Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide

Know your gods: Shennong

2012-01-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

Shennong (神農) is worshiped in many temples, but in few is he the principal deity. Myth has it that he was one of China’s earliest emperors, living from 2737BC to 2698BC, and that he invented the plough and showed people how to farm. He’s also said to have been a pioneer of traditional Chinese healing, trying out on himself hundreds of herbs to ascertain their medicinal value. The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic (神農本草經), which describes 365 medicines, is attributed to Shennong even though it didn’t appear until two millenia later.

In some depictions, Shennong is shown as wearing clothes made of leafs or as a buffalo-horned semi-human. In Chinese farming communities, water buffalo were treated with special respect because they provided muscle and manure. Because of this, even now perhaps one in ten Taiwanese families don't eat beef.

The photo here was taken in Taichung's Wanhe Temple.

Kind words from a Taiwanese reader

2011-12-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

It's always nice to get feedback from readers. The majority of responses have been from Western or Singaporean tourists who used my book while travelling around Taiwan, but here's what one Taiwanese reader told me in an email to Bradt:

Thank you for your lovely introduction of my beloved land--Taiwan!
I am a surgeon from Taiwan and studying for a PhD in London now.
I found this book in a secondhand bookstore yesterday and decided to keep it. I have had a wonderful reading time on Saturday evening.
The history part is amazing! I never learned a lot of Taiwan history when I was in school.
I like your way to describe Taiwan—very sensitive but neutral.
This is the best travel book I have ever read about Taiwan.

-- Anne Yeh

Taiwan for Culture Vultures

2011-12-18T23:47:00.001-08:00

Taiwan for Culture Vultures, my new downloadable travel guide published by Guidegecko, is aimed at visitors intrigued by Taiwan's fascinating blend of cutting-edge modernity and centuries-old tradition. Available for iPhones and iPads, it's priced at US$2.99. If you already have my Bradt guide, you'll find this app complements, updates and expands on the book's contents.

Electronic platforms have several advantages over traditional printed guidebooks. They're cheaper because there are no printing or distribution costs; they're lighter to carry and can be updated and corrected. As a writer, I've appreciated being able to avoid repetition. Instead of having to explain who a particular person (or deity or ethnic group) is each time there's a mention, I simply link to a background article, like the one on major gods, or brief histories of Taiwan's historic towns.

The guide features 95 places of interest, each entry averaging 250 to 300 words and accompanied by one to four photos. Taiwan-based professionals Craig Ferguson and Rich Matheson contributed many of the images. The app cover icon shown here was taken by Matheson.

Among them are museums, temples, churches, parks, and other landmarks. Taiwan's key cultural and architectural attractions - such as the National Palace Museum, Taipei 101 and Tainan's Confucius Temples - are featured, as are many lesser-known but just as fascinating attractions. At Ten Drum Culture Village, for instance, visitors can enjoy performances that are modern yet draw heavily on folk traditions, and which have won international acclaim.

Of the 95 sights, 31 aren't mentioned at all in my Bradt guidebook. In some cases, like Houtong Coal-Mine Ecological Park, they opened too late to be included. For many others, it was simply a matter of space; this is why the Zheng Family Shrine didn't appear in the book. I researched the app by combing both English- and Chinese-language sources, in addition, of course, to visiting each spot at least once. Many of the details I've included don't appear in any of the major English-language guidebooks to Taiwan.

There's plenty for those who want to learn about and appreciate traditional arts and crafts. If they want a more outdoorsy experience, they can head to the Old Mountain Railway Line. Those with environmental interests will enjoy the new Magic School of Green Technology. All in all, I think the app has a really good mix.

Buddha Washing Day

2011-12-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

Last week I drove to Foguangshan to see the new Buddha Memorial Center, which opens to the public on December 25. It also happened to be the one day each year when the 14,800 Buddha icons in the Main Shrine are removed, cleaned by volunteers (above) and then put back in their sconces (below).

Books: Taiwan From the Eyes of a Foreigner

2011-12-09T15:55:00.001-08:00

Nick Kembel, a Canadian who's been living in Taiwan since 2008, has produced an interesting and beautifully-illustrated book. Kembel's blend of history, travelog and personal observations is aimed at both Taiwanese people who'd like to know what Westerners think of their country and Western people curious about the island's culture. The text is in both English and Chinese; the two versions run side by side, which is very useful if you're reading one and want to refer to the other to find a place or person's name in its original language.

As someone who's read a lot of Taiwan's history (and been here much longer than Kembel), I expected to find a few odd interpretations of the past in a book written by a relative newcomer. But Kembel has clearly done his homework, and comes across as very fair-minded. As a result, this is a book I'd confidently recommend to anyone thinking of relocating to Taiwan. The 100-odd photos deserve a special mention. They're very good (if a little small), and show not only conventional tourist attractions like temple parades and aboriginal dancers, but also prosaic scenes such as crowds of commuters and parking lots packed with bicycles.

Taiwan from the Eyes of a Foreigner is published by Tsai's Idea, is available throughout Taiwan and costs NT$366.

Fresh Facts V: The decline of farming

2011-12-05T00:44:00.000-08:00

According to Taiwan: A New History, edited by Murray A. Rubinstein:

"The number of farm households fell from 51% in 1953 to less than 20% in 1990 as agriculture's share of the net domestic product decreased from 34% to only 4% [it's now something like 1.7%]. The dispersal of industry into Taiwan's villages has been a critical factor in this transition, at once raising farm household income... also making it possible for farmers to retain their residence in the countryside."

Nowadays many of Taiwan's small villages are dominated by elderly people, almost everyone aged 18 to 45 having moved away to study or work. Few Taiwanese, it seems, like living in a village and commuting to work. If anything, the reverse is more common. A great many people live in cities (because the schools are better, they say) even if they work in fairly rural places. South Taiwan Science-based Industrial Park in Tainan is a good example: Most of the engineers who work there live in downtown Tainan, not in nearby towns where housing is cheaper.

A new museum

2011-11-16T02:06:00.000-08:00

The National Museum of Taiwan History opened in late October. You'll be able to judge from its name whether or not it's the kind of place that will interest you. I found it very good, and said so in this article.

Fresh Facts IV: Mudskippers

2011-11-03T19:52:00.001-07:00

Mudskippers are fairly widespread along Taiwan's west coast, and two species can be found.

According to this scholarly paper: "Mudskippers are air-breathing, amphibious fishes, and one of few vertebrates that reside on [intertidal] mudflats," and that such places, "are highly productive ecosystems that impose severe environmental challenges on their occupants due to tidal oscillations and extreme shifts in habitat conditions. Reproduction on mudflats requires protection of developing eggs from thermal and salinity extremes, oxygen shortage, dislodgement by currents, siltation and predation."

Pictured here (photo from a Chinese-language Wikipedia page) is the smaller and more common of Taiwan's two mudskipper species, Periophthalmus cantonensis. This creature, which sometimes appears on restaurant menus, has a particular liking for mangrove swamps like those at Bali, New Taipei City. The other, Boleophthalmus pectinirostris, has a green-brown mottled appearance and grows up to 15cm long. It's a territorial species that's now endangered in Japan.

Books: Song of Orchid Island

2011-10-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

Like the author's Chingchuan Story, Song of Orchid Island is an engaging first-person account of life and missionary work alongside indigenous people. Not published in English until 2006 (two decades after the Chinese-language version was a local bestseller), it was in fact written back in the early 1970s, just after Martinson had spent a year on Orchid Island (also known as Lanyu, 蘭嶼).

The island has changed a great deal since then. Martinson describes serious poverty and widespread, though never fatal, malnutrition. Age-old traditions were still observed, for example the requirement that fathers change their names to match their eldest sons':

"The man's name was Jayud. The son's name was also Jayud. The reason their names were the same was not because the boy had been named after his father, but because the father had been named after his son. Jayud explained that when a couple had their first child, the father changed his name to that given the child."

In one memorable episode, Martinson leads his students on a walk to another village many of them had never visited.

"At least two dozen of the mothers and fathers were going with us. The men wore armor and carried spears to protect their children from the spirits."

The book's 55 black-and-white photos, all taken by Martinson, are excellent. To buy this book, directly contact the publisher, Tau Books, or visit the specialist website BooksFromTaiwan.com.

Taiwan Wine Cellar

2011-10-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Recently I dropped by the Taiwan Wine Cellar (go here for address, a map and other details), a shop in central Taiwan that sells locally-produced wines and spirits. Opened in 2008 by Erlin Township Farmers' Association, it has an impressive range of alcoholic drinks, including liquors made from passion fruit and pineapples. Connoisseurs of good European or New World wines are unlikely to find anything to anything pleasing to their taste buds, but if you're looking for liquid souvenirs of your time in Taiwan, this shop is a good bet.

Changhua County's Erlin Township (彰化縣二林鎮) is said to have the highest concentration of wineries in Taiwan; the staff at the Cellar told me there are 19 legal wineries in the area, a legacy of grape-growing on a large scale for sale to the government's Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau. When Taiwan joined the WTO in 2002, the monopoly was abolished and the bureau converted into a state-run enterprise, TTL. Because TTL now sources its grapes from elsewhere, Erlin's grape farmers have began making their own wine.

There are wine producers elsewhere in Taiwan. One I've visited - and whose products I liked - is CJ Wine Village (藏酒休閒農場) in Yilan County.

Free and discounted admission to the National Palace Museum

2011-09-20T23:40:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years, several of Taiwan's museums, among them the Gold Ecological Park and Fort San Domingo, have scrapped admission charges. Visitors wanting to see the National Palace Museum's (NPM) unbeatable collection of Chinese antiques and art works still need to pay for admission. In fact, the normal ticket price has in the past decade risen faster than the rate of inflation, from NT$100 per person in 2001 to NT$160 now. However, there's good news fortourists: The museum recently adjusted its admissions policy in order to better manage the throngs of sightseers it receives.

Visitor numbers grew from 2.24 million in 2008 to 3.44 million last year, according to the museum's annual reports (click here to read the 2010 report). In a bid to encourage more people to visit during off-peak times, since the summer the museum has been offering half-price tickets to those entering between 4:30pm and 6:30pm.

Individuals who arrive in this period thus pay NT$80 each, while members of groups pay NT$50 per person. Students pay NT$40. Also, those who arrive in this period also qualify for discounts if that they dine in the museum's restaurant that evening.

The NPM extended its opening hours last year. It now opens its doors at 8:30 every morning, half an hour earlier than it used to. It stays open until 6:30 in the evening every day except Saturday, when it closes at 8:30pm.

Peak morning and afternoon times have been divided into four one-and-a-half hour slots, with no more than 2,800 people – independent visitors as well as members of tour groups – being allowed to enter in each period.

