Sat, Aug 16, 2014 page4

• Bear wall mural draws visitors to Tainan’s Siaying

  • By Liu Wan-chun and Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  A group of 20-somethings in Greater Tainan have created a unique wall mural, which combines Winnie the Pooh and other cute cartoon bears with Taiwanese worship of Taoist religious deities.

  The mural in a neighborhood off Wenming Street (文明街) in Greater Tainan’s Siaying District (下營) is titled A-Iann Color-Painting Village with Winnie the Pooh.

  A-Iann is the Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) pronunciation of Siaying.

  

  A group of 20-somethings pose together with 83-year-old Chen Hsien-chi, fifth right, and his wife, fourth left, last Saturday in front of the couple’s house in Greater Tainan’s Siaying District.

  Photo: Liu Wan-chun, Taipei Times

  The idea was initiated by Chen Chien-yu (陳建佑), who at the start was thinking only of adding some fun artwork to the exterior of his grandparents’ house.

  Chen rounded up seven of his classmates from his time back in elementary school, most of them now about 26 years of age.

  They collected money to buy paint and tools, doing all the carpentry, wall resurfacing and painting by themselves.

  Based on their childhood love of Winnie the Pooh, the group used their imagination to paint the colorful portraits one at a time.

  Later on they added extra elements, the colors of national teams in this summer’s FIFA World Cup finals and combined them with the images of the traditional worship of the Taoist deity “Emperor of the Mysterious Heaven” (玄天上帝).

  Subsequently, they also added colorful portraits of other cartoon bears, including Japan’s Rilakkuma, social messaging service Line’s Brown Bear, Toy Story’s Lots-O-Huggin’ Bear and the Kumamon Bear from Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture.

  Shen Cheng-jen (沈正仁) was responsible for the design and he decided to turn the outside of the kitchen window into a representaion of a palanquin for the deity.

  On the wall, Winnie the Pooh and Brown Bear are depicted as the two palanquin bearers.

  It is a fanciful portrayal of the traditional temple procession, where worshipers kneel as the deity’s palanquin passes overhead, by which the devotees supposedly can gain a divine blessing lasting for a whole year.

  Children who come to look at the mural art often re-enact the ritual by kneeling in front of the palanquin and the two bear characters.

  On the wall next to it, a painting of the “Eight Generals (八家將)” is yet to be completed.

  Chen said Winnie the Pooh, the Formosan black bear and other characters will be part of the eight generals painting.

  Chen Hsien-chi (陳先基), the 83-year-old grandfather who lives at the house, said at first he was against his grandson doing “crude graffiti” on the exterior walls, but after seeing the creations the grandfather and the 80-year-old grandmother praised the work.

  Photographs of the mural were put on social media sites, where many people got to know about it and made special visits to see the work.

  Chen’s grandparents are happy to show the visitors around, as they enjoy the friendly company and having people to socialize with.

  “Siaying is a nice place to live. It only lacks young people around to give the place more color and energy,” Chen Chien-yu said.

  “Seeing the success of this project, neighbors in the area said they are also willing to allow us to paint on the exterior walls of their houses. With this encouragement, we will keep on painting these murals, which will help promote Siaying to the outside world,” he added.
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