The gate to Taiwan

鹿耳門鎮門宮

[Left: The shoeless Dutchmen door guards of 鹿耳門鎮門宮 (address: 台南市媽祖宮一街345巷420號).]

鹿耳門 (Luermen or Lakjemuyse) was where Koxinga's fleet sailed through at high tide in 1661 into the then Tai Bay, bypassing the defense of Ft Zeelandia, and landed north of Ft Provincia. The Dutch did not anticipate such a move. Ft Provincia quickly fell and Ft Zeelandia under siege for almost one year before capitulating. [For more, see here.]

A tiny shrine located in An-Ping honoring Koxinga and his mother was built in 1990 to commemorate the feat [better late than never]. It was aptly named 鎮門宮Gate-anchoring Palace, for 鹿耳門 was indeed the gate to Taiwan.

The temple fell into disrepair and was re-built in 2006. There are three sets of double-door gates and one of them features a pair of shoe-less Dutchmen. Bare feet跣足 symbolizes the POW status. They were therefore the defeated Dutchmen now guarding doors to the shrine. Their facial depiction is of modern origin, in fact painted by Mr 林中信Lin Chung-Shin. In 2003, the City Gov't of Tainan officially named them 鹿風Lu-Feng and 耳順Er-Shun, and conferred both of them citizenship, complete with shoe offerings. A popular petition to re-paint them with shoes on (so they can travel long distance - back home to the Netherlands) was not approved by the deities, however.

Traditionally, these paired door guards are high ranking generals known for their martial mights. Among them, the very original and the most famous are 秦瓊 (?-638AD) and 尉遲恭 (585-658AD), both Tang generals. Legend has it that the second Tang emperor 唐太宗 [李世民 599-649AD] was disturbed at night by the spirits of those he had murdered. The emperor ordered these two trusted generals to guard the palace gates that indeed effectively warded off the ghosts. Their full-length fully armored and armed portraits were then painted on the doors and found to be equally effective.

With no exception, all Buddhist and Taoist temples of Chinese origin are built with three double-door gates and each gate is guarded by a pair of door gods. The selection of these deities now varies according to the history of each temple.

The photos below show before, during, and after the re-construction of the 鹿耳門鎮門宮:

 

[We thank Ronnie for calling our attention to the Dutchmen door guards in Tainan.]

A cowardly attack on Boston

Eyedoc reporting from Boston:

It is Boston Marathon Day today. Since the E Africans always win, there is no point of following the progress on TV [addendum: and they did]. We still watch it, albeit only half-heartedly, hoping for surprises. Then all of a sudden, there are reports of two explosions near the finish line at around 3:10PM. Apparently, there have also been casualties.

It is still unclear as to what had really happened, certainly not who was responsible if this had been a terrorist attack.

3:28PM: The explosions took place across Boylston Street from Lenox Hotel and Boston Public Library.

4:55PM: Clearly two explosions, one city block apart, on Boylston Street. A third one occurred at JFK Library, a few miles south of Boston, off I-93 [6:05PM: now it is unsure if this is related to the explosions]. There is a 4th bomb discovered somewhere on Huntington Ave (where Boston Symphony Orchestra is located). It is still very confusing especially if Boston is now shut down. If so, then this is similar to 9-11. It is a holiday here today, the Patriot's Day. Many went downtown to cheer on the marathon runners.

5:35PM: We maybe under attack, There maybe bombs along the marathon route. We are asked to stay home/indoors. Boston police urge people to stay out of the city.

5:48PM: Suspect in custody near Boston Common. Good. Let's all see who is behind this monster.

6:07PM: No suspect is in custody. Information changes by the minute, probably should wait a bit longer to see exactly what is going on. Various speeches by politicians, adding no new info.

8:27PM: 3 dead, one an 8-year-old boy. At least 134 hurt. This is a cowardly attack on Boston.

 

[Scene of the first explosion site - directly across Boylston Street from Boston Public Library]

8:45PM: Governor's press conference: nothing new added, no suspect(s) yet. Hotline for families of victims: 1-(617)-635-4500, and for witnesses who may have information, please call 1-(800)-494-TIPS.

11:25PM: Local media reporting significant police and feds presence at an apartment building on Ocean Ave in Revere, a town north of Boston, populated by new immigrants.

Overnight, now 7AM, 4/16/2013: Copley Square area in Boston downtown is still closed, now a crime scene. Heart-breaking stories of the victims begin to emerge, disruption of normal innocent family lives by pure evil that will forever tarnish Boston Marathon.

4/17/2013: More details on the pressure cooker bombs, designed to maim and kill. The hunt for the bomber(s) is on and is no doubt conducted in high earnest. Bostonians have never retreated in the face of adversity, certainly are not at all intimidated by this cowardly act.

Of the three who perished: The 8-year old victim is Martin Richard of Dorchester. The 2nd is Krystle Marie Campbell of Medford who had worked at Jimmy's Steer House on Mass Ave in Arlington. And the 3rd, a Chinese graduate student at Boston Univ (the family has requested that the name be withheld, even though it has already been widely reported in the Chinese press - update: BU finally disclosed her name, Lu Lingzi; she was from Shenyang).

1:42PM: Cable Channel 13 [Fox 25] reports a suspect has been identified through the surveillance camera records at Lord & Taylor, and the arrest is imminent.

7:04PM: A whole afternoon of confusion. No one was in fact arrested although two men carrying bags matching the description of the bombs were identified from photographic records. Their faces are clearly recognizable, the identities are still unknown, however.

4/19/2013 3:30AM: Disturbance at MIT, off Vassar St, one campus policeman shot and killed. Then gunfire and detonation heard on Mt Auburn St in Watertown. Huge police presence there. Boston Globe now reports one Boston marathon bomber in custody, the 2nd still at large. Apparently one event has led to another in the past few hours. The situation is still "fluid" as the reporters put it.