The 2010 report contains some interesting figures. To help meet running costs, which in 2010 totaled NT$1.015 billion, the NPM raises considerable sums from individual and corporate sponsors. In each of the past few years, around 100 people have paid NT$1,000 each to become Annual Friends of the NPM, and each year a dozen or two individuals donate NT$10,000 to become Lifetime Friends.

Corporate sponsorship amounted to NT$44.3m in 2010, up from NT$42.2m the previous year. The single largest donor was Phoenix TV, a Hong Kong-based Chinese-language broadcaster, which gave NT$25m in 2010 and NT$15m in 2009. Corporate supporters have also donated goods such as audio-visual equipment and services such as insurance for loaned artifacts.

The museum has developed other income streams that further reduce its dependence on ticket sales and government subsidies. In 2010, it sold NT$97.5m worth of publications. In the same year, companies authorized to make NPM-branded products sold NT$320.3m worth of wine, tableware, replica paintings and other items.

The southeastern coastline

2011-09-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

A favourite spot of mine a few kilometers south of Xuhai on the southeast coast, very close to the boundary between Taitung and Pingtung counties.

Fresh facts III: Taiwan's Insects

2011-09-06T23:19:00.001-07:00

Two things I learned in Taipei Zoo's very enjoyable Insectarium:

Relative to its land area, Taiwan has twice as many butterfly species as the Philippines, 17 times as many as Japan, and fifty times as many as the Chinese mainland.

Eighteen of the ROC's insect species are protected by conservation laws, including the Troides magellanus butterfly and Coptolabrus nankotaizanus, a ground beetle.

2011-08-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

The problem with romanisation, whatever version is used, is that the results sometimes resemble English words with negative connotations. As far as I know, the inhabitants of this village, which is in the northernmost part of Tainan, are hardworking and honest.

The village's name, by the way, is pronounced something like HO BOR. The sign would, of course, look better if 'village' had been spelled correctly.

Religious parade

2011-08-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

The celebrations a while back marking the renovation and reopening of Guangxing Temple (廣興廟) were the largest I've ever seen. This major shrine, which is dedicated to Shennong, is located in Tainan's Yongkang District (永康區).

We were invited along because it's the "mother temple" of the Shennong shrine in my wife's home village, about 15km further inland. A team from the village carried their temple's icon and banner (on the left) through the neighborhood before finally arriving at the temple.

Considering they'd been up all night - marching from one supporter's house to another's, collecting donations at each stop - the team from my wife's village (below in orange shirts and yellow baseball caps) looked remarkably fresh.

The various teams from the "daughter temples" had to wait their turn before moving in front of the "mother temple," where they performed in honor of the deity. Some had to wait well over an hour, but for photographers this was an excellent opportunity to get portraits of the pilgrims and members of the many different zhentou troupes, which included musicians, dancers, stilt-walkers and Ba Jia Jiang.

Birding in my backyard

2011-08-05T05:36:00.000-07:00

Tainan has world-class winter birdwatching at Sicao, now part of Taijiang National Park. It being the height of summer, it makes sense to look inland, so recently I spent two mornings birding in the foothills just east of my home in Xinhua (新化區), accompanied by a man who knows much more about avians than I do - Richard Foster of Barking Deer Adventures.

According to Richard, we spotted at least 18 species, including: White-rumped Munia; Black-naped Monarch; Black Drongo; Chinese Bulbul; Taiwan Barbet; Eastern Cattle Egret; Black-crowned Night Heron; Little and Intermediate egrets; Kingfisher; Taiwan Bamboo Partridge; Common Moorhen; and Eurasian Tree Sparrow. Also seen was a Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker or something very similar, and various swifts and swallows.

Thanks also to Richard for letting me know about this excellent birding report (ADD LINK).

Little drummer boys

2011-08-02T01:37:00.000-07:00

Religious rituals in Taiwan are invariably accompanied by drums, bells, gongs, trumpet-like instruments and firecrackers. Some of the musicians are professionals but many are amateurs. A few, like these two boys I watched drum at Shoutian Temple a few months back.

Hsieh Shih, founder of Ten Drum Art Percussion Group, started drumming at the age of three, taking part in rites at the Taoist temple his father owned. I wonder how far these two youngsters will take their interest in drumming...

Two more reviews of the guidebook

2011-07-18T02:05:00.000-07:00

Reviews of the book have just come out in two very different media. One is in Taiwan Business Topics, the monthly print and online magazine of the American Chamber of Commerce (disclosure: I often write for this magazine); the other appears in The View from Taiwan, one of Taiwan's most prominent English-language blogs (disclosure: the blogger, Michael Turton, is a friend of mine).

Gods and their property portfolios

2011-06-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

Monday's Taipei Times reports that around 2,300 plots of land around Taiwan totalling more than 200 hectares are owned by deities. Although the law specifies that land can only be owned by legal persons (such as humans, corporations or foundations), it seems many plots belong, on paper at least, to deities including Mazu, Guanyin (which the article refers to Avalokitesvara) and local land gods.

Fresh facts II: Taiwan's beaches

2011-06-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Pingtung, we dropped into the Shell Beach Exhibition Hall (砂島貝殼砂展示館) and I learned the following:

The sandy beaches and mudflats on the west coast were created by shale washed down rivers from the Central Mountain Range; many are quite grey. However, most of the beaches in the south (including those on Little Liuqiu) are crushed coral or shell beaches. North Taiwan's beaches are generally quartz sand, while the east coast is rocky, the boulders being metamorphic material washed down from the Coastal Range.

Shadao Beach, pictured above, is next to the hall. It's a nature preserve and the public can look, but not set foot on it.

Banqiao's Lin Family Gardens

2011-04-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, before proceeding to the second and final day of the 1st Taiwan Book Fest, I managed to tick off another place I've wanted to visit for years. The Lin Family Garden (林家花園, sometimes called the Lin Ben-yuan Garden) is in Banqiao, a substantial and little-loved city just south of Taipei.

It's one of north Taiwan's best-known attractions, and now that admission is free it gets very crowded on weekends and holidays. Despite the crowds (and the noisy tour guides, and the photography-club members clustering around models hired for the day) I thought it well-worth visiting. No one building in the complex, nor any particular aspect of the gardens that surround them, is jaw-dropping. However, there is a great deal to see, and if I wasn't pressed for time I could easily have spent more than two hours here.

The Lin Family Mansion and Garden was built 1847-1853 by one of north Taiwan's richest and most influential families. In the late 19th century, the garden was surrounded by rice fields, and Guanyinshan was visible in the distance. Now, of course, it is surrounded by tall buildings. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful oasis of greenery and a good place to see Qing Dynasty architecture, stone sculpture, wood carvings and other decorative arts. The main residence, the Three-Courtyard House (pictured top right), has 52 rooms and more than 120 windows and doors. Other buildings within the Garden bear endearing names such as the Revere the Cosmos Pavilion and the Fragrant Jade Anteroom. Entrances and walls bear auspicious bat or butterfly motifs (pictured lowerbelow left).

The Garden (open: 09.00-17.00 daily but closed first Mon of each month; admission: free) is about 15 minutes' walk from Banqiao's combined HSR/TRA/MRT station. Fuzhong MRT Station on the Blue Line is slightly closer.

Taiwan's Mazu pilgrimage

2011-04-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

My friend Rich Matheson (who took the cover shot of my guidebook) joined part of this year's Mazu pilgrimage. Go here for his blog, including photographs.

The full pilgrimage lasts more than a week and winds through Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi. For an excellent first-hand account of the 2010 pilgrimage, read Noah Buchan's recent Taipei Times article.

Million-dollar bathrooms

2011-04-11T00:44:00.001-07:00

Nantou's Zhinan Temple (指南宮) is tiny and visually impressive, but exceptionally popular. On the day we visited it was all but impossible to see the main altar because of the crush of people. The temple is clearly very wealthy; in 2007 it spent a breathtaking NT$38.8 million (US$1.34 million) on the bathrooms pictured above.

They are very nice, it has to be said. Not only clean, well lit and spacious, but also decorated with works of art and equipped with a nursing room and an observation deck. The shape is supposed to represent fresh bamboo growing up out of the ground - not, as you might think, turds.

Book: Taipei Characters

2011-04-08T22:43:00.001-07:00

This slim volume (199 pages in this edition, published in 1982 by Indiana University Press) contains 14 stories, all of which deal with the lives of mainland Chinese who relocated to Taiwan around 1949, the year the Republic of China's was defeated by Mao Zedong's Communists. Written in the 1960s by Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung (himself a mainlander), the stories depict various types of people – former military officials and their widows, academics, courtesans and restaurant owners.

Pai's writing style is economical and beautiful; several of the stories are exquisite masterpieces. My favourites are Love's Lone Flower (in which the mainland-born narrator recounts the life and demise of a Taiwanese bargirl/prostitute) and Winter Night. In the latter, two mainlander scholars meet up again after two decades apart; one spent those years in the USA, the other in Taiwan.

White-clad cleric

2011-04-07T00:11:00.001-07:00

Taoist clerics in Taiwan usually wear black robes, so this one's white, harlequin-like attire caught my eye. I spotted him coming out of Shoutian Temple (受天宮) in the hills above Ershui, Changhua County. The character on his hat (gold on a red background) means Buddha.

The temple itself has an impressive location, yet looks as though it might slide down the mountain when the next big typhoon hits.

The Ershui area is famous for macaques, and we saw several when hiking up to the temple.

Back to Little Liuqiu

2011-03-24T22:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I returned to Little Liuqiu, this time with my wife and son in tow, for 24 hours of ecotourism on behalf of Travel in Taiwan magazine. While driving around the southeastern corner of the island, we approached what most maps call 'Indian Rock', because it resembles a North American native wearing a traditional headdress. Our guide, a knowledgeable young man working for Dapeng Bay Scenic Area Administration, pointed out that many visitors feel it more closely resembles Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu.

The highlight of the visit was a nighttime tour of the intertidal zone at Yufu Fishing Harbor (魚福魚港). The foreshore there is rocky and uneven, so there are countless pools and trenches where sea creatures hide out between tides.

The guide sensibly began by warning us not to touch anything until he gave the OK; some denizens of the intertidal zone – such as rock boring urchins – can inflict nasty stings. We waded what seemed a considerable distance from dry land, but never getting more than our ankles wet, and saw black brittle starfish, sea cucumbers, and metre-long black-and-white worms no thicker than a strand of spaghetti. More remarkable were the sea hares, soft gastropods that emit purple ink when under attack. This substance intoxicates and disorients fish; our guide said that when he was child, he and his friends would use it to help them catch fish.

Like any good entertainer the guide had a finale. Asking us to dim our flashlights, he began brushing the water with his hand. Within seconds spots of greenish lights appeared in the water. Bioluminescent plankton, the underwater equivalent of fireflies!

