TAIPEI – THE VAULT OF CHINESE CULTURE

Taipei is a welcome change after the pollution and cacophony of Kathmandu.  This highly cosmopolitan capitol of the Nationalist Chinese is clean, modern, orderly, with fresh air, great food, western enculturation, modern transport, coordinated and efficient traffic and overwhelmingly modern cars.  Its people are polite, slightly reserved (like Brits), and consummate consumers. They are surprisingly non multi-lingual.

Most appear to be under age 30.  In appearance, they are very much Oriental Americans, as if they have been graduate students who have been abroad for a long, long time.  As a culture, Taiwanese have perfected the “Art of Presentation.”  Even the most ordinary of sales pitches become not merely demonstrations, but theatre with a flourish, complete with elaborate costumes and embellished hand gestures.

I notice this particularly at Taipei 101 – formerly the tallest building in the world at 508 meters until completion of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010.  After taking in the view from the 89^th floor observation deck, visitors must navigate a labyrinth exit path to be able to descend to the 5^th floor, where yet another path must be discerned before you can egress the building.  There are no signs assisting your way out.  Purposefully.  They want you to shop until you … get disoriented and just surrender your wallet.

Along the way, you are repeatedly ambushed by smiling and well-coiffed sales staff promoting mainly jewelry.  Also expensive gemstone coral.  This is not the endangered shallow- depth marine fossil cumulations one normally sees.  This is the intensely colored (usually pink or reddish) glassy coral found at depths of 10 to 1500 meters. 

Historically the coral gemstone has been used to adorn battle ornaments by the Gauls, as funeral decoration in India, by women in medieval times to ward off infertility, as talismans by Roman children to thwart bad luck, and as necklace charms by Italians to foil the “Evil Eye.”

The strands are rare and very expensive.  It has the appearance of asparagus or seaweed or a small shrub having been pruned, color coated with glaze, and fired in a kiln for three hours.  Some of the pieces have been shaped and polished into works of art costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.  A number of them command the room in the same dominant way the Hope Diamond or the “Winged Victory” of Samothrace statue at the Louvre does.

I am amused by the perky attentiveness of the vendors.  They are dressed almost as if designer dental assistants.  They smile facetiously and fawn over me like a relative at the last reading of rich Uncle Max’s will … right up until such time as it is clear I am another looker and not a buyer, when their smiles turn to scowls and their subcutaneous indifference once again asserts itself.

Taipei 101 is built like a beanpole chimney, modified tastefully to present the appearance of a stacked pagoda.  It is engineered to withstand the worst earthquake known to have been experienced over the past 2500 years.  The building is anchored by 380 concrete pylons driven 80 meters into the soil, and then another 30 meters into bedrock below that.  All floors are equipped with computerized fire prevention and extinguishing systems plus evacuation staircases – it takes 2046 steps to reach the top!

Two high-speed elevators to the 89^th floor (there are a total of 50 lifts in the tower) observatory remain the fastest in the world, with an ascent rate of 1010 meters per minute.  It takes only 37 seconds to reach the observatory from the 5^th floor lobby elevators.  A territorial view from the top is impressive but does not overwhelm, perhaps because the visitor is exhausted from so much shopping opportunity distracting them as they attempt to peek outside.

Just below the observation deck is located the world’s largest wind damper.  This is a huge 5.5 meter golden ball (weighing over 660 tons, and made up of 41 layers of graduated steel plate) hung from the reinforced ceiling by four massive cables.  It is tethered to the floor through a series of cannon-sized flexible hydraulic jacks.  It has the effect of a giant shock absorber which reduces building sway up to 40% in high winds.  The damper was built at a cost of $132 million.

Just outside Taipei 101, a controversial group of demonstrators has staked out space to persuade passers-by to sympathize with their quest for recognition and support of Falun Gong on the mainland.  They persist even in the driving rain.  Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is an ancient discipline for self-improvement of the mind, body and spirit based on principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance.  It was introduced in its modern form in China in 1992.

Though in practice in 114 countries, Falun Gong has met disfavor with Communist Party officials on the mainland and has led to a banning of the practice and persecution of its followers.  Falun Gong adherents claim this is due to the practice gaining 100 million followers by 1999, thus outnumbering even Communist Party membership.  Former Party Premier Jiang Zemin decided there was not sufficient room for these “Two Big Dogs” to exist side-by-side.

This led to the establishment of a 610 Office (described as a Gestapo like organization) that systematically began a campaign of repression and torture against Falun Gong, including: unlawful detention, mass arrests, systematic beatings, brainwashing, physical and mental tortures including disfigurement by electric baton and live organ harvesting, and psychiatric abuse.  Over 3649 deaths are claimed from torture and police custody.

Falun Gong says its claims have been verified by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the US Department of State, and other international organizations.  Amnesty International named Jiang as the “human rights villain of the year” in 2000.

