Early Reflections

So it's been three days since I made a substantial post. Apparently each of us have to write a piece on early reflections for the CIEE Newsletter, so I'm probably just going to have part of this entry double as that newsletter submission.

You may be wondering why I haven't mentioned much about the individual students on the trip. This is because I don't wish to offend anyone by their presence (or absence) in this blog. After all, I will be with this group of students for over three months, and the less bad blood between people the better.

I posted pictures last night, of our trip to Longshan Temple and the National Palace Museum. I really enjoyed both of the trips, though it was definitely good that they were on separate days.

Longshan Temple is a 18th-century syncretist temple, where Daoists, Buddhists, and ancestor worshippers come to pray. There was a ton of activity there because the day we visited was a famous Buddhist's birthday. The incense smoke was so thick that it was hard to see or breathe. People were carrying in huge containers of food and flowers, presumably to leave as offerings, and there was a lot of chanting/singing.

In my semester in Xiamen, I visited the nearby Nanputuo Temple [南普陀寺] so often that I became very accustomed to Chinese spiritual practice, and Chinese ritual. I would often light incense and do some of the prayer rituals myself, called baibai [拜拜]. I do this for many reasons. First, as a sign of respect to the temple, the culture, and the religion. Second, I am spiritual but not religious, and Chan/Zen Buddhism is my main philosophical/spiritual belief. As a Chan temple, it seemed appropriate to pray at Nanputuo. But even were that not so, I consider prayer at a Chinese temple to be an enriching cultural experience. Finally, I know that temples, and their monks and nuns, rely on the donations of the public, and of tourists. I know that any money I pay for incense, candles, or charms will not go towards political influence but will be used to maintain the temple and feed the monks and nuns.

However, when I got to Tokyo (and here to Taipei), I have found that the rituals were somewhat unfamiliar. Not wishing to offend any practitioners, I have refrained from cultural participation at these temples, including Longshan Temple.

We also went to the National Palace Museum. This museum houses a large store of Chinese (here meaning both Taiwan and China) treasures, many brought from the Forbidden City in Beijing when the KMT (Taiwanese government) fled to the island. There is a particularly famous jade carving of a bok-choy (Chinese cabbage) in the museum. It was pretty cool, but I didn't think it deserved all the hype it got. Certainly much of the ivory work and bronzeware was just as interesting.

Other than that, most of my activities have been exploring and eating. This evening (after writing the first part of this entry), I went with my grrlfriend to shop for shoes. This was necessary because my sneakers are rather old and went to China with me (thus they experienced the joy of squatty-potties). So now I have nice new shoes!

This first week (ish) has been a great opportunity to look at Taiwan through a different lens than I ever had before. I had studied in Xiamen, mainland China, where Taiwanese independence is seen as silly or dangerous, and reunification a foregone conclusion. I had heard that the two sides of the strait were culturally identical, the only difference being the political situation. This has proven to be less than completely true.

Certainly there are many cultural similarities. The local language is the same, the temples are South Chinese in style, and most Taiwanese people are descended from South Chinese immigrants. But there are stark differences as well. In Taipei, Japanese kana are a very common sight. People dress more like the Japanese (that is, they are more concerned with fashion), and the city is much cleaner than even Xiamen had been.

I am excited to learn more about Taiwan and its cultural identity, something that the CIEE classes will hopefully cover in detail. I am very accustomed to mainland Chinese culture, so I hope to learn many new things. I know that it is premature to say as much, but I feel that Taipei is a city I could happily live and work in.