Book: Far Eastern Journey

2011-03-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

This book, which describes a journey made in 1960, has long been out of print. I found my copy in a secondhand bookshop in the south of England more than a decade ago. The author, Bernard Newman (1897-1968), was very prolific, writing at least 20 travel books and around 80 other volumes. Unlike his contemporaries, Eric Newby and Norman Lewis, his body of work has mostly sunk without trace.

This book describes a trip from Pakistan to Taiwan, via India, Hong Kong and Singapore. Nine of the 26 chapters deal with Taiwan, where he was clearly regarded as an important visitor, meeting both Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo.

On the second page of his account, he makes an observation that will cause anyone familiar with Taiwan now to chuckle:

"The great peril of Formosa was soon apparent: Not the people, who are very friendly and cheerful, but bicycles. They and their relatives, the pedicabs, bore down on me from all directions – from either side of the street, making their own rule of the road as they went along."

While in Taipei, Newman sees water buffalo pulling carts into the city, taking wood and farm produce to market. (I've never seen a buffalo in a city, but I've spotted more than a few in the countryside.) Visiting Wanhua's Longshan Temple, he sees effigies that strike him as “quite grotesque.” The Confucius Temple, however, is “much more dignified.”

His trip to Kinmen sounds exciting. The plane he travelled in, "flew very low... to avoid being caught on Chicom radar." These days, the Tourism Bureau suggests visitors go to Pingxi and release lanterns; Newman sent off a bunch of propaganda balloons in the direction of China's coast. In addition, he went to Sun Moon Lake and other places in the mountains; took in a Beijing opera performance; and witnessed a traditional funeral.

Politically, he's as naive as most short-term visitors. He pins all the blame for the February 28 Incident on Chen Yi, implying that Chiang Kai-shek did not plan or approve of the massacring of Taiwan's civic leadership. And he swallows the idea that while there weren't any proper opposition parties, the KMT regime wasn't really authoritarian.

"There have been a series of rumours...which suggest Chiang Kai-shek intends to found a dynasty, and has decided that his son, Lt. Gen. Chiang Ching-kuo, should be his successor. But actual events suggest that this is absurd. Chiang Kai-shek cannot defy the constitution."

Well, when the elder Chiang died in 1975, Chiang Ching-kuo was already premier (prime minister) and in day-to-day control of the government. Vice President Yen Chia-kan served out the remainder of Chiang Kai-shek's term, and no one was surprised when Chiang Ching-kuo became ROC president in 1978. Newman writes that at the time of his visit, there was talk of a new party being formed, the China Democratic Party. That party was crushed soon after it launched, and its leader Lei Chen was jailed for ten years.

A grave as big as a house

2011-03-17T17:49:00.000-07:00

Spotted during my recent drive through Pingtung County - the ornate but slightly tattered grave dating of a physician surnamed Chang (張) who died in March 1958, and his wife. During the Japanese colonial era and for some decades afterwards, medical doctors were considered the elite of society, partly because senior government posts were reserved for Japanese (until 1945) or mainlanders (until the 1970s, at least).

The grave is located just south of the town of Wandan (萬丹).

Hakka Cultural Artifacts Exhibition Hall

2011-03-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

Several small museums around Taiwan celebrate the culture of the island's Hakka minority, and the one in Pingtung County's Xishi isn't bad, even though there's very little English labelling.

For me, the most interesting sections are those displaying traditional clothing and dealing with a custom that existed throughout the Chinese world, but which used to be especially strong in Hakka villages - that of scouring the streets for scraps of paper on which words were written or printed, picking them up and then taking them to a special furnace for burning. This tradition is said to reflect a deep reverence for learning and literacy.

According to Francis L. K. Hsu's often stupendously dull but occasionally fascinating book Americans & Chinese: Passage to Differences, traditional Chinese communities lacked the broad range of voluntary non-kinship groups we find in affluent societies including 21st-century Taiwan. Hsu says there were three exceptions: Associations that provided free coffins to the indigent, teetotalers' groups, and associations that, "hired men to roam the streets with bags on their backs and pointed sticks in their hands. They collected any piece of waste bearing written characters in the gutter or on the ground and burned what they collected at the end of the day in the specially provided urn in the local Confucian temple."

The museum includes a pair of dedicated baskets once used for collecting written-on paper (pictured above left).

I'm pretty certain the custom has died out. Would modern-day practitioners collect every single item bearing Chinese characters - cigarette packets, candy wrappers and the like?

The Hakka Cultural Artifacts Exhibition Hall (六堆客家文化園) is in the heart of Zhutian Township's Xishi Village (竹田鄉西勢村) and it's open Tuesday to Sunday, 09.00-17.30. If you read Chinese, you'll notice the Chinese name is actually "Liudui Hakka Culture Zone." The term Liudui doesn't refer to specific place, but rather to the six clusters of Hakka settlements in Pingtung and Kaohsiung who raised a militia to protect themselves during the Zhu Yi-gui (朱一貴) uprising of 1721.

The zone's other feature is an Yimin Temple (忠義祠). Similar temples throughout Taiwan celebrate the sacrifices made by militiamen during various rebellions. The exhibition hall and the temple side by side, about 500m from Xishi TRA Station.

As seen in many temples...

2011-03-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

The character 囍 (pronounced xǐ) is often prominent in temples and also on the red paper banners glued to household doorways around the Lunar New Year. It means "joy" or "double happiness," and is thus greatly auspicious.

SketchUp images of Taiwan landmarks

2011-03-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

Drawings of dozens of temples, city gates, public buildings and other notable structures in Taiwan can be found on Google's SketchUp pages. However, doing a search isn't easy if you don't read Chinese.

Among them are Lukang Folk Arts Museum, the Japanese-era Assembly Hall in the same town, Taiwan's oldest Catholic Church, (in Wanjin, Pingtung County), and the ornamental gate of Donglong Temple in Donggang, also in Pingtung.

Religion and political correctness

2011-02-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

This fascinating 2008 article in the Wall Street Journal relates how some temples in Kinmen County, an archipelago within shelling-distance of China, have toned down their anticommunist message in the past few years, ever since tourists from the mainland - rather than ROC soldiers posted there to keep the communists at bay - have become a backbone of the economy. Next time I'm there, I'll make a point of revisiting these shrines to find out the latest.

A typical winter's day in the mountains of the south

2011-02-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

Driving towards Namasia, in Kaohsiung, on the final day of the Year of Tiger. Days like this - sunny yet not unpleasantly hot - are very common in the southern half of Taiwan between October and March. In the north, winters are decidedly wetter and colder.

Books: When Valleys Turned Blood Red

2011-02-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

This book, written by an expert in Chinese and Taiwanese religions, explores a 1915 rebellion against Japanese rule in south Taiwan that left well over 1,000 dead. As author Paul R. Katz explains in his Introduction, the Ta-pa-ni Incident:

"[which was] named after the town where the fiercest fighting took place, was one of the largest acts of armed resistance to occur during the colonial era... [rebels] quickly overwhelmed numerous police stations in the mountains of today's Tainan and Kaohsiung counties. The uprising lasted for over one month and was put down only after sustained counterattacks by Japanese military and police forces."

That town is now known as Yujing (玉井). Fighting also convulsed the districts now called Nanhua (南化) and Jiaxian (甲仙). Because the rebels were led by a Kaohsiung native called Yu Ching-fang (余清芳), the revolt is often referred as the Yu Ching-fang Incident.

Japan did a great deal to develop Taiwan's economy and infrastructure. However, the beneficiaries were more often than not Japanese businessmen and corporations. (Most of the European and American firms active in Taiwan in the 1880s and 1890s found themselves squeezed out by World War I). As Katz explains, many local gentry resented Japanese rule for this reason, and ended up throwing in their lot with the rebels. He also explores how religion, and especially millenarian beliefs, motivated the leaders.

It's a thorough and interesting book, but the subject matter is perhaps a little obscure for most readers.

Local colour VII

2011-02-06T16:54:00.001-08:00

Morning mist settles over a betel nut plantation in the foothills of Chiayi County.

Of snails, bats and fish

2011-01-29T19:02:00.000-08:00

Wherever there's greenery, there are snails; Taiwan is very green, so the island has an abundance of gastropods. Of approximately 300 snail species and sub-species, 70% are found nowhere else on Earth. At least one of Taiwan's snail species (an invasive exotic) is a major pest. While most species are considered inedible, folk in the countryside (including my in-laws) do collect certain kinds for cooking and eating. After the snails are removed from their shells, they're scrubbed with guava leaves to remove the slime. They're then shallow fried with garlic, ginger or basil.

Bats are also common in Taiwan, even in urban areas. Eleven of Taiwan's 30-plus bat species are endemic. The Bat Association of Taiwan's website has basic information in English plus several photos.

Fishing and changes to the island's rivers (especially canalization and the building of weirs and dams) have pushed 20 of Taiwan's 220 freshwater fish species close to extinction. The country's most intriguing fish is undoubtedly the Formosan landlocked salmon, first described by Japanese scientists in 1917. Two endemic fish species - Acrossocheilus paradoxus (sometimes known as the Taiwan stone minnow) and Candidia barbata - can be seen in Penglai Stream Biological Tour Area (蓬萊溪自然生態園區) in Miaoli County. Visitors can also expect to spot crabs , grey herons and clusters of butterflies.

Glove puppets and prison cells

2011-01-27T22:44:00.000-08:00

Last week I took my son, a fan of Taiwanese glove puppetry, to Huwei in Yunlin County, home of Taiwan's best-known puppetry troupe, PiLi International Multimedia. The company's name reflects its high-tech approach to the art form; their TV shows (clips here and here) are spectacles full of acrobatic sword-wielding puppets, dry ice, pyrotechnics and sound effects. The photo above is from an exhibition in Kaohsiung a few years back.

In a renovated government building in the centre of Huwei, PiLi has set up a museum. There's very little English but the scores of puppets on display are still worth seeing. During the Japanese colonial era, the building had multiple functions, one room being divided into three jail cells. Yunlin Glove Puppetry Museum (雲林布袋戲館) is at 498 Linsen Rd Sec 1 (虎尾鎮林森路一段498號); tel 05 636 4826; open Tue-Sun 10.00-18.00.

The town of Huwei owes its growth to Taiwan's sugar industry. According to this article, Huwei's sugar refinery is one of just two on the island that still operate; at the time of our visit, it was belching steam.

Know your traditions: Divination in temples

2011-01-16T06:42:00.001-08:00

Divination has been an aspect of Chinese religious life since the beginning of the country’s long history, when tortoise shells were heated and the resulting cracks ‘read’ in a process called pyromancy.

