HELLO Taiwan!

Hi, I'm Eunice and unlike others whom posted information &wonderful pictures about Taiwan, I'm going to have a post of feelings perhaps with some little more infor &pictures, since most things had been posted already.

Firstly, a big big big HELLO to Taiwan, I bet everyone who is going is as excited as i am. I know my friend definitely. She is even counting the days to the trip, how cute right? Alright. Taiwan is one country i will want to visit, and with this opportunity it's like a dream come true. Especially with friends! Going to places that are not only educational but also fun and interesting. We will be visiting the Taroko National Park, and for me someone who likes to collect stones (till now, I'm not exactly sure why) this will be a great opportunity to visit the beautiful structure of the gorge. Since now i had mentioned the gorge, i shall use this opportunity to go to the details.

Taroko National Park- The word 'Taroko' also refer to the Truku aboriginal tribe. It is also one of the seven national parks in Taiwan. The park was originally establish as the Tsugitaka by the Governor- General of Taiwan on 2 December 1937, when Taiwan was part of the Japan empire. It was after the World War 2 when the empire of Japan was defeated and returned, the Republic of China then took over. The Republic of China then abolished the park on 15 August 1945.

Alright, enough of the gorge, besides the gorge that i am really looking forward to, I'm also very looking forward the local delicacies.



















Aww...

Haa... Feeling hungry?

Enough of the pictures, will really get your stomach going. There are more about Taiwan and online reseaches and photos are not going to tell us all. We have to visit Taiwan by ourselves. So it's a date! 15June, let's all set off happily. Don't be late!

Eunice 莫佳仪
3C'hiron

p.s: we'll have lots of fun, that's for sure!

Pork, seafood, rice, and soy are very common ingredientsBeef is far less common, and some Taiwanese (particularly the elderly generation) still refrain from eating it.This is in part due to the considerations of some Taiwanese Buddhists, a traditional reluctance towards slaughtering precious cattle needed for agriculture, and an emotional attachment to animals used for their labour.Because of the island's sub-tropical location, Taiwan has an abundant supply of various fruit, such as papayas, starfruit, melons, and citrus fruit. A wide variety of tropical fruits, imported and native, are also enjoyed in Taiwan. Other agricultural products in general are rice, corn, tea, pork, poultry, beef, fish, and other fruits and vegetables. Fresh ingredients in Taiwan are readily available from markets.
In many of their dishes, the Taiwanese have shown their inventiveness in their selection of spices. Taiwanese cuisine relies on an abundant array of seasonings for flavour: soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, fermented black beans, pickled daikon, pickled mustard greens, peanuts, chili peppers, cilantro (sometimes called Chinese parsley), and a local variety of basil (九層塔, literally "nine storey pagoda"). The resulting dishes thus combine and form interesting tastes which make Taiwanese cuisine simple in format yet complex in experience.

Lishi.

3Chiron

传统文化不老

台湾的传统文化不被遗忘！

台湾人努力地维护自己的传统文化，并骄傲地把自己的文化介绍给世界！

想一想，新加坡有自己的传统文化吗？我们有没有好好地保留自己的文化？

Group Project - Themes

这次的台湾之旅，希望各位同学用心去看、去听、去记录、去思考。

我们策划了8个德惠中学台湾之旅的主题，先向大家预告一下......

1. 学校 The School

2. 传统文化 Traditional Culture

3. 饮食文化 Food Culture

4. 阅读风气 Reading Culture

5. 社区服务 CIP

6. 交通情况 Transportation

7. 夜市文化 The Night Markets

8. 创意氛围 Creativity


-- Ms Lai

More about Taiwan

People

Taiwan was originally populated by indigenous tribes that spoke various Austronesian languages, which are related to Malay, Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia. Today these people form only about 2% of the population, with the other 98% being from China mainland. The Chinese are further split into Taiwanese forming about 84% of the population, whose families migrated during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, as well as mainlanders, forming about 14% of the population, whose families fled to Taiwan from mainland China after the communist takeover in 1949. Among the Taiwanese group, Hoklo (Minnan) speakers form the majority, which is about 70% of the population while the remaining 14% are largely Hakka speakers.

