2016年5月25日 星期三

Wrong mountain and river, 1938

A friend posted in facebook this 1938 postcard. Very nice photo indeed except it is not the mountain and river that we Tamsui-lang know of. Not only the mountain profile is entirely wrong, we have never seen corrosion of the mountain to this extent. Plus (1) on the far right, another mountain looms behind while no such mountain exists in Tamsui, (2) the river delta, a prominent landmark, is also gone, and (3) no small fishing sampans in Tamsui River were ever equipped with a sail (only transports with a mid-ship canopy and those from Foochow did).

Even though the caption reads Guyanyin Mountain and Tamsui River, this ain't it.

4 則留言:

  1. Perhaps this is a view of the mountain off the coast of Bali from a ship and not from the banks of Tamsui-town. If you use Google Earth you can make out the ridge line. Maybe it is the backside of the mountain. This may explain the sailboat as well.

    Good to see you posting again! - Marc

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  2. Perhaps, the caption reads Tamsui River, however.

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  3. The side says Tatun Park. I think the perspective is reversed. The photographer is standing below Guanyin Shan and looking east across the river to what is now the mountains above northern Taipei/Danshui. I think there's a big monastery just below the left peak and chinese culture university is somewhere there.

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  4. Interesting point, thanks. I did entertain this possibility; however, the whole town of Tamsui would appear gone, plus the river delta was still absent. If this were the DaTun Mountain, it should be a lot more green in color, the only brownish-yellow spot (stone quarries) can be seen only more inland from Shipai.

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