In 21st century Taiwan, a popular method of divination is the drawing lots. The lots are numbered bamboo slats (often 60 in total) placed in a cylinder on or beside an altar. Supplicants pick up the cylinder, give it a good shake and then pull out the slat sticking out the furthest. They read the number and, after casting poe (moon boards) to confirm it’s correct, take a sheet of paper from a tiny numbered drawer or off a numbered hook (pictured top left). On the paper there’s a message that usually 30 to 60 Chinese characters in length. Because the language is often obscure and/or archaic, expert help may be needed to understand it. The volunteers who clean and watch over temples sometimes assist temple-goes to interpret these short texts.

The Taipei MRT's Luzhou/Xinzhuang Line

2011-01-09T21:54:00.000-08:00

On my recent trip to Taipei, I used the MRT's brand new Orange (Luzhou/Xinzhuang) Line. It's entirely underground, so as a travel experience it's no different to most of the capital's rapid-transit system. The line adds nine stations (most of which are in New Taipei City) to the network; it joins the Red (Danshui) Line at Minquan West Road and the Blue (Nangang/Banqiao) Line at Zhongxiao Xinsheng.

The line is more useful for commuters than tourists, but it will take you to one interesting place not mentioned in my guidebook: Xingtian Temple.

It's New Taipei City, not Xinbei

2011-01-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

The central government has confirmed the English name of the local government area formerly known as Taipei County: New Taipei City. I and many other English-speaking expatriates think it's a bad choice. It makes confusion with Taipei City (the ROC's capital) very likely indeed, and it implies the capital (which it surrounds) is 'Old Taipei'.

For months, it seemed that after the county was upgraded to a special municipality, it would be known to the outside world as Xinbei City, a direct romanisation of its Chinese name (新北市, literally 'New North City'). That's why I used Xinbei in my guidebook. Fortunately, this shouldn't cause problems for visitors, as they'll be boarding buses and trains to places within New Taipei City such as Danshui, Wulai and Sanxia (pictured left).

I feel better knowing I wasn't the only one caught out. The new edition of The Handy Guide for Foreigners in Taiwan (published by the central government in November 2010, but I've only just received my copy) says that the new name of Taipei County will be Xinbei City.

Xinbeitou's Longnai Hot Springs

2011-01-02T16:20:00.000-08:00

My entry on Longnai Hot Springs (瀧乃湯) (244 Guangming Rd, Xinbeitou, Taipei; admission NTD90/50; open: 06.30—21.00 daily) reads: Almost lost amid much taller and newer buildings, Longnai offers a thoroughly traditional bathing experience. There are two pools inside this slightly decrepit 70-year-old wooden bungalow, one for each gender; no swimsuits needed. The water is usually 38—42 degrees Celsius. From Longnai it’s less than 500m to Xinbeitou MRT Station.

All of the above is correct, but a few more words can be added: No towels are provided, and there's no WC inside the building - so go before you get pay for admission!

Slow train to the high-speed rail station

2010-12-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

Tainan's high-speed railway (HSR) station has an absurdly remote location southeast of the city centre. Getting to it is now easier, thanks to the brand-new conventional branch railway that links Shalun (site of the HSR outpost), central Tainan and some nearby towns. Trains leave Tainan TRA Station bound for Shalun about every half hour between 06.10 and 23.04. Journey time is 22 minutes, so it's significantly quicker than the free shuttle buses than formerly linked the city and the HSR station.

Fresh facts I: Orchid Island

2010-12-20T16:50:00.000-08:00

The first time Orchid Island (also known as Lanyu) appeared on a map was 1626, when it was included in a Spanish chart of the Philippines and its surrounding seas. Not until 1878 was it shown on Chinese maps, and when the Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895, the latter weren't sure of the island's status. Negotiations with the Spanish - rulers of the Philippines between 1565 and 1898 - confirmed that Orchid Island belonged to Taiwan.

Wenshan Hot Springs to reopen

2010-12-18T16:16:00.000-08:00

Last month I interviewed by email Yu Teng-lang (游登良), director of Taroko National Park Headquarters, for this article in the International Herald Tribune. Yu he told me something that will delight fans of natural, open-air spas: Wenshan Hot Springs, closed following a fatal rockslide in 2005, will reopen mid-2011.

In the past few years, a steady stream of people have climbed over the gate and bathed, official closure notwithstanding. In Taiwan, wide gaps between official status and reality aren't unusual.

Notable Taiwanese living in the UK

2010-12-15T00:31:00.001-08:00

Unlike the US, Canada or Japan, the UK doesn't have a substantial Taiwanese community. However, at least three Taiwanese living in Britain have made a splash in their fields. They are:

Ching-He Huang (b1978, 黃瀞億) is a food writer who's gone on to present TV cookery shows. At age five her family emigrated to South Africa; six years later they moved to the UK. I interviewed her by email for this article.

Hsiao-Hung Pai (b1968, 白曉紅) is a campaigning journalist who has written for The Guardian and various other publications. I interviewed her and wrote about her first book, Chinese Whispers, for Taiwan Today, an English-language government website.

Richard Lin (b1933, 林壽宇) is best known for his modernist painting, one of which was sold by Sotherbys in 2008 for GBP34,850. Since the 1980s he's devoted himself to sculpture. He travelled to the UK in 1954 to study architecture and art, and has spent most of his life in London. He's a descendant of the rich and once-powerful Lin family of Wufeng, Taichung.

Although she's now based in Macau, Chu Mei-feng (b1966, 璩美鳳) - who lived for a time in London - is also worth mentioning. I'm guessing this former politician relocated to the UK to find peace and obscurity, having acquired more than enough fame and notoriety in Taiwan as a result of one of the country's most spectacular sex scandals.

Crystal bracelets

2010-12-11T01:43:00.000-08:00

To a Westerner, the idea that certain crystals have special properties sounds distinctly New Age. In Taiwan, it's widely accepted that a bracelet made of clear crystal can boost the wearer’s powers of concentration and memorization; that turquoise helps one recover from surgery; and that yellow crystal attracts unearned wealth (such as lottery winnings) while also protecting the lungs (it's popular with smokers as a result).

Rose quartz is a love stone. If worn as part of a bracelet, it indicates the wearer is searching for love. Presenting a piece of rose quartz to a member of the opposite sex is a declaration of affection. A rose quartz sphere placed in the matrimonial bedroom should enhance a couple's sex life. Topaz is said to bring you love and happiness, and help you avoid accidents (fires in particular). Lapis lazuli is often given to children as it's believed to aid their all-round development, while amethyst is thought to confer wisdom.

Crystal bracelets are sold in night markets and temples. They're seldom expensive but if you're not a gemologist, it's hard to know exactly what you're being offered.

Local elections

2010-11-27T15:55:00.001-08:00

Local elections were held yesterday in the five special municipalities that together account for about half of the ROC's population. Of the directly-elected mayoral posts, the ruling Kuomintang held three by small margins, while the main opposition Democratic Progressive Party easily won the two southern municipalities of Tainan and Kaohsiung. For details see this report.

People planning to visit Taiwan needn't worry about political strife or election violence (though there was a shooting on Friday evening). However, quite a few people - locals as well as expatriates - get sick of the constant fireworks and noisy parades that cruise the streets in the days ahead of voting.

In the weeks ahead of any Taiwan election, colourful thickets of election banners like those pictured here appear beside every main road. A lot of these flags are recycled by farmers who use them as scarecrows. Thanks to Rich Matheson for the photo.

Taiwan's newest national park

2010-11-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

Taijiang National Park, the newest of Taiwan's eight national parks, has finally got its own website, almost a year after it was established.

The park is an odd shape. In addition to segments of dry land, river estuary and wetlands northwest of Tainan's city centre, it includes a large rectangular section of the Taiwan Strait that goes as far west as the southeastern tip of Penghu County.

The beaches around here aren't Taiwan's best. Nonetheless, the park draws at least two kinds of tourist: birdwatchers (many of whom come especially to see the black-faced spoonbill); and folk who want to visit sites associated with Koxinga or the now-defunct salt industry.

Betel nut and the young ladies who sell it

2010-11-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

A lot of people are suspicious of the Want China Times, a new Taiwan-based English-language online newspaper, because its owners make no secret of their pro-Beijing sympathies. However, it's political reporting is no more biased than that in other Taiwan newspapers, and they do run some interesting features - such as one a few days back about betel-nut beauties, the skimpily-dressed young women who sell betel nut (and cigarettes, mineral water and soft drinks - but not sex, as some tourists assume) from roadside kiosks. Even if there's no girl inside, these stands are hard to miss. Like the one pictured here, they're always brightly lit and often garishly decorated.

The article mentions one strip of highway in Yilan County as being especially famous for betel-nut beauties, but they're not difficult to find in the western and southern lowlands. If you're travelling along any major road, keep your eyes open.

Tobie Openshaw, a South African photographer living in Taipei, has made a name for himself with his portraits of these ladies; the two photos here are his. This video segment is an especially good introduction to betel nut girls.

According to one source, Taiwan is the world's second-largest producer of betel nut (檳榔), production having increased from 3,718 tonnes in 1961 to 165,076 tonnes in 2001. Only India grows more. In addition to the land given over to betel nut palms, quite many farmers earn a living growing piper betle leaves.

The effects of betel nut on the chewer's long-term health have been thoroughly researched. More information and links can be found here.

Books: Chingchuan Story

2010-11-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

You're unlikely to find Chingchuan Story outside Taiwan, and even on the island it isn't widely available. This is a pity, because it's an easy-to-read, engaging portrait of life in an aboriginal village.

The author, Barry Martinson, is a Jesuit missionary who has lived and worked in and around Chingchuan (nowadays often spelled Qingquan) in Hsinchu County since 1976. His writing style is unadorned and his anecdotes are arranged in short chapters. These cover his efforts to preserve Atayal culture as well as promote Catholicism. He doesn't shy away from unsavoury aspects of indigenous life (such as rampant alcoholism), nor is he afraid of recalling episodes when he made a fool of himself.

One of the most memorable chapters deals with hunting and traditional cuisine. In it, he admits he has never been able to eat flying squirrel (now a protected species):

"Perhaps this has something to do with its preparation. The flying squirrel is seldom cooked. It is salted and placed in cooked rice for several days. Then it is eaten, by hand, straight from the soggy rice."

Later in the same chapter he relates another rodent-eating experience:

"I remember when Youmin and his family were cooking large field mice by placing them over the fire for a few minutes until their hair was charred off. Youmin broke off the feet and tails and tossed them to his little children to gnaw on. Then he slit open a mouse intestine and squeezed the contents onto a spoon [saying the Atayal regard it as a traditional medicine]. Reluctantly I tried it. It was over two weeks before I could get that taste out of my mouth."

For details of how to obtain this book or others by the same author, go to the publisher's website.
To read Martinson's article about Chingchuan's most famous former resident, the warlord-general Zhang Xueliang (Chang Hsueh-liang), go here.

