2009 Chihsi art festival in Tainan

All performances at Confucious temple are cancelled; performances at other venues are also cancelled on Aug. 22 (Sat) - 24 (Mon). A Charity bazaar will be held at Confucious temple area on Aug. 22 (Sat) to raise funds for Morakot typhoon victims

The 2009 Chihsi art festival and the coming of age 16 celebration will be held on Aug 22-26 in various locations in Tainan. The program schedules are traslated from the official website:

Locations:

Confucious Temple, Tainan Train Station, Fe21' Mega, Mitsukoshi (Jhongshan), Mitsukoshi (Simen) , Tainan culture center, Former Tainan Meeting Hall, Dadong night market, Anping Matsu Temple, Jhongshan junior high school,

Performance Groups:
1. TsaiShiaoBing Contemporary Ballet Group (崔笑彬現代芭蕾舞團, Korea) 2. Ten Drum (十鼓擊樂團, Taiwan) 3. Azaguno(美國阿札鼓非洲樂鼓舞團, USA) 4. HaKa (毛利哈卡戰舞團, New Zealand) 5. Liaomoshi Dance theater (廖末喜舞蹈劇場, Taiwan) 6. Tainan City Traditional Orchestra (台南市立民族管絃樂團, Taiwan) 7. East Art (東方藝術團, Taiwan) 8. Lin Long Dance Group (靈龍舞蹈團, Taiwan) 9.ChenShiang Taiwanese Oper (城鄉歌仔戲劇團, Taiwan) 10. Jhongshan Junior High Dance Class (中山國中舞蹈班，Tainan/Taiwan) 11. Sparrow Dancce (日本麻雀舞, Japan)

Schedule:
primary venue

Location*	Date	Time	Groups (in order)
Confucious Temple	8/22 (Sat)	19:20-21:30	11, 10, 4, 5, 3, 1, and 2
Confucious Temple	8/23 (Sun)	19:30~21:00	1, 2 and 5
Confucious Temple	8/24 (Mon)	19:30~21:15	6, 4 and 7
Confucious Temple	8/25 (Tue)	19:30-21:15	1, 3 and 8
Confucious Temple	8/26 (Wed)	19:30-21:20	4, 1, 3, 2 and all groups

*In case of rain: Jhongshan junior high school

Secondary venues

Location	Date	Time	Groups
Dadong night market	8/13 (Sat)	19:30-21:00	6
Tainan culture center	8/22 (Sat)	16:00-16:30	2
Tainan Culture center	8/23 (Sun)	16:00-16:30	1
Anping Matsu Temple	8/23 (Sun)	19:00-20:00	9
Tainan Train Station	8/23 (Sun)	19:30-19:50	11
Sheng Mou Gong	8/25 (Tue)	17:00-17:30	2

Other venues

Location	Date	Time	Groups
Mitsukoshi (Simen)/ Fe21' Mega	8/22 (Sat)	15:00-15:45/ 17:00-17:30	4/ 2
Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel/ Mitsukoshi (Jhongshan)/ Fe21' Mega	8/23 (Sun)	14:00-14:30/ 16:00-16:45/ 18:00-19:00	11/ 4/ 11+3
Mitsukoshi (Simen)/ Fe21' Mega	8/24 (Mon)	16:00-16:30/ 17:00-17:30	2/ 2
Fe21' Mega/ Mitsukoshi (Jhongshan)	8/25 (Mon)	16:30-17:00/ 16:00-16:45	1/ 3
Fe21' Mega/ Mitsukoshi (Simen)	8/26(Wed)	15:30-16:15/ 15:30-16:00	4/ 1

Updated: Aug.17th

The best trip in the world--Taiwan explorers wanted

The Turism Bureau of Taiwan is launching a campain to promote the turisim in Taiwan. 50 teams of travelers who come up with the best itineraries for a four-day trip will be selected (itineraries submition period: June 1-30). Each team will be given NT$7000 per day for up to 4 days. The activity period is July 11 to Aug. 31. Each team must produce a video (up to 10 minutes) of each day’s activities and upload it each evening together with an explanation (up to 200 words) of the activities onto the official website. The most popular team will be selected for each of three language groups (Chinese, English and Japanese) in accordance with popularity with blog readers, as measured by the number of votes won and hits on the video and win a 4 day/3 night flight + hotel package for two people.

For details: http://www.taiwanbesttrip.net/

MV Doulos, the floating bookshop

The idea of having a book fair on a ship is fascinating, especially if the ship is the world's oldest active ocean-going passenger ship that travels all over the world. The MV Doulos, meaning the servant, welcomes book lovers onboard in Kaohsuing Harbor (Fisherman's Wharf) from April 3rd~28th, Hualien Harbor from May 1st to 12th and Keelong Harbor from May 15 to June 3rd.

