Small talk:
Though things at the tourist sights tend to be very focused, while in the bus you can talk about some more comprehensive ideas or about daily life. For example, along the central cross-island highway, when there is fog, speeds are often only 30 kilometers per hour. There's nothing on the route but mountains and more mountains. Fortunately you can look at them and talk about them at the same time.
Taiwan's area is a mere 36,000 square kilometers, and it's not very easy to find on a map of the world. Yet there are more than 200 mountains over 3,000 meters, with the highest being 3,952 meters; that's extremely impressive. Given the richness of the topography, the number of varieties of unique plant and animal species is also startling. Foreign visitors often can't help ooh-ing and aah-ing in praise when they hear. I'm really happy to use what I know to increase the understanding visitors have of the things they see. For many of the foreigners I meet, their comprehension of this place stops at "Made in Taiwan" products. In their imaginations Taiwan is just row upon row of smokestacks. When they see the beautiful scenery, they feel like the trip has been worth it.
Going past a school, they will ask about the education system. You could answer with one sentence, "the American system," or you could talk about everything from the curriculum to the examination pressures of today. When you get to Taipei, they ask why there are so many motorcycles. To be sure, of every hundred people in Taiwan 46 have motorcycles. Besides the economic capability to afford them, this is related to the facts that our winters aren't so cold that it's too chilly to ride your motorbike, that places of work are not very far from places of residence, and that it's not easy to find a parking place in the city. As for why things are so disorderly, I answer that we have the ability to buy cars but lack a car-driving culture, that for instance, drivers are rarely thoughtful enough to give way to pedestrians, and that this is a problem of viewpoint.
The itinerary is decided between the travel agency and the visitors, not made up by the tour guide. These little chats can help visitors have a more objective understanding of Taiwan, and feel what it really means to be in a different culture, rather than just leaving them to superficially search for pretty things or stay stuck in stereotypes.
To know Taiwan, head to southeast coastal China:
I suggest to travel agencies that for city tours, besides the National Palace Museum, they should include the Confucius Temple or the Lin An-tai Historic Residence. This is because most Westerners have heard of Confucius, but often assume that he is our god. When they get to the Con-Tucius Temple and are taken in, they wonder why the temple has no monks and no nuns. And from the walls where they can see photos of the mayor heading up a ceremony, from the memorial tablets of the previous generations of the Kung family [Kung being Confucius' proper Chinese surname prior to its Latinization], and from how today his 77th generation descendants still receive special treatment from the country. . . they can begin to get a feel for the importance of Confucian thinking in China. Then, adding on a comparison with the Bao An Temple, only separated from the Confucius Temple by a small alley, it is easy for visitors to see the marked difference between the respect accorded to Confucius and the prayers and supplications for divine intercession preserved for the Lord Bao Sheng.
Meanwhile the Lin An-tai Historic Residence is a private home. The highest place in the main hall is reserved for the portraits and memorial tablets of ancestors, with the height of the various halls revealing the ethical order of daily life. I think that this says a lot more than a lecture on the differences between Changchow decorative beam joints and Chuanchow decorative beam joints. I often feel that for foreign tourists, a walk through the Lin An-tai home is no less significant than the National Palace Museum. This includes a little bit of selfishness that I feel for our country. You can say that we are a country with an ancient culture, and when you get to the Lin An-tai residence, I can tell them that it has been specially preserved by the government, and that our culture isn't all in the past.
I was born in Taiwan in 1949 of parents from Kiangsu in mainland China. Right now my greatest desire is to go to the southeast coast of China to have a look around, and understand myself. If you want to know Taiwan, you have to find the source there. I would really like to know what the LungshanTemple in Anhai in Chuanchow County in Fukien Province looks like or how the people of Shang-paichiao worship the Lord Bao Sheng. Perhaps, I'll only have to sit with the local people and chat, brewing up a pot of tea, with all the same motions and the same cup, and that will be enough.
[Picture Caption]
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"Arches were an important tool of indoctrination in old Chinese society, set up in prosperous city streets. This one was set up in New Park, but moved here so they could widen the road there. "Senior guide Giovanni Kuo introduces another historic item to foreign guests.
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The National Palace Museum, which houses a rich variety of priceless treasures, is a can't-miss stop for foreigners and locals alike.
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Once a Japanese tourist began bleeding profusely from a tumor, relates guide Huang Chin-jung using pictures, so six tour members got together and carried him off for emergency medical treatment, winning the gratitude of the visitor. (photo courtesy of Huang Chin-lung)
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Famous natural scenery is fine, but festivals are even better for displaying our culture and customs. The photo is of Lantern Festival display in Taipei. (photo by Diago Chiu)