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Published: March 26th 2013
Back in Taipei, we take advantage of the last few free days before my internship starts. We hop on a local train to the porcelain-producing little town of Yingge. We visit the Ceramics Museum, where several exhibitions of artworks of budding sculptors and artists from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong strike our interest. The main reason for us to make the trip, however, is Yingge Old Street. There we find pottery and ceramics shops in abundance, selling everything from bowls mass-produced in China to locally crafted goods. After browsing for a few hours, we finally decide on a tea cup, a few bowls and one fine clay pot made in Japan.
One thing that we appreciate most about Taiwan is the night markets. Shida district boasts one of the most famous and dynamic ones in Taipei. What sets it apart from Shilin Night Market is that most visitors appear to be students from the nearby National Taiwan University, and not tourists. Thus the vibe is a completely different one, it feels younger and the crowds are more stylish. By stylish I mean they wear Korean-inspired designer (I'm assuming) clothes, most of which look improbably silly to my
non-fashionista eyes, especially in combination with the fake-Panama hats some of them sport. Even worse is the infuriating, never-ending pan-Asian trend of big black-framed glasses without lenses. What's next? Putting your arm or leg in a chic cast although they're not broken? Wheelchairs or crutches as en vogue props? I better hold my tongue, the wrong person might read this and it'll become the next big thing.
We come across Minimal Café, which is Taiwan's, and possibly the world's, first cat café. As the name already suggests, it's a café where cats roam freely and customers are encouraged to interact with them. Most, if not all of Minimal's felines appear to be rescued strays or abandoned pets, which are now well looked after and taken care of. From our observations, it seems to us as though most customers never owned a cat or any animal before. They approach, treat and pet the animals with such awkwardness that one has to reach that conclusion. Or maybe this cautious behaviour is simply conform with society's prerequisite of not displaying too much self-confidence, as this could be taken for excessive individualistic tendencies, which in turn might be considered an insult to the
mainstream group and result in expulsion and/or ostracism. Nonetheless, there's one lone corpulent girl, who stomps around the café and defiantly uses the cats as though they're only there for her to experience the physical affection she doesn't appear to get anywhere else. With so much fascinating anthropological behaviour right in front of my eyes, I contend myself mostly with observing and taking pictures. The majority of the cats are clearly not interested in humans, anyway, all they do is laze around, eat, and get into fights with fellow felines they disapprove of.
***
One day during Chinese New Year, we witness a parade forcing its course through Xinzhuang district's heavy traffic. There are several floats carrying drummers and cymbalists who play their instruments persistently to evict evil spirits. Around half a dozen guys carry a bright red, intricately crafted papier mâché-dragon on sticks and move it in a semi-circular forward manoeuvre. This dragon dance is also performed inside shops, businesses and private houses for good luck and prosperity, in exchange for money. Some people throw money directly into the mouth of the dragon. A few giant Buddhist gods also make an appearance, each
wearing a mask of a different colour. It is actually the first time I've witnessed this, and as much as I enjoy finally seeing a dragon dance and the whole hubbub that goes with it, I'd have expected something a little grander. I imagined 50+ people inside a gigantic dragon, frantic music, firecrackers and a more festive mood. The way the parade moves through the traffic, stopping at red lights, with most pedestrians walking past without a glance, also comes as a bit of a surprise. The participants' body language is the epitome of unenthusiastic, some look legitimately bored or pissed off. They don't look like they're having fun, that's for sure.
A few days later, we head to Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall to attend a performance of Shen Yun, a New York-based performing arts company famous for their classical Chinese dance and story-based folk dance. The interesting thing about Shen Yun is that its performers are practitioners of Falun Gong/Falun Dafa, the spiritual discipline whose adherents are allegedly so brutally persecuted in China. Some of you might already have come across a Falun Gong info booth in bigger cities all over the globe, or seen them in parks
Secret Garden
TANG, Hsuan (2011)practicing their qigong exercises.
Regardless of political opinions about Falun Gong, we are here for the dancing. And dancing we get, quite spectacularly so, in fact, with dozens of performers in beautiful costumes with a variety of props delivering an intriguing mixture of acrobatics, song and dance. Several stories are told and performed, all of them set against a digitally projected backdrop, e.g. mountains, temples, Mongolian grasslands or imperial courts. In between each piece, two hosts talk about the story and produce light-hearted banter in Mandarin and English to amuse the audience. However, shortly before intermission, they start talking about the suppression and persecution of Falun Gong and its practitioners in China. After that, their appearances descend further and further into political and sectarian propaganda, which isn't exactly what we paid for. In the end, despite the enjoyable dance performances, we leave the theatre with a bad taste in our mouths. Interestingly, the moment the show officially ends, everybody gives one brief last round of applause, jumps up and runs towards the exits. No standing ovations or special applause for select performers, nothing. Maybe it is a part of Taiwanese culture to just piss off as soon as possible,
or maybe they weren't that impressed, either.
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auspicious
Michelle Duer
I thought your remarks about the functionless glasses were hilarious. I remember that when my mother grew up in Asia (and I know many countries were like this), glasses use to hold such a stigma. Both extremes seem bizarre. You could also argue that casts are beginning to take on a "fashion" statement as well with colored casts, people decorating their casts, we may be heading to a Hunger Games future still! As for the cat cafe, there are more in Asia! There are even dog cafes. I'm sure most of them are harmless and with good intent, but can't help but wonder if some may be hoarders turning their obsession into a business, not a bad idea, and it sounds cleaner, too. Very cute cat photos. :)