I visited the ship yesterday, visitors onboard must go through a chamber where the crew were hosting small games to raise funds, whereas the book fair was held one level above, on the deck. I was hoping to find books from all over the world in various categories, but from what I could see, 70% of the books were Christian or spirit lifting related, 20% were english books for children leaving only about 10% that were Chinese books, cooking, dictionaries etc. I couldn't find a book I wanted, not even a mug that had Doulos mark on it! The weekend crowd sucked out all the fun of reading books leisurely on the deck in the breeze from the ocean. I passed the tour of the ship and left the ship wondering why I visited the ship on a crowded Sunday!

Transportation to Fisherman's Wharf in Kaohsiung: 5 min walk from 2nd Exit of Sizihwan station (orange line 01) of Kaohsiung MRT.

Entrance fee to the book fair: NT$10/person; tour to the chambers and the bridge of the ship: NT$100/50, adult/child .

Opening hours: 10:00~22:00, Tue to Sat; 14:00~22:00, Sun to Mon.

More information about the ship, schedule, or to be a crew of Doulos, ect. at http://www.doulos.org/

2009 Lantern Festival Fireworks in Tainan

The 2009 Taiwan Lantern Festival will be held in Yilan sports park from Feb. 9 to 22. For those who can't pay a visit to this event, there are a few subsidiary activities all over Taiwan (google map below).

In Tainan, except for the most famous "beehive of fireworks" in YanShuei, the fireworks in Luermen Shenmu Miao (Matsu temple, No.160, Chengan rd., Annan District, Tainan City) is another pleasant amazement of the lantern festival celebrations. On Feb. 9th, ten sets of beehive firecrackers start shooting around 20:30, 70 min, followed by a 90 min high altitute fireworks designed by Taiwan, Japan and Switzerland. The event map below shows the parking (yellow), fireworks area (red), entering routes (blue arrows), leaving routes (red arrows) and etc. Go early and drive carefully, enjoy.

2009 Ten Drum Festival in Tainan

The 2009 Ten Drum festival will be held in Ten Drum Culture Village (the former Rende Sugar Refinery) during lunar new year, Jan. 24 to Feb 1st. Except for the Ten-Drum Art Percussion Groups, 2 Japanese groups, Maidaiko Aska Gumi and NOBUSHI, and a Korea group, Jin Cheon Ha Arts Company, are also invited to participate in this Chinese New Year celebration. Discount tickets (NT$250 per ticket; the original price is NT$300) can be purchased at any post offices in Tainan or via a phone call (06)266-2225/Fax (06)266-1413 before Jan. 20th. Seven performances will be given daily, except the Chinese new year eve, Jan. 25. The detail schedule and map can be found in the calendar below.

Introduction of the Ten Drum Culture Village
Ten Drum Culture Village is located at the border of Tainan city and county. It separates from the busy downtown by loneness forest. The location near Tainan city also provides citizens a new paradise to familiarize culture art. Ten Drum Culture Village has about 5 hectares. There are 16 old warehouses built in Japanese colonial rule. In 2005, Ten Drum takes over the place and re-plans it. They use the limited capital combining Mr. Shi Hsieh’s ideas with famous designer, Mr. Liu Guo Tsang’s choreographed plan to proceed. They have finished the second stage work. After lying idle many years, the past Rende Che Lu Cian sugar refineries of Taiwan Sugar Corporation reappear their graces of one hundred years. Combining the Taiwan drum music of Ten Drum, it becomes the first international art village for drum music of Asia. Since 2007, they choose to stay at the Rende sugar refinery of Tainan county Rende township. They build a Ten Drum Culture Village for about 5 hectares by themselves. It includes Introduction Hall, Drum Museum, Drum Beating Experience Classroom, Ten Drum Restaurant, Small Theater(for 250 people), Cistern Theater(outdoor theater for 1500 people), ChimneySquaree), Forest Breath Alameda, and Ten Drum Praying Hall. Since January 1st, 2007, it opens normally and connects with Chi Mei Museum, Pao An Railroad Station, and Hu Shan Farm to become Rende Culture Zone, and it also turns into the new art culture landmark of South Taiwan.

2008 Tainan International Chihsi Arts Festival

The 2008 Tainan International Chihsi Arts Festival: the coming-of-age (16) celebration will be held from the 1st to 7th of August in various locations in Tainan. Maybe because of budget cuts or the bad weather experience from last year, but the shows this year are cut down to 6 days.

