It’s that time of the year again, when many of us start feeling a creeping sense of dread on suddenly remembering that Mother’s Day is fast approaching. If you haven’t started shopping yet, you have three days until May 10. There are plenty of gift options with a Taiwanese flavor that are quick and easy to buy, but will nonetheless make up for the years of backbreaking, heartrending labor that it took to raise you.
If your mom has a sweet tooth, treat her to a taste of Taiwan — literally. I-Lan Cake (宜蘭餅) sells traditional pastries with a twist. Try the kumquat biscuit, which is a variation on the pineapple biscuit (鳳梨酥), a national teatime favorite. Each one has an entire candied kumquat, which is tarter and chewier than pineapple paste, nestled in it (NT$500 for a gift box). Health-conscious moms will appreciate I-Lan Cake’s Yi-lan biscuit, which are just 0.1cm thick and advertised as “the thinnest biscuit in the world.” The baked treats come in a cornucopia of savory and sweet flavors, including maple syrup, coffee, green onion and cheese. The cookies literally melt in your mouth and are a low calorie alternative to fried potato chips (NT$35 per pack, or NT$350 for a gift bag of 10 packs). I-Lan Cake’s Taipei store is at B2, 300, Zhongxiao E Rd Sec 3, Taipei City (台北市忠孝東路三段300號B2樓), tel: (02) 8772-7535. For more information, check
www.i-cake.com.tw.
Yuan Soap (阿原肥皂) specializes in bath products for sensitive skin made from natural ingredients and water from Taiwan’s springs. Soaps with classic ingredients like moisturizing oatmeal or astringent tea tree oil are available, but for something more unusual, try ones made with energizing mulberry and chrysanthemum (桑菊花), soothing wild mugwort (野生艾草), relaxing juniper (檜木) or moisturizing green bean and Job’s tears (綠豆薏仁). Individual soaps aren’t cheap — most are NT$250 or NT$300 per bar — but if you really want to spoil your mom, buy her a gift box of four of Taiwan Soap’s best sellers for NT$1,100 or NT$1,190 for a box with soaps that have skin nourishing properties. Go to www.taiwansoap.com.tw for locations.
If your mom likes to unwind over a nice cuppa, head over to Bee Coffee (蜂蜜咖啡) at 87, Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路1段87號), tel: (02) 2773-2072. Crowded and lit with fluorescent lamps, the combination store and drink stand doesn’t seem like much from the outside, but inside there’s a huge variety of loose tea leaves sold by weight for reasonable prices. Try the rosebud tea (粉玫瑰朵), which looks like potpourri and is supposed to help alleviate muscle aches and make your mom even more beautiful than she already is (NT$100 for 50g or NT$400 for 200g). Sets of five pairs of bone china cups or saucers are NT$950 to NT$3,500 per set. See www.beecoffee.com.tw for more information.
Liuligongfang (琉璃工房) is one of Taiwan’s top artisan glassmakers. Founded in 1987 by actress Loretta Young (楊惠姍), the gallery combines traditional Chinese glassmaking with a modern aesthetic to make colorful art pieces and jewelry. Many of Liuligongfang’s handmade glass art works, which are crafted using the lost-wax casting method, go for tens of thousands of NT dollars, but you can buy a paperweight for about NT$7,900 or heavy, richly detailed pendants on a silky macrame cord for less than NT$3,000. Liuligongfang has galleries throughout Taiwan; check www.liuli.com for your nearest location.
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist