Schedium

The Chen Yueji Residence (陳悅記大厝, also called  陳悅記祖宅 ), commonly referred to as "Teacher's Mansion" (老師府), is one of Taipei's lesser known treasures. It is located  on Yanping North Road, in Taipei City's Datong District . It is one of the few remaining residences built during the Qing Dynasty era . The residence is close to other major tourist attractions, such as the Confucius Temple. It can be reached on foot from Yuanshan MRT station .  During the Qing Dynasty, the Chen Yueji Residence was part of Dadaocheng , which at that time was a city of its own. When the Japanese occupied Taiwan in 1895, they set about building a modern colonial capital . They tore down Taipei city walls  as well as nearly all buildings constructed in Taipei walled city under the Qing. The only Chinese buildings that they did not destroy were four out of five city gates  and a part of Taiwan provincial administration hall . On the ruins of Qing Taipei they created the governme

(Image courtesy of Solomon 203 ) Sad news for all of Taipei 's book lovers: the legendary Dunnan Eslite Bookstore (誠品敦南店), chosen by CNN as one of "the world's coolest bookstores ", might soon be gone. According to Housefun News , Dunnan Financial Building, where the bookstore occupies five floors, will be demolished and replaced by a 26-storey high skyscraper with 7 underground floors, which will house a 5-star hotel (By the way, I am wondering if there was no other location available for a new hotel; with all the ugly nondescript buildings in the neighbourhood ...). The news was also mentioned on Taiwanese websites such as Apple Daily and EToday . However, Eslite Spectrum Corporation, owner of the bookstore, denied it would shut down its Dunnan branch, but it added that the lease for the bookstore expires in 2020. It's not so clear what is going to happen, but let's hope that this historic bookstore will not be closed.

When the Japanese established their rule in Taiwan, they set about the task of transforming the face of the city. Architecture had a political and social function. The Japanese constructed edifices that symbolised modernity, power, and efficiency. Their architecture reflected the Japanese desire to emulate the West, its technology, institutions, and way of life. As I mentioned in a previous post, Western-style buildings also had an important psychological function: They showed that Japan  was equal to the West. Western-style buildings were to the Japanese what skyscrapers are to us nowadays - symbols of power, technological and social progress, and of status in the global community. The Judicial Yuan (司法院),  completed in 1934 Upon their capture of Taipei the Japanese found a city built according to traditional Chinese patterns. There were gates, city walls, yamens (offices of imperial administrators), temples, and so on. While in some areas this kind of buildings remaine

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall ( source: AngMoKio ) Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is one of Taipei's most famous and characteristic landmarks. The white structure with the blue roof may look like an edifice from old times, but in fact, it was built in 1980, five years after the death of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Guomindang and of the Republic of China from 1928 until 1975, which makes him one of the most important figures in Chinese history and longest-serving statesmen in the world. Chiang's son and successor, Chiang Ching-kuo, ordered the construction of the the memorial hall to honour his father. The hall is 70 metres tall and was built in Ming palace style. It is surrounded by a large park and by entry gates, and its architecture is full of classical symbols and inscriptions. This makes it one of the best examples of the neoclassical style of the Chiang era. It cost around 25 million US dollars  ( Logan / Hsu , p. 132). Chiang is a controve

During an emotional speech commemorating the victims of the  228 Incident , the current mayor of Taipei, Ke Wenzhe ( Ko Wen-je ), could not hold back his tears as he recounted the suffering that his own family had to bear during the brutal and indiscriminate repression of real or presumed dissent on the part of Guomindang one-party state. Following the revolt of February 28, 1947, Ke’s grandfather, Ke Shiyuan, was arrested, not because he had been personally involved in the uprising, but solely because he was an intellectual. After he was severely beaten by the Guomindang police he became ill and died a few years later. Thousands of people were killed, imprisoned or tortured during the White Terror that followed the 228 Incident. To a certain extent, February 28 1947 was for Taiwan what June 4 1989 was for the PRC. The state revealed its savage and cruel nature, reasserted its authority by force, and ushered in an era of silence, fear and suspicion, during which the memory and t

After spending two months in Hong Kong, on Saturday I came back to Taipei. Since I had already lived in Taiwan for more than a year, I decided that it was about time to try out something else, and I chose Hong Kong. Some friends of mine asked me why Hong Kong. "There is not much to see," one of them said. "I spent there a day and visited everything. You will get bored", said another. Still, I do not regret  The Feeling of Coming Back To Taipei After living in the bustling, supermodern, vibrant Hong Kong, coming back to Taipei felt like going from a big city to a town. Not that Taipei is small, but it just feels like that when compared to the gigantic cosmopolitan financial centre that is Hong Kong. Interestingly enough, Hong Kong, despite being part of China, feels far away from it. You hardly hear any Mandarin on the street, and, as I explained in my previous post, Hong Kong has a local identity distinct from mainland China's. Until 1997, Hong Kong