Schedule and translation below:

Groups:
1. Jin-Tai-Xun modern dancing group, Korea
2. Heaven and Earth drum sound, Japan
3. Folk dancing group, India
4. Blue Abo dancing group, Japan
5. Shang-He Taiwanese opera

Date	Time	Locations	Groups
8/1(Fri)	19:30~22:00	Confucius Temple	1、2、3、4
8/2(Sat)	16:30~17:15	Culture Center Holiday Square	1(45ms)
	18:00~18:45	FE21' Mega	4(45ms)
	18:00~18:45	Mitsukoshi (New life square)	3(45ms)
	19:00~20:15	Train Station	2(45ms）、4（30ms）
	19:30~21:00	Former Tainan Meeting Hall	5（Tickets req.）
	19:30~21:00	Confucius Temple	1
8/3(Sun)	14:30~15:30	Luermen Sheng MuTemple	3、4(30ms)
	16:30~17:15	Culture Center Holiday Square	2(45ms）
	17:00~17:45	Mitsukoshi (Chungshan)	4(45ms)
	18:00~18:45	FE21' Mega	3(45ms)
	19:30~20:15	Train station	1(45ms)
	19:30~21:00	Confucius Temple	2、4
8/5(Tue)	18:00~18:45	FE21' Mega	2(45ms)
	18:00~18:45	Mitsukoshi (Chungshan)	3(45ms)
	19:30~21:00	Confucius Temple	1
8/6(Wed)	16:30~17:15	Culture Center Holiday Square	3(45ms)
	18:00~18:45	FE21' Mega	1(45ms)
	18:00~18:45	Mitsukoshi (New life square)	2(45ms)
	19:30~21:00	Confucius Temple	3
8/7(Thu)	16:00~16:45	FE21' Mega	2(45ms)
	16:00~16:45	Mitsukoshi (New life square)	1(45ms)
	19:30~22:00	Confucius Temple	1、2、3

Adapted from the officail website
In case of rain locations change to JenShin Junior High or Tainan Culture Center

The U-Theatre itinerary 2008

The U-Theatre traveled on foot through 25 western Taiwan townships in 1996 and through 35 mountain districts in eastern Taiwan in 1997. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the U-Theatre is embarking on a round trip throughout Taiwan on foot this year to share its glories to people who live on the same land through the sound of their heavenly drums.

The trip is divided into 3 routes; starting at 6:00 every morning, 100 townships will be visited in 50 days. The first route started in Taipei on March 23rd, stopping by Yilan, Hualien, and will be ended in Taitung on April 13th. The journey continues on April 14th in Pingtung stopping by Kaohsiung, Tainan, Chiayi and stops in Yunlin on April 28th. The 3rd route starts in Changhua on April 29th, stopping by Nantou, Taichung, Miaoli, Hsinchu, Taoyuan and back to Taipei on May 11th. It is still possbile to join the 2nd and the 3th routes by registering before March 31 and April 15 respectively. Contact 02-2938-8188 for detail.

30 performances will be given for free in this 1200km journey except for shows performed on March 23 and May 1. Performances mostly start at 19:00 and locations are labeled on the google map below. The masterpiece, the sound of ocean, will be performed in Kaohsiung on April 19th.

U-Theatre’s performance of “The Sound of Ocean” earned the Best of Show award at the Festival d’Avignon in 1998 and, in 2000, U-Theatre accepted the “Audience Choice” award at the Biennale de la Danse in Lyon. Performances at the Berlin Art Festival Amphitheatre of “The Sound of Ocean” during August 2003 overwhelmed Berlin theatre-goers. One article proclaimed “The Sound of Ocean” the “preeminent performance of the week in Berlin theatre.”U-Theatre’s 2002 work, “Meeting with Vajrasattva,” earned first prize in the performing arts category in the first annual “Taishin Art Awards”. In naming U-Theatre as their top choice, the judges noted that the group, “beautifully expressed tranquility within movement and movement within tranquility in the confines of a performance stage.” U-Theatre has achieved a unique melding of visual, audio, and performance into one outstanding form of performance art.

Night at a police station

9:00PM, Jan. 19, I got a phone call from the security of my company telling me that a window on the right corner of the lobby was broken and the alarm system was triggered. I asked him how that happened? He told me the moment he heard the alarm he ran out of the buliding to the scene that our security system indicated and found no suspects but a broken window, he had no idea what caused this. I went back to the company and found a big rock on the stairs between 1F to B1.

