HK Protest Documentary Wins Golden Horse

A still from Chow's Revolution of Our Times documentary

Tonight the Golden Horse Awards, the Chinese-speaking world's equivalent of the Oscars was held tonight and the Hong Kong documentary on the 2019 protests was named Best Documentary.

When the film Revolution of Our Times was announced as the winner, it prompted a long round of applause and shouts of support for Hong Kong from the audience in Taipei.

Director Kiwi Chow sent a pre-recorded message from Hong Kong. He expressed thanks for the award, dedicated the film to Hong Kong people, saying he hoped it would bring them some comfort.

Chow speaking via a recorded message in HK

"I cried a lot when I produced this film; several times I comforted myself with this film, to express my anger, hatred, to face my fear and trauma," he said, his voice cracking with emotion.

The 152-minute documentary follows several protesters and documents their clashes with police in the 2019 anti-government protests. 

Revolution of Our Times was a last-minute addition to the Cannes Film Festival lineup in July, but it will never be shown in Hong Kong because of the national security law which prohibits any hint of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces.

As a result those in the arts and culture fields are worried about work being misconstrued as contravening the national security law. Most recently the opening of M+ contemporary art museum resulted in photographs by dissident artist Ai Weiwei not being displayed even though they are part of a collection donated by well-known Swiss collector Uli Sigg.

This big win for the documentary comes days after the second anniversary of the District Council elections where 71 percent of registered voters turned the city's electoral map yellow except for one district. It was an unprecedented win for the pro-democrats, but the victory was short lived, again because of the national security law.

A poster of the documentary

Since then the city's institutions are being dismantled from the district councillors themselves to grassroots organisations and unions, as well as a pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily.

Chow's film is a reminder of what happened and to never forget.

A Reminder to Pay for One's Sins

Chan on his release day with Reverend Koon last October

Local media outlet Stand News published a three-part interview with the mother of Poon Hiu-wing, who was murdered by Chan Tong-kai in February 2018. That gruesome crime sparked the Hong Kong government's decision to push through the extradition bill that led to last year's months'-long protests.

Chan, 20, and Poon, then 19, went on holiday to Taiwan over two years ago and the night before they were supposed to return to Hong Kong, they had an argument that escalated to Chan killing her, stuffing her body into a suitcase and dumping it before coming back alone.

Poon's mother reported her missing, at which point Chan was arrested for four counts of money laundering, as he withdrew money from his victim's account. He admitted killing Poon and disclosed where he dumped the body, which was later found.

Poon's mother says Chan should go to Taiwan

In Hong Kong he was convicted and sentenced to 29 months in prison, and was released on October 23 last year. The media covered his release, where he publicly apologized to Poon's family, and added he was willing to surrender himself to Taiwan.

But since then he hasn't been seen in public and it has almost been a year since he left prison.

Which is probably why Poon's mother wanted to remind Chan about his promise.

She talked about her daughter who she described as a sweet, filial child who was academically minded, and the mother and daughter would go shopping and watch movies like sisters.

However, she knew her daughter was in a relationship with Chan and didn't approve. 

Since the murder, Poon's mother has suffered bouts of depression. She recalls going to the spot where her daughter's body was found, and she couldn't bear to see the badly decomposed body before cremation.

The hotel Chan and Poon stayed at in Taipei

She had a message for Chan: "God is watching what people do. You can only do yourself and our daughter justice if you deliver on your promise as soon as possible." 

The mother also said that as a victim and an ordinary resident, she felt "very sad" that her daughter's death triggered the social unrest last year. "We didn't know that this would cause a series of social events, we felt very regretful."

Nevertheless, Chan seems to be under the control of Reverend Peter Koon Ho-ming, who had visited the young man when he was in prison and orchestrated his departure from prison, where he was whisked away to a safe house.

Interestingly the pro-Beijing Koon, who is acting as Chan's spokesman, said the man would hand himself over to the Taiwanese authorities when the borders between the two jurisdictions have reopened. Koon added he would travel ahead to Taiwan to lay the groundwork for Chan's surrender.

He also directly replied to Poon's mother's demand:

"Tong-kai has never thought of escaping from this matter. Otherwise he would have denied this when he returned to Hong Kong, and there wouldn't have been an extradition bill."

The priest added: "As I discussed the matter with him and his family, I believe that he will eventually return to Taiwan to turn himself in. I hope that Hong Kong and Taiwan's border will be reopened as soon as possible, so that I can go to Taiwan to arrange for him to turn himself in."

The extradition bill sparked massive protests

But even during the pandemic, there have been flights operating between Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the Taiwanese authorities have even relaxed quarantine measures for business travelers from Hong Kong to only one week, when it was previously two weeks.

In addition, Taiwan's police department have set up a working group on an ad hoc basis to handle Chan's case. It even created a special "single window" mechanism to process Chan's visa application, his expected arrival and other arrangements.

So what's the hold up for Chan?