On September 24, 2017, scuffles erupted between pro-independence and pro-China demonstrators on the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU) during the Sing! China: Shanghai-Taipei Music Festival .  The event, co-sponsored by a mainland Chinese reality show and the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs, was part of the memorandums of understanding on cultural and arts events signed by Shanghai and Taipei.  Pro-independence supporters viewed the music festival as a covert tactic by the Chinese Communist regime to promote their " reunification " political agenda. Students organized protests against the event, but pro-China groups intervened and clashes broke out between the two sides.  Members of the Party for the Promotion of Chinese Unification (中華統一促進黨, PPCU),  founded by the notorious Taiwanese gangster Chang An-lo, attacked pro-independence students. Three people were injured.  Embed from Getty Images In December of last year the Taipei District Prosecu

I do not know how other foreigners spend Chinese New Year in Taipei, but as far as I am concerned, this year has not been much more exciting than the last (which I mentioned in another post ). I think that if you have no family or girlfriend / boyfriend in Taiwan, it is quite hard to find something to do during the Spring Festival. The city seems to come to a standstill. Even some coffee shops, restaurants and Eslite bookstores are closed.  Yesterday evening I took a walk around to see if there was something going on. I have to confess that I was quite disappointed. Perhaps I went to the wrong places; but I knew of no others.  There was no particularly festive, special atmosphere, no excitement in the air, no happiness emanating from the people, and there were not even remarkable street decorations. How comes it that during the most important festival in Taiwan, everything seems so somber, and a veil of melancholy descends on this city? Or have I just imagined all this? Ma

One evening I was walking along Ren'ai Road (仁愛路) , close to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall , when suddenly I noticed a peculiar old building on my left. I was surprised because I had never seen it on any Taipei guide. On second thought, though, I wasn't sure whether it was an old building at all. It actually looked brand new. Was it one of those neoclassical oriental structures so beloved by the old KMT guard? After all, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, too, looks like an ancient building, but in fact it was constructed in the 1970s.  I drew closer and saw that it was a bell tower. It stood lonely behind a huge high-rise building and next to a gloomy construction site. I looked around to see if there was any plaque that explained its history. I went into the archway at the centre of the tower. Suddenly I heard a coarse coughing and the sound of steps, and I stopped. An old man emerged from the other side of the tower. His scrawny upper body was naked, his skin was dark, and he

Cisheng Temple (慈聖宮, pinyin: Císhènggōng; literally "Palace of kindness and holiness") is a temple located in Taipei's Datong District . Along with  Xiahai Chenghuang (霞海城隍廟)  and  Fazhugong Temple (法主公廟) , Cishenggong is one of the three major temples of Dadaocheng , an area of Datong which under Qing rule used to be a small port town outside of Taipei walled city . As one of the oldest parts of what is now Taipei City, Dadaocheng has retained its "Chinese" character, shaped by the immigrants who came to Taiwan from southern China over the centuries.  Cisheng Temple was built in the 19th century by immigrants from Tong'an , a district of Xiamen  city, in China's Fujian Province. It is devoted to the Sea Goddess Mazu , one of Taiwan's most popular deities. In imperial times, crossing the strait was dangerous and the Chinese settlers who went there often risked their lives; this explains why so many of them were eager to thank Mazu after t

A few weeks ago on a Saturday I decided to go to Taipei Botanical Garden  to take a walk and escape the hustle and bustle of the city. Established during Japanese rule in 1921, the botanical garden is in itself a tourist attraction worth visiting. Located  just a few minutes walk from Xiaonanmen MRT Station , the park has about 1,500 species of plants, and there are also animals such as frogs and squirrels. However, I didn't go there to enjoy the nature, but to see a building that I'd been wanting to visit for a long time. It is a small, Chinese-style building, with a traditional curved tiled roof, white walls, and full of Chinese-style decorations. It is hard to believe that only a century ago, this structure stood in the middle of present-day downtown Taipei, on the location of today's Zhongshan Hall . 

On one of Taipei's hot and sunny day there's nothing better than finding a shadowy place to take a rest and eating a delicious ice cream. If you're looking for a such a place you may consider visiting the campus of National Taiwan University (NTU). About one and a half years ago a Taiwanese friend of mine showed me for the first time the campus. She took me to a small shop - a nice one-storey building with a few tables outside and protected from the sun by trees. She explained that all the products sold in that store are made through crops grown on NTU farmland. I bought an ice cream in that shop, and it was one of the best I've ever eaten (not surprisingly, on weekends, when many families go to the campus to walk and relax, this ice cream is often sold out). The Affiliated Experimental Farm to the College of Bio-Resources and Agriculture of National Taiwan University , as it is officially called, is a place of teaching, research and practice for students of th

Bao'an Temple ( 保安宮 , pinyin: Bǎo'āngōng) is one of the major temples of Taipei's Datong District . It is located on  Hami Street , in an area known as Dalongdong , one of the oldest Han settlements in the Taipei Basin. Bao'an Temple is just a few minutes walk from the Confucius Temple, and close to Chen Yueji Residence as well as Yuanshan MRT Station .  The first nucleus of Bao'an Temple was built in the 7th year of Emperor Qianlong (1742) by Han settlers from Tong'an , in Fujian Province. The temple is devoted to Baosheng Dadi ( 保生大帝 , literally "Life Protector Great Emperor"), a deity of the Chinese pantheon worshipped in Fujian Province and Taiwan. As is often the case in Chinese folk religion, Baosheng Dadi is a deified historical figure, a doctor and Daoist practitioner surnamed Wu (吳), born in the village of Baoliao, near Xiamen , in Fujian Province. He is said to have performed medical miracles, and after his death in 1036 he began to

