Two weekends ago, my host family took me to Meinong,
a traditional Hakka village about an hour northeast of Kaohsiung. Taiwan has several indigenous people groups who lived here several hundred years before the Han Chinese arrived with Chiang Kai-Shek following WWII. The Hakka are one of the larger indigenous groups (to give you an idea of how sizeable they are, here in Kaohsiung, the MRT announcements are given in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka and English), and there are two fairly famous Hakka villages close to Kaohsiung. However, the other one was hit very hard by the typhoon, and many of the roads and bridges have yet to be rebuilt. Therefore, we set off early in the morning Saturday for Meinong. Sunnie had also invited one of her friends, Nana (also a middle school English teacher), to join us for the day, so we made a happy foursome.Sunnie is incredible and had created and printed off an intense itinerary for us for the day. The schedule was seven pages long with times for where we would be places along with descriptions of each famous site, both in Chinese and English, with accompaning pictures. However, despite her extreme organizational skills, the entire day felt very laid-back and relaxed - order and planning without stress or pressure. Shows you how amazing Sunnie is. :)
We started off the day by visiting a touristy villa where they make
hand-painted oil paper 
umbrellas. These are very famous throughout Taiwan and are a trademark of the Hakka people. In