"I also very much want to resolve this matter as soon as possible," said Koon. "As Poon's mother said, 'God is watching'. I believe that God will put an end to this matter, and I will do everything to arrange for Tong-kai to turn himself in... Let's pray to God about this," he said.

It is very strange for Koon to speak on behalf of Chan, who is an adult and can speak for himself. Why is Koon orchestrating everything? And as flights have not been disrupted by the pandemic, surely there is no more excuse for Chan not to go to Taiwan?

Chan must face the murder charge and the eventually sentencing. 

In fact the earlier he does this the better. Delaying it any further would raise more suspicions. It's the least he can do for Poon's family.

Major Fashion Faux Pas

Singer and actress Yang Mi cancelled her endorsement contract with Versace

Fashion brands in Europe and the United States, who depend a lot on the mainland market for sales really don't know their customers, in particular the geographical area where they come from.

Versace, Givenchy, and Coach somehow all had the same brilliant idea of printing T-shirts with cities on the back, much like tour concert T-shirts. How did they all come up with the same idea that turned out to be a really bad one?

Coach and Versace T-shirts listing Hong Kong and Taiwan

In the case of the Versace T-shirt, they probably thought sales would go through the roof because they listed so many different cities like "Milan, Italy", "Beverly Hills, USA", and "Shanghai, China".

But when it comes to the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, they printed "Hong Kong, Hong Kong", and "Macau, Macao" as if they were countries.  In the case of Givenchy, Taipei was listed as "Taipei, Taiwan".

While Taiwan is separate from China (considered a democratic state, but a renegade province to China), how about not wading into the sovereignty issue at all and just print the names of the cities?

The result left 1.4 billion Chinese upset for sure and their Chinese brand ambassadors quickly quit these brands.

Model Liu Wen severed her ties with Coach

Donatella Versace, the brand's artistic director, apologized on Sunday for the "unfortunate error".

"Never have I wanted to disrespect China's national sovereignty, and this is why I wanted to personally apologize for such inaccuracy and for any distress that it might have caused," she said in a statement.

Wanting to distance herself from the fiasco, Chinese actress and singer Yang Mi terminated her contract with the Italian fashion brand.

In the case of Coach, Model Liu Wen was the New York fashion label's brand ambassador, and on Monday cancelled her endorsement deal.

"I apologize to everyone for the damage I have caused as a result of my less-careful choice of brand!" she exclaimed in a Weibo post that was 'liked' hundreds of thousands of times. "I love my motherland, and steadfastly safeguard China's sovereignty."

Boy band singer Jackson Yee quit his contract with Givenchy

Liu took the proactive step of apologizing before the government could step in and embark on a hate propaganda campaign on her.

Meanwhile, Chinese boy band idol Jackson Yee also stated on Weibo that he had severed ties with LVMH's Givenchy, after pictures of one of the brand's T-shirts listed Hong Kong and Taiwan as countries.

Why is this still happening after the gaffes made by Dolce & Gabbana, when they made commercial of a Chinese model look silly trying to eat a pizza with chopsticks?

These brands have hardly any understanding of their Asian market and the subtleties between the different countries and territories. It just proves they are making whatever they think the Chinese market wants without much thought of the implications of their design choices.

This model had to eat pizza with chopsticks for an ad

And they are putting Chinese models, singers, and actors/actresses in a difficult position, as most of the time they don't know what they are going to model until they arrive at the studio.

If international fashion brands want to continue catering to the Chinese market, they must have a crash course on contemporary Chinese history. Infuriating their biggest customer base is just not worth the risk.

China's Propaganda Smear Campaign

Joshua Wong is not advocating independence nor is he affiliated with the US

Beijing is really on a mission to destroy young activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung, with the latest smear campaign an example of when one goes overboard with the insults so it looks outrageous.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate -- China's highest prosecution agency -- has released a video claiming Wong is a pro-independence advocate who is backed by the United States and wants to turn China into another Syria.

Huh?

If anything his party Demosisto isn't even advocating independence -- perhaps the Supreme People's Procuratorate has mixed him up with the Hong Kong National Party or Hong Kong Indigenous.

In any event, the video, posted on the Supreme People's Procuratorate's official weibo account, starts off with images of refugees from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia starving, dying or being treated cruelly. Then this contrasts with images of a "harmonious" China, mostly militaristic ones.

"The shadow of internal and external troubles has not dispersed from the Chinese sky," the text says. "Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan independence, as well as dissident leaders, lawyers who could fight until death and other agents of the Western forces are damaging China's internal stability and harmony by hook or by crook. Behind all these incidents, we can often catch a glimpse of the dark shadow of the Stars and Stripes."

Activist Zhai Yanmin was convicted of subverting state power

Wong's picture is shown twice in the video, one when he was on a hunger strike before the 2014 Occupy movement, and in a newspaper clipping from pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po, highlighting his "American background".

