Memory, seven months later 美好的回忆：七个月之后

希望在天之涯
地之角的你们
都能拥有一个丰富快乐平安的2011年
期待喜悦和乐的2012的来临

Two Unforgettable Weeks in Taiwan

At the Wisteria Tea House: The art of tea-drinking

The Chinese Medicine class was very entertaining.

Quincy and I dressed as Chinese Opera performers

The National Palace Museum

Chinese Opera mask-making class

At the Shilin Night Market--the food section

Being creative with pottery

At the Yingge Ceramics Museum

At the Lin Family Mansion

...Here are some of the many pictures I took when I was in Taiwan. The two weeks in Taiwan were definitely a great opportunity for us to learn about the Taiwanese culture and see concretely what we had studied in books during the spring semester. We attended interesting classes such as a Tai Chi Chuan, a Feng Shui, a Chinese Medicine and even a Chinese rice dough figure-making class, which were all very informative. All classes were designed in a way that we could each actively participate and try out various skills. My personal favorite was the Chinese Opera mask-making class, where the meaning behind each Chinese Opera mask was explained. It is especially entertaining to watch a Chinese Opera performance when you understand the meaning behind the mask colors and garments of each character. For instance, the colors red and yellow (on a garment) represent nobility and are usually associated with the Emperor while a blue garment is usually associated with a fisherman. For a mask, the color red represents energy and passion; in Chinese Opera, a brave and courageous character (a hero) would usually be wearing a red mask. While green, blue and yellow masks are usually associated with uneducated characters, the white mask is associated with the literati (but can also represent old people). After this class, movies such as “霸王别姬”or "牡丹亭", portraying Chinese Opera, will be easy to follow. Not only did we attend many fascinating classes but we also went on field trips. We visited Lung Shan Temple (where the movie "Monga" was shot), Yingge (and the Yingge Ceramics Museum) and the National Palace Museum (home of splendid historical treasures). We also went to Ilan, which is Wu Laoshi's hometown!! Last but not least, we went to the Shilin Night Market, where I bought an "I love Taipei" t-shirt among many many other souvenirs! It was definitely a very enriching trip that I am not ready to forget. I don't know about the other nine students but, personally, I definitely plan on coming back to Taiwan!

Food again!! The connection of past, present, and future :))

Lunch with alum and three incoming students in Taipei 101 area 上海滬園小籠包.

每次看到這張照片就讓我想到“過去、現在、未來”的相互關係及連接

體内環保: 臺灣素食觀 (Vegetarian and Environment)

你們好，好久不見了！

I took this picture at the Spring Vegetarian Restaurant 春天素食餐廳.  It says, “Meat-less on Mondays and Tuesdays” 週一週二無肉日; and “anti-global-warming” 抗暖化.   It reminded me Candy’s project – health consciousness as well as environmental awareness in Taiwan.



In this restaurant, a variety of delicious vegetarian dishes is available for consumers. I believe it has at least 50 kinds of dishes.

紫藤廬 (Wistaria Tea House) 和食養文化山房 (Shi Yang Tea House on the Mountain)

紫藤廬，鬧中取靜；一個曾經是知識份子沸沸揚揚的聚集地
食養山房，世外桃源；一個希望與自然世界心靈互照的極樂土
誰能像我們一樣有幸
一天之内在兩處如此特別的地方
享受甘醇的茶香、怡人的氛圍
真要感謝張老師當下熱心的安排
讓我們領會了從過去到現在，從現在到未來的無限可能

“一花一世界，一葉一如來“
食養山房壁上書法繪畫
從中領悟到
'用心享受
用心觀察
一切從心始
一切于心止'
心之于萬物，
也許食養山房主人是真正地從中領悟到了



宜蘭傾盆大雨之際採茶
親身用手觸摸茶葉的滋潤感覺
點滴在心頭



For Wistaria Tea House in Taipei:
 http://www.wistariahouse.com/main/modules/MySpace/index.php?sn=wistariateahouse&pg=ZC2024

For Shi Yang Shan Fang:
http://www.shi-yang.com/

I love these two Tea Houses.  What they are doing is beyond tea.

:D

Hello all!

Sorry...my post is long overdue. My internship in Taiwan is going well, although life here is so busy and I'm still trying to get used to the working hours here. Looking back at the two week trip we had together, I think it was an experience I couldn't have had at any other school or with any other teachers! The itinerary everyday was superbly planned out and the activities and excursions definitely helped me understand my second homeland a lot better than before. (speaking of homeland, I just received my Taiwan National Identity card and Health Insurance card two days ago!)

Some highlights from the trip that were the most...culturally invigorating for me were the Yingge and Yilan trips, and finally the trek to the "5 finger mountain" for the tea ceremony.

