The Shihsanhang Museum (
To make greater use of this idyllic environment, the museum has organized an outdoor dance/installation event titled "The Sun -- The Beginning of Life" (
Shooting the Sun (
In Atayal tales, there used to be two suns in the sky. A brave tribesman chased the sun all his life, but to no avail. Finally, his son, who had followed in his father's footsteps, shot the sun, creating the somewhat dimmer moon.
The column, set up using the same technique that Aborigines used to build stone houses, is a tribute to the tribal heroes who sacrificed their lives to make life better for the fellow tribesmen.
Another work, the Fire Dance Theater (
PHOTO: VICO LEE, TAIPEI TIMES
While Zhang's works might be seen as no more than interesting decorations for a garden, they acquire greater meaning through creative interaction with the performers. Tai-Gu-Ta Dance Theater (太古踏舞團), which performs on Aug. 23, does this brilliantly, bringing Chang's statues to life in their choreographic representation of Aboriginal legends. It is a pity the other groups don't make such good use of the installations, tending to confine themselves to the stage.
Fortunately for audiences, performances starts around sunset, when the temperature becomes more bearable than during the day. For those thinking of visiting the museum, which is some distance from Taipei, this current show should provide a good reason.
Shihsanhang Museum is located at 200, Museum Rd, Pali, Taipei County (
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not