Know your traditions: Donating money for temple decoration

2010-10-26T02:43:00.000-07:00

All of Taiwan's temples are privately funded, and many of the most famous ones are seriously wealthy. The pious, especially those who feel their prayers have been answered, donate cash or gold. Whenever a temple is redecorated or rebuilt, devotees are encouraged to pay for individual carvings or paintings. Some of these features are mass-produced, amateurish or slapdash, but many others are superb pieces of art. The donor's name is usually added to the finished piece.

Visitors to Chiayi's Cheng Huang Temple – the busiest place of worship in that city of 274,000 – will see, near the main entrance, two large panels on which are inscribed the names of those who funded the shrine's 1990 renovation. The list features nearly 3,000 names, arranged according to how much they gave. The majority forked out what must have been at least a week’s earnings.

I took these photos in a typical backstreet temple in Tainan. They show fresh wall engravings, together with red squares of paper showing who paid for them, and how much they paid. The one at the top was donated by two people surnamed Chen (the most common family name in Taiwan, incidentally). The lower picture was endowed by a person surnamed Lu. In both cases, the amount donated was NTD8,000 (about GBP160 or US$260).

Read extracts online

2010-10-24T23:40:00.001-07:00

If you're curious about my new guidebook, click here and you can browse the contents thanks to Google Books. Text and maps are visible, but if you want to see the colour photos inside, you'll have to lay your hands on a print copy.

Taipei's Museum of Drinking Water

2010-10-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

The Museum of Drinking Water (台北自來水博物館) is one of Taipei's smaller museums. For many visitors, the attraction is not so much the information it contains about how the city was supplied with water and how that water was made fit for human consumption as the building itself. A superb Baroque structure that dates from 1908, it's one of the finest architectural legacies of the Japanese colonial era.

Taiwan's government classified the building as a national relic in 1993, several years after the pumping station inside had ceased operation. Much of the original equipment (see below) remains in place, although it's been repainted and polished up. The arc-shaped main building (see top left), which has small bronze domes at either end, was designed by Japanese architect Nomura Ichiro (野村一郎), the man also responsible for what is now National Taiwan Museum.

The station was planned by William K. Burton (1856-1899), an Edinburgh-born, Cambridge-educated engineer who worked for the Japanese colonial authorities. He risked disease and banditry in his effort to identify sources of clean water in the hills near Taipei. The dysentery and malaria he contracted in Taiwan also certainly shortened his life. Burton also planned another superb Japanese-era edifice which, unfortunately, is not open to the public: The Old Tainan Watercourse in Shanshang.

The museum is open 09.00-18.00 Tue-Sun. During the summer, opening hours are often extended. Admission, which is NTD80/60/40, also gains you access to a small network of trails and an open-air display of pipes and other water-distribution equipment. Of the latter, the most interesting is a heavy-duty pipe bucked by the September 21 Earthquake.

The museum can be reached by rapid-transit train. From Gongguan MRT Station on the Xindian Line, take exit 4, turn left at Siyuan Street and then walk a few minutes towards Tingzhou Street. Note these directions down before you set out as within the MRT station there's no English-language sign pointing the way.

Two butterflies and a temple doorway...

2010-10-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

There's no particular point to this post, just a photo of mine which I happen to like a lot. It shows two butterflies seemingly coupling (the process can take an hour or more) outside Zhen Fushe (鎮福社) a tiny and beautifully decrepit old shrine in Kaohsiung's Zuoying district. The temple has long been closed to the public.

Zhen Fushe is a stone's throw from the 18th-century walls of Fengshan and within walking distance of the Kaohsiung Museum of Military Dependents Villages.

Taiwan's English-language newspapers

2010-10-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

For decades, Taiwan had two English-language newspapers, the China Post and China News. Both were pro-Chinese Nationalist (KMT), as was all media until political liberalisation kicked in in the late 1980s. In 1999, the China News was bought by a local conglomerate, renamed Taiwan News, and changed its political orientation. In the same year, Taipei Times - now Taiwan's best and most popular English-language newspaper - was launched. Taipei Times has always expressed 'Taiwan First' viewpoints and so is close to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

For a decade, these three titles served a tiny pool of readers. They've suffered, like newspapers around the world, from the rise of the Internet and shrinking advertising revenues. It's no surprise that one of them has just gone under. Taiwan News recently ceased publishing a print edition; they've revamped their website but it's slow and useless. The print edition of the China Post, which remains pro-KMT, is still available islandwide. Sometimes it has worthwhile reports on local events. Taipei Times is the English-language newspaper you're most likely to come across.

The book is here!

2010-09-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide is now in physical existence. It's real, not just a series of files on my computer! I received an advance copy yesterday (my other author's copies will follow in a few weeks, I'm told). Since then, apart from sleeping and driving, I've spent almost every moment reading it, checking that last-minute changes I requested were made, scrutinising the maps and photos, and simply enjoying the feel and heft of a nicely-produced tome.

It has 344 pages, 33 maps and 49 colour photos.

A close look at Lugang's Queen of Heaven Temple

2010-09-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

On his Taiwan In Cycles blog, Andrew Kerslake has a lengthy and detailed analysis of the role temples play in Taiwanese culture and the relationship between temples and politicians. It's well worth reading even if you can't make it to the Tianhou Temple in the old coast town of Lugang; much of what he says applies to every shrine on the island.

(Almost) No smoking in Taiwan

2010-09-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

It wasn't until earlier this summer, when we spent some time in Malaysia - a country renowned for vigorous government - that I realised just how much progress Taiwan has made in curbing smoking in public places. Even in Kuala Lumpur, the well-run Malaysian capital, quite a few people smoke in places where they expose non-smokers to their exhalations.

In Taiwan, smoking is banned in shops, hotels, restaurants, pubs, train and bus stations and government offices. The law is very widely observed, though I've seen older men ignoring the no-smoking signs on railway platforms. In general, Taiwan has become a much more comfortable place for those with sensitive respiratory systems - partly because of the anti-smoking laws, but also because urban air quality is now much better than it was in the late 20th century.

There's talk of going even further, and making it illegal to smoke while walking along the street, driving a car, or riding a bicycle or motorcycle. The proposed new law could also compel smokers to carry their own ashtrays if they're in a place where there's no receptacle for disposing of cigarette butts. This is an excellent idea, as butts can be seen on almost every urban pavement. But would it be enforced?

Taiwan is a good place for those who dislike smoking, but a less-than-ideal destination for those trying to quit. Cigarettes are very cheap (about NTD60; US$2 or GBP1.20, per packet) and sold in every convenience store.

Things you may not know about Taiwan...

2010-09-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

Taiwan is one of the world's leading pigeon-racing nations. Immense sums are gambled on races and gangsters have been known to try to influence races by doping pigeons. Sometimes, prize pigeons are kidnapped and held for ransom.

The Taiwanese language (a dialect of Fujianese) is rich in idioms. Alcoholics are said to drink like cows (not fish). Parents are said to raise their first child to be a genius, the second like a pig (it rhymes in Taiwanese). A middle-aged man with an eye for much younger women is described as "an old cow eating young grass."

Some of the island's aboriginal tribes continued headhunting until the 1930s. It's said that some tribes still keep secret stashes of skulls deep in the hills. A handful of elderly aboriginal women bear traditional facial tattoos.

As a percentage of its total land area, Taiwan has twice as much forest as Norway and nearly five times more than the UK.

Taiwan is thought to be the source of the Austronesian language family, spoken from Hawaii to New Zealand to Madagascar.

Vehicle number plates and government-issued ID cards never end in "4," as the number sounds similar to the Mandarin word for "death." For this reason, many buildings lack a fourth floor; they go from third to fifth.

Huashan 1914 Creative Park

2010-09-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Huashan 1914 Creative Park is a collection of artists' studios, galleries, rehearsal spaces, performance venues and restaurants in central Taipei.

If you're in Taipei and want to know about upcoming events at the park, check Taiwan's English-language newspapers. The Friday edition of the Taipei Times is your best bet. In my experience, there isn't much point in dropping by the Park on a weekday afternoon, unless you're especially interested in the Japanese colonial-era industrial architecture (top right). Banyans have taken root inside some of the buildings; I thought this eye painted beside a doorway was a nice touch (below left).

Go here for a recent article on the site's history and management.

National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium

2010-09-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

Friend and influential blogger Michael Turton has kind words and lovely photos about Taiwan's leading marine museum, which makes for a great stop if you're motoring down to Kenting National Park.

Know your traditions: Zhongyuan Pudu

2010-09-05T04:05:00.000-07:00

Here in Taiwan we're approaching the end of the seventh month on the lunar calendar, so-called 'Ghost Month'. Ghost Month (click here for a short video) is when, it's believed by many, the gates of hell open and the spirits trapped therein are able to wander freely among the living.

The following is adapted from a newspaper article written this time last year by my friend Rich Matheson (who also took this photo of Pudu rites in a Tainan temple):

[In] contrast to Halloween's donning of costumes and trick or treating, Ghost Month is a reverential and solemn affair. Ghosts without descendants to feed them are called 'wandering souls' [or] 'good brothers' and are widely feared. The 'good brothers' are blamed for many ills and must be placated. Placation comes in the form of feasts and chanting.

Many taboos are observed during the month. Few Taiwanese will move, get married or open a business. Even swimming is frowned upon as the water is believed to be inhabited by ghosts that can only leave their watery grave by finding a replacement.

Originally, Pudu rites in Taiwan were held continuously throughout the seventh lunar month rotating from one household to another until the end of the month. Following government efforts to curb lavish temple activities, Pudu activities were, for the most part, consolidated on the 15th of the month. Currently, Pudu is often split into three parts: inviting the ghosts on the first, feeding them on the 15th and finally sending them away again on the 29th.

For the invitation after the gates are opened, lanterns are hung to guide the ghosts to the offerings. One must be cautious, however, for if too many lanterns are hung attracting too many ghosts, and not enough food is supplied, the spirits could be angered, precipitating a bad year.

Feeding is the most important part of the Pudu rite. Temples will have feasts for the ghosts, but the majority of the feeding is done by the populace who set up tables laden with food in front of their workplaces or homes, and who also burn incense, ghost money and colourful paper dieties.

Pudu (which means 'universal salvation') are sacrificial rites with the intention of appeasing ghosts with no heirs to care for them. Zhongyuan Pudu (中元普渡) falls on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. Similar to 15th of any lunar month, households will prepare food offerings and burn ghost money, only on a much larger scale, as these offerings are not limited to one's own ancestors but to any passing ghosts. These rites are very widely observed in Taiwan.

Finally, the lanterns are taken down. This day is accompanied by more feasts for the wandering souls and some temples invite the god Zhong Kui to assure the good brothers do in fact return, thus keeping the people safe from their mischievous ways after the gates close.

Zhongyuan Pudu is a blend of folk religion, ancestor worship, Taoism (the 15th of the seventh lunar month is also the birthday of a Taoist god, Di Guan) and Buddhism.

