Wouldn’t it have been nice, I was thinking to myself at the end of a day at the Nanyuan Land of Retreat and Wellness (南園人文客棧), if we had been completely free to walk among the traditional southern Chinese Jiangnan-style architecture, roaming at our own leisure through the rooms tastefully decorated with carved scenes of […]
南園
ware
Chen Chengqing Taipei Times article Chen Cheng-ching’s (陳澄清) boss asked him whether he could imitate the decorative motif painted on the National Palace Museum’s Ming 100 Deer Vase (百鹿尊). The Chinese like that one, he said. It symbolizes great wealth. Chen worked on the composition, and his co-workers copied it.
sleepy town
A trip to a temple town to thank the goddess for help finding a job. The last time we were here it was packed. The annual pilgrimage. This time the hot sun cast its shadows on empty streets, and we had time to look at houses lining the temple approach.
茶壺山
Not far from the popular tourist destination of Jioufen in New Taipei City, just past the Jioufen Gold Mine Museum and through the parking lot, a path leads up to a prominent outcrop. Some feel this outcrop resembles a teapot. Whether it does or not is entirely up to your own interpretation.
張松山
I interview Yingge artist Chang Sung-shan (張松山). He talks of his life, his art, his plans. His brush dances over the lid of the pot he is painting as he talks. I assume he’s just distractedly doodling.
阿萬師
Master Wan Taipei Times article Pottery stores along Yingge Old Street (鶯歌老街) won’t sell teapots made by Tseng Tsai-wan (曾財萬) these days. “They’re too expensive. A single teapot fetches up to NT$70,000 these days,” he tells us.
Chan and Weng 詹與翁
Kick-wheel potter Chan Kuo-hsiang (詹國祥) tells a story of how late president Chiang Ching-kuo was puzzled during a visit to the old pottery town of Yingge. BMWs and Mercedes parked along streets lined with dilapidated buildings; conspicuous wealth amid ramshackle abodes.
baishatun matsu 白沙屯媽祖
Baishatun’s Gong Tian Temple was already packed with pilgrims late afternoon when we arrived. The pilgrimage was due to start at half past midnight. We were waiting in the space between the main altar and the stationary palanquin in which Matsu would soon set off for Beigang.