Life Amidst Construction in Tainan

Call it coincidence. Call it fate. But I can't call it planned. After posting yesterday about the intermixing of everyday life and a construction site in Shangqiu, today I saw a similar mix at Zhengxing Street in Tainan, Taiwan. Today's construction was both far smaller in scale and far briefer, but like in Shangqiu, there weren't hard borders between the roadwork and life on the rest of the street. Below are some photos capturing a few different stages of the work by the Taiwan Water Corporation, passersby, people standing in line at a popular milk tea stall, and a woman who decided to move some potted plants which were next to the area being dug up.

Life Amidst Construction in the Shangqiu Ancient City

When I visited the Shangqiu Ancient City in Henan province in late 2010, road construction made the central Zhongshan Main Street difficult to navigate, especially if you wanted to cross from one side to the other.

There were few barriers around the construction site, and it was easy for people to enter, whether accidentally or on purpose. The border of the construction site was often fuzzy and in places materials obstructed sidewalk space.

So like in many other parts of China, seemingly ordinary construction had become remarkably intwined with the lives of many people, including playing children. And people continued with their daily lives whether on it . . .

next to it . . .

or over it.

The road is in far better shape now, but change doesn't stop, even in an ancient city. And sometimes life can't blend in as easily. I will share a more recent example from Shangqiu later.


Update: See here for the more recent example.

Strategy and Luck: A Game of Banqi in Tainan

As I approached a group of men surrounding a small table yesterday in Tainan, Taiwan, I wondered if I was seeing yet another outdoor game of xiangqi, otherwise known as Chinese chess. But the xiangqi board was rotated from its usual position by 90 degrees, only half the board was covered with xiangqi pieces, and some of the pieces were upside down. So instead of a photo of an outdoor game of xiangqi, here is a photo of an outdoor game of banqi:

As indicated in an unsourced but detailed Wikipedia entry, multiple versions of banqi, which also goes by several other names, exist, yet all, unlike xiangqi, involve a significant element of chance. A how-to-play guide on a blog by Woody Thrower, whose most recent post on the same blog is "Ubuntu 12.04 initramfs dependency nonsense", provides a brief look at the game and so does a fast-paced how-to-play video using alternative pieces by Joseph Larson, whose most recent post is "3D Printing with Ninjaflex". To my great joy, after finding these two guides and the two other posts, I finished watching the tail end of the video and discovered Thrower and Larson are indeed friends.

Presumably the men I saw in Tainan were playing the Taiwanese version of the game. Or perhaps like Thrower and Larson, they selected rules so the "balance of luck and strategy" better matched their tastes. Whatever rules they use, I wonder if they would agree with Larson that:

The combination of luck and strategy means that nobody really loses. If you lose you go 'eh, it was just bad luck'. But if you win you get to go 'aha, isn't my strategy incredible".

Guarding in Red in Tainan

Today's guardian lion, courtesy of the Anping Kaitai Matsu Temple in Tainan, Taiwan:

Road Construction Fun in Shangqiu

Shangqiu, a prefecture-level city in Henan, China, recently came to my attention, and I was inspired to write a related post. I won't finish the post today, so for now I will share a photo I took in November 2010 of some boys who were playing in the middle of a road construction site in the walled Shangqiu Ancient City.

More on the construction theme later. And then a bit about some more recent destruction in the historic area.

Fire, Blood, and Prayer at Taipei's Chang Qing Temple

Despite having "over 210 years of history", the Chang Qing Temple (長慶廟) isn't one of Taipei's most famous temples, but like many small temples in Taiwan it has plenty of spirit nonetheless. As I walked nearby last night some loud sounds compelled me to take a closer look. I believe I caught the end of a special ceremony where statues of gods are taken out of the temple and later returned, often with a great amount of fanfare. Although I didn't witness any massive parades like I recently saw for similar events in Jieyang, last night's ceremony stood out for the bloody wounds a tattooed man inflicted upon himself and the intense music.

Some photos below capture the man who was at the center of the ceremony's conclusion. He received a warm round of applause for his dedicated efforts.

Smelling Kinmen

When I posted "Watching Kinmen" I hadn't planned to start a series based on the five traditional human senses. But after "Touching Kinmen", "Tasting Kinmen", and "Hearing Kinmen" happened, a "Smelling Kinmen" post seemed in order to bring things to a close. I looked through my photos from Kinmen several times, and this may be the best I can do:

The horse may have been more focused on eating than smelling but, hey, flowers.

Hearing Kinmen

Only a few miles across the water from mainland China, the Beishan Broadcasting Wall (北山播音牆) in non-communist-controlled Kinmen County:

. . . stands on a cliff right by the sea. The concrete wall boasts 48 speakers, each with a reported range of 25km, that used to crank out propaganda like 'Our steamed buns are bigger than your pillows!' to the communists. These days, the speakers prefer the more mellow numbers of the late Teresa Tang, Taiwan’s best-loved songbird.

Unfortunately, they didn't turn on the three-stories of speakers to broadcast Teresa Teng's message and songs at a non-deafening volume during my visit to the wall.

The following two minute video offers additional information about the structure's capabilities, perspective on its size, and a translation of Teng's message:




Another video offers a purer form of Teng's message and singing without anyone speaking over it:



On the side, I have yet to see a steamed bun the size of a pillow.  

A Magical Proposal in Taipei

Yesterday afternoon while working on a project outside at the Xinyi Shoppping District in Taipei, Taiwan, I saw a magician perform for a young couple.

I had seen the magician in the same plaza earlier when he appeared to be waiting for someone or something. I considered why the magician chose this particular couple and why two people were capturing it all on video. The videographers were at times clearly interested in making sure the female stayed in the scene even when the magician was focused on her partner.

After several magic tricks, the magician covered the young woman's eyes with an eye mask for the next trick. I figured it was time for me to move on. But then I saw a person rolling out a red carpet, and I began to wonder if there was something more taking place than I had at first assumed. Immediately after that I saw somebody holding flowers. Oh . . .

Flower petals were spread on the carpet. If this was just a trick, it was really going over the top.

While these preparations quietly occurred, the magician kept the woman occupied.

With the young man holding a bouquet of roses while briefly biting his lower lip and others holding "Would you marry me" signs behind him, it was clear a bit more than a magic act was about to occur.

Soon all was ready for the reveal, and the young woman was told to take off the mask. At first, she had an ordinary smile.

And then it grew.

But she appeared unsure and began to search for something. Soon, she had what she needed — a pair of glasses.

I don't know what was going through the young woman's mind, but she was reserved in her expressions. She may have been wondering if this could somehow be part of a magic act. But then her boyfriend began a long speech.

If she had any doubts, they melted away.

As I watched, I realized online videos of public marriage proposals gone awry have left their mark on me. No worries here though. What followed went well.

Soon the newly engaged couple walked off to sit on a nearby bench together, and the efficient cleanup began.

They even picked up the flower petals, so Taiwan.

Later, the couple took advantage of having a photographer around and posed for some photos. The young woman looked far more relaxed. For me, this was the moment where I erased any question whether the young woman's "yes" might have only been a polite face-saving public reaction.

Best wishes to the newly engaged couple. Even for me, the luck involved in witnessing their special moment seemed like a bit of magic. Perhaps I should have expected it. About half an hour earlier I had noticed a statue overlooking the same plaza.

The small statue of a mythical god is titled "Cupido".

Tasting Kinmen

Making fresh oyster fritters (蚵嗲) at E Dia Zhi Jia (蚵嗲之家) in Kinmen

Nearly-finished oyster fritters

Customers in a slow-moving line at the popular snack stall

Touching Kinmen

Watching Kinmen