The New Taipei City Hakka Museum is until June 15 holding a special exhibition of everyday objects utilized in traditional Hakka culture.
The household objects include tools, clothes, religious artifacts, utensils and musical instruments, the city’s Hakka Affairs Department said in a news release on May 13, adding that the artifacts embody the Hakka virtues of practicality, sturdiness and frugality.
One of the items on exhibit is qisi mao (氣死貓), a bamboo food basket that can be suspended from the beam of the house via a loop to protect its content from cats and mice, it said.
Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Hakka Affairs Department
The vase-like container has a tapering mouth that can be sealed with a lid and its loop can also be used as a handle, it added.
Another object on display is a container made of rattan with a tight spiral weave resembling a bird’s nest that can hold a pot of tea and help it retain heat for a longer period, it said.
The exhibition also features traditional women’s clothing, which were loosely fitted for ease of movement, comfort and functionality, it said.
These clothes include lan shan (藍衫), a typically blue, knee-length upper garment that has an opening on the right side, and da tang ku (大襠褲), which is a straight-cut lower garment that resembles baggy trousers, it said.
A children’s hat called feng mao (風帽) has a flap that protects the neck from the cold, it said.
Hakka utensils on display include a collection of colorful rice bowls, the department said, adding that these ceramic vessels played an important symbolic role in family life and were frequently exchanged as gifts.
Other objects on display include a fisher’s basket, a straw raincoat and hat, a dustpan and a carrying rod.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is
NEW DESTINATIONS: Marketing campaigns to attract foreign travelers have to change from the usual promotions about Alishan and Taroko Gorge, the transport minister said The number of international tourists visiting Taiwan is estimated to top 8 million by the end of this year, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday, adding that the ministry has not changed its goal of attracting 10 million foreign travelers this year. Chen made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to brief lawmakers about the ministry’s plan to boost foreign visitor arrivals. Last month, Chen told the committee that the nation might attract only 7.5 million tourists from overseas this year and that when the ministry sets next year’s goal, it would not include