The Customs and Folklore of Taiwan

WHAT we call Taiwan, and may think of C lazily C as a single island, is in fact an archipelago of over 80 isles. Her complexity is considerable, and it doesn’t stop with geography. Pivoting around Taiwan Island, their 36,000 square kilometer mass is split by the Tropic of Cancer into two climates, the subtropical north and the tropical south.Socially, the region falls into 25 cities and counties. But Taiwan’s complexity ismore than climatic or administrative; cultural and historical events have shaped the nature of the place.

The original furnishings and décor have not survived the intervening 300 years, but the course of history can be read in remnants of the old outer city.

The island was a lure to foreigners and its terrain no deterrent to invaders or conquerors among them. The major body, Taiwan Island, has a swath of plain on the western shore providing horizontal relief from the remaining two thirds of the territory, shriveled by steep mountains and valleys. At the beginning of the 17th century, both the Dutch and Spanish invaded Taiwan’s shores, the Dutch finally routing the Spanish in 1642 to make the whole of Taiwan its colony.

In 1661 General Zheng Chenggong of the Southern Ming regime (1644-1662) moved to repossess it, leading his army of 25,000 soldiers and hundreds of ships in a 10 month siege against the colonists. The region was to be lost again 200 years later.After China’s defeat in the 1894-1895 war with Japan, Taiwan was ceded to the victor as spoils. It was returned to China in 1945 at the close of World War II.

By the 1960s Taiwan’s economy had begun to heat up, and it soon won inclusion in Asia’s Four Little Dragons, together with South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. Today it is viewed as a land of milk and honey C affluent with sugar, salt, rice, fruit, forest and fish.A sanctuary of butterflies and corals in great variety, the island appeals to tourists seeking unspoiled natural beauty.Visitors whose curiosity is cultural and historical also find much to appreciate.

Historical Sites

Tainan is one of the oldest cities in Taiwan, the region’s cultural, military and commercial center as far back as the 17th century. Naturally it had to have a castle at its heart. The Anping Castle was established by the Dutch in 1643 under the name Fort Zeelandia. This fortress had a square inner city serving as headquarters for Dutch occupiers, while the rectangular outer city lent itself to foreign traders. After Zheng Chenggong chased the Dutch off the island, he renamed the castle after his hometown in Fujian Province.

Today Tainan is the fourth largest city in Taiwan, and the Anping Castle has been transformed into a cultural museum. The original furnishings and décor have not survived the intervening 300 years, but the course of history can be read in remnants of the old outer city.Visitors are asked to consider the wall in the mottled shade of the snarled Chinese Banyans (Ficus microcarpa). The red bricks that composed the wall show two hues: a darker and a lighter. The darker ones were imported from Indonesia by the Dutch, and the lighter ones were Zheng Chenggong’s shipment from Fujian.

Locals hold that Chiqian Mansion is the symbol of Tainan ethos. It is said to be the spot where the tide turned in favor of Zheng Chenggong’s army in the battle against Dutch colonialists. Later the victorious Zheng selected the site as his center of operations. On the mansion grounds a sculpture commemorates Zheng receiving the capitulation letter from the occupiers, near a 300-year-old memorial temple built for the national hero. “Holy King who founded Taiwan,” as citizens dubbed him, is still highly revered by Taiwan people.Rites to honor him are held on April 29 and August 27 every year under the auspices of the local authority.As for the Chiqian Mansion likeness, there are more than 200 other such shrines to Zheng across Taiwan, plus 36 streets and institutes named after him, including a university.

A life-sized replica of a warship in Zheng’s navy is a reconstruction project of historical and marine interest, currently the happy task of a Tainan City resident. In keeping with the originals, they are being constructed in Asian walnut, a wood native to the island.The time-travelling boats are scheduled to be displayed at the city’s 8th Zheng Chenggong Cultural Festival next year.

Satisfying the Six Accomplishments Confucius believed essential to the making of decent and capable people needed both skills and knowledge C of etiquette, music, archery, driving (chariot), literature and mathematics. The Six Accomplishments Dance is performed annually at the oldest Confucius temple in Taiwan, built in the Yongli Period (1646-1662) in the Southern Ming regime.These Confucius rites are enacted with talent supplied by the Zhongyi Primary School next door.

After lunch everyday, a group of handpicked children from the sixth grade rehearse the movements that have been staged in Tainan for 300 years. Their tutor Wang Yingxiong, a teacher there for 30 years, continued this aspect of his work after retirement.Like a professional engagement or a religious ritual, the dance production is fraught with solemn anticipation. Before the day of the annual rite, the 36-student troop is sequestered in a hotel with their tutor. At 3 am the next day they rise together, put on the traditional robes, and file into the temple an hour later to begin the enchantment of their audience. For these young students of Confucius, their pride is made stronger and lessons more powerful by their special connections with the ancient sage C the transience of their dance within the enduring temple.

The Confusius temple was also the highest tertiary education institute in Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty. Still hanging over the gate of its compound is the plaque reading “supreme school of entire Taiwan.” It also proudly epitomizes southern Fujian traditional architecture. Three centuries of reconstruction and expansion to the edifice demonstrate its importance to the locals, to history and to the building arts.

The Dacheng (Great Achievements) Hall of the temple accommodates the memorial shrine and tablet dedicated to the great philosopher. On the beams above hang inscribed plaques from no less than eight Qing emperors. The one from Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) reads, “Teacher of Ten Thousand Generations,” and that from Emperor Qianlong (1711-1799) says, “As Sacred as the Earth and Heaven.” In the halls of the eastern and western wings are memorial tablets for the 72 disciples of Confucius and other prominent figures of Confucianism.

