Taipei, Taiwan

Our first visit to Taiwan, population 23 million. This a subtropical area with the Tropic of Cancer cutting through the island. It seldom drops below 50 degrees. Seventy percent of the land is steep hills, not suitable for farming. But for most of its 500 years of habitation it has been a farming nation. The island was known as Formosa by Westerners, meaning Beautiful. In 1895, Japan took over the island from China. Meanwhile Sun Yat Son established the Republic of China. Chiang Kai Chek was his general who defeated the local warlords in 1916. Japan invaded China in 1931. Chiang Kai Shek enlisted the US and Britain as allies against the Japanese. Our first stop was the martyr's shrine for the changing of the guard. It is dedicated to many who lost their lives in the Sino-Japanese and Chinese civil war. 

Ivory Ball

After WW II Mao Tse Tung defeated Chiang Kai Shek who took his army to Taiwan, bringing the Chinese Emperor’s collection of art and artifacts to the island. This formed the contents of the National Palace Museum, our first stop on tour. Today Taiwan is in an ambiguous position. Most of the world recognizes the One China policy, yet the US and other countries would oppose taking Taiwan by force. Taiwan is careful not to antagonize China by declaring independence.

Our guide showed us a number of must see items in the museum. The most unique was an ivory ball carved into 18 layers. We saw one of the earliest examples of Ru Ware, 21 of the known 80 pieces are in the collection of the museum. We saw lots of Jade carvings and bronze pieces. The most popular Jade item is the Jadeite Cabbage. One of the bronze cooking vessels was from 1300 BC. We had a brief lesson on Chinese characters. He explained how the characters started as pictures of items. For example, the representation of earth and sky, with a vertical line between them creates the character for King. A child with an elementary education knows about 2000 characters, and a college graduate 5000.

Jadeite Cabbage

Our lunch was a buffet at the Grand Hotel, the first 5 star hotel on the island. The hotel is a beautiful red building with a view above the river. The buffet was an all you can eat with numerous Japanese, Chinese, and Western offerings. Absolutely fabulous!

Baoan Temple

Next stop was the Baoan Buddhist temple where people were burning fake money to help their ancestors. We entered on the dragon side. The dragon is a composite of seven animals: dragon with fish scales, a snake like body, antlers, etc. We were taught how to ask a question of buddha by drawing a number stick and then casting stones to get a yes or no answer. Then the numbered stick you had chosen would indicate which set of poetic characters would provide further details on your question (somewhat ambiguously).

Across the street was a Confucian Temple. Around the temple where figures teaching Confucian sayings.

At Chian Kai Chek Memorial

Our last major stop was the Chiang Kai Chek memorial. A huge complex with a statue of him in the upper chamber. Below were photographs and exhibits about his life. Most impressive was the story of his last wife. She refused to marry him until he divorced his current wife, agreed to have no more wives, and supported her Christianity. She was Western educated and served as his interpreter including his meeting with Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II.

That night on the ship we were entertained by a local group that performed traditional Chinese dance and played a large string instrument like a dulcimer.