In this case, perhaps the Supreme People's Procuratorate has confused him up with his colleague Nathan Law Kwun-ching, who is the one with the American passport, not Wong, who has never studied in the US. And why bring up this two-year-old conspiracy again that has been proven false?

Not surprisingly Wong is frustrated by the video.

"... I've been smeared for a long time in the past," he said. "But it's very rare to see information released by communist officials on the mainland."

Wong posted his response on Facebook as well as news of pro-rights activist Zhai Yanmin convicted of subverting state power in Tianjin and given a suspended jail sentence.

Young people in the Sunflower Movement in Taipei

"[The sentence] is enough to prove the mainland's discredited legal system, and [the video]... is another example that there is no separation between the party and the country," Wong wrote.

He said he did not advocate for Hong Kong independence during the 2014 hunger strike, and that he viewed the "false statements" from the "state apparatus" as jokes.

The video also lumped in members of Taiwan's Sunflower Movement, who occupied the island's legislature in 2014 to protest a trade agreement with mainland China, saying they backed independence for Taiwan, and that they were also backed by the US.

In response, Lin Fei-fan, one of the leaders of the movement, said any revolution in Taiwan would not be Beijing's business because Taiwan was not a part of China.

Touche!

Ma Ying-jeou's Not Coming to HK

Ma Ying-jeou will give his speech to Hong Kong via video link on Wednesday

There was a bit of buzz about former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou coming to Hong Kong for the upcoming Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) as the keynote speaker on Wednesday. He was going to talk about cross-strait relations during his time as president.

Ma's staff were at pains to stress the visit would only be for a day, he would only attend this awards event, and that he wouldn't even visit his daughter who lives here with her husband.

However, Ma's request to travel was at the mercy of the new Tsai administration. According to Taiwan's Classified National Security Information Protection Act passed in 2003, former government officials with access to classified information are subject to travel restrictions for three years after leaving office.

And in this case, the Taiwanese government forbade Ma from coming to Hong Kong.

The annual SOPA awards recognize excellence in journalism

The government cited many reasons, including that he only recently left office on May 20, the request was made at short notice, the "sensitivity" of Hong Kong, and the lack of security cooperation in the city.

If Ma's trip had been approved, he would have been the first former leader of Taiwan to visit Hong Kong since 1949.

His office voiced regret at the decision, saying that it not only showed disrespect to the former leader, but also damages Taiwan's democratic image in the world.

The official opposition criticized the Tsai administration for showing "a lack of confidence and goodwill".

As Ma had planned to talk about the touchy subject of cross-strait relations, perhaps it's not surprising Tsai may have been concerned that others may misconstrue his ideas as those of the new president's platform.

Or perhaps she didn't want to give him a stage on which to present his ideas, particularly on rejuvenating the 1992 consensus, where both sides agreed on "one China", but they were each open to their own interpretation of what "China" was.

In any event, the law making visits by former government officials subject to travel restrictions is very interesting, and also reveals how Taiwan is concerned about how it is perceived outside.

So instead SOPA will have to accept that Ma will still give his speech via video link, upsetting his many fans in Hong Kong who had hoped to meet him in the flesh.

Overly Sensitive HK Bureaucracy

Lau Kong-wah says Hong Kong welcomes cultural exchanges

The Hong Kong government bureaucracy has become so sensitive about language that it needs a good slap in the face to fall back to reality.

A Hong Kong artist, Suie Lo Shuk-yin, was the executive producer for a play called Three Novels: The Third Lie, that was staged at Tsuen Wan Town Hall last Friday to Sunday by local drama group The Nonsensemakers.

For the program, she had provided a brief biography of herself and she mentioned her alma mater, Taipei National University of the Arts.

Taipei National University of the Arts campus

However the Leisure and Cultural Services Department verbally told Lo that she could not use the word "national" in the program in either English or Chinese.

Excuse me? How can you demand someone to take that word out of their biography, when it's part of the university's name?

In the end Lo cleverly rewrote her bio, taking out the mention of her alma mater and instead added a photograph of her holding a graduation certificate that showed the full name of the university.

As soon as this was reported in the media, a tsunami of outrage flooded the government, and it was forced to explain itself with a very red face.

Yesterday Home Affairs Secretary Lau Kong-wah read a two-minute statement -- in both Chinese and English -- that Hong Kong welcomed good relations with other countries, particularly through cultural exchanges. He did not specifically mention the controversy.

Tsuen Wan Town Hall where the drama was staged

But apparently this is not the first time this kind of incident has happened. In 2014, the word "national" for the same university was taken out of text of a program regarding some 20 dancers who studied there.

Cheung Siu-wing, chairman of the Leisure Services Staff General Union said the department's guideline stated only that cultural events at its venues should not involve politics.

But the guideline did not specify that the word "national" in the context of Taiwan universities was not allowed.

"I believe that our colleagues might have been oversensitive in this case," Cheung said.

You don't say!

