Lunar New Year is the season for appreciating camellias. Coinciding with the Lunar New Year vacations, Cingshueiyan Temple in Changhua County’s Shetou Township will be holding the nation’s most splendid camellia exhibition. Sixty precious camellia trees will be in bloom and their bright colors are sure to please visitors.
新春賞茶花!彰化縣社頭鄉清水岩寺配合新春假期,舉辦全國最盛大的茶花展,六十棵名貴的茶花樹綻放,顏色五彩繽紛,讓遊客一次看個夠。
With the support of Changhua County’s Cultural Affairs Bureau, Cingshueiyan Temple holds a camellia exhibition every year. This year’s exhibition will start on Jan. 30, the eighth day of the first lunar month, and run until the end of the Yuanxiao Festival on the 15th day, which falls on Feb. 6 this year. Sixty pots of exquisitely colored, precious camellia trees were prepared for the exhibition on Jan. 5, and many visitors who had come to the temple to worship caught an early glimpse of them. They all praised the camellias and said it was a truly eye-opening experience because they had never seen camellia trees with such robust trunks and branches with such rich colors.
photo: Yan Hong-chun, LIBERTY TIMES
照片: 自由時報記者顏宏駿
清水岩寺在彰化縣文化局的支持下,每年固定舉辦茶花展,今年展期從元月八日開始一直到元宵節二月六日結束,一月五日六十盆顏色嬌豔、高貴的茶花樹已經準備就緒,許多前來拜拜的遊客提前目睹,無不發出讚歎之聲,大家異口同聲說,真是大開眼界,從來沒有看過枝幹粗壯、花色如此豔麗的茶花。
These camellia trees are from the Taiwan Camellia Society Chairperson Huang Chun-long’s collection. Thanks to his careful attention, they have all matured into breathtakingly beautiful, colorful and considerably valuable trees.
這些茶花都是中華民國茶花協會理事長黃春隆的珍藏,在他細心照顧下,茶花朵朵開得嬌艷動人,顏色五彩繽紛,價值不斐。
photo: LIBERTY TIMES
照片:自由時報記者周敏鴻
These generous gifts however made temple officials extremely worried. Chen Ching-fu, head of the temple committee, said he was afraid that thieves may come around and that the first two days the pot plants were delivered, he was so worried that he could not sleep all night and kept getting up out of bed to check on them. However, Huang calmly said that having statues of the Buddha next to the trees was the best form of security they could have, adding that the police also regularly patrolled the area and that thieves would essentially be walking into a trap if they dared to steal them.
這項「厚禮」卻讓廟方膽顫心驚,管理委員會總幹事陳慶福說,害怕偷兒光顧,盆栽剛運到前兩天,他整夜擔心得睡不著,半夜常爬起來查看。不過,茶花主人黃春隆則老神在在說,有佛祖伴在身邊,就是最好的保全,且警察三不五時前來巡邏,「盜花賊」若敢造次,無異自投羅網。
An opening ceremony for the camellia exhibition at Cingshueiyan is planned for Jan. 30. The opening ceremony will be attended by several famous calligraphers, such as Chao Tsung-song, who will showcase their skills and give out spring couplets. It will also feature performances such as dancing heavenly generals and traditional drumming and lion dancing. (Liberty Times, Translated by Drew Cameron)
清水岩茶花展,正月初八上午八時舉行開幕式,屆時有趙宗宋等多位書法名家到場揮毫贈春聯,並有電音三太子及戰鼓、舞獅等表演。(自由時報記者顏宏駿)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
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