Climate
Taiwan has a marine tropical climate, meaning cool winters (8°C at night) and sweltering, humid summers (above 30°C, 86°F) from Jun-Sep. The best time of year to visit is thus from Oct-Dec, although occasional typhoons can spoil the fun. Spring is also nice, although it rains more than during autumn. During the typhoon season, the east coast bears the brunt of the damage as it is facing the Pacific Ocean.

Landscapes and Scenery
Taiwan is home to some very stunning landscapes, and it is worthwhile to leave the grimy and densely populated west coast for the sparsely populated countryside. The Taroko Gorge (太魯閣) near Hualien in particular is very impressive, and should not be missed by any tourists. Much of Taiwan is covered with mountains so hiking opportunities are very diverse.

Delicacies

The very common ingredients in Taiwanese cuisine are pork, rice, and soy. The country’s cuisine is also influenced with its geographic location. Taiwan is also said to be abundant in fruits like papaya, melon and citrus due to its sub-tropical location. Their agricultural products include rice, corn, tea, pork, poultry, beef and fish. The Taiwanese people heavily rely on seasonings for flavor like soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, black beans, pickled radishes, peanuts, chili peppers, parsley and basil.
The country’s well known snacks are available in the night markets where a lot of street vendors sell different variety, of foods, drinks, sweets and a lot more. People can also buy steamed meat-filled buns, oyster-filled omelets, refreshing fruit ices, appetizers and deserts in these markets. The Taiwanese cuisine is rich in flavor that many foreigners love to eat.

Night markets in Taiwan








Boiled to medium well done and soaked in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and garlic for four hours, the clams are a Taiwanese favourite.

Seasoned with wine, ginger, and salt and then fried to a golden brown, the uncomely tape fish has become a popular delicacy.

Fo Tiao Chiaung(a stew of shark fin, scallops, abalone, mushrooms, chestnuts, taro, and pork)
Fried prawns

***********************************************************************************************

After introducing more facts about Taiwan, I hope you too agree with me that the 7 days Taiwan trip is going to be fun and enjoyable! Although there is still a few weeks away from our trip, I feel that we can learn a lot more things about Taiwan when we reach there and experience things we had never come across before. Also, I would like to eat many lip-smacking delicacies and night markets foods(or known as 小吃) there! Finally, I am looking forward now and I will post more after tomorrow's Taiwan briefing. Stay tune!

Wanlin, 15.

3Bonafide.

Taiwan's Culture and Heritage

During its long history, prehistoric people, aborigines, Dutch, Spanish, Japanese, and Han Chinese have successively populated Taiwan, creating a varied culture and developing different local customs and traditions along the way. When visiting Taiwan, you will be able to come in touch with all aspects of this beautiful island's multifaceted culture!

Because of its unique historical and geographical background, Taiwan has a rich and versatile culture composed of elements taken from many different ethnic groups, including the Aborigines, the Dutch, the Spanish, the Japanese, the Han-Chinese (bringing traditions from Mainland China and creating their own in Taiwan), as well as more recently the Americans. Consequently, customs and traditions that make up Taiwan's culture as we know it today are extremely vivid and cross different cultures. And not only that, the people that previously inhabited Taiwan also left many cultural remnants that can still be found around Taiwan to date, including traditional architecture, relics of past civilizations, folk art and traditions, etc.

Taiwan's history goes as far back as two, three, even tens of thousands of years. According to archeologists, prehistoric people were the first to have lived in Taiwan, proof of which can be found in caves in Taitung.

