For more than six decades, bamboo lantern handicraft maestro Tang Chiu-shui (唐秋水) has been incorporating Chinese calligraphy and painting into his craft, and his works — which are all completed by hand — are hung at many temples nationwide.
The 73-year-old said he now wants to create a large lantern that would be recognized by Guinness World Records to help showcase Taiwanese traditional handicrafts on the international stage.
Tang said he had not been interested in studying in his younger years, adding: “I was instead more interested in illustrations and comics.”
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
Tang said that lanterns were a creation that was incredibly symbolic to people under the Sinosphere, as it represents a creation or tool that lit one’s way forward, adding that he felt the handicraft included bits and pieces of all the essential handicrafts and he feels obligated to preserve and pass on the craft.
Citing Yeh Hung-chia’s (葉洪甲) Chu Ko Ssu Lang (諸葛四郎) and Liu Hsing-chin’s (劉興欽) A San Go and Da Shen Po (阿三哥與大嬸婆) as works that inspired him, Tang said his father had made him an apprentice under artists painting movie billboards, or portraits in the Western style.
As his father was a renowned lantern maker, Tang said he and his father opened a shop in 1972 that offered a one-stop service for colored illustrations and handmade lanterns.
While his second son, Tang Chia-hsing (唐嘉興), had previously worked as a teacher after graduating, he returned home to take up the family business in 2010.
Tang Chia-hsing said he had decided to quit his teaching job and take up the family business as his father grew older.
The process of splitting a bamboo pole to make the bamboo strips, which are then worked into a lantern, is done entirely by hand, Tang Chiu-shui said.
As one feels the blade slicing through the bamboo, the artisan can make cuts in line with the fiber of the bamboo, Tang Chiu-shui said, adding that using a machine to split bamboo into strips would inadvertently harm the fibers and thus make the lanterns less sturdy.
Tang Chiu-shui said a medium-sized lantern requires hundreds of bamboo strips to form the frame, adding that the cloth has to be dyed, illustrations drawn on it, and then stretched over the lantern.
He said the Changhua City Office had commissioned them to make eight large lanterns — each 220cm tall and 424cm in diameter — to commemorate the city’s third centennial celebrations.
The Jade Emperor’s Temple in Changhua’s Fushan Borough (福山) in March commissioned from the Tangs two lanterns that are 300cm tall and 192cm in diameter.
The first is nearing completion and the second is expected to be finished by the end of the year.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan is to extend its visa-waiver program for Philippine passport holders for another year, starting on Aug. 1, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Friday. Lin made the announcement during a reception in Taipei marking the 127th anniversary of Philippine independence and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The decision reflected Taiwan’s commitment to deepening exchanges with the Philippines, the statement cited Lin as saying, adding that it was a key partner under the New Southbound Policy launched in 2016. Lin also expressed hope
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
CASE: Prosecutors have requested heavy sentences, citing a lack of remorse and the defendants’ role in ‘undermining the country’s democratic foundations’ Five people affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), including senior staff from the party’s Taipei branch, were indicted yesterday for allegedly forging thousands of signatures to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. Those indicted include KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿) and secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release. Prosecutors said the three were responsible for fabricating 5,211 signature forms — 2,537 related to the recall of DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and 2,674 for DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) — with forged entries accounting for
RSS