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Showing posts from June, 2019

Formosa Penglai Orogeny - Ancient China - Indigenous Activists (SHOW-AND-TELL NO 3)

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Penglai Isles, Anhui, China Losin Watan (Sitting)  1921 Medical School Graduation PENGLAI 蓬莱 HAS BEEN WRITTEN IN  THIS BLOGPOST :  The word “ponlai” is derived from a pair of Chinese characters pronounced pénglái in Mandarin. In both Chinese and Japanese legend, Pénglái is a mythical paradise, and the name has been fondly applied to Taiwan by writers and poets who recognized how much this bountiful island could provide for its human inhabitants.   A couple of examples of usage are: 1. Tsai Peihuo, The Taiwan Autonomy Song 1925 – “… On enchanting Pénglái (Formosa) where our ancestors settled down…” (source: 228 peace memorial park)   2. Yang Kwei, The Newspaper Man 1934 – “The deck of Pénglái (Formosa)…” (source: 228 peace memorial park) I am here to write about a little more about Penglai  蓬莱 of  somewhere else , by someone else, and to something else.  FORMOSA OROGENY - SIX MILLIONS YEARS AGO, a collision of two plates created the ancient island of Taiw

Taiwan History 1920 ~ : Remarkable Eighty-Year Journey of a Missing Painting

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"East Taiwan Seaside Road  東台灣臨海道路" Chen Cheng-po 1930 Collection of Hofu City Sources: 財團法人陳澄波文化 基金會  Chen Cheng-po Cultural Foundation   http://chenchengpo.dcam.wzu.edu.tw/~chenchengpo/ 簡肇成 ( 水瓶子 ) Founder of  青田七六  Qingtian 76 http://trip.writers.idv.tw/ https://www.qingtian76.tw/cht/index.php Key Persons: 陳澄波 Tan Ting-pho ( Chén Chéngbō   1895 – 1947) 上山滿之進 (Mitsunoshin Kamiyama , 1869-1938) 11th Governor-General of Taiwan (1926–1928).  Founder of Taihoku (Taipei) Imperial University (TIU) , predecessor of National Taiwan University (NTU) 1928.  兒玉識 Professor  Shiki Kodama 陳立栢 Chen Li-bo ( Chen Cheng-po grandson)  Managing Director of CCP Cultural Foundation.  防府市圖書館  Hofu City Library "East Taiwan Seaside Road" by Chen Cheng-po, a master of Taiwanese modernism art, was found in Hofu City Library in August 2015. The painting was donated to Hofu city in 1941 by the family of Kamiyama Mitsunoshin, a polit

YILAN - A Day with 'Taiwan Old Family' - Part II

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Silks Palace Yilan. Red Lantern Room.  Yilan Bowl & Dish Museum 1852 Map of Kavalan District During the lunch we were briefed Yilan history starting with the Kavalans - The dominate group of the two who have settled in Yilan (the other the Atayals).   The Kavalans are described as 樂天, 親水, 和善. Optimistic, Water loving, and Agreeable. While Atayals are high-land hunters and aggressive in comparison.  偕阿篤 Kay A-tok &  偕 阿云Kay A-wen Prominent Kavalan figures in Yilan history are  打馬煙  Damayan Chief  阿篤仔( A-tok,1837-1887 ) who later extended his name by adding  偕 'Kay' after  Rev. George Lesile Mackay and his daughter  偕 阿云. A-tok's conversion to Christianity was said a somewhat desperate attempt to get Mackay to attend his long-suffered decaying teeth! Some families in Taiwan today, particularly of lowland-aboriginal  Kavalan  ancestry, trace their surname '偕' ('Kai' or 'Kay') to their family's con