Intangible Heritage

Gezai Opera is the best loved form of traditional opera amongst the Taiwanese. At the transition of the Ming and Qing dynasties, migrants from Zhangzhou in Fujian Province brought their traditional singing and dancing performances to Taiwan’s small towns. These gradually blended with the music of the native Taiwanese, until at the beginning of the last century a new performance art fused southern Fujian dialect and indigenous ditties.It spread out from Ilan County in northeastern Taiwan, soon becoming popular in all Fujian dialect areas. To promote the folk opera tradition that sprang up there, Ilan County built a club in 1990.

There was one human link between this zenith for Gezai, across its wane, and finally to its revival today. An aged Gezai player spent a decade teaching the art to Zheng Yingzhu, a clerk in the cultural administration of Ilan. In 2002 she and other Gezai zealots sponsored courses for both adults and children in the old club. “We are fulfilling the obligation to carry forward our cultural heritage,” Zheng explained, “and the younger generation have to start with the basics.”

Kids come to the Gezai class for any number of reasons. Chen Zuoxuan, 12, thought it would correct her unease in the presence of big crowds of strangers, but gradually fell in love with the opera itself. Wu Yongqi, a seventh grader, first saw a performance when accompanying her mother to the class, soon developed a personal interest, and started formal lessons six years ago.

There are regular Gezai productions by children in Ilan. Mostly targeting tourists, they are tailored to be more interactive with the audience, and spiced up with present-day relevance.

Home of Craftsmen

Lukang Town in Changhua County is known for its handicrafts, such as furniture, Buddhist statues, tin wares and lanterns. Before the 1970s, Lukang-made furniture in a bride’s dowry was cause for family pride and honor.

Wu Dunhou Lantern Shop on Zhongshan Road is on the map for being home to the best lanterns purveyed in town, and the best lantern craft instructor. Its small chamber is crammed with paper lanterns of every size and shape imaginable. The owner Wu Dunhou lost his hearing at age 13, during the war, and is now a hale and hearty 86-year-old. He jokes that he “stole the craft from lantern masters.” During his 60-plus years in the business Wu has instructed more than 10,000 lantern makers in Taiwan.

Lanterns in the region are of two types named after cities in Fujian Province C Quanzhou and Fuzhou. The difference between the two models lies in the frame. A Quanzhou style can be folded like an umbrella, making it convenient for transportation. A Fuzhou style is fabricated with bamboo of five years or older, meaning it is likely to last as long as 50 years. Mr. Wu strictly follows the traditional methods of lantern-making, but has invented more designs. He brags that his paintings are more lively than those of his son, and of all the patterns, his favorite is the energetic dragon.

Now the shop on Zhongshan Road is run by Mr. Wu’s two sons, freeing the old man to do more to promote and advocate for the traditional craft. For his activities in schools and cultural events he has received a number of honors and awards, of which the Award for Carrying on National Arts is his most valued. He contends that traditional Chinese culture, with its richness and depth, has unrivaled appeal, should be loved with unfailing passion, and kept alive for aeon.

Indigenous Cultural Festivals

The customs, music and crafts from primeval times are preserved by Taiwan’s aboriginals, some 430,000 or roughly two percent of the Taiwan population of 23 million. Taitung County is a compact community of aboriginals. One third of local residents are indigenes, subdivided into six groups. The Atolan Mountain is the habitat of several tribes, including Beinan and Amei.

Aboriginal settlements cling to traditional ranks and titles like chieftain, warrior and wizard. Du Duitian is the head of an Amei tribe. His headdress, adorned with goat horns, wild boar fangs and pheasant feathers, distinguishes the stout elder from any of the other 2,000-odd Amei people in the village. “The ancient culture of our tribe is dying,” Du mourns. “When I was a boy my grandpa told me that our ancestors made clothes with bark. The exact technique was lost for a time however.” To his relief, elder members of the tribe eventually reconstructed the old craft after ten years of experimentation.

Recent years have seen an increase in tribesmen returning to home soil in Atolan. One of them is artist Xiju Sufei, who seeks inspiration in tribal culture for his sculptures. Other members of local ethnic communities have reached deep into their heritage, developing lines of furniture, apparel and natural fibre artworks of pristine grace, all of which are popular with tourists.

Despite signs a sense of their roots is in resurgence, the trend of youth to head out of Atolan hasn’t abated. All tribes are confronted with the same challenge C how to ensure a living preservation of their customs and cultures. Their hopes lay in the annual Harvest Festival mounted by tribes from July to September. In that spirit, in 2002, Taitung County commenced the annual Atolan Cultural Festival in an effort to foster public appreciation of aboriginal culture. This is now a 10-day event every October.

Some tribes have their own language, oral and written, such as the posed of several tribes under different surnames, they populate the Ali Mountain in Jiayi County known as the ancestral land of Zou. Major events act as a venue for the staging of ancient rites by the tribe, such as offering sacrifices to the gods, and seeding the field and harvest. Gao Desheng, a native Zou, built a log cabin in the mountain (giving it the amusing name Hut of Love) where he offers more continuity C daily folk singing and dancing performances. Mr. Gao hopes his place will be a window on Zou culture and ethos. “It is through this that I express my personal feelings and undertake my social mission. The primary purpose is to carry on our culture.”

There are regular Gezai productions by children in Ilan. Mostly targeting tourists, they are tailored to be more interactive with the audience, and spiced up with present-day relevance.

His headdress, adorned with goat horns, wild boar fangs and pheasant feathers, distinguishes the stout

elder from any of the other 2,000-odd Amei people in the village.