Ever since Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the island has been confronted with the permanent risk of Communist invasion . In the 1950s the People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched two attacks against the last bulwark of Chiang Kai-shek 's regime. The last major crisis in the Taiwan Strait dates back to the mid-1990s, when the People's Republic of China (PRC) conducted missile "tests" dangerously close to Taiwan's shores. This display of military strength was aimed at then-President of Taiwan Lee Teng-hui, who had publicly refuted Beijing's territorial claims on the island. 

The World Health Assembly (by Tom Page - licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0) In 2009 Taiwan received a historic invitation to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer. That was the second year of President Ma Ying-jeou 's administration, a time in which relations between Beijing and Taipei were improving on the basis of the " 1992 consensus ", an unofficial agreement between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Guomindang . Since the World Health Organization (WHO) recognises the one-China principle, Taiwan could not participate with its official name "Republic of China". Taiwan was therefore represented with the name " Chinese Taipei " (中華台北).  The Republic of China (ROC) was a founding member of the WHO, but after the United Nations shifted recognition from the ROC to the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Executive Board of the United Nations passed resolution EB49.R37 recommending to the WHA to adopt a sim

A while ago I wrote a short post about an old house in Taipei's Roosevelt Road which I'd been often passing by, wondering if it was a building from the Qing Dynasty or from the Japanese era . I thought there weren't many such old houses left in that area, but, while taking long walks around Gongguan, Taipower Building Station, Guting and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall , I found out that I was wrong.  In fact, there are several of them, scattered all around this part of Taipei City. However, they are not very visible, and if you don't look carefully, chances are you won't even notice them. There are three reasons for this. First, they usually stand isolated among modern buildings, sometimes sandwiched between or hidden behind them. Second, they are usually surrounded by high walls. Third, they tend to be so decrepit and neglected that they lose much of their charm.  Just a few days ago, I found a house that might be from the Japanese era. It is so far one of th

According to the Economist Safe City Index 2015 , Taipei confirms its position as one of the world's safest cities. The index is based on four categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety and personal safety. Here is the list: 1 Tokyo 2 Singapore 3 Osaka 4 Stockholm 5 Amsterdam 6 Sydney 7 Zurich 8 Toronto 9 Melbourne 10 New York 11 Hong Kong 12 San Francisco 13 Taipei 14 Montreal 15 Barcelona 16 Chicago 17 Los Angeles 18 London 19 Washington DC 20 Frankfurt Taipei performs best in terms of personal safety: it is the world's 5th city in this category. However, in the index of the top 25 cities, that is, the cities where it is best to live, Taipei ranks 21st. The top cities index is based on the data of 6 other indexes  (Safe Cities, Liveability Rankings, Cost of Living, Business Environment Rankings, Democracy Index, Global Food Security Index). 

Beijing-Taipei Express Highway (photo by ASDFGHJ ) Over the past thirty years China has launched a series of ambitious infrastructure projects. After creating the world's largest high-speed railway network (19,000 km, accounting for 60 percent of high-speed trains mileage globally), last year Beijing came up with an overwhelming plan to build an undersea railroad to the United States.  For China , however, infrastructure has not only economic but also political implications. So with the famous Qinghai-Tibet Railway , which, according to the government, is promoting the " integration of Tibet with the interior of China".   The Beijing-Taipei Express Highway , which is currently under construction, will serve a similar purpose: advancing the one-China principle .  The project was announced on January 13, 2005 by the Ministry of Infrastructure of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which pledged to expand the country's highway network so as to

Ever since Nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan in 1949, the island has been confronted with the permanent risk of Communist invasion . In the 1950s the People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched two attacks against the last bulwark of Chiang Kai-shek 's regime. The last major crisis in the Taiwan Strait dates back to the mid-1990s, when the People's Republic of China (PRC) conducted missile "tests" dangerously close to Taiwan's shores. This display of military strength was aimed at then-President of Taiwan Lee Teng-hui, who had publicly refuted Beijing's territorial claims on the island. 

Before going to Asia, a few friends of mine told me about their experience in China. A German guy said that in China he felt for the first time what it means to be a foreigner. He is blond and has blue eyes, so it was easy for him to be spotted among the crowds of Chinese. People looked, even stared at him, sometimes for minutes. Someone asked to take a picture with him, as though he were a tourist attraction, children pointed at him on the streets. He didn't seem to be very happy about receiving so much attention from passers-by. Neither would I have been. I am not blond, so at least I am not as conspicuous as he is. However, it's still easy for Asians to notice me, of course. And I was afraid of being stared at on the streets or in public places, which makes me feel quite nervous. When I arrived in Taiwan, I was positively surprised. I never saw anyone staring or pointing at me. Strangely enough, I felt here even more relaxed than in Germany. When I was in Berlin