The security told me around 8:10PM a woman, aged 30-40, came and filed a complaint about stray dogs around our building being captured and taken away. We asked the environmental protection bureau a few months ago to help with stray dog problem as we suffered from attacts of ticks, dog shit and the gardens being torn up. The woman argued that the construction of our building had deprived the stay dogs of their playground, not to mention that we called a team to wipe out the entire stay dog society that she and many staff of NCKUH have gathered years. She was a reasonable and the only suspect but we couldn't find any images from our serveillance tapes. We called police and the supervisor of the security company to file a sabotage record. The police came in 5 min and took some pictures of the broken window and asked me to go to the police station for a record.

It took about an hour to finish the record. First, I had to verify myself by showing the police my ID and he was not pleased to know my job title is a reasearch assistant in the company. After I told him that I'm also responsible for the security of the building then he carried on the testimony reluctently. After a photocopy of my ID was made, the police opened a similar case file in a computer and edited the testimony to mine. By following the format of the record, I told the police what had happened. The police printed out the testimony and had me sign and press my fingerprints on the paper. Instead of giving me a copy of the testimony, he wrote a receipt and had me sign and press fingerprints on it, one of three receipts was given to me to prove that this case had been filed. I went out of the police station and back to the company to clear up the mess. I couldn't help praying: let nothing bad happen ever again in the building, afterall, I have another identity as a fire prevention manager in the company.

I was awaken by the ring of my phone, half asleep while I was in the toilet this morning but I didn't have my phone with me! I ran out of the toilet but still couldn't manage to pick up the phone. I checked the number it was from my company, I was nervous to call back and expecting the security to tell me that the building had caught on fire or something. It was from a staff who was writing a report of the incident and she needed photos of the scene and my opinions. I haven't had such unsettling feeling for years, God knows when this madness ends.

Macroshots

I was supposed to take photos of our new building opening ceremony and I ended up taking macroshots of flowers at the scene. I'd have to say it's much more enjoyable than taking photos of those "big heads'" endless speeches.

Chinese Orchestra

Institut Pasteur France, NHRI and CDC Taiwan, held a symposium on re-emerging virus infections on Sept. 1. On that night, we had a welcome dinner held in the courtyard of the college of medicine at NCKU. The scene: floating candles on the grass, rose petals scattered, ambient lighting with a Chinese orchestra performing in the courtyard under the trees.

Here is one of the songs performed that night

The Beautiful Fernleaf Hedge Bamboo/ Yang Chun-lin
The Dai tribe, distributed over the Yunnan area, is one of the most sentimental tribes among the various minority groups in China, and its music is also the most gentle and moving one. The composer uses Yunnan's local color as a basis, describing how the fernleaf hedge bamboo sways like a dancing girl in the wind. The song begins with two instruments, Bawu and Yangqin, whose beautiful melody creates a profound atmosphere, full of imagination. As the song comes to its later part, like dancing and singing couples, the atmosphere becomes more and more passionate with its lively tune and rhythm. Finally, the song ends in a cheerful emotion.


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7th May Jam in AnPin

I've been trying to participate in the May Jam for a few years, this time is the first time I actually made it. I was told that the May Jam was held at Anpin last year(I forgot the date), but when I got there, it was empty, no stage or no studio set up, not even people doing BBQ there! This year, I got the information on the board at the Language center in NCKU and I think I am going to give it another try, so I went down the road and found the May Jam for the first time. It was fun! Lots of bands playing music, Tam Tam, fire spining etc. Here are some photos I took of the scence.

The last picture is a restaurant next to the scence called Wind and Moon(風月餐廳), beatiful decoration. Maybe Adelita can tell us more about this restaurant in her next entry.

Happy Birthday

Today is my birthday, Happy birthday to myself.
Except for the birthday song that everybody knows, I got a different kind of birthday song which is used in French Canada. Here are the lyrics:

Mon Cher Hanjie, C'est a ton tour de nous laisser parler d'amour
Mon Cher Hanjie, C'est a ton tour de nous laisser parler d'amour

Traslation:
My dear Hanjie, It's your turn to let us speak to you of love
My dear Hanjie, It's your turn to let us speak to you of love

Click to listen

There must be some other kinds of birthday songs that are sung by other groups of people in the world. If you know any of them please share with me by leaving a comment or you can simply sing me the song or sent me a message by clicking on the Odeo icon.

Blogger Template failure

I adopted this template, Beckett, from blogger template because of its design. However the Cascading Style Sheets codes are not embeded in the template itself but are linked to a referal website which is having some kind of problems or something go wrong I don't know. As the result, the format of my blog is now unstable and it takes long time to open web pages. I am looking for other good looking and powerful templates for blogger, any suggestions?