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!
