The seventh lunar month is traditionally regarded as Ghost Month, the result of two major festivals, one Taoist and one Buddhist, both honoring the dearly departed. The Chungyuan Festival (
It is a time when respect for one's ancestors is greatly emphasized and filial piety gets lots of attention. One of the reasons for this is that during this month, popular superstition has it that the gates of hell are opened and the souls of the dead wander among the living. Failure to do the right thing by the deceased might lead to all kinds of ill fortune.
The deceased are not a particularly agreeable lot, and need to be pacified by offerings of food and drink. Jealous of the living, they are prone to bringing the living across to the dark side. Many people take particular precautions during Ghost Month, avoiding possibly dangerous activities such as swimming. For the unsuperstitious, this makes Ghost Month an ideal time for river or lakeside trips, but you will be warned that you are tempting fate.
Chungyuan marks the high point of Ghost Month and is celebrated across Taiwan today in the Chungyuan Pu Tu (
Extensive Chinese language information on the festivals' origins and associated activities, which continue through August, can be found at the Chungyuan Festival Web site at www.klcr.org.tw/
For your information:
Ghost Month ceremony
Mon/14 1pm to 7pm: Competitve food displays, using fruit and wheat flower sculptures. Dance performance of Chung Kuei, the demon-slayer. (
Tien-liao riverside(
Until Sunday: 2000 Keelung Chungyuan Festival -- An installation art exhibition of lanterns along the Tien-liao river. (2000雞籠中元祭藝文華會?裝置藝術展"蓮池華映"), Yi 1st Road to Yi 3rd Road, Tien-liao riverside(田寮河面,義一路至義三路)
Keelung Municipal Cultural Center (
2000 Keelung Chungyuan Festival -- Special Exhibition of the Millennium Buddha (
May 6 to May 12 Those who follow the Chinese-language news may have noticed the usage of the term zhuge (豬哥, literally ‘pig brother,’ a male pig raised for breeding purposes) in reports concerning the ongoing #Metoo scandal in the entertainment industry. The term’s modern connotations can range from womanizer or lecher to sexual predator, but it once referred to an important rural trade. Until the 1970s, it was a common sight to see a breeder herding a single “zhuge” down a rustic path with a bamboo whip, often traveling large distances over rugged terrain to service local families. Not only
Ahead of incoming president William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20 there appear to be signs that he is signaling to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and that the Chinese side is also signaling to the Taiwan side. This raises a lot of questions, including what is the CCP up to, who are they signaling to, what are they signaling, how with the various actors in Taiwan respond and where this could ultimately go. In the last column, published on May 2, we examined the curious case of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweight Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) — currently vice premier
The last time Mrs Hsieh came to Cihu Park in Taoyuan was almost 50 years ago, on a school trip to the grave of Taiwan’s recently deceased dictator. Busloads of children were brought in to pay their respects to Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正), known as Generalissimo, who had died at 87, after decades ruling Taiwan under brutal martial law. “There were a lot of buses, and there was a long queue,” Hsieh recalled. “It was a school rule. We had to bow, and then we went home.” Chiang’s body is still there, under guard in a mausoleum at the end of a path
Last week the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) released a set of very strange numbers on Taiwan’s wealth distribution. Duly quoted in the Taipei Times, the report said that “The Gini coefficient for Taiwanese households… was 0.606 at the end of 2021, lower than Australia’s 0.611, the UK’s 0.620, Japan’s 0.678, France’s 0.676 and Germany’s 0.727, the agency said in a report.” The Gini coefficient is a measure of relative inequality, usually of wealth or income, though it can be used to evaluate other forms of inequality. However, for most nations it is a number from .25 to .50