Nothing bridges nature and culture more than pottery. That's the idea that the Yingge Ceramics Museum was built on and its permanent exhibits alone make a compelling case for it. Clay was the first thing humans built with and it remains the foundation of the civilized world; from dinner plates to dentures and from engine cylinders to silicon chips.
Now the past two centuries of Taiwan's ceramics history can be seen at the museum in a special exhibition -- 200 Years in Yingge starts today and runs through Saturday, Oct. 30.
PHOTO: DAVID MOMPHARD, TAIPEI TIMES
The cause for the celebration is the arrival in Yingge 200 years ago of Wu An (吳鞍), the first potter from Guangzhou to settle in the area and take up his trade. He was later joined by a brick maker named Chen Kun (陳昆) and the two helped make the area into the center of Taiwan's ceramics industry. Today, Yingge is known as much for the commodes and cable insulators it supplies to the world as for the works of art its craftsmen create.
While a bicentennial is cause to celebrate, there's reason enough to travel to the Taipei County township without it. The Yingge Ceramics Museum is world-class -- not a term usually associated with Taiwan's countless museums -- and the town it sits in has quite literally formed a unique identity for itself over the centuries.
Beginning at the museum, you can learn about the start of Taiwan's ceramics industry, when sampans on the Dahan River floated cups and bowls downstream, and about the prosperous days that came with the railroad. Then you can exit the museum and sift through stacks of plates seven decades deep. You'll be surprised at what you find (locally manufactured Japanese-era rice bowls, for example) and surprised at the cost (NT$100 per piece).
Yingge's history has been captured not only in clay, but through the camera, as well, and the 200-year exhibit's must-see section is Memories of Trains, housed in the town's old train station, next door to the new train station.
Taking the idea that clay bridges nature and civilization a step further, the museum will offer several special activities over the next two weeks as a part of the 200-year anniversary exhibit. A one-day environmental tour of the township will take visitors on a tour of the local incinerator and to a DIY recycling shop. There are also tours of the hundreds of both modern and traditional kilns in the area. Both tours are available weekends only.
The Yingge Ceramics Museum is located at 200 Wenhua Rd, Yinge Township, Taipei County (北縣鶯歌鎮文化路200號). To get there, take the train to the Yingge Railway Station and follow the big green and white signs to the museum and special exhibit centers. The exhibits are open until 5pm on weekdays and until 6pm on weekends. Admission is NT$200. More information about the exhibitions can be viewed on the Web at www.ceramics.tpc.gov.tw.
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
And so, in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s trip to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), all the experts on the Strait of Hormuz suddenly became experts on US-China-Taiwan relations. The Internet has certainly expanded human knowledge. Lots of these sudden experts made noise this week about Trump’s words after the meeting with PRC dictator Xi Jin-ping (習近平). Trump is going to sell out Taiwan! Longtime Taiwan commentator J. Michael Cole summed the situation up neatly in the Guardian: “We need to keep in mind that he has a tendency to say many things — sometimes contradicting himself within
It took 12 years and months of standing in the same mountain location for director Liang Chieh-te (梁皆得) to capture a few seconds of footage: Taiwan’s largest resident raptor locking talons with its mate and spinning through the air in a courtship ritual. With only about 1,000 left in the wild and very short flight windows, the mountain hawk-eagle remains among Taiwan’s most elusive birds. The species generally produces only one offspring per year. Using forest cameras, the film crew and research teams document the arduous process the monogamous pairs go through for the chick to hatch and grow up, weathering
There is considerable frustration and confusion among many, both in Taiwan and abroad — including in Washington — as to why the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) seems so dead set on using their legislative leverage to slash defense spending and disrupt the ability of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to function. Are they pawns of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)? Are they traitors? In reality, there are multiple reasons. In the first column in this series on this subject, “Donovan’s Deep Dives: How and why the TPP and KMT help Beijing” (Sat May 16, page 12), we examined three
RSS