He suggested that perhaps the issue only came to the attention of senior officials after it was reported to the media.

A cultural expert at Chinese University, Oscar Ho Hing-kay, described Lau's statement as an "empty response".

"If the government respected the arts group, why did the LCSD prohibit that word in the first place? Those were such rubbish comments coming out of his mouth," he said.

It just shows the staff working at the LCSD are not passionate about the arts, otherwise they would respect other people's backgrounds, wherever they came from.

Nature Versus Science

The famous Queen's Head at Yehliu Geopark

Two years ago my mom and I visited Taipei and her friend took us to the Yehliu Geopark to see the sandstones that are shaped by the water and wind into some fun recognizable things, like pineapple buns, morel mushrooms, and candles.

But the most famous is the "Queen's Head" that is supposed to have a similar likeness to Queen Elizabeth I.

More mushroom-looking sandstones in the park

However, a recent news report says that the 4,000-year-old natural sculpture might be in danger of collapsing, as the neck is getting 1.5cm to 1.6cm thinner each year, making it harder to support the 1.3-tonne head.

Scientists are trying to save the landmark, but others are split over how to tackle erosion.

"The neck may become too thin to support the head and might break off within the next five to 10 years, if nothing is done," says Hsieh Kuo-huang, a professor at the Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering at National Taiwan University.

"Any strong earthquake or severe typhoons may bring down the rock formation," says Hsieh, who is one of the scientists studying to preserve the rock.

He and his team have developed paints to protect the rock and strengthen the neck area. The paint was tested on rocks near the Queen's Head in August, but it peeled off, and the concoction has been tweaked and reapplied again elsewhere to test.

Other scientists say nature should take its course and if the head falls off, then so be it.

Natural erosion has created these "candles" by the water

"As the coastal landscape was made by erosion, the lifespan of the Queen's Head is limited," says Pan Han-shen, an activist from the pro-environment Tree Party. "I don't understand why we would want to freeze its lifespan."

Seeing the sculpture in person is quite impressive, but for the park administrator Kuo Chen-ling to say the rock could be moved into a museum seems very strange. The rock formation and many others scattered around the geopark bring in over 3 million visitors per year, but how much longer will they last?

It is an interesting idea to want to preserve the Queen's Head, but is it logistically feasible? Seems like Mother nature should be left to her own devices and eventually it will fall down. Maybe she is shaping another rock as we speak?

Taiwan: Final Observations

A foggy view of the city from Taipei 101

During our trip to Taiwan, we saw lots of mainland tourists, but also Japanese as well. You could instantly tell the difference between the two because they were like night and day.

The mainlanders spoke loudly, usually wore mis-matched clothing and footwear, and carried lots of shopping bags, while the Japanese were the complete antithesis -- polite, quiet, well dressed and well traveled.

It's interesting to see how the Taiwanese have been so strongly influenced by the Japanese decades after the occupation, or it's because the Taiwanese are so desperate not to be mistaken as mainlanders.

The Taiwanese are also very polite, quiet, well-dressed, and also very honest and generous. One time our tour guide opened the lid to her lip balm in a washroom in a shopping mall and it fell and rolled out of her stall.

After she came out she asked the washroom attendant if she had seen the lid and to give it back to her. The attendant kindly said she would, and seemed to try to memorize the guide's face. This would never happen in Hong Kong -- in fact one would never bother to ask because the answer would be "No", or "Find it yourself".

Also the honesty and straight-forwardness was refreshing. It made me realize how skeptical I am when I hear about or see something in Hong Kong -- I'm always on alert wondering, "Is that true?"

But in Taiwan, there seemed to be almost no reason to be skeptical of almost anything which made me realize how typical it is for people in Hong Kong to be scammed and it is your own fault for not knowing.

Or is it because the Taiwanese do a good propaganda job on us?

For example they are so proud of the National Palace Museum, for Chiang Kai-shek's foresight in protecting the treasures from the Forbidden City. Many locals are fans of the museum and come every few months when some of the exhibits change. They are also very learned and educated people who know a lot about Chinese culture, particularly history, literature and the arts.

While they respect Chiang for establishing Taiwan after 1949, the Kuomintang practically colonized the island, resulting in the White Terror period, where anyone considered against the KMT were arrested and or killed.

However in hindsight they resented his spending two-thirds of the budget on the military because he wanted to be ready to fight China anytime to reclaim it, and only one-third on developing the island.

It was his son Chiang Ching-kuo who became Premier of the Republic of China from 1972-78 and then President of the Republic from 1978 to his death in 1988, who realized that Taiwan would lose the battle to reclaim the mainland and instead focused on building the island into what it is today.

When we visited the Culture Park of the Chiangs, I remarked to our tour guide that American General Joseph Stilwell didn't like Chiang Kai-shek and called him "Peanut" for his incompetence, a fact she did not know at all.