The Aborigines came to Taiwan a long time ago. The Aboriginal People of Taiwan form the most northern branch of the Austronesian culture group, and can roughly be divided into Pingpu and Aboriginal races. The Aborigines can be divided into 14 tribes, namely the Amis, the Atayal, the Paiwan, the Bunun, the Puyuma, the Rukai, the Tsou, the Saisiyat, the Tao (or Yami), the Thao, the Kavalan, the Truku, the Sakizaya, and the Sediq. Over the years, the Pingpu increasingly came in contact with the Han-Chinese, their daily lives becoming more and more integrated, and by now most have assimilated with the Chinese. However, the different tribes have also managed to preserve some of their traditional customs, tribal structure and architecture, and continue to keep the tribal spirit alive through the engagement in traditional worship.

Traces left by the Dutch, Spanish and Japanese include Fort San Domingo in Danshui and Anping Fort (Fort Zeelandia) in Tainan, but also many architectural structures, such as the Presidential, the Legislative Yuan and the Control Yuan buildings, various schools and other large structures that now house governmental institutions, assembly halls etc., forming the historical testimony to the importation of foreign cultures into Taiwan.

Nevertheless, the most important part in Taiwan's cultural history was played by the Han-Chinese who brought with them traditional customs from Mainland China and created new ones in Taiwan. Whether they were Minnan-people, so-called "wai-sheng-ren" (people from outside the province) or Hakka-people, they all created their own culture, traces of which can still be found all over Taiwan. In Taipei, Tainan and Lugang for example, many old cities, streets and temples still breathe the atmosphere of times long gone, while traces of wars, settlements and different cultures can even be found on the off-shore islands of Kinmen, Matzu and Penghu.

Next to these cultural remnants, Taiwan also offers a unique collection of art expression, such as Sanyi's wooden carvings, Yingge's pottery and Kinmen's ceramics factory. Another important aspect of culture are the many holidays and festivals that the Taiwanese celebrate so passionately and devotedly, such as Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Tomb Festival, the Festival of Dead Spirits and temple festivals. By watching or even participating in these celebrations, one can get a better understanding of the people's cultural background and the historical significance thereof.

We would like to invite you to come to Taiwan, travel through time and go on a journey of past civilizations, relive the past by inhaling the typical atmosphere and going through these cultural treasures.

>Carolyn (3) 3Chiron

Hot Spring in Taiwan

jinshan hot spring

Hot springs, the hot tears of the earth, are one of the most precious gifts that the earth has given to us. Ever since ancient times, people have recognized the rejuvenating and therapeutic properties of these natural resources. Taiwan, is ranked among the world's top 15 hot spring sites, harboring a great variety of springs, including hot springs, cold springs, mud springs, and seabed hot springs. The island can proudly regard itself as one of the regions with the highest concentration and greatest variety of hot springs in the world.

Hot springs are formed by natural waters that emerge from the bowels of the earth and that possess therapeutic properties said to have a positive effect on disorders of the nervous and digestive systems, the circulation, and the organs. People have used hot springs to keep in good health for ages. In Taiwan, with its peculiar crustal structure and location on the fault line where the Euro-Asian and Philippine continental plates meet in the Circum-Pacific seismic zone, subterranean heat is spread across the island producing hot springs island-wide. With the exception of Changhua, Yunlin and Penghu counties, almost every city and county in Taiwan is equipped with hot springs, and so it is not strange that by some Taiwan is also called "the Hot Spring Kingdom".

More than one hundred hot springs have been discovered in Taiwan, located in different geological areas including plains, mountains, valleys, and oceans. The highest concentration of hot springs can be found in northern Taiwan, where the Tatun Volcano is located, while along both sides of the central mountain range, covering an area that to the north is bordered by Yilan and to the south by Pingtung, the largest number of hot springs can be found. Hot springs found here make up more than 80% of all hot springs in Taiwan.

As hot springs generally come from deep below the surface of the earth, when they emerge they bring along a high concentration and great variety of minerals that are mostly foreign to the human body and benefit our general health. Specific properties of hot springs vary depending on chemical composition, mineral concentration and water temperature. Taiwan has a great variety of springs, both cold and hot.