The Buddhist religion celebrates the 'Ullambana' rite on the 15th of the seventh lunar month, during which food is offered to the dead. The story goes that Mu Lian, a disciple of Buddha, wanted to save his mother who was languishing in hell and unable to eat food without it turning to fire. Mu Lian organized a large gathering of monks to chant and offer food, thus alleviating his mother;s suffering. This custom has evolved into present-day Zhongyuan Pudu practices.

Zhongyuan Pudu activities of special interest are the Qiang Gu (搶孤) competitions in Toucheng (in Yilan County), Hengchun and Pingtung in which people compete to feed the most ghosts by climbing slippery bamboo poles, assuring themselves of an auspicious year.

The reading of the sutras to help wandering souls find paradise which can be seen in temples throughout Taiwan during Ghost Month. Other events include: Yimin Festival (義民節) at Yimin temples (20th day of the seventh lunar month), Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Festival (地藏王祭日) (29th day of the month) and the Keelung Water Lantern Festival (基隆放水燈) (14th day).

The prominence of Zhongyuan Pudu arose due to the dangers early immigrants to Taiwan faced, often without family to care for them in death. Therefore there were many wandering souls to appease lest even more calamities occur. Beyond this, however, the true spirit of Zhongyuan Pudu lies in compassion for suffering, strengthening social ties, teaching the youth about filial piety and harmony between the world of the living and the world of the dead.

Long live the Republic of China!

2010-09-04T22:08:00.000-07:00

When I first arrived in Taiwan in 1991, you could see these six characters in many public places - bus stations, for instance, and government offices. Nowadays, despite the return to power of the Chinese Nationalists (the KMT), this slogan isn't nearly so evident. Read from right to left, the characters literally mean 'May the Republic of China live ten thousand years!' but a better translation would be 'Long live the Republic of China!' The Mandarin pronunciation of 中華民國萬歲 is Zhonghua Minguo Wan Sui.

Some argue that the ROC is long dead, having passed into history when the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949. Others maintain it lingered until the 1970s, but lost all legitimacy when first it withdrew from the United Nations (because the UN voted to recognise the PRC as China's legitimate government); and then President Carter severed diplomatic ties between the ROC and the USA.

However, the ROC on Taiwan continues to meet the four criteria of statehood in international law: a permanent population; a defined territory; an effective government; and the capacity to enter into relations with other countries. At the time of writing, 23 countries have diplomatic relations with the ROC, the most important among them being Paraguay and Panama.

I took this photo at the Jianguo Brewery in central Taipei.

CNNGo lauds Kaohsiung for cyclists

2010-08-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

CNNGo thinks Kaohsiung is the third best biking city in Asia, after Kyoto and Beijing, ahead of Jeju and Singapore. I also think it's a splendid place to ride a bike, but for different reasons. The C-Bike system isn't very useful (especially if you're a person of average or larger-than-average Western dimensions) and, as a comment below the article points out, users of the bike trails find themselves crossing major roads fairly often. The climate (reliably dry and sunny, yet not too hot, from October until April) is a massive plus, however.

The final sentence of the Kaohsiung entry suggests the writer didn't do her homework very thoroughly:

If you’re planning a two-to-four day trip from Kaohsiung, we suggest that you ride out toward Taitung City via the scenic South Cross-Island Highway.

The South Cross-Island Highway was mashed by Typhoon Morakot in the summer of 2009 and little has been done to reopen it. You'd have to be a very determined cyclist with a robust set of wheels to make it all the way to Taitung.

Palace Museum branch opening delayed

2010-08-25T17:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's newspapers confirmed what many have suspected for quite a while: The National Palace Museum Southern Branch in Chiayi County won't be ready in 2012, as promised. A partial opening in 2015 is possible and the authorities are hoping to achieve full opening in 2017, say the reports.

Here's an informative if opinionated article on the matter. Go here for a feature article on the delay and the impact it'll have on the county.

"Rebels of the Neon God"

2010-08-22T17:14:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, I watched Rebels of the Neon God, Tsai Ming-liang's (蔡明亮) beguiling debut feature film. Tsai, who was born in Malaysia in 1957 and has lived in Taiwan since the late 1970s, is now regarded as one of the country's most talented filmmakers.

Rebels of the Neon God was shot in 1992, and the outdoor scenes were flashbacks to the Taipei I experienced when I first arrived in Taiwan. No mass rapid transit system, just crowded buses; messy construction everywhere; grim apartment blocks; everyone smoking; and flotillas of scooters ridden by helmet-less commuters. YouTube clips from the movie can be found here and here.

The only other Tsai movie I've seen is The Wayward Cloud (2005), which didn't do much for me. This trailer (with French subtitles) will give you an idea why it attracted controversy.

This government-sponsored site has a lot of information about Taiwanese cinema.

The 921 Earthquake Museum

2010-08-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

I have vivid memories of the September 21 earthquake of 1999, a disaster which Taiwanese refer to as '921', because it occurred at 1.47am on the 21st day of the ninth month. At the time I was working for a newspaper in Taipei. I had been in bed for less than 10 minutes when our apartment (the top floor of an eight-storey building) started shaking. I turned to my girlfriend (now my wife) and said: 'Don't worry, it's just an earthquake.' Having lived in Taiwan for about seven years at that point, I was used to feeling the occasional tremor.

The shaking got much worse and the power went out, so we got up sharpish. Before leaving the building, I quickly phoned a friend in south Taiwan. He agreed it was the strongest and most terrifying quake we'd experienced in our years in Taiwan.

There was no damage in our neighbourhood but elsewhere in Taipei scores were dead. In central Taiwan, tens of thousands of buildings had collapsed or were damaged beyond repair. Islandwide, the death toll exceeded 2,400.

The disaster hasn't been forgotten. A school campus wrecked by the quake has been turned into a very worthwhile museum which makes for a good stop if you're driving between Taichung and Sun Moon Lake.

The ridges left by the quake in the school's running track made for one of the disaster's most enduring images (see below). These, together with several wrecked classrooms (see above and bottom right), have been preserved as part of the 921 Earthquake Museum. The entire site is engrossing yet sobering. There's a great deal of information about why and how earthquakes occur as well as specific details of the 1999 disaster. Kids enjoy thumbing a panel linked to a seismograph and the regular 3D film presentations.

The museum is open from 9am to 5pm but closed Mondays. Admission is NTD50 for adults, NTD30 for children. The museum's Chinese name is 九二一地震教育園區.

Drivers using the freeway should proceed to Wufeng at km211 on Freeway 3, then turn right onto Highway 3. At km197 they'll see signs pointing to the museum. From Taichung TRA Station, bus #6100 departs every 10—20 minutes throughout the day. Journey time is 40 minutes and one-way fare costs NTD36. Bus passengers should get off at km197 on Highway 3 and walk for 10 minutes.

If you want to see more evidence of the quake's power, visit this ruined temple.

Renting quality bicycles

2010-08-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

Most of the bikes available for rent in Taiwan are fine for a few hours leisurely touring but are too small or otherwise unsuitable for long-distance cycling. Fortunately, Giant – one of Taiwan's leading bike manufacturers – rents high-quality bicycles through some of its outlets.

Bicycles can be rented at one shop and returned to another branch. The basic fee for three days or less is NTD1,200, with each additional day costing NTD200. Bikes should be reserved well in advance and payment must be made by credit card; you'll be asked for your height and some other details. There's no central website in English or Chinese because the programme isn't being heavily promoted, but email the Hsinchu branch (giant.d21079@msa.hinet.net) and you'll get sensible answers in English.

New NTD10 coins in circulation

2010-08-11T03:09:00.000-07:00

The new NTD10 coin is the same size and weight as the old version. However, instead of an image of Chiang Kai-shek, the man who ruled Taiwan as a dictator between the end of World War II and his death in 1975, it shows Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水). Chiang Wei-shui never attained political office and died soon after his 40th birthday, but his belief in Taiwanese identity and self-rule are celebrated today.

Chiang, who was greatly inspired and influenced by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the Republic of China, co-founded two landmark political groupings: the Taiwanese Cultural Association in 1921 and the Taiwan People's Party in 1927. The former was suppressed by the Japanese colonial authorities in 1931, just before Chiang died of cholera.

The new freeway linking Taipei with Yilan (where Chiang was born) is called the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway, and there are city streets named after him in Taipei and Yilan.

Driving on the right side of the road

2010-07-31T05:38:00.000-07:00

In Taiwan, vehicles drive on the right hand side of the road. Officially, that is. You can expect to see many motorcycles, even more bicycles and the odd car using the wrong side of the road. Everyone is used to it, nobody bats an eyelid. What I didn't know until today is that prior to 1946, traffic in Taiwan used the left side of the road (as in Japan, which ruled Taiwan from 1895 to 1945).

'A secret the size of a country'

2010-07-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

That's how Steve White, the editor-in-chief of Action Asia, a Hong Kong-based adventure travel magazine, describes Taiwan.

In the foreword to the July/August 2010 issue of the magazine, he writes:

"Here at Action Asia we have always been fans of Taiwan and I have even used this page before to make the case that it is hugely underrated. Well, sorry to repeat myself, but staggering fresh from competing in the recent Salomon Suunto X-Trail event just outside Taipei, I am reminded yet again of the staggering opportunities there are there for outdoors lovers.

"The mountains start before you even leave the suburbs of Taipei - even the city's mass transit railway can get you close to forested hillsides and trails - and extend clear to the other end of the country. Few places can have a comparable percentage of mountainous land - in Asia, perhaps only Nepal, Bhutan and Hong Kong.

"The Taiwanese people are beginning to understand what they have got on their doorsteps, with hiking and camping really catching on, but their tourism board seems to prefer to keep this a secret from the world. That's your cue to go check it out before this little piece of wilderness gets more widespread attention. Besides the mountains to hike and bike, kayak through and paraglide from, there are empty east coast beaches, aboriginal tribes to meet, Han Chinese culture arguably more intact than that on the mainland, and a chilled-out and friendly people."

The same issue has an article on paragliding in Taiwan, written by a friend of mine, Matt Gibson. Back in 2003, I interviewed Steve White for a two-part article on Taiwan's great potential for sports tourism (Part One / Part Two).

Know your gods: Lord Chi

2010-07-24T15:41:00.001-07:00

This serious looking individual is Lord Chi, 'Taiwan's most popular Wang Ye', according to the Encyclopedia of Taoism by Fabrizio Pregadio. '[His] cult appears to have developed in Fujian and can be traced back to the cult of the martial plague-fighting deity Wen Qiong.'

The words Wang Ye mean ‘royal lord’ but this name is more honorific than accurate – the only royal connection is that it's believed the original 360 of the many hundreds of spirits in this category were musicians and scholars employed by Emperor Tai Zong (reigned 626–649).

