For thousands of years, farmers in East Asia have relied on solar terms, or the 24 points in the traditional solar calendar, to determine when to plant and harvest their crops. Solar terms also dictate many major religious festivals and important dates such as Tomb Sweeping Day.
South Village (南村落), an arts and culture center near Shida, will be marking the next four solar terms in March and April, which herald the coming of spring, with events featuring a mouth-watering selection of traditional snacks made from seasonal ingredients. The treats include fresh mantou sweetened with brown sugar and red beans, and pastries flavored with green tea, taro, yam and plum.
The first event is Thursday, which falls on the day before the two-week solar term known as “the awakening of the insects” (驚蟄). The spring equinox (春分) will be celebrated on March 20, Tomb Sweeping Day (清明節) on April 2, and the arrival of the “grain rain” (鼓雨) which helps crops grow, on April 20.
While South Village’s events are aimed at gourmets, the activities are intended to go beyond food tastings. The center, which regularly hosts dinners and cooking demonstrations in its combined gallery and kitchen space, hopes that highlighting the importance of the solar calendar will raise awareness about global warming.
June 23 to June 29 After capturing the walled city of Hsinchu on June 22, 1895, the Japanese hoped to quickly push south and seize control of Taiwan’s entire west coast — but their advance was stalled for more than a month. Not only did local Hakka fighters continue to cause them headaches, resistance forces even attempted to retake the city three times. “We had planned to occupy Anping (Tainan) and Takao (Kaohsiung) as soon as possible, but ever since we took Hsinchu, nearby bandits proclaiming to be ‘righteous people’ (義民) have been destroying train tracks and electrical cables, and gathering in villages
Dr. Y. Tony Yang, Associate Dean of Health Policy and Population Science at George Washington University, argued last week in a piece for the Taipei Times about former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) leading a student delegation to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that, “The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world” (“Ma’s Visit, DPP’s Blind Spot,” June 18, page 8). Yang contends that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has a blind spot: “By treating any
This year will go down in the history books. Taiwan faces enormous turmoil and uncertainty in the coming months. Which political parties are in a good position to handle big changes? All of the main parties are beset with challenges. Taking stock, this column examined the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) (“Huang Kuo-chang’s choking the life out of the TPP,” May 28, page 12), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) (“Challenges amid choppy waters for the DPP,” June 14, page 12) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) (“KMT struggles to seize opportunities as ‘interesting times’ loom,” June 20, page 11). Times like these can
Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week’s air drop was the latest in a controversial development — private contracting firms led by former US intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world’s deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts. The moves are roiling the global aid community, which warns of a more militarized, politicized and profit-seeking trend