The Basay-India, Sulfur - Gunpowder - Highland Crops (Northern Taiwan)
Michael Turton's recent Taipeitimes article raised a few subject matters I have looked at over the last number of years. To which I comfortably relate and ready to comment.
"The indigenous ‘culture’ we are offered is truncated, impoverished, unrepresentative and even worse: predictable" (Turton. Taipeitimes)
Indigenous promotion/tourism in Taiwan, in my opinion, is unusual. It's done wrapped in a bubble. The intensity is unusual.
Here are a couple of example -
Salami slicing tactics is unusual -
A result of desperate attempt of separating and re-grouping something similar into something different. And a result of keeping everyone happy. No one get left-out and no one complain.
Encouragement and indulgence in producing 'made-ups' is unusual. While most made-ups are harmless and intended to attract and generate international interests -
CAUTION - once these international interests are collected, there will be rightful and curious-minded peoples questioning and wanting to know why all these made-ups and why producing made-ups has become a norm in indigenous culture in Taiwan. The questioning, unfortunately, is a natural process once you become 'known'.
Now, the point of this blogpost -
1. Basay/Vasai - Dwelling. Basin.
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| Taken on flight to London |
The present name Vasai is derived from the Sanskrit word Waas, meaning 'dwelling' or 'residence'. The name was changed to Basai, which was named under Bahadur Shah of Gujarat after the Gujarat Sultanate took over the region. This is also the first Latinized record of the name, which was spelled as Baxay by Barbosa (1514).The name was short-lived as it was changed under Portuguese rule, approximately two decades later, to Baçaim (also the first official Latin name) following the signing of the Treaty of Vasai in 1534. This name was again changed after over 200 years to Bajipur after the Maratha Empire took over the region. This name was also short-lived as after the capture of Bajipur (the Maratha name for Vasai) by the British, the name was changed yet again to Bassein. (wikipedia)
The interesting part is This! -
After listening to Dr Liu's detailed and fascinating talks in September 2023 on jade, glass beads techniques and diaspora - three months later on a flight to London I saw Basay/Basai - meaning dwelling, residence, and basin (in Portuguese).
I have since become quite curious about the linguistic connection with the Basay in northern Taiwan who dwelled in Taipei basin area.
And now - Turton writes that Dr Liu argued one of these groups from India eventually became known as the Basay (in Taiwan)! Which understandably I am quite pleased to learn about!
2. Yu Yonghe 郁永河 purpose in finding sulfur is for gunpowder.
1697 travel diary description of sulfur processing
2.1 Melting sulfur in large wok (tiánn 鼎 in Hokkien)
It maybe interesting therefore to look at indigenous gunpowder making in terms of materials, tools, melting in wok method and process. A process and technique research suggest dated back to Dutch-Formosa time.
2.2 The role of imported Chinese iron wok appears significant since 17th century (Dutch) and continued into 20th century (Japanese).
1930's Japanese records show Chinese iron wok used in tanning (leather), fabric dyeing, 餅 (mochi making) in Alishan/Yushan indigenous areas.
4. Sulfur and Highland Crops Pioneering
"As scholar Christopher Joby observed in an article on food culture in pre-colonial Taiwan, .......They grew peaches (northern Taiwan was colder in those days) and oranges, both of which come from outside Taiwan. "
I have issues with the said article. I will explain by examples.
First here - "northern Taiwan was colder in those days" is irrelevant in terms of growing peaches.
The area Yu found sulfur was the area where Japanese pioneered and successfully cultivated highland crops before many of them known as 'indigenous'.
Photos at Zhuzi Hu 竹子湖.
Hot mineral water helped to sterilize Ponlai rice foundation seeds. And Zhuzihu became known for its highland vegetables.
4.1 Food culture in pre-colonial Taiwan (Brill)
My issue with this article is its outdated source and information.
In the three examples I will present indicate the article is written based on scholarly 'linguistic mechanism' with little relevant knowledge of what actually developed, taught and learned in Taiwan over the last five decades in terms of 'foodways'.
Taiwanese researchers have established and presented results - while all we learned from the article is
" The UM gives ..."
"It does not occur in the UM"
"He does not name these ..."
Scholarly as the article is, no deny. Nevertheless, out-of-touch and irrelevant. Readers learned nothing about current Taiwan.
(UM The Utrecht Manuscript is a crucial 17th-century document containing a 55-page Siraya-Dutch wordlist and short dialogues, preserved at Utrecht University)
Example One
FACT
Taraun – Dutch
Taraw – Tavorang
Loh-sue – Penghu
Dalao - Mandarin
Taraw – Tavorang
Loh-sue – Penghu
Dalao - Mandarin
THE ARTICLE - "It does not occur in the UM"
Example Two
FACT
THE ARTICLE - " The UM gives ..."
Example Three
FACT 
Snow peas commonly known in Southern China and Taiwan 'Dutch peas/beans' is a well-known fact.
THE ARTICLE - "He does not name these ...resemble 'our Dutch beans"
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