Snow-flecked Mount Jade

This was the view a few weeks ago from the top of Mount Dongpu (東埔山), 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

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

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

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 takes people to see the butterflies.

Travelling around Taiwan during Lunar New Year

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.

Salt ponds

Taiwan's southwestern coast is lined with salt evaporation ponds. Salt was made from seawater from at least the 17th century until 2002, when the industry was closed down because it was no longer economically viable. 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.