But back to today, where Taiwan is being led by President Ma Ying-jeou and his popularity is at an all-time low of 9.2 percent in September from 13 percent -- even lower than when Chen Shui-bian was in office -- thanks to Ma's pro-China stance. Many Taiwanese feel he is selling out Taiwan to the mainland. Not that they want Chen to return as he's in jail for corruption, but they definitely want someone representing their interests. Sound familiar?

There are other domestic issues too, as Taiwan's economy is stagnant, with nothing really stimulating it except for mainland tourism. Fresh graduates are having trouble finding jobs and property prices are sky high. Sound familiar?

The Taiwanese are also curious to see how Hong Kong is dealing with China and so they are watching with interest what happens next year with Occupy Central. While the pro-Beijing camp is trying to pre-empt the group by saying it's radical and its plan is illegal, some Occupy Central members have reached out to Taiwan for moral support.

This has really annoyed China, but in some ways, Hong Kong and Taiwan are two peas in a pod, dealing with the same dragon.

The Pineapple Cake Debate

A box of SunnyHills pineapple cakes with one cake cut in half before I ate it!

Pineapple cakes (鳳梨酥) are must-buy edible souvenirs from Taiwan. They aren't delicate pastries like croissants or macarons, but from the outside look like yellow bricks which is the short crust, but inside is a thick filling of pineapple sweetened with some sugar.

However there is much discussion about whose pineapple cakes are the best because there are so many different brands, even in the airport gift shop. Before my trip to Taipei, a Hong Kong friend excitedly told me about a brand her colleague brought back from Taiwan. She could not stop talking about how good it was, and how different it tasted from other ones she had tried.

She even emailed the brand's name (SunnyHills), address and web address to me, as a sign of insistence that I had to check it out.

However, another friend who had just come back from Taipei, raved about another brand called Chia Te Bakery. She told us about the different flavoured pineapple cakes, not just the original, but also combinations of pineapple with red bean and cranberry. She added there were long lines in front of the store just to get the cakes, though it went quite quickly.

During dinner on the first day we arrived, I can't remember how it happened, but we talked with our Taiwanese hosts about pineapple cakes. Someone brought up how famed Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai Fung sold pineapple cakes that tasted quite good, but our hosts gave them the thumbs down.

"Those are contracted out," they said. "There's no way they could make their own cakes so they aren't good."

When I brought up Chia Te, they again immediately shook their heads and waved their hands.

"No good!" they said, adding it was only doing well because the brand was so well known, while the quality had dropped.

We were surprised to hear this because our friend is quite a foodie and knows her food.

But then they told us about a different brand that they said was the best. When I asked if they name was SunnyHills in English, they said yes. Bingo!

Our Taiwanese hosts told us that whenever companies send pineapple cakes during special occasions to their office, everyone wants to get first dibs on SunnyHills cakes. So if locals think they're good, they must really be.

They said it was so good because the pineapple they used was grown in Taiwan, whereas other producers used imported ones as there wasn't enough pineapple to go around. Interestingly SunnyHills was started about four years by IT tycoon Hsu Ming-ren, chairman of Asian Information Technology Inc.

SunnyHills uses Smooth Cayenne pineapples grown in Nantou County and Hsu has said quality local ingredients are the key to the company's success. "The filling of most pineapple cakes on the market is mixed with winter melon. But we use only Smooth Cayenne pineapple, which is sweet, but also naturally sour," he said.

His brother Hsu Sheng-ming manages the pineapple production where three years ago they used 10,000 pineapples a day, whereas the first year was only 2,000. Surely the number has doubled since.

When Hsu Ming-ren created his first batches of pineapple cakes, he gave them to his clients, the likes of Hon Hai Group chairman Terry Gou and BenQ Group chairman KY Lee -- all in the IT business -- who loved the cakes and word spread. Fast.

SunnyHills cake is a slender rectangular shape, unlike the typical ones that are more fat and stubby. Inside the filling is dark and as Hsu says, not as saccharine sweet as other pineapple cakes we've tried before, with lots of bits of pineapple in it. The pastry is more crumbly, but probably with the use of butter has a nice smooth taste.

So the next tine you go to Taipei, put SunnyHills pineapple cakes on your shopping list!

SunnyHills

台北市民生東路五段36巷4弄1號1樓
Tel: (02)27600508
Hours: 10am-8pm

www.sunnyhills.com.tw

Hakka Cuisine Taiwanese Style

The heart-stopping Hakka dish of braised pork belly with pickled mustard greens

Taiwan has many Hakka (客家) or kejia, literally "guest families". They are Han Chinese who speak Hakka language and were said to migrate from northern and central China to the south.

Marinated fresh bamboo shoots

Some famous Hakka are Dr Sun Yat-sen, Soong Ching-ling, Deng Xiaoping, Lee Kuan Yew and Chow Yun-fat.

In Taiwan 15-20 percent of the population is Hakka, making them the second-largest ethnic group on the island.