5:05AM: After much confusion, it now seems that after the MIT shootout, the 2 bombers hijacked a car and let the driver off at a gas station off Memorial Drive. This explains why Watertown which is at the end of Memorial Dr. One suspect was then shot by the police and died in custody. The hunt for the 2nd suspect is now going on.

7:06AM: The 2 bombers are brothers from Chechnya having lived in the US for at least one year.

8:50PM: After one full day of manhunt, it is now over. The 2nd bomber is wounded and captured. A greatest relief to all Bostonians. 

The Douglas Co in Tamsui

At 10:30AM on March 21, 2013, Tamsui re-opens the buildings that once belonged to the Douglas Shipping Co得忌利士洋行 (founded by a Scot, Douglas Lapraik, in Hongkong in 1863).

 

In its heyday when Tamsui reigned as the most important seaport in Taiwan, the Douglas, beginning in 1871, had operated passenger liners sailing to Hongkong and other ports in both Taiwan and China. The company owned administrative offices, dormitories, storage houses and staples, and a large waterfront warehouse in the 龍目井"Wells of the Dragons' Eyes" district in Tamsui. After Japan took over Taiwan in 1895, the Douglas shipping rights were gradually stripped, often by decree, and eventually given to Japanese shipping companies instead. The Douglas company properties, initially leased from the Qing Gov't, were also nationalized by the Japanese Colonial Gov't. And in 1912, a developer 中野金太郎Nakano Kintaro with permission from the gov't had built residential houses for elementary school teachers emigrated from Japan. Some of these houses have survived to this day. 

A few of the Douglas buildings located on No 316 Chung Cheng Road Sec 1 [above], were occupied by squatters when the Japanese left in 1946, while others remained unoccupied, unkept hence becoming quite dilapidated, and were in danger of being condemned. A restoration project was set in motion when Tamsui was administratively still a township with its own budgets.

The Douglas waterfront warehouse was a noted landmark until destroyed by fire in 1959-60. This rare 1945 photo shows a torpedo boat yard to the left of the building. The jumbo seaplane 神津 (J-BACT) parked in front of the warehouse was operated by the Greater Japan Air, it arrived on Sept 9, 1945, from Yokohama, loaded with a large amount of paper money to fund the evacuation of the Japanese. Some would argue that this infusion of money had helped fuel the post-war inflation, seeding the discontent of the Taiwanese with the KMT rule that had led up to the 228 Incident of 1947.

After 103 years, the Douglas buildings are now restored, another piece of Tamsui history coming to life! 

Friends of Tamsui are invited to join us in the celebration of this event. 

Pictorial update (courtesy of TengFeng Fishball Museum):

Happy St Paddy's Day!

Happy St Patrick's Day!

School myopia in 80 years

This graduation photo of the Class of 1933, Tamsui Elementary School [courtesy of Mr N Hirokawa], shows that none of the students wore glasses. Vision screening with a visual acuity chart was already a standard, in fact, mandatory practice, at that time. It was tested in classrooms by class teachers. More recently, it is carried out by school nurses assisted by teachers.

The DOH reports that by 2006, 61.8% of the 6th Graders are myopic (near-sighted), and in seniors at high schools, 85.1%. This alarming trend continues even today.

While the intense schooling with increasing urbanization in Taiwan may be fundamentally responsible; however, the myopization factors still remain unknown. A large-scale study conducted by EyeDoc and his colleagues may have begun to provide some answers.  

Below is an official announcement on the impending publication (photo of sunset in Tamsui coutesy of Christina Hong) by EyeDoc's group: 

Risk Factors for Myopia in Taiwanese Children  Under 12 By age 11 almost 50% of children in Taiwan are myopic (at least -1D).  Our authors studied almost 2,000 elementary school children (ages 6 to 11 in grades 1 to 6) and found that, of the 20 myopization factors they looked at, two thirds (66%) of refractive error were associated with just 4 of those myopization factors. Those associated with decrease in myopic refractive error were daily outdoor spectacle wear, spectacles for different working distances, and weekend outdoor physical activities.

Cheng, Huang, Su, Peng, Sun, and Cheng, Am J Optom, April, 2013

Aftermath of the aftermath of the 228

陳儀Chen Yi, sentenced to death on May 19, 1950 and executed a month later on June 18 at 馬場町 in Taipei, was buried in a secluded location in 五股鄉, Taipei County. The dome-shaped tomb was in the classical Chinese style and its location became known only after the Martial Law period ended in 1987. In the past few decades, family members of the 228 victims had resorted to desecrating the grave site in revenge, much to the displeasure of Chen's family and his still loyal old subordinates.

On the eve of the 228 anniversary, the tomb is found to have been opened, Chen's remains removed, and the tomb re-sealed. The tombstone is also missing. The speculation is that Chen has been re-interred elsewhere, most likely in mainland China.

[Above: The headstone before disappearance, the inscription reads "陳公退素之墓" and below: the now resealed tomb]

Chen Yi's short rule of Taiwan was terminated soon after the 228 Incident of 1947. The death sentence was based on his failed attempt to convince KMT General 湯恩伯 to defect to the CCP, not because of the mishandling of the 228. This was perhaps a miscalculation of the central gov't at that time, tantamount to justice denied for a generation of Taiwanese whose psyche will remain forever scarred. As a consequence, politics in Taiwan remains deeply and gratuitously divided to this day despite the compensation paid and the annual presidential apologies.

Best Director Li Ang

慶祝李安勇奪奧斯卡「最佳導演」!!

 
His house-husband days in Yorktown Heights, NY, have long faded into memory. An understanding wife, his own talents, plus a healthy dose of perseverance finally pay off.

Congratulations!!