This is my first time to visit Taiwan, so my cultural adventure continues. Compared to London and Paris, this is a much more familiar environment: the language is the same, and the food is exceptionally delicious. True, it is not so exotic, but it is no less interesting. Here are some of the highlights:
Even before I came to Taiwan, L recommended Chengpin for me (誠品), a chain bookstore initiated in Taiwan. I went there in the first week of my stay in Taipei. The reading environment is comfortable and welcoming. Many people go there just for reading, not buying. The Dunnan store is open 24 hours/7 days, attracting voracious book-lovers from all corners. The book collection, for a historian like me, is not so spectacular, but this welcoming reading environment is unique. With the withering of chain bookstores in the West, the Chengpin phenomenon is quite interesting. One Saturday night, I stayed there until 2AM. Well, I wanted to stay overnight because it sounds cool, but my body didn't allow me. So I went out, grabbed the city bike, and cycled home along the quiet Zhongxiao Road. On the way, I stopped by a small restaurant to eat something quick but delicious. When I arrived home, it was already 3AM. Well, life couldn't be more enjoyable.
Since the topic is on bookstore. Let me say a bit more. There are plenty of more small-scale bookstores in Taipei, which I have yet to explore. Early today, I took a walk with L in the NTU area, and visited a bookstore that sells rare books (舊香居). The place is quite inviting, with nice sofas and reading facilities. The rare books, most of which were published in the early 20th century, are displayed on the nice bookshelves. They are pricy as well, only for the genuine bookworms! L showed me a work of Mao published in the 1940s. It costs more than 10,000 TWD. That is quite a fortune. Well, for a poor student like me, I cannot afford that. But flipping though these old books certainly is pleasant. There are some other bookstores on the Chongqing Road (重慶南路) and NTU area, which I am eager to explore.
Cafés in Taipei. There are many. L recommended some on the Zhongshan Road (中山北路). I also found some near where I live. Usually I am not a café person. I found that I become most efficient at a place that is quiet and non-intrusive, like at home and in a library. On the other hand, the cafés I visited have their own characteristics. The owners are usually friendly and interactive; the coffee is tasty, though I am not an expert on that; the interior design is individualized and quite artsy, or at least very cute, a vintage of Asian stores. For me, the last factor is the most important. I have been to many cafés in Paris, most of time using them as a working place. But one café in particular, called "La Caféothèque," is quite nice: it has a whole wall of plants in the room, vitalizing the place nicely. Although I haven't found one like that in Taipei, many cafés I visited have their own styles and orientations, making a person like me, who enjoys coffee only at the surface level, become more engaged. That is what is so nice about Taipei: it beautifully conglomerates traditional culture with modern sensitivities from the West.
The cultural life in Taipei is vibrant. I am amazed by the diversity of art programs available here. Tradition arts like the Peking opera and Kun play are flourishing, but there are also many western plays and dances that are shown on the regular basis. Pina Bausch's troupe will perform later this month. The tickets are sold out long time ago, so I have to go to Gaoxiong for that matter. Two weeks ago, I also went to see a piano performance by Alexandre Tharaud, the handsome French pianist who performed in Michael Haneke's acclaimed "Amour." How could I expect my French connection continues here in Taipei?! Well, the situation is like this: the pianist is French; I saw the movie "Amour" in London; and now I saw his performance in Taipei with a Taiwanese girl. Woo, the world has truly become global. But in this global context, there is still room for local artists, as it should be. My Taiwanese friends recommended to me quite a few local dance troupes including the famous Cloud-gate dance troupe (雲門舞集), 光環舞集, and 優人神鼓. Along the world-famed artists in the major arenas, there are also places where local artists can present their more independent and experimental works. I haven't explored any of this, but my experience before (I was impressed by a small performance in Beijing four years ago) made me have good feeling for this type of production. Just early today, as part of our city excursion, L and I walked around the area of Treasure Hill (寶藏巖), where independent local and foreign articles present their art work. It is an interesting place to visit. We needed to climb up and down along the narrow paths that meander along the hill to visit many little houses where the art works are displayed. The place attracts young people, who go there to interact with the artists and sometimes with the art works themselves. Not far from this art village is the 觀音亭, a site for religious offering. The juxtaposition of these two very different cultural sites is fascinating.
Well, I guess there are many more manifestations of this amalgamation in Taipei because of its complex history: It has Chinese traditional culture at its root. No matter how contemporary politics in Taiwan tries to present that culture to their own calculation, I think the cultural link across the strait is undeniable. Moreover, it was colonized by Japan for half of a century so the Japanese influence is everywhere (the architecture, the food, the shopping centers, etc). Then the Western influence is also obvious perhaps due to the close ties between Taiwan and America after the WWII. One example is that the majority of the researchers in the Academia Sinica have a PhD degree in the US or in Europe. That has become a no-brainer in Taiwan. Finally, an increasing attention to the indigenous peoples (原住民) in the recent years. Altogether, these four aspects interweave, sometimes in harmony and other times with tension, making the society highly dynamic and vibrant. That is what makes Taipei such an interesting city.
More than 60 years ago, a Taiwanese writer 吳濁流 wrote a novel titled The Orphan of Asia (亞細亞的孤兒). I doubt that many people in Taiwan these days still consider themselves orphans. Nevertheless, the cultural and political identity of Taiwanese is still a central subject in contemporary discussion. As a person from mainland China, obviously I am sensitive to the subject (same for my Taiwanese conversationalists as well). But I, as an outsider, came here first to observe, to contemplate, not to judge.
[Well, It's been a while since last entry. It is hard to keep this as a routine, but I will try...]
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