As a result Taiwan has some great Hakka restaurants like the one we tried in Chungli in Taoyuan County. It's an unassuming place, the staff are relatively friendly and if the restaurant's not busy, the kitchen will churn out dishes faster than you can eat them!

Curried soft-shell crab with small cubes of potato underneath

For starters we had bamboo shoots, fresh and large, lightly marinated and crunchy, followed by half a goose and half a chicken served cold.

Fantastic braised eggplant cooked Thai style

Next came the highlight of slices of dongpo rou or braised pork belly with pickled mustard greens that were placed in steamed flat buns. It was very greasy and not good for cholesterol levels, but very tender combined with the sweetness of the meat and savoury from the pickled greens.

There was also curried soft-shell crab that was slightly spicy, the flavours delicious and the sauce was also soaked up by small potato cubes. Intriguingly the dish was served with Western-style soft slices of bread but they went well together.

An array of mushrooms in a soup with a flavourful broth

One of the vegetable dishes featured a green one whose texture was similar to a soft celery, stir-fried with mushrooms, and braised eggplant was fabulous Thai style with a bit of chilli.

My favourite was the soup that was made using various kinds of mushrooms, including button, shiitake, and ones that looked like the eroded rock sculptures at Yehliu. They were cooked in a simple yet tasty broth I had to have seconds.

Our final course was like a Chinese-style pasta dish, with short noodles about an inch in length, stir-fried with julienne carrots, spring onions and minced pork.

I have the name card but it's all in Chinese... will have to get a translation!

Stir-fried short noodles with carrots, spring onions and pork

Taipei Day Four: Naturally Wonderful and Strange

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Waves crash over rock formations that look like candles at Yehliu Geopark

This morning, our last day in Taipei, there was light rain but we pressed on to Yehliu, over an hour's drive from the city. There is Yehliu Geopark, where you can see interesting rock formations due to erosion.

Standing by the Queen's Head

The land was created by cross movements of the Philippine and Eurasian plates, and the seashore containing limestone is also affected by marine erosion and weathering.

As a result there are various areas of the park that with a bit of imagination, have led to interesting rock formations as well as fossils of urchins, also called sand dollars. 

When we arrived it was very windy with light rain. To shield us from the elements, we donned lightweight plastic yellow ponchos that made us look like aliens next to the other tourists, most of whom were mainlanders.

Before we entered the park we were obliged to watch an eight-minute video introducing the area, which is a UNESCO site. The most famous rock formation is called Queen's Head for its profile of a regal-looking woman, while others look like giant mushrooms, pieces of ginger, a pineapple bun, a sandal and even candles.

A sand dollar spotted on the ground, one of many in the park

Before I go on, we watched the video with a group of mainland tourists. Two of them (men) in the front row, one with an iPad, the other with a camera started recording the video. A female staff member told them not to record anything so they put their devices down, but only for a few seconds and then proceeded to record the rest of the video. Even their tour guide didn't say anything even though he stood near them!

 

The end of the video warns people not to cross the red lines marked in the park or to touch the rocks. And what do many of them do when they start wandering the park? Security guards were constantly blowing whistles and telling them not to touch the rocks… imagine having a job like that all day…

The rocks here look like giant pieces of ginger

In any event we enjoyed seeing the various natural rock sculptures that were quite a curious sight. They are located very close to the water where there are rough waves, hence the red line. Our guide told us there have been incidents where tourists have stepped over the line to get a better shot and then were washed away into the sea!

The Fairy Shoe was one of our first sightings, what looked like a giant sandal and the Queen's Head. There was a long line of mainlanders so I snuck past them off the side to take a quick shot. It was only from that particular angle that the face could be seen otherwise it looked like an ordinary rock.

The tranquil pond at Culture Park of the Chiangs

I also spotted a few sand dollars, but they weren't particularly protected – or was it because they were too small have a ring around them, as people stepped all over them on the ground.

Nevertheless it was definitely worth the visit. We did see a few cranes, but perhaps because it was so windy or we weren't in the right place that we didn't see any other birds.

After lunch we headed to Daxi township in Taoyuan County where we checked out the Culture Park of the Chiangs. When Chiang Kai-shek was in power, he liked to visit places all over Taiwan and pick the best ones for his many residences. 

Some of the hundreds of statues of Chiang Kai-shek...

And to commemorate Chiang, many places from schools to government buildings, parks and thoroughfares had busts and statues of him.

But after Chen Shui-bian came to power in 2000 ending over 50 years of Kuomintang rule, he decided Taiwan should have a fresh start and ordered all of Chiang's statues be removed.

A good number of the over 3,000 busts and statues ended up in this park, as the scenery is reminiscent of his homeland in Xikou, Zhejiang. The area is quite pleasant, with a pond full of fish, green grass and paths for visitors to walk on.