Here are some photos from each place:

Yingge: museum and pottery making. woo!

Amazing architecture.

So glad I got a glimpse at the new exhibition on the ...4th? floor!! Such great pieces. This one is called "to accept or to reject" by Huang Chi-Cheng

"Sharing the Sweet Flavor of Happiness" by Hsieh Pei-Tsen

"words" by Lin Li-Min

"Dragged" by Lian Shian-Li (so cute!!! i love this last picture)

my first egg vase..."egg" by christine yeh heheh

my second ceramic jar (i have no name for it yet!)

the final products! glaze included :D

At Yilan for tea picking

complete with ponchos and conical bamboo hats (or dou li)

close up of a ...grasshopper type creature on a tea leaf! (with penny in the bg!)

and then the tea ceremony place

such beautiful interiors. i love tatami!! perhaps reminiscent of Japanese colonization. this was our class's view of the tea ceremony performance.

and the view of the outside. even if it was raining, the place was still so beautiful! extremely peaceful, simple and elegantly designed...i wouldn't mind living here.

Anyhoo! That concludes my pictures show-and-tell. I hope you all are doing well and that your summers are awesome! Can't wait to see more posts. :)

Christine

Tradition and Japanese Cultural Influence in Taiwan

Hello class and readers!

Thank you for tuning in to our class blog. Our trip to Taiwan was truly an exciting and rare opportunity. I feel I learned about Taiwan with a depth that could only be gleaned from a trip like this. Each step of the way Prof. Wu made sure that we understand the significance of each place in the context of Taiwanese history and culture.

One aspect of Taiwan that is fascinating to me is the influence of Japanese culture. As a student who has previously studied Mandarin in Mainland China, it was like a form of culture shock. Because the Japanese government has never formally apologized for Nanjing Massacre and other events of WWII, in addition to other tensions, Mainland China (at least on a surface level) is wary and resentful of Japan in many ways. Taiwan however, having been cut off from the Mainland in terms of communication and political experience, its long history as a Japanese colony, and Modern trade relations, seems to display its Japanese cultural heritage openly and with pride.

I would say the peak experience of our trip for me was our visit to a very traditional tea house in the mountains outside of Taipei. This was the rarest of opportunities, as this place is normally quite expensive by Taiwanese standards and is usually booked up months in advance. (For this experience we owe our thanks to 吴老师 and especially to 张老师，who also accompanied us earlier that day to the Wisteria Tea House for a lesson in traditional tea ceremonies.) Not only were we able to sample tea, but we heard the most beautiful traditional tea ceremony music and saw a brief opera performance from The Peony Pavilion.

Afterward we enjoyed a delicious meal of healthy, local foods meant to complement our tea. The tea house is part of the “养身” movement in Taiwan, encouraging Taiwanese people to live life with health, and balance.

吴老师 Prof. Wu explained to us how the traditional Japanese architecture of the tea house, rarely found in Mainland China, is actually derived from China's Tang Dynasty- the point at which immigrants arrived in Japan from China and settled there. Due to political upheaval as well as the difficulty of maintaining these wood and paper based buildings over such a long period, this Tang style architecture can for the most part only be found in Japan today.

The traditional tea house is of this style- tatami style mats, low tables and paper shade windows. We also spoke to the waitstaff, who not only live at the tea house but are also practicing Buddhists. This tea house actively preserves traditional Chinese tea culture, although the style would seem Japanese to a viewer not versed in ancient Chinese history.


To be in the fresh air of the mountains, to hear the rush of the streams, the rain, and the breeze outside, while savoring the aroma of the tea, was an experience I will never forget. Taiwan has so much more to offer than just to city of Taipei. It is fascinating that the fast-paced economic development in Taiwan, which has created one of the most modern cities in the world, seems to also have provided avenues to actively preserve some of China's most ancient and complex cultural traditions.

Some Reflections from Shi Laoshi/史老師

大家好!

I have been back from Taiwan a month now and I, like Zarah/蘇若才, still think frequently about our experiences there. There are several reasons why I enjoyed the trip (besides the obvious fact that the members of the group were all wonderful people!). Here is Myra/林安 showing her enthusiasm about going to Taiwan while we were waiting for our plane in Minneapolis.

First, I felt that 吳老師/Wu Laoshi’s scheduling provided a great combination of listening and observing plus hands-on activities. As Quincy/倪倩 mentioned in her post, the classes we attended were an excellent opportunity to try out various skills. Clearly Wu Laoshi knows how important it is to get everyone participating and using their hands every now and then (especially when fighting jetlag!) and how that physical involvement is essential to absorbing the information being imparted. The classes on tachi, Chinese medicine, and Chinese rice dough figure-making as well as pottery making in Yingge, opera mask-painting, and tea-picking, roasting and brewing all afforded us the chance to learn about and practice various traditional art forms and techniques.