The German Quely first discovered the Beitou hot springs in 1894, and when the Japanese occupied Taiwan, they brought with them their rich culture of spring soaking which greatly influenced Taiwan. In March 1896, Hirado Gengo from Osaka, Japan opened Taiwan's first hot spring hotel, called Tenguan. This not only heralded a new era of hot spring bathing in Beitou, but also paved the way for a whole new hot spring culture. The four most famous hot springs during the Japanese occupation were Beitou, Yangmingshan, Guanziling and Sichong River. However, after 1945 the hot spring culture in Taiwan gradually lost momentum, and only in 1999 did the authorities again started large-scale promotion of Taiwan's hot springs, initiating a comeback of the hot spring culture and setting off a new hot spring fever.

While in the past hot springs mainly had a recreational function, present development and usage of Taiwan's hot springs not only focuses on the traditional aspect of soaking, but also includes health benefits as a major drawing point of hot springs. Modern applications of hot springs include hydrotherapy, spring pools, spring saunas, spring massage pools, health bathing houses, and spring health centers. Many enterprises have invested in the construction or renovation of spring hotels, and have even purchased modern scientific hot spring equipment, transforming the traditional concept of hot spring soaking into the added-value concept of hot spring hydrotherapy. Now, while enjoying the traditional comfort of soaking in a hot spring, people can receive additional health benefits by taking advantage of the physical properties of water using hydro jets that splash columns of water onto the body, ultra-sonic massage equipment, and the water's natural buoyancy, made possible through the installation of modern equipment and the professional assistance of hot spring hydrotherapists.

Next to their therapeutic effects, hot springs can also be used to boil eggs, irrigate crops and grow animals. The Jiaoxi hot springs, for example, are also used to grow water convolvulus (empty-stemmed vegetable) and raise softshell turtles, while hot springs in the Zhiben, Renze, Lushan and Sichong River areas all have egg-boiling facilities.

Because most of Taiwan's hot springs are located in beautiful scenic areas, when going to soak in one of the numerous hot springs you will not only be able to get away from hectic life in the city but will also be given the opportunity to enjoy gorgeous scenery while listening to the voices of nature, thus adding a new dimension to recreation and health. Therefore, coming to Taiwan on a hot spring tour will definitely pay off!

>Carolyn(3)3Chiron

Tastes of Taiwan!

The culinary culture of the Chinese people goes back a very long time; and while Chinese food can be enjoyed in every large city in the world today, true gourmets know that only in Taiwan is it possible to enjoy fine authentic cuisine from all the different regions of China.

In Taiwan, where it seems the people live to eat, it is said that there is a snack shop every three steps and a restaurant every five. These establishments serve all kinds of Chinese food, from the roast duck, smoked chicken, lamb hotpot, fish in wine sauce, beef with green peppers, and scallop and turnip balls of the north to the camphor-tea duck, salty fried chicken with spices, honey ham, stir-fried shrimp, dry-fried eggplant, and spicy bean curd of the south. As the island's economy has developed rapidly in recent years, its culinary culture has expanded beyond the traditional Chinese foods to Chinese-style fast-food chains, thus bringing greater complexity than ever before to the art of Chinese dining. Foreign foods from all over the world have also made their appearance in Taiwan, and the island is now filled with eateries serving American hamburgers, Italian pizza, Japanese sashimi, German pig's knuckles, Swiss fondue, and just about everything else. All of this makes Taiwan a veritable paradise for gourmands. Taiwan's own native cuisine has also become known around the world, and if you try it just once you will remember it forever.

PICTURES OF THE TASTES OF TAIWAN:

Stinky Tofu

Soup Dumpling

Braised Pork Rice

Meat Rice Tamales

Beef Noodles

Oyster Thin Noodles

Oyster Omelet

Taiwanese Meetballs

>Carolyn(3) 3Chiron

About Taiwan!

