TAIPEI _ SEPTEMBER 4–6
Wednesday, September 4
We started the day by going to Yingge where we visited a ceramics museum and pottery shop, where we saw pottery being painted with intricate designs and each painted a cup and small plate. I really enjoyed the museum because their exhibits showed how diverse the craft and artform of pottery can be, from traditional indigenous pottery to modern day. I learned that in indigenous ceramic traditions in Taiwan, vases were male (with Adam’s apple-like features around the neck of the vase) or female (with bumps on the body), but that some vases had both male and female features. After lunch, we visited Dot Design where we heard from the founder of the studio about the work that they do. They had a big focus on sustainability and repurposing waste materials such as pineapple leaves, broken stone, old toys, and more. Something that really stuck with me was the founder’s philosophy about why industrial designers have a responsibility to think about and implement sustainable design and manufacturing design practices. He described industrial design as the “original sin” because it is the practice of creating objects and things. Therefore, being in the role of designer or creator, one is in the position to make choices that reflect values, in this case sustainability. Afterwards, we went to SCU to work with the students. We brainstormed and got materials in preparation for our presentations tomorrow.
For our project, my group had decided to create a safe driving talisman and compass inspired by the symbol of the turtle. One of the SCU students in my group told us about red turtle cake, a dessert commonly eaten on birthdays, especially those of the elderly, because it represents longevity. Additionally, tortoises are the guardian beast of the North according to feng shui, representing support and stability. I also learned about the concept of xuanwu, which represents uncertainty in life as the xuanwu position is the back of someone or what is behind them, out of their line of sight and unprotected. Thus, shells are a way of protecting this xuanwu position, giving additional meanings of protection while driving.
For our free day, Ned Jessy and I met up with a friend of mine from UW who is from Taipei. He drove us out to Keelung, a port city in northeast Taiwan. We stopped at a market for food and then at a temple where he explained to us different symbols, motifs, and meanings such as the number of claws of a dragon being a way of identifying what the dragon is reverence to, three being local deities, four national ones, and five in deference to the emperor. Afterwards, we went to the old street of Jiufen where we tried a couple of different foods, such as a traditional filled dumpling made from a sort of grass (I think), plum juice, and a tofu dessert with taro and sweet potato balls. The view from the town was really beautiful, but the road up was really windy. Afterwards, we drove to Shilin waterfall, which was likewise really beautiful. I love the greenery, mountains, and nature in Taiwan. It’s so incredibly lush. We then went to Pingxi where we set off a lantern after writing our wishes on it. We chose a color that represented academic success and knowledge, so some of our wishes included internships, low stress, and creativity among many others. Upon returning to Taipei, we went to Raohe St. Night Market, which was all of our favorite night market so far. It was really lovely to have my friend show us around all day, and at the night market he knew exactly what we should get. We had such incredible food such as a pepper meat bun, tendon (a personal favorite of mine), Taiwanese sausage, fried taro and sweet potato balls, ice cream and peanuts wrapped in a thin crepe, and a traditional steamed rice dessert with peanuts or black sesame. The vendor at the stall told us about how the shape of the dessert mimics the shape of the hat a scholar would wear after gaining top marks on an exam and becoming a government official. I’m really grateful for my friend to have been so generous with us both with his time and with his knowledge. In addition to how beautiful everything was, I learned so much from walking around with him and asking questions. Later that night, I also got to go climbing which was a lot of fun, and I hope to go climbing while in Tainan as well!
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