Fili's world» Asia | China, HK, Taiwan

Taipei’s Maokong Gondola : Traveling through clouds

Fili — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:58:00 +0000

Ever had the sensation you’re hanging up in the air between a sea of clouds? With the Maokong Gondola and the summer rainy cloudy weather you can experience just that. Though you won’t enjoy the scenic beauty of the Maokong tea plantations, you will feel like you’re flying through clouds all the way up to the top.

Although I’ve lived in Taiwan for quite a while, I was so far really unlucky with the Gondola. The first time I wanted to visit the Gondola, I followed the Lonely Planet time schedule and came in on a Monday only to find out it’s closed for maintenance on Mondays. Still, I decided to take the bus up to Chi-Nan Temple, the middle stop on the Maokong Gondola, and had a terrific time there.

Shortly after that time, the Gondola was shut down for a very long period due to some serious problems following a typhoon. It was only recently reopened and so I finally had the chance to go and take the gondola all the way to the top. It was a rainy day, with countless clouds surrounding the Muzha mountains.

And so… this is what my trip up looked like. I can only describe the experience as… magical.

Hot or cold, rain or sunshine, it’s worth a visit. If you’re not in a rush – don’t miss it.

Oh, and BTW – it’s unbelievably cheap for the tourist attraction that it is.

228 Peace Memorial Park-Museum & Formosa Betrayed

Fili — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:02:00 +0000

The 228 Peace Memorial Park just south of the Taipei Main Train Station area is a lovely little park, hosting two museums, several pagodas, ponds, & Chinese style gardens. The name of the park, as well as the 228 museum are set as a reminder to one of Taiwan’s darkest times, February 28th, 1947.

Wikipedia introduces the park:

228 Peace Memorial Park is a historic site located in the Zhongzheng district of Taipei, Taiwan. The park is home to the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, housed at the site of a former radio station that operated under Japanese and Kuomintang rule. The park contains a number of memorials to victims of the 228 Incident of 1947, including the Taipei 228 Memorial that stands at the center of the park. The National Taiwan Museum stands at the park’s north entrance. The park also features a bandshell and exercise areas.

So what was the 228 incident?

The 228 Incident, also known as the 228 Massacre, was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that began on February 27, 1947 and was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang (KMT) government. Estimates of the number of deaths vary from ten thousand to thirty thousand or more. The Incident marked the beginning of the Kuomintang’s White Terror period in Taiwan, in which thousands more Taiwanese vanished, were killed, or imprisoned. The number "228" refers to the day the massacre began: February 28, or 02-28.

I recommend browsing through the Formosa Betrayed book (PDF) from 1965. There is also a recently featured movie with the same name which I haven’t had the chance to see yet. Initially I thought it’s strange that there are so many online copies of the movie in Chinese VOD sites, but when you really think about it – why would the CCP hold back on the KMT violent crack-down on the local Taiwanese?

The main memorial statue…

Lovely Chinese pagodas and ponds…

Foot Massage path…

And people quietly practicing Chinese martial arts…

More from the blogosphere on the peace park, the 228 incident and the movie :

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Fili — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:34:00 +0000

The first time I visited Taipei, 5-6 years ago, I had no idea who Chiang Kai Shek was to Taiwan. I mean, I heard he was big shot mainland general who lost to the Communists, but the story of how he came to be Taiwan’s president-dictator and the local politics surrounding the Kuomintang were still unknown to me at the time.

The first day following my arrival in Taipei, I walked down from the Taipei Main Station, to the nearby museum, then to the peace-park with the no-English 228 museum and then down to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. I remember being very impressed. The whole complex is meant to overwhelm with the grand entrance, the large grounds, and the huge structures. I found the architecture fascinating and thought the whole place was quite beautiful.

The one thing that seemed odd to me at the time was the cult like worship of the former president. There are other places in the world where you can find huge statues of former presidents (Lincoln in Washington DC, for example), so I didn’t think much of it. Personally, I could never understand why people look up to politicians that way, but I accepted this as common practice anywhere in the world. The only thing that maybe puzzled me a bit was when the tour guide indicated that the president to follow was CKS’s son and that he led the construction of the place. The constant reference to Taiwan as the “Republic of China” was also quite confusing.

Fast forwarding a few years later – having lived in Taiwan for a while, the idea of such a memorial hall being dedicated to a notably controversial figure seemed questionable. When the then twice elected DPP declared that the memorial hall name would be changed to something about democracy, it made perfect sense to me. That seemed like a good way to bridge between past and present.

I now revisited after a while living away from Taiwan and the name has been restored to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall once again with the returning Kuomintang government. There seems to be a lot of emotions running regarding CKS and his place in history. While I do have an opinion about this issue, it matters little – the way I see it, this is for the Taiwanese to figure out on their own. Every time I think I get how my Taiwanese friends feel about the local politics, I hear something that completely throws me off, and so with time I realized that the best approach is merely to ask questions and keep my mouth shut while they figure out their answers. I promise you that if you do that without bias, you’re likely to be surprised with some of the answers.