... as well as busts of the Generalissimo that line the park

But it is strange to see so many likenesses of the Generalissimo all over the place, some arranged in circles as if having discussions with himself! The other interesting thing is that they all seem to look the same, wearing the Mandarin suit with a grandfatherly smile.

Taipei Day Three: Rain Forces Alternate Plans

The wind was blowing so hard I had trouble steadying the camera to take this!

This morning there was light rain but we thought we'd press on and head to Yangmingshan (陽明山) or Mount Yangming, an hour's drive from Taipei. It's the closest cluster of mountains near the city and were formerly created by volcanoes about 2 million years ago.

Heavy fog made it impossible to visit Yuanmingshan

Our guide told us that there's still thermal energy below resulting in hot springs for visitors to soak in.

However when we got there, the wind was so intense, blowing the rain combined with heavy fog we couldn't see much and our guide was worried it wasn't safe. Just waiting for our car to turn around and pick us up, my umbrella flew open the other way, while my mom's trousers were pretty soaked.

Inside the tea house on the fourth floor of the museum

So much for Yuanmingshan. We immediately decided to go back to the National Palace Museum and check out a few more things in detail. While there were some tour groups there it wasn't as busy as when we went on Saturday afternoon.

Armed with audio guides we checked out the jade section, where the Chinese considered jade to have strong spiritual powers and we could see its progression from being a useful tool for cutting things and skinning animals, to objects revered in rituals and for decoration.

Our bowl of delicious Taiwanese beef noodle!

The carvings are so impressive, particularly the relief ones -- how did they do that? And cut perfect circles to create the bi discs?

We also saw the exhibition on snuff bottles. I didn't know that the powder inside these small elaborately decorated containers was actually high quality tobacco ground into a powder, fermented and then sealed.

And because the powder was imported from the west by missionaries, the powder didn't do so well in humidity. As a result the containers were designed with a small opening, large body and spoon-stopper.

The entrance to the National Geographic photo exhibition

Then we had lunch in the tea house on the fourth floor of the museum, an airy place with views of the area. The menu is limited but was good. The highlight was the Taiwanese beef noodle, large chunks of meat that were tender with thick wheat noodles in a flavourful broth that came with pickled vegetables and peanuts.

Perhaps the highlight of the day was checking out the photo exhibition put on by National Geographic to celebrate its 125th anniversary. My cousin recently went to Taipei and told me about it so I'm glad I was able to see it (thanks to the weather).

Looking up at Taipei 101...

National Geographic was founded in Washington DC on January 13, 1888. It describes itself as a "unique scientific educational institution" that "has been a media for the dissemination of information". Its second president Alexander Graham Bell and first full-time editor Gilbert H Grosvenor said that "pictures are the language of the magazine", and Bell gave the order to "use pictures and plenty of them".

We saw 150 stunning images from the Society's back issues, many I have not seen before, others looked a bit familiar. There were the first pictures of Tibet in 1916, the first underwater picture in 1927 and the Society sponsoring people like Jacques-Yves Cousteau, newcomer Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey.

There was a picture of the discovery of the Titanic by Bob Ballard in 1991 and the first American team to trek up Mount Everest in 1963 with 19 climbers and 32 sherpas.

Looking down from Taipei 101... when the fog cleared a bit

Visitors also got to read the back story about the pictures such as one of a wolf jumping from one small ice floe to another in mid air. The dramatic shot was taken by Jim Brandenburg who has taken pictures of wildlife for 20 years but thinks in that time he has only taken seven good ones!

There's a picture of a lion cub who place its paw around the back of the neck of its mother that looked so human-like, that there were a number of inquiries for a copy of the photo when it was published in 1986.

Another amazing one is of a hummingbird in flight in Panama as it collects nectar from a flower. The picture is so sharp that the viewer can clearly see the detail of the features, lots of colour and each feather had edges of gold.

The massive wind damper on the 88th floor

Steve McCurry's haunting photograph of an Afghan girl in 1984 was actually rejected at first and then a photo editor looked at it again and put it on the cover. A few years ago McCurry managed to find the same girl again, now a grown woman.

Before dinner we checked out Taipei 101, that was for six years the tallest building in the world until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai took over in 2010. Every eight floors is one section and there are eight sections that are meant to create the look of bamboo. There are 101 floors in total and it takes only 37 seconds to get up there.

The building is able to withstand earthquakes thanks to the world's largest wind damper, a massive yellow ball held up by pulleys so that if the building sways one way, the ball and pulleys counteract it in the opposite direction. So the mascot of Taipei 101 is called "Damper Baby"...

Staff hard at work making dumplings at Din Tai Fung

We had to go through a massive strange coral museum and showcases of coral jewellery before we could take the elevator to go down. It took us 45 seconds to get down, mostly due to wind resistance.

Dinner was at Din Tai Fung, conveniently located in the basement. We arrived relatively early after 6pm so we were practically able to walk in as they don't take reservations. We ordered a few items we'd never tried before, including xiaolong bao made with black truffle, another with shrimp and loofah vegetable, and a plate of stir-fried Chinese fiddleheads that were fresh and slightly crunchy.

