛上打陀螺，一時蔚為風氣，「一代陀螺王俱樂部」也應時而生，大溪老街的福仁宮廣場，則成了練習與表演的最佳場所，從五斤到五十斤的陀螺，愈做愈大，甚至後來到了上百斤之譜。