The Wang Ye cult is stronger in Taiwan than elsewhere in Greater China because of plague-expelling customs in Fujian. Whenever coastal communities in that province were afflicted by disease, they’d place Wang Ye icons on boats and set them adrift. Prevailing currents carried brought many of these vessels to Taiwan and to the southwest in particular. That region has more than two-thirds of the island’s 1,200-plus Wang Ye temples. Knowing exactly what the boats were, Han people living along Taiwan’s coastline received them with a mixture of fear and awe; they knew that ignoring the Wang Ye was to tempt fate, so they built shrines and burned incense.

'The origin of the Wang Ye appears murky, but the term appears in Qing-dynasty gazetteers from Fujian, some of which claim that temples to these deities existed as early as the Song dynasty,' writes Pregadio. He quotes data compiled by the Japanese colonial authorities in 1918 and 1930 showing that Wang Ye temples accounted for about one in seven of all registered shrines in Taiwan; only land-god temples were more numerous.

Taiwan's busiest Wang Ye shrine is Nankunshen Daitian Temple.

I took the photo above in a small temple in Tainan's Anping district called Xi Long Dian. Locals go there to propitiate Lord Chi; tourists go there to see the effigy shown below. It represents a salt merchant who was deified after his death in 1948 and who's now regarded as a land god. The effigy is believed to actually smoke the cigarettes provided by devotees!

The role of the state in Taiwan's economy

2010-07-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

Economics probably doesn't appeal to you as much as Taiwan's natural wonders and cultural treasures, but I think the following statistics (which I came across in a 1990 book published by Taiwan's government) are interesting.

In 1952, when sugar was Taiwan's no. 1 export and sugar refining was nationalised, the government controlled 52% of the island's industrial production. By 1972 this proportion had fallen to 19%, and by 1988 it was 10%. Of course, the state's declining role in industry isn't due so much to the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (though there has been some, for example Taiwan Salt Co. became Taiyen) as to the massive post-World War II expansion of the manufacturing and petrochemical sectors.

I wonder what the current percentage is?

Local colour VI

2010-06-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

In old neighbourhoods throughout Taiwan, you can find hand pumps like the one top right, spotted in the old part of Kaohsiung's Zuoying district. Some still draw water from wells, others ran dry long ago. I've not heard of urban residences that lack their own supply of running water, yet I have seen people filling buckets from these pumps and carry them away.

Museum of the War of 1895

2010-06-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

For Taiwanese, the key term of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894—95, was the ceding to the Japanese Empire of Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. Japanese rule lasted half a century.

Tens of thousands of Taiwanese took up arms when Japan tried to take possession of their new colony; a Republic of Formosa was declared on May 23 1895. Six days later, Japanese forces landed east of Keelung. Between early June and late August major battles were fought in Sanxia, Hsinchu, Dajia and, decisively, at Changhua.

The Museum of the War of 1895, located inside a Cold War bomb shelter on Changhua Mount Bagua, tells the story of Japan's military takeover and the resistance they faced. Unfortunately, the museum is entirely in Chinese with the exception of the official English-language version of Japan's official proclamation that it was taking control of Taiwan (it promises "all inhabitants of the ceded territory peacefully fully pursuing their ordinary and lawful avocations will receive full and constant protection"). There are very few artifacts from the era; even the Republic of Formosa postage stamps are reproductions (as of a decade ago, originals could be bought from stamp dealers in Taipei).

People who don't read Chinese can pick up a useful English-language leaflet.

Anping's Treehouse

2010-06-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

This gorgeous photo was taken by Richard Matheson inside Anping's Treehouse, a long-disused and fantastically overgrown warehouse behind the Tait & Co Merchant House in Anping, the Tainan neighbourhood that's the oldest Han Chinese settlement on Taiwan.

For some history about the Tait building and the warehouse, read this entry on one of the blogs I recommended a few days ago.

One ticket covers admission to both buildings. Inside the Tait building there's a museum that focuses on the Dutch era. Despite a few translation mistakes ("flower" when it should be "flour"), the museum is well worth some of your time. One memorable fact I learned: It was illegal for those working in the the Dutch hospital in Tainan to inherit anything from those who died while under their care.

There's not much left of the warehouse, but the banyans growing up through it are quite surreal.

Great Taiwan travel blogs

2010-05-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

I'd like to recommend four excellent travel-related blogs .

Tainan City - An Aimless Guide has carefully researched and beautifully photographed entries on the former capital's attractions. I especially like the posts about Tiantan and the building that's now the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature.

Taiwan in Cycles features detailed descriptions of the blogger's bike rides around Taiwan

Wandering Taiwan is a bilingual (i.e. Chinese as well as English) blog with fairly short entries and nice photos. Most of the posts are about well-known attractions; one of the longest and most thorough is about Yingge near Taipei. The bloggers have also been to some places I haven't been to, such as Waziwei Ecological Reserve.

Hiking Taiwan is the work of Stuart Dawson, who I had the pleasure of hiking to the top of Mount Jade with last month. (The weather was foul, that's why neither he nor I have blogged about it). As I write in my guidebook, Snow Mountain is one of Taiwan's most beautiful hikes - and Stuart has winter photos to prove it.

Know your gods: Obscure personalities

2010-05-23T16:12:00.001-07:00

A recent exhibition at Kaohsiung Museum of History featured dozens of folk-religion effigies and images.

For me, the most interesting artifact was an icon of a Catholic priest (pictured right) from a mountainous part of rural Kaohsiung. Unfortunately, the label does not reveal if the aborigines who carved the statuette prayed or made offerings to it. (If they did, did they regard the priest as an addition to their pre-exisiting pantheon, or were they converts to Christianity who treated him as a saint?). Nor does it say when the carving was made.

Also intriguing is this effigy of Liao Tian-ding (廖添丁). Like many other divine personalities, Liao (pictured lower right) was once an ordinary human. However, unlike most of the entities worshipped in Taiwan's folk temples, he was born and died in Taiwan. Revered for fighting the Japanese then in control of the island, icons of him began appearing in temples soon after his violent death in 1909. Some biographical details can be found here.

Local colour V

2010-05-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

I spotted these betel leaves (also known as betel pepper or piper betle) outside a house in Taitung City. They're cultivated for use in Taiwan's massive betel-nut industry (betel nut is the island's no. 2 cash crop, after rice). The leaves are wrapped around the betel nut (Areca catechu), a stimulant favoured by truck drivers, manual labourers and others, and sold from roadside kiosks by skimpily-dressed young women.

According to this website, "The betel leaf is ised in a number of traditional remedies for the treatment of stomach ailments, infections, and as a general tonic... Some evidence suggests that betel leaves have immune boosting properties as well as anti-cancer properties."

If the last point is true, it's just as well chewers chomp on the leaves while enjoying betel nuts, as habitual use of the nut dramatically increases your chances of suffering from oral cancer.

Retro appeal

2010-05-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

There's no English inside the Kaohsiung Museum of Military Dependents Villages, but the exhibits will appeal to those with a taste for 1950s bicycles, radios, telephones and TVs. After Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalists retreated to Taiwan in 1949, servicemen and their families were housed in hastily-built neighbourhoods near military bases. These "villages" - most are now abandoned and many have been demolished - were culturally distinct in that the vast majority of inhabitants were of mainland descent, that very little Taiwanese was spoken, and that support for the Nationalist regime was solid. The Kaohsiung Museum of Military Dependents Villages is built on the site of a former navy settlement in Zuoying; it's open from 9am to 5pm but closed Mondays and the days after national holidays. The full Chinese name of the museum is 高雄市左營區眷村文化館 and the address is 高雄市左營區海光三村左公二公園園區; tel 07 588 2775. The museum's website, on which there's minimal English, is here. There's a similar museum in Hsinchu.

A statue you don't see every day

2010-05-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) died in 1975. Some statues of the generalissimo have been removed (many have been sent to this dedicated park), yet the island still bears thousands of reminders of the dictator, among them road and district names (Zhongzheng, often spelled Jhongjheng, 中正, is an honorific title for Chiang and one of Taiwan's most common road names).

Statues of Chiang Kai-shek's son, Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) like the one pictured here, near Lotus Lake in Kaohsiung - are a rarity. Many Taiwanese have a positive impression of the younger Chiang thanks to his efforts to develop Taiwan. He was, however, complicit in many of his father's crimes.

The Danshui-Bali Ferry

2010-04-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

The very frequent ferry (top picture) that links Danshui, the historic seaside town near Taipei, with Bali, the town on the south bank of the Danshui River, makes for an enjoyable and inexpensive (NT$39 return) excursion.

Until a few years ago, there was very little to see in Bali. Now it has a major museum, Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology, a cycling path and - right where you disembark from the ferry - mudbanks alive in crabs (lower picture) and mudskippers .

'Typhoon Island'

2010-04-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

I recently watched Typhoon Island, a 48-minute documentary co-produced in 2004 by the BBC, Germany's WDR, Austria's ORF and Taiwan's Public Television Service. It's an excellent introduction to Taiwan's ecology and highly recommended. A short excerpt can be seen here; my copy came courtesy of booksfromtaiwan.com.

By yacht to Taiwan

2010-04-20T00:00:00.001-07:00

This article, posted on the internet late last month by a New Zealand couple who sailed their yacht from Japan to Kenting National Park, is worth reading even if you don't plan on arriving in your own vessel. Despite encouragement from the government, yachting has never really taken off in Taiwan. Cruise-ship arrivals are certainly picking up, however.

Local colour IV

2010-04-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

Heping Street is one of the old thoroughfares that make up Daxi's charming if touristy merchant quarter. According to this website, the architecture that can be seen here, "was popular during the Japanese colonial rule of Japan’s Taisho era. The picture patterns - including Greek mountains, Roman columns, Chinese-style fish and bats - seen at the stores on Heping and Zhongshan old streets, are a mixture of baroque, Taiwanese, Greek, and Roman styles."

The town itself, in Taoyuan County, makes for a good stop if you're heading inland to the North Cross-Island Highway.

Cover design confirmed

2010-04-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

The cover photo for my book was taken by Rich Matheson and was taken in his wife's home township, Namasia in Kaohsiung County. The book is now listed on amazon.co.uk and amazon.com as available for pre-order, although it won't hit the shops until October or thereabouts. One hopeful sign: According to the amazon.co.uk/amazon.com ranking system, it's already selling better than my first book about Taiwan, Keeping Up With The War God.

Caught in a culture clash

2010-04-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

Neil Taylor, who writes the Bradt Travel Guides to Estonia and Baltic Capitals, visited Taiwan last month for the British newspaper The Independent. His article appeared on March 20; here's the first third:

"My favourite fact about Taiwan's capital, Taipei, is this: within two years no resident nor office worker will be further than 50 metres from an entrance to an underground station. It puts the estimate that Londoners are never more than 20 yards from a rat to shame.

