It's that time again folks, blog time!
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| Longshan Temple！ |
I
know I said that I would be talking about the permeation of Confucian
culture into Taiwanese/Chinese culture, but something else grabbed my
attention throughout the week and I decided to save the Confucius topic
for a later post (more incentive to stick around though;])! That said,
this week we filled a lot of our free time this week on more historical
excursions! We visited the oldest part of Taipei, Manka (艋舺), which is
the indigenous word for the boats that the indigenous people of Taiwan used for the boats that they carried sweet potatoes on and it was the area that the
people would meet in order to trade potatoes with. There we learned
about Kuan-yin, the Goddes of Mercy as well as other Daoist and Buddhist
figures at the Long Shan Temple (龍山寺).After
the Temple, we visited Bopiliao, specifically the Lao-shan Elementary
School where traditional Chinese schooling was perfected and much modern
medicine was introduced to the Taiwanese people! All of that was just
on Tuesday! Yesterday we visited Tamkang University's main campus in
Danshui (淡水) and I think I fell in love. I sincerely began to think
about studying in Taiwan for graduate school like...seriously. The
facilities are clean and well-kept, the students seem to really care
about their studies-- I love Club Mckeldin and all, but finals week in
the libraries here was completely different...and quiet-- and I met a
black guy from Seattle who was handling a lot of the translation affairs
for the school! As shallow as it sounds, seeing other black people
making a career out of utilization of the Chinese language is really
empowering because it makes me feel like I'm not as much of an anomaly
when it comes to my interests and aspirations. On another note, the
faculty were also extremely welcoming and it made it that much easier
for me to see myself applying to grad school here; that's a few years
from now though and a lot of things could change between now and then so
no promises just yet!
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| Fort Santa Domingo! |
As you can see, we have done a lot
in the past few days, so you can see how I may have encountered
something that would inspire a cultural comparison, and that something
was the preservation of historical places. I've repeatedly said to
people throughout this trip “I'm learning so much history” and it's
true, but the only reason that I'm able to learn so much is because so
much has been preserved in the first place! Every memorial or historical
building or landmark has been either well preserved, restored to its
original condition, or some combination of the above. It's just like
back home in America! If you were to take a trip to Gettysburg, you will
still see the old buildings and be able to walk down cobblestone
streets that are hundreds of years old. The same thing goes for
historical places here in Taiwan; plaques are set up with information
about why or how or when the thing behind it came into being and the
significance of it in the grand scheme of the entire site. In a way it's
a comforting reminder of home in a place that I would least expect it
since it's meant to show me the history of a culture that's very
different from that of America.
Honestly,
I might love the historical sites here more than I love the ones (that
I've been to) in America, but that could also be that I find the history
a bit more fascinating :P. That said however, I am genuinely hoping to
see less of these sites as we enter the weekend and move on to our final
week here in Taiwan. History is cool, but my feet hate me for making
them walk so much and so far and in sometimes very uncomfortable shoes.
So here's to some interesting history, but less walking this weekend!
I'll talk to you all next time when I actually will (hopefully) post on
the permeation of Confucius teachings into Taiwanese/Chinese culture!
Until next time friends!
Peace and Love,
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