Susan's Shanghai Blog - Week 71

We took a day-trip to the south part of the island to Tainan. We took the high-speed rail from the Taipei main station, which houses the Taiwan high speed rail as well as having a connection to the Taipei metro. We caught a quick taxi across town since we were departing early. The trains are very much like those in China and Europe that we have taken. In the first-class car, which is where we got tickets, the seats were large and comfortable (2 per side instead of 3 per side as in second-class) and it had a snack and drink trolley that came through.

Taipei is on the north shore of the island of Taiwan, and Tainan is on the south-west coast, so we basically covered almost the entire length of the island North-to-South. There both open plains as well as forest-covered mountains. We took a few pictures from the train to give an idea of the land as we headed South.

From the High-speed rail station in Tainan, we then picked up a local train (which looks very much like a subway train) into the city. Since it was a day-trip, we then just headed out!

Okay, so, a bit of history. Tainan was initially established by the Dutch East India Company as a ruling and trading base called Fort Zeelandia around 1624 and it is considered the birthplace of Taiwan and the oldest city on the island. In 1662, after a 9-month siege on the fort, a treaty was signed in exchange for the freedom of the Dutch in the fort (which was promptly violated and many of the Dutch were killed). When Taiwan become a province of China in 1885, Tainan was named the capital. This only lasted for 10 years until China lost the Sino-Japanese war, and it was turned over to Japan and Japan moved the capital up to Taipei. Tainan is the 4th largest city in Taiwan with about 3/4 of a million people.

The first stop of the day was the National Museum of Taiwan Literature. I didn't find the contents all that interesting, but the building was unique. The museum is housed in the former Tainan City Hall constructed in 1916, and the European-style building definitely looks out-of-place with the other buildings. They have done some interesting things in the renovations, like that shown in the 2nd picture. This is what looks like a courtyard that was then enclosed to expand the space, since the interior walls of this large area are actually what used to be the exterior (back) walls of the building itself.

The Taiwan Confucius Temple (also called the Scholarly Temple) was built in 1665 and was the first school for children in the Qing Dynasty. The current look and layout of the temple comes from the 1917 renovations done during the Japanese era, though many of the structures are much older. The first building we came to was the Wenchang Pavillion, which is the only tower on the temple grounds. It was unique in that the first floor is square, the second is round, and the 3rd is octagonal.

The grounds and courtyard.

The Dacheng palace is the main hall in the temple. There are wooden plaques hanging from the roof beams, which honor Confucius, which were given to the temple by the different heads of state (Qing dynasty emperors and each of the Presidents of Taiwan).

Dananman, or the Great South Gate, is one of the two main gates remaining from the Tainan City walls (there were originally 7). This one is in a little park so you can walk around (and on) it, while the other sits in the middle of a traffic circle. The gate actually has two different gates. The first gate is on a rounded outer wall leading into a moon-shaped courtyard. This outer section with a courtyard is called a wengcheng and has traditions leading back to the Great Wall of China. It gives an extra layer of protection as attackers become sitting ducks inside the courtyard if they manage to get through the first gate.

As with most gates, there are old cannons around, which Tom took the opportunity to grab a picture with.

Next to the gate within the park is a collection of steles (tablets) that were removed from various areas around the city by the Japanese, which are public notices and mandates carved into stone from the Qing dynasty. The Chinese writing is mostly worn away, but there are descriptions of each stele in Chinese and English. Many of them are a bit boring, but there are a few really interesting ones. We did a general picture and then ones of the descriptions of the more interesting ones that we found.

hmm.... does threatening people with an unclaimed corpse work?

this one seems similar to Egypt, where there were lots of tomb robbers.

This one was the best ...

There were a couple others that we didn't find but we've seen people list them: a decree that you must provide a spouse for your maid when she is between the ages of 23 and 25 and one that people who have debt problems should not commit suicide for repudiation.

The city walls were built around 1725 and originally made of wood and then bamboo spears were added to the top and the gates were rebuilt using stone and brick in 1735. They remained like that until 1788 when the walls were redone in stone and brick as well. However, they were short-lived when the Japanese started tearing them down in 1907. There is a small section that we walked by.

A bit down the road is the Temple of The Five Concubines (also called the Wufei Temple). Zhu Shugui was the Prince of Ningjing and served as a rent of the Army of Koxinga (Ming Dynasty). When the Qing army was taking over, he realized that the Ming Dynasty was about over. He had 5 concubines and he summoned them and told them he was going to kill himself and recommended that they go to a convent. However, they decided that it would be honorable to die along with their Prince, and so each of them hanged themselves. Zhu buried them in a hillside and, after the Prince's death, a shrine was built outside the tomb. As Taiwanese temples go, this one is very unique. It is quite austere and compact, with dull colors and little ornamentation. The door gods are those of eunuchs and maidens. We tried to get a picture of the actual little hillside behind the building which supposedly is the tomb.

Now, everybody reading this may think it very funny that we took pictures of squirrels, but we actually don't see squirrels in China. These were pretty tame, also, since they would come up to people's hands and even take food directly from the fingers.