A plate of Chinese fiddleheads that were tasty and crunchy

To end off the evening we checked out Eslite, the 24-hour bookstore and it was relatively quiet, people wandering around or sitting on the floor reading books and magazines. We are expecting more light rain tomorrow...

Taipei Day Two: Cultural Immersion

Fog prevents us from seeing the view of the ocean from Jiufen

This morning we headed out of Taipei over an hour's drive to Yilan County (宜蘭縣), where many families like to go on the weekends. There isn't too much pollution and the water from the mountains is considered to be very clean and fresh.

The street scene at the National Center for Traditional Arts

To get there we had to go through Asia's second-longest tunnel -- 12.5km -- built during Chen Shui-bian's administration and it helped cut the travel time from two hours to one.

We arrived at the National Center for Traditional Arts, a complex built like a traditional Chinese street where local artisans and performers can have a platform to not only sell their products but also practice some traditional arts.

One of the shops sold small ceramic pipes shaped like ducks, turtles, vases, and so on. The owner gave us a quick demonstration and gave a free instruction book with music for customers to try.

A demonstration on a ceramic duck pipe

Another sold soaps made of natural ingredients, using various scents, such as lavender, green tea, Taiwanese coffee and orchid. The natural soaps are supposed to be non allergenic and good for the skin. So naturally we bought a few bars to try. There are also soaps for washing clothes... but don't we all just throw things into the washing machine these days?

Then a procession came by and it was a group of performers clearing the main path for a character called Liao Tianding (廖添丁) who was a real-life person who lived during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan.

People describe him as a Robin Hood figure who robbed from the rich and the Japanese government to give to the poor. Here Liao was dressed in a long traditional Chinese robe wearing a hat and spectacles and sitting by a table with a teapot and cup.

His entrance was the premise to a series of performances on a stage which interestingly began in Japanese, harking back to the occupation period.

The tea house that inspired Spirited Away

After lunch we drove for two hours to Jiufen (九份), a small town in a very mountainous area. It's called Jiufen because in the beginning nine families moved there and when shipments arrived in town, they would ask for jiufen, or "nine portions".

In 1893, gold was discovered there and soon the place was swamped with gold diggers hoping to strike it rich.

The days of finding gold are gone, but the town has been revitalized thanks to director Hou Hsiao-hsien's A City of Sadness in 1989 starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai that talks about the "White Terror" period when the Kuomintang, having arrived from China after its defeat in 1949, rounded up thousands of Taiwanese, sending them to prison or executing them. 

Another film, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away in 2001 was inspired by Jiufen and in particular a tea house called Ah Mei Cha Lou. As a result many Japanese tourists like to make their pilgrimage to this place. That combined with narrow stairs made it a very crowded area.

Taiwanese crepe filled with shaved peanut and ice cream

Other than the movie references, Jiufen is very popular, particularly on the weekends, where tourists descend on the area as well as Taiwanese who come and stay in the various B&Bs. The narrow streets are filled with small shops selling all kinds of snacks, from stinky tofu both deep fried and braised, fish balls, marinated chicken hearts, and grilled sausages and squid.

We tried some interesting snacks, such as a crepe with a layer of peanut and dark sugar shaved from a block, then two small scoops of ice cream added before it was wrapped up and put in a small plastic bag. The crepe was crunchy, soft and cold at the same time making it a delicious treat but had to be eaten quickly. 

Braised stinky tofu, with the spicy ones on the right

Another traditional dessert is cubes of taro with glutinous rice balls in a sweet green bean soup. It wasn't too sweet, but hard for one person to finish a bowl. This shop was so popular that it has one shop stall for selling the concoction with a seating area behind it and then another shop a few stalls down just for patrons to sit and eat.

One of many stray cats hanging out at Jiufen. Dogs too!

We ended up having dinner in a tea house a bit further down the way that was lit with red lanterns. The meal featured home-style dishes, such as braised fish and braised spicy tofu, a plate of tong choi or morning glory, stir-fried cabbage, chicken and a simple soup of egg white and seaweed. We also had a plate of stir-fried squid.

It's interesting to see how much of an impact the Japanese occupation had on Taiwan. The Taiwanese resented the colonial period but at the same time the Japanese improved the infrastructure of the island. The Japanese influence on cuisine is also prevalent, with dishes on the whole being light, and pickled vegetables are common. 

The night scene overlooking Jiufen

Meanwhile the Japanese love Taiwanese rice which is similar to Japanese rice, short and round unlike the narrow Thai jasmine rice. The Taiwanese are also very proud of their agricultural industry, constantly improving the quality of its rice, fruits and vegetables. Perhaps it has to do with its food security, making Taiwan self sufficient. But in the process it has created a food industry where there are a number of tourists (like those from Hong Kong) who just come to eat, eat, eat.