It is hard to believe that we have now been here a month, and we have done so much. This weekend was no exception. On Saturday, it rained a lot for the first time, so we slept in and lounged around. I am reading lots of good books and fun books. Right now, I am into a Nora Roberts
murder mystery, so I am not overly taxing my brain on this one! Ted, meanwhile has chosen for his light reading a 1000 page biography of Einstein!!Anyway, by late afternoon, the rain had stopped, and we decided to head downtown, through the walk-through tunnel that connects the University grounds with the first section or district of downtown Kaohsiung. We went to the district called Yangpengchu, which is the smallest of Kaohsiung's districts but full of colorful, funky streets selling clothing (mainly) in Taiwanese (read:tiny cf to American sizes!) sizes and the Museum of Kaohsiung History. The Museum is free and fascinating; in a relatively small area (so it is a museum you can appreciate in one hour or so, just about Ted's and my limit for museums anyway!). We also were given, again for free, tape players in English to explain the exhibits. The displays de
tailed the origins of Kaohsiung's multi-ethnic population, currently c 1.5 million, and comprising primarily of three main groups: Fujan (from mainland China in early times); Hakka (from central China emigrating c. the 12th century), and the aborigines. Other displays did a really interesting job of exhibiting the history of how Kaohsiung people became adept at and wealthy at becoming fishermen, farmers, producers of tea, dye, sugar and rice. Irrigation was often provided by these ladder wheels, whereby men or women would peddle the apparatus to raise water upwards from the canals to the rice paddies!
Also, the aborigines used to harvest clams and oysters in the lagoons, and toss the shells into piles, which over time, were covered by silt. Nowadays, the sands of Kaohsiung are intermingled with shell pieces, and another industry, that of making products of sea shells, emerged. However, we have been told that the sites where these shell/sand areas exist are being destroyed by developers.
One other neat aspect in this Museum was their display of what they call "glove puppets!" They are elaborate hand puppets.
They are garbed in wonderfully colorful Taiwanese traditional dress; there are about 12 companies in Taiwan that "do" this, travelling around to give performances. We have not seen any yet, but maybe we will at some point!Today, we left early to catch the local (relatively small) Kaohsiung Jade Market. Basically, it comprises a number of outdoor stalls with vendors selling trinkets of tra
ditional Taiwanese culture. I have read that the "jade" at these markets is usually imitation because the price of genuine is so high. I have read up on how one can supposedly tell the difference, but do not feel confident I would know at al
l!! The best advice, even from one of the very helpful and honest "jade" dealers at one of today's stalls, said, for the real thing, buy at a jewelry store or major dept store and insist on a letter of authenticity! But the Market is fun, and there are LOTS of beads (Jan, take note!)and craftsmen making jewelry on the spot, out of beads, plastics, macrame, etc!We spent the early afternoon going next to the Kaohsiung Museum of Hakka Culture.
The Hakka, who now comprise about 19% of Kaohsiung City's 1.4 million people, were treated as outcasts, second class citizens, in mainland China. At first, they fled and migrated from north central China to the southeast coast, directly across from Taiwan. They stayed together and maintained their customs and traditions. But they were required to register as "Hak,"and as such, were not allowed to own land, or property of any sort. They were often threatened by warlords, robbers and gangs. Still, they worked hard. Finally, they came to Taiwan. At first here too, they were considered inferior, but times are changing. One evidence of this is this Museum, which opened in 1998 , and a second is that high level government posts in Taiwan, Mainland China and Singapore were, in the early 1990s, held by Hakka. Cynthia, one of our friends ,with her husband and their one year old son (One-One, or Wan-Wan) is of Hakka descent. And she is a doctoral student (taking one of Ted's classes, in fact) and assistant to I-Heng, Ted's sponsor here. Ted and I are planning to work with Cynthia to write a joint article on the special educational systems here and in the USA.
Finally, here Ted is pointing (picture on the left) to where we are staying, up the hill; and (in the picture on the right)Ted is pointing on the map to where his office is, on the grounds of the University.
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