Perhaps the most beautiful part of Taipei is the grand central plaza first dedicated as the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall Square.  Since 2007 it has become known as Liberty Square as Taiwan’s increasing economic might has resulted in increased political freedoms and democratic reforms – including the first popular elections of national leaders as of 1996.  The square, named after the cagey Nationalist Chinese General who led the civil war against Chinese Communists on the mainland and also became Taiwan’s first President, became the preferred public site for mass gatherings as soon as it opened in April of 1980. 

The huge octagonal (eight is considered good luck in Chinese mythology) white marble and blue tiled roofed Memorial Hall itself dominates the east end of the square.  Half a mile away to the north along a broad boulevard of homage, bounded by meandering paths and beautiful gardens, is the very picturesque National Theater.  The exquisite National Concert Hall is across the square from the theater to the south.  Both are characterized by color variety, architectural balance, elaborate curved tile roofs, and manicured landscaping.  A supremely elegant white marble and blue tiled “Gate of Integrity” to mirror the Hall faces it from the far western end of the square.

Ascending 89 steps from the square to the main level of the Chiang Ka-shek Memorial Hall brings visitors to a giant statue of the man who became the first Taiwanese president after the Nationalists left mainland China in 1949.  The friendly, relaxed pose of the smiling and casually dressed leader was inspired by the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.  A very involved “Changing of The Guard” ceremony lasting 20 minutes takes place in front of the statue each hour on the hour.

Ground level of the four-story Memorial Hall consists of a very well organized and thoughtfully documented museum dedicated to the history of the Nationalist movement while on Mainland China, and its history since as the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) after arriving in Taiwan.  An exhibition hall shows the development of Taiwan in its historical context both before and since the arrival of the Nationalists.

One of the most touching exhibits here is what has been coined “Island, Wharves, New Hometown.”  It shows in pictorial narrative the forced evacuation from the Dachen Island Group in the Straight of Taiwan fishermen and their families who had been displaced by mainland communist attacks.  This took place between February 9^th and 14^th, 1955.  Over 15,000 civilians and nationalist troops were relocated to Taiwan – a place they had never visited – carrying only simple clothing, cash, and deity statues.

These refugees arrived at the wharves in Keelung with little to sustain them.  They found cheering crowds but in a dialect they did not at all understand.  Many struggled for years to adapt to the forced change in circumstances.  In the 60 years since, these surviving “boat people” have still managed at great cost to contribute greatly to the growth of Taiwan’s cultural values, social diversity, and evolution of its democratic values.

A must-see site in Taipei for any visitor with time on their hands would be the National Palace Museum.  Originally located in the Forbidden City on mainland China in Beijing, the 600,000 artifacts of this showplace were crated and sent to southwest China in 1931 after facing invasion from Japanese Imperial forces.  It was moved once again in 1949 to Taiwan during the height of the civil war between Nationalist Chinese government forces and communist challengers.

This superbly organized institution has evolved into a completely modern museum.  It is the premier repository for Chinese art and culture anywhere (including the mainland). The collection continues to grow, and nearly 100,000 additional items have been added since the current museum was established in its present Wai-shuang-xi neighborhood in 1965.

You simply can not allocate enough time for this beautiful museum.  Among its collection and galleries are those dedicated to calligraphy scrolls, antique bronzes, jade and jeweled stones, bells and cauldrons, painted enamels, ceramics and kneaded clay, rare books and documents, ivory carvings going back many centuries, Qing Dynasty furniture, and religious sculptural arts.

All exhibits are well tagged in both Chinese and English.  The museum also has a rare  intuitive flow to it, leading from one subject matter and one historical period to its logical successor.  My favorite displays -- given that I don’t read or speak Chinese -- were those dedicated to the ceramics (particularly the cobalt blue and pure white ceramics, some going back to 1200 BC), ivory “cloud and dragon” carving motifs, and Qing Dynasty jade pieces from 1644 to 1911.

My favorite part of Taiwan however, is what is known as “The Night Markets.”  These are festively lit strips of street carts, carnival barkers, trinket displays, semi-permanent stalls and restaurants primarily open during evening hours.  The most well-known is on Huaxi Street, near the Lungshan Temple Metro Station.  It offers a wide array of international cuisine and street foods, many of which are medicinally oriented.

Two other night markets I visited were The Guangzhou Street Market, and the Shilin Night Market.  They offer up women’s clothing, inexpensive fashion wear, small household goods, electrical appliances, games, CDs, movies, musical apparatus, sporting goods, shoes, street snacks, and creative alcoholic mixed drinks.

The best part of these assorted shops is their variety, and being able to empty your pocket change to cheaply sample the likes of:  barbecued shrimp skewers, sausages, snake meat specialties, steamed pork dumplings, fried rice dishes, wraps, fish preparation of all types, a large variety of candy and chocolates, and mixed fruit drinks.