Moving on, if you walk in the area surrounding the memorial hall you can find a few other interesting buildings.

Here’s one of the older gates of Taipei …

The Presidential Office…

BTW – Many of the Taipei schools around the memorial hall still have CKS statues greeting them at the entrance… I don’t remember seeing anything like that anywhere else.

Here’s more from the blogosphere :

Miniatures Museum of Taiwan @Taipei

Fili — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:02:00 +0000

The Miniatures Museum of Taiwan in Taipei is one of those odd little museums you’re not really sure whether to go to or not. Just like Taipei’s Story Land, which I must have walked by a couple of dozen times before deciding to actually see what it is about, and when I did it was terrific fun. So was the miniatures museum. It’s just a very small place hosting lots of little miniature dolls and houses, but it’s interesting and quite nicely done.

Their website explains :

It is generally believed that Germans was the first nation to bring miniature arts in the form of Dollhouse. Some four hundred years ago Germans found dollhouse an effective mean to teach their children, especially daughters, the way to keep the house in order. This tells the fact that most antique dollhouses now in Germany are made as kitchen or living room.

However, the dollhouse art was confined within palaces and nobles until nineteenth century when the hobby was introduced to England . Once known to the general public it has soon flourished and variety of dollhouses appear to depict many distinguished architecture and their interior furnishings.

Then in hope to precisely conserve the evolution of the living style in different era and various areas, a new form of dollhouse, now called "Roombox" came into light. The miniature art becomes more and more sophisticated. Now we see specialists in furniture, in painting, in lighting fixture, in upholstery, in porcelain making, in glasswork, and so forth. They all contribute to form contemporary dollhouses and roomboxes that are so amazing and intriguing, and historically correct, too.

Wikipedia elaborates :

The Miniatures Museum of Taiwan is the first museum to collect miniatures in Asia. The museum was founded on March 28, 1997 by Mr Lin Wen-ren and his wife. It is located in Taipei City, Taiwan

Miniatures originated within German palaces of the 16th century as tools for teaching aristocratic children, but appreciation for the art form did not pass to other parts of the world until much later during the 19th century. Today, miniature masterpieces are found throughout Europe and North America covering a wide range of subjects, from complete settings to intricate accessories of tableware and wall paintings. Reproductions tend to follow a 1:12 standard scale of accuracy, or half scale at 1:24.

Taiwan’s museum is the first to specialize in contemporary miniatures and features two basic formats: "doll house" and room box with cut away views. It is ranked second in the world, boasting a collection of nearly 200 items. Founder Lin Wen-Ren and his wife are responsible for sourcing each item while travelling in Europe and the United States.

Here, have a look…

Lovely, isn’t it?

More? check out :

“It’s all about me–me-niatures, that is!” from Shu Flies.
the miniatures museum of taiwan for taiwan fun

Hualien City–Aboriginal Dancing Show

Fili — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:07:00 +0000

The aboriginal community in Taiwan is one of the most fascinating things about Taiwan. It holds the promise of culturally distinct local cultures with their own language, customs and life, living an old-fashioned traditional island life, unhurt by modernity.

But, when it comes to tourism, Aboriginals are a money making machine. They bring in the tourists who generally want to see them hopping around dressed up in minimal clothing while humming and shouting something that sounds like that melody Enigma stole from them a while back.

And so, in Huelien City, home to some of Aboriginal tribes in eastern Taiwan, tourists get what they came here looking for. Watching these “authentic aboriginal shows” with their overly official quite awful Japanese-Mandarin-Taiwanese narration in the background, I couldn’t help but feeling like I’m watching the poor native-Americans (sometimes called “Indians”) brought in from the nearby hunger-stricken community to entertain the ignorant white American aristocrat.

It’s not that the local Aboriginal kids don’t do a good job. They do. And they look terrific in their customs, too. But I’d rather see them having fun dancing around in a local festival, than having them go around the audiences during breaks trying to sell Aboriginal produce from a factory in mainland China. Sure, it is a way to make a living, and they should enjoy the global tourism economy as anyone else does, but it still bothers me somewhat.

But enough of that. I attended two shows. One is the “Ami Culture Village” a bit outside of Hualien and costs 200NT$. The other is a free daily show inside Hualien City, just next to a market selling a lot of what looks like authentic Aboriginal handicraft. The paid one is slightly more professional, but in my taste – the local one will surely do.

If you want to see some of the dances. I got a few videos for you to watch here :

The performers take their role as crowd entertainers very seriously, and so the final end of the show includes bringing in willing Japanese to experience a local Aboriginal wedding.

If you want to see more Aboriginal shows, check out my post about “Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village near Sun Moon Lake at Nantou County”.

More?

Aborigine Dances in Hualien, Taiwan

Taiwanese aboriginal dance

More Cosplaying : Cosplayers @UST

Fili — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:38:00 +0000

Want more Cosplay? Here’s more Cosplaying photos for you.

This is the second post of photos from the Dating @UST 2010 Cosplay event held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Cosplayers arrived from all over Hong Kong to take part in the Cosplay event and show off their Cosplaying outfits.

Enjoy.