We just mentioned Koxinga, and next up was Koxinga�s Shrine. Koxinga means "Lord of the Imperial Surname" and is used for Zheng Chenggong, who was the chief commander of the Ming Dynasty troops. There is a nice park and a statue of Koxinga on a horse. Then the shrine is within a small wall and is quiet and serene itself

Chang Wan-Li is shown here as the "Sword General", as he is holding the sword. By being here in the shrine with Koxinga, he is also to be "worshipped" at the shrine.

Out the back gate of the shrine and across the street is the Lady Linshui temple, which is focused on the cult of Lady Linshui (the Goddess of Birth and Fertility). No other temple in Tainan has as many female idols or depictions of women. Lady Linshui is believed to be the protector of women and children, or more specifically, fetuses and infants. Women who are pregnant, wish to be pregnant, or have recently given birth often make their way to this temple. Some mothers will bring a baby who cries too much in hopes that it will "remove" whatever is afflicting the child to make him/her cry. I must say that this was one of the most colorful and best kept/cleaned shrine.

This is a good picture of the street and the way all of the signs are, showing up and down. If you look in the middle, you'll see the familiar sign of a 7Eleven, which seems much more popular in Asia than they are in the US nowadays.

Dongyue Hall is the place to go in Tainan to make amends for misdeeds or talk with dead relatives. Dongyue Hall translates to East Mountain Temple, which is a synonym for one of the five sacred mountains in China, Mt Tai. In Chinese mythology, the East Mountain is the place where the records of the living and dead are kept as well as being the entrance to the underworld. Most of the deities worshiped in this temple are gods of the underworld and judges of your life�s merits. The temple entrance sits between two other buildings on a busy street. This was a fairy weird temple for me ... in one room was a mural with people being tortured and their eyes being gouged out. I guess this is to scare people onto the straight and narrow.

Down the street is a long, red-ochre wall which is the side of the Official God of War Temple. This is unique in that many temples are bounded on both sides by other buildings. It is one of hte oldest and most unique temples in Taiwan, dating back to 1665. The exposed wall is called a horseback wall because the shape mimics a rider on horseback. There are also five different roof styles, including a decorative swallows tail style. The entrance to the main hall has an unusually high threshold in order to intimidate women because women were once banned from the temple (although no longer).

A break from temples and shrines, we stopped by Fort Provintia. It was built in 1653 by the Dutch when they colonized the island and surrendered to Koxinga when the Dutch left. They changed the name in 1945 to Chihkan Tower. The fort was supposedly oceanfront property although now it is inland a bit, due to natural silting as well as some help from the Taiwanese to reclaim land. After the Dutch left, it became the governor's mansion and then an army hospital under the Japanese.

Standard stone steles sitting on the backs of turtles.

Back to temples with the Matsu Temple to honor the goddess Matsu (Goddess of the Sea). It�s a simple equation, really: Goddess of the Sea + Taiwan being an island = high status among worshippers. It was a little hard to find since it is down a small alleyway, but as we come up to it with our book, we kinda were looking at the temple, then the tourist info, and a person selling incense says "Matsu" to us and points to the temple.

The large golden one in the middle is a representation of Matsu. The two tall monster-like statues on either side are Matsu�s servants, Qianli Yuan and Xufong Er. Legend has it that these two creatures were monsters that Mastu subdued and converted to do good, helping her to patrol the seas and help sailors.

As we were leaving, we happened to see these really nice statues along the side of the temple down an alley.

We had dinner in Tainan on the way back to the train station. Tainan is famous for Xiaochi, or "snack food" or tapas-type food. This is food served from carts, stalls, and peddlers walking down the street. We had dinner at one called Chikan Peddler�s Noodles, or Chikan Danzimian. The restaurant gets its name from danzi noodles. Danzi were pairs of bamboo boxes that peddlers slung across a stick and carried like panniers. They contained canisters of food, and their portability made them veritable walking restaurants. One of the most common foods carried was a noodle dish that became known as danzi noodles.

The restaurant itself was decorated with old maps, lanterns, baskets, and various cultural artifacts. The dining tables are old school desks, and definitely ones NOT for high school and not for Westerners! It was a bit difficult to sit down in them .. it was like when you go back to your elementary school and try to sit in your 5th-grade desk!

The menu was perfect ... English and pictures! They give you the plastic-coated menu and a grease pencil and you mark what you want.

Of course, we had to go with the Tan Zae Noodles (which is actually the Danzai noodles: thin, dense noodles served in a sweet and tangy broth with minced pork and a single shrimp on top. I've eaten my share of noodles since being in Asia, and I think these are the 2nd best noodles I've had .. the best being ones that I had the final day for lunch in Taipei!.

Next came the golden fried shrimp rolls, which were really good.

Lastly, rice with marinated pork and bamboo shoots. The flavor was really good, although the pork had a bit more fat than I like.

Just a note ... almost everywhere we went in Taiwan, we say signs for the "breastfeeding room". Personally, I found this odd because I don't really remember seeing them anywhere else. I did some investigation and it seems that in 1989, the rate of breastfeeding in Taiwan was 5.4%! The Taiwan government has put in several policies, including having these breastfeeding rooms, and it rose to close to 62% as of 2010. Also in 2010, they passed a law to make it illegal to prevent someone from breastfeeding in public.