Second, I really appreciated the trip’s focus on how tradition is manifested in modern Taiwan society. One experience that left a deep impression was our visit on our first full day in Taipei to the Longshan Temple/龍山寺. We were there at approximately 5:00 p.m., and worshippers of all ages and walks of life were thronging to the temple to burn incense, pay respects to the gods, and to join in the late-afternoon round of twice-daily mass chanting. The scene was truly熱鬧. Here was a centuries-old ritual, taking place in ultra-modern Taipei; it was very moving.

I liked how our visits to places in Taipei progressed from the traditional to the modern: we started with the Longshan Temple and the Lin Family Mansion and Garden/林家花園 and ended with shopping and eating in the district of the skyscraper Taipei 101. Also, I thought the choice of having us stay at National Taiwan Normal University was a good one: the area surrounding 師大 had a good mixture of old and new. Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, supermarkets and fancy stores could be found right next to shops selling traditional-themed wares, famous old restaurants, and new eateries serving homestyle Taiwan dishes and other provincial cuisines.

Which brings me to a third reason that the trip was so enjoyable—and I am sure most of the group would agree with me here—the food. I think I liked every meal I had over the course of two weeks, but several that we had as a group stand out in particular: 春水堂 (at the Chiang Kai- Shek Memorial Hall/中正紀念堂, for its bubble tea—first served here, as Candy/李家寶 pointed out in her post—snacks, and noodle dishes ), 豐盛食堂 (for its traditional Taiwan fare), 春天素食 (for its sumptuous vegetarian buffet), and 一佳村(五行餐)in Yilan/宜蘭 (for its local homestyle cuisine). Our dining at all of these restaurants was in keeping with the traditional-within-modern theme of the trip.

Many thanks to Wu Laoshi for all her efforts to make this visit to Taiwan a great success. Best wishes to everyone!

非常感謝吳老師細心的安排與熱心的指導!

Yingge Ceramics Museum and Pottery Making

As Quincy said, Yingge Ceramics Museum and Old Street Ceramics Pottery Making 鶯歌陶瓷博物館/老街製陶 were amazing.  The museum is relatively new, and it has become a popular place for visitors. We walked through the history of Taiwanese pottery in the museum. We also visited younger generation's creative pottery works there. Here are some more photos to share.

Classes in Taiwan

One of the great things about this trip were the lectures that we were able to attend, an activity unique to a class trip arranged by professors.

Here's a few pictures of us in Yingge, a town famous for its ceramics. We got to experiment on our own with the clay, after a brisk lesson on the pottery wheel.

Our first lesson on how to shape the clay: we all started out with a preformed foundation...the first time. The rest of the times, we started out with a block.

We ended up with some pretty artistic shapes!

Here's a few pictures of the Chinese medicine class at the university. We learned about cold, cool, warm, and hot foods that could affect our bodies. We also learned about the acupressure meridian points on our bodies, and spent the rest of the trip hitting ourselves on those points to activate them. Also, it felt nice to pound away the stress on our bodies.

Here's a sort of gun thing used to create suction, a modern version of cupping. The suction in the bulb draws the blood to the surface of the skin, allowing bad toxins to leave the body. The bulb stays on for about 10 minutes or more.

Shi Laoshi, from Swarthmore College, experienced this sensation first hand.

This bulb is a smaller version of the same cupping idea.

Wu Laoshi has burning mugwort on her right arm, and an acupuncture needle in her left hand. The acupuncture didn't hurt as much as I might have expected.

This next set of pictures was taken on the same day, when we learned how to make some figurines out of flour dough. Originally, this type of dough figurines could be eaten, and were used as edible decorations. These days, the recipe involves a few more chemicals in order to allow the figurines to harden and stay mold free, so we were repeatedly warned NOT TO EAT THE DOUGH. We had a good amount of fun.

Besides the parrot, we also made a panda and an angel.

Finally, one of my favorite classes was the Chinese opera face painting class that we took. We went to a Chinese opera school where the students, who attend the school from around ages 10 until 20, study all aspects of Chinese opera including the dancing, singing, acrobatics, artistry, and music that is involved.

We either painted masks, painted our own faces. The students painted half of our faces and we painted the other half in the mirror. While we painted, one of the teachers there spoke to use about the meanings of the various colors in Chinese opera painted faces: red for courage, white for selfishness and slyness, green for impulsiveness, and so forth.

Myra had a pretty complicated face.

Sarah's face was very courageous.

This is the midway point of me painting my face...of all the days to wear my glasses instead of my contacts!

Candy's face was also complex. I love the eye part of her face.

Xuefei's face is Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. It really is reminiscent of a monkey!

Thanks to everybody who organized this trip!!!