"Taiwan has been off the map, almost literally, for decades from the British traveller's perspective. It used to style itself the "Republic of China", much to the irritation of the much larger People's Republic of China, 100 miles away on the mainland – which has long regarded this surprising and dramatic island as a thorn in its ideological side.

"China exacted all kinds of diplomatic revenge: when BA flew briefly to Taipei, for example, the airline had to create a subsidiary, "British Asia Airways", to serve the route for fear of losing its valuable rights to fly to Beijing.

"But rapprochement across the Taiwan Strait means that the first non-stop flights from London start next weekend, helping to open up an island that has much to offer besides excellent public transport. Early in the year of the tiger, Taiwan is burning bright.

"In 1971, I led a pioneering tour to the People's Republic of China; at the height of the "Cultural Revolution", we were treated to an abundance of propaganda. This month, I redressed the ideological balance with a visit to Taiwan – and, for the necessary history lesson, headed straight to Taipei's memorial to Chiang Kai-Shek.

"You can't miss it: modelled on the temples in the Forbidden City in Beijing, it continues a Chinese tradition of honouring former rulers with folie de grandeur rather than grandeur on its own and is therefore plumb in the centre of the city. Carefully tendered lawns and flower beds on all sides, and then the marble of the building itself, topped with blue-glazed tiles, make clear that this is a shrine and nothing else. Eighty-seven steps – one for each year of Chiang's life – take pilgrims from ground level to the exhibition hall..."

Local colour III

2010-03-29T19:40:00.001-07:00

A woman washes clothes the traditional way at a spring-fed trench in Nanzhuang, Miaoli County. Nanzhuang is a delightful township far from the sea. The population is mostly Hakka with a significant aboriginal minority.

Know your traditions: Burning incense

2010-03-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

Worshippers place incense in the main censer at a temple in Taoyuan City. The offering of incense to gods and ancestors is central to Taiwanese folk religion; even in those temples that now discourage the burning of joss paper, the pious tend to hold three incense sticks in their hands when praying. In several places, you'll see incense sticks as thick as your thumb and as long as your forearm glowing and smouldering. A shrine where incense isn't burned throughout the day is indeed a strange - or neglected - place of worship.

According to this article:

"The burning of incense is considered a means for communicating with the spirits. It is said that when people hold a stick of incense in prayer before an image of a god their soul becomes transparent and the god knows what they are thinking... [It is believed] that fragrant scents attracted good spirits [and] smoke from incense carried the wishes of the supplicant to heaven."

A lot of incense is made from sandalwood, but as with joss paper, there are many different kinds for different purposes.

Strange and wonderful place names

2010-03-26T15:10:00.000-07:00

These days, Taoyuan (桃園) is unrepentantly industrial city of almost 400,000 with a name that strikes 21st-century visitors as oddly bucolic: táo (peach) yuán (garden). Before it became Peach Garden, it bore a much more vivid toponym. The pioneers who settled hereabouts in the late 1700s dubbed it Humaozhuang (虎茅庄) meaning ‘the terrace covered by plants with leaves as sharp as tigers’ teeth’.

Kaohsiung (高雄) was long known to the world as Takau. This name, often spelled Takao and sometimes Dagou, stuck for more than three centuries, until the Japanese colonial authorities decided the written form – two Chinese characters with the literal meaning 'hit the dog' (打狗) – was undignified. They replaced it with different characters (the current 高雄) meaning 'lofty hero', pronounced Takao in Japanese and Gāoxióng in Mandarin.

For the same reason, they renamed what's now Minxiong (民雄), a town just north of Chiayi. Originally dubbed Damao (打貓, ‘hit the cat’), the colonial regime selected the current set of characters, which mean ‘citizen’s hero’. Endearing place names can still be found throughout the countryside. One neighbourhood on the outskirts of Tainan is still marked on maps as Gourou (狗肉, ‘dog meat’ – perhaps its first resident was a butcher selling canine steaks). In tea-growing country not far from Alishan, there's a Niushihu (牛屎湖,‘cow-dung lake’) and near Jiaxian in rural Kaohsiung, one small valley is known as Goushikeng (狗屎坑, ‘dog-faeces hole’). Kaohsiung has another of my favourite toponyms: Agongdian (阿公店), literally 'grandpa's shop'.

The Formosan macaque

2010-03-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

The Formosan rock macaque (Macaca cyclopis) is Taiwan's only monkey species. It isn't difficult to find. An estimated 250,000 macaques roam the foothills and mountains; troupes vary in size from around 20 to 50 or more individuals. Females outnumber males but the ratio is usually less than two to one. These creatures, which weigh between five and 18kg and measure 35 to 45cm long (body only; the tail is another 30-odd cm) prefer mixed forest to bamboo or grasslands.

Occasionally, they're hunted for meat. Many farmers consider macaques a pest because they steal fruit, sweet potatoes and other foods. In captivity - some people keep them as pets - they live up to 30 years.

The photo here was taken by Richard Matheson. More photos and information can be found here.

Paragliding in Taiwan

2010-03-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

At first glance, Taiwan should be an excellent place for paragliding because it's covered in hills. However, as this website points out, much of the airspace is restricted for military reasons and power lines get in the way at several other promising sites. There's more about the sport here and here, and a map with paragliding sites in Taiwan here.

I took this photo from Tigerhead Mountain, near Puli in Nantou, three or four years ago.

Local colour II

2010-03-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

This is the morning fruit and vegetable market at the base of Liyu Mountain in Taitung City. A lot of senior citizens go to the mountain (which is only 75m high) to exercise and then do some shopping on the way home. In addition to the usual cabbages (a Taiwanese staple), carrots (which in Mandarin are called 紅蘿蔔 hóng luó bó, literally 'red turnips'), onions, turnips and various leafy greens I saw several people selling the vegetables pictured below. When I've confirmed the name, I'll post it here.

Snow-flecked Mount Jade

2010-02-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

The view a few weeks ago from the top of Mount Dongpu, an eminently-climbable peak (30 minutes' on foot from the main road to the summit) just inside Yushan National Park. It shows Taiwan's highest mountain with a bit of snow. A fortnight or so before I took this photo there was a great deal more snow, enough to prompt the national park to bring forward Mount Jade's annual closure.

Tax-free shopping

2010-02-21T01:00:00.000-08:00

There's a tax-refund system for foreign visitors who shop at participating stores. If you spend more than NTD3,000 in a single day at any of these shops no more than 30 days before your departures, and you take the items with you when you leave Taiwan, you can reclaim the 5% VAT at the airport prior to boarding your flight. The list of participating shops includes almost every department store in Taiwan, some computer shops and a good number of opticians. Weighing cost and quality, getting a pair of glass made while you're in Taiwan isn't a bad idea...

The arrival of Christianity in Taiwan

2010-02-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

I wrote the following for the religions section of the textbook and now realise it's too long and detailed. But waste not want not...

Christianity arrived in Taiwan in the 17th century with the Spanish and the Dutch. Missionaries working among the indigenous people in the south had some success, but the religion’s roots were too shallow to survive the viciously anti-Christian regimes of Koxinga and his son. The missionaries who arrived in the second half of the 19th century had to start again from scratch in the face of public hostility often abetted, occasionally restrained, by local officials. Father Fernando Sainz (1832-1895) arrived in 1859 managed to establish Roman Catholic churches in Kaohsiung and the countryside. In 1865 the Scotsman James L. Maxwell (1836-1921) founded the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, the denomination considered Taiwan’s most influential on account of its links with the Hoklo gentry. Maxwell’s first attempt to establish a hospital in Tainan resulted in his being driven from the town by angry locals who believed he was cutting up bodies to make opium.

The Japanese colonial authorities allowed foreign church-planters a more or less free hand until the late 1930s, when growing hostility between Japan and the West caused almost all North Americans and Europeans to leave the island. Since 1945, in terms both of laws and public attitudes, Taiwan has been one of the most missionary-friendly societies in the world. After the Communist victory on the Chinese mainland there was an influx of missionaries who’d been serving there but who’d been ordered out by the new regime. Among them was Gladys Aylward (1902-1970), the Londoner whose wartime exploits inspired the 1958 Hollywood film, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness. She’s buried just outside Taipei. In recent years several foreign priests have been decorated by the government for their educational and medical work. Churches continue to occupy some very prominent locations in the cities and dozens of denominations – including some homegrown ones – are active. Despite this, only about 3% of the island’s Han population is Christian. One major reason is that many Taiwanese of Han descent still regard ancestor worship as a core duty and see relatives who do not take part in such rites as disrespectful towards their forebears. Among the aborigines, conversion efforts have been much more successful – more than half the indigenous population is Protestant and a significant minority is Roman Catholic.

Maolin

2010-02-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

My recent trip to Maolin featured more than enough rain, mist and mud for my liking. However, I was still very impressed by how much there's to be seen there, even though damage done by Typhoon Morakot remains visible. Because of the weather I didn't take many photos. I saw aone monkey, a great many birds, but not many butterflies, even though wintertime is when vast numbers of purple and blue crow butterflies descend on Maolin. The valley and nearby areas amount to a butterfly migration point of international significance.

The butterflies shown here were in the enclosures at Maolin Ecological Park, which is right beside the main village. Most of the people in Maolin are Rukai aborigines.

There are no public buses to Maolin, so you'll need your own vehicle. A motorcycle is preferable to a car. Alternatively, get a local tour operator to organise everything; this article profiles one who in the last two years has taken a lot of people to see the butterflies.

Travelling around Taiwan during Lunar New Year

2010-02-14T04:08:00.000-08:00

Don't do it. Between Lunar New Year minus three days until a week or so afterwards, trains and long-distance buses are packed with people returning to their hometowns or going sightseeing; room rates in hotels and homestays double or triple (compared with those places' usual midweek prices); famous attractions are extremely crowded; and quite a few restaurants and other businesses close for a few days. Moreover, the roads get very busy indeed.

Made in Taiwan whisky

2010-02-10T00:07:00.001-08:00

In my guidebook I'll be devoting several pages to local food and drink. I may even mention the Taiwan's new whisky after it's shock success in a blind tasting session a few weeks ago in Scotland.

Salt ponds

2010-02-05T15:11:00.001-08:00

Taiwan's southwestern coast is lined with salt evaporation ponds. Salt was made from seawater from the 17th century until 2002. Some of the ponds have been converted into fish farms but many have been abandoned. As quasi-wetlands, they're rich in snails, little fish and the birds who feed on them. In Tainan's Jingzaijiao, where I took this photo, small quantities of salt are still made using traditional methods, so school groups and tourists can learn about the process.

Remnants of the salt industry can be seen in Tainan, Chiayi and on Kinmen. Salt used to be a government monopoly; the salt bureau had its own police force to make sure no one stole salt from the ponds. There's a salt museum in Tainan.