I will be writing in English as there are other races going for the Taiwan Trip 2010. As I will be introducing Taiwan.

Taiwan is known for its towering mountains, and is reputable as a "Mountainous Island". The island is spotted with numerous mountains over 3,000 meters. It is also home to the Northeast Asia's tallest mountain, Yushan, which is nearly 4,000 meter in height.Besides mountains, beautiful coastal scenes are also part of Taiwan's great natural asset. Starting from the northern tip of the island is the North Coast & Guanyinshan National Scenic Area and Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area that features various sorts of coastal geography. one will first arrive at the scenic East Coast National Scenic Area and East Rift Valley National Scenic Area, and then the Dapeng Bay National Scenic Area blessed with sunshine and tropical touch. Alongside the mountainous areas is the Maolin National Scenic Area, where a lot of aborigines live and place one can check out the world of butterfly, Rukai stone-made houses and Natural scenes in Taiwan. Legendary tales depict subtle beauty of Alishan National Scenic Area , where you can enjoy the relaxing scene of sunrise & cloud sea. Natural setting of Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area, eagle-spotting at Bagua Mountain, home of fruit-Lishan can sacred Buddhist sanctuary- Lion’s Head Mountain, can bring to you the many faces of the island's beauty.

Penghu National Scenic Area, comprising of ninety islets, scattering around the Taiwan Strait. Flat landscape makes it different from Taiwan Island. It is blessed with the most spectacular view in Taiwan. Located in southeast of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island offer the enjoyment of nature environment, such as whale spotting and scuba diving. Matzu National Scenic Area comprises four townships on five islands. Most of the tourist sites are located in Nangan. Beigan has its stone houses and fish noodles. Juguang has its fishing port, as well as a lighthouse designated as a Class 2 historic site. In Dongyin one will find fantastic rock formations and the Dongyin branch of the Matzu Distillery. Southwest Coast National Scenic Area is the 12th national scenic area. Natural and cultural attractions abound at the Siraya National Scenic Area in southern Taiwan's Tainan County. In addition to five scenic reservoir areas (Cengwen, Wushantou, Baihe, Jianshanpi, and Hutoupi), the scenic area embraces the geologically fascinating Caoshan Moon World, the Zouzhen archaeological site, and the skin-pampering mud springs of Guanziling. Colorful aboriginal events and tasty local specialties also await you at Siraya. The scenic area's main attraction is a varied coastline that consists of sand dunes, sand banks, marshes and wetlands, offering precious ecological habitats for wildlife.

Taiwan now has 8 National Parks - Yangmingshan National Park in Taipei suburban, which is famous for its volcanic landscape; the Shei-Pa National Park, acrossing Hsinchu & Miaoli counties and famous for special fish species- Formosan Oncorhynchus Masou; locating in Hualien county adjacent to Liwu creek, Taroko National Park is known for its lofty canyon landscape; acrossing many counties in central Taiwan, Yushan National Park is famous for its bright sunshine; locating in south tip, Kenting National Park gives you a total touch of Southeast Asia; Kinmen National Park which is known for legacies from the war decades ago; The Dongsha Atoll Marine National Park was established in January 2007 at the north tip of the South China Sea, marking the southern portal to the Taiwan Strait. The atoll has a unique white sand landscape formed of coral and shell. Finally, both culture and natural attractions await your discovery at Taijiang National Park.

Besides, National Palace Museum, located in outskirt of Taipei City, is home to essence of the five-thousand-year Chinese history. It has the finest collections of Chinese Arts, providing an eye-opening experience of Chinese culture. Taiwan is somewhere you can experience the amazement of Chinese culture.

I think some pictures will be more helpful:

Yushan

Yushan

The north coast of Taiwan

GuanYinShan

Guan Yin Shan

Yilan

sea along Taiwan's east coast.

East Rift Valley: Mt. Lioushihdan

Dapeng Bay

Lush greenery and plunging waterfalls are typical of Maolin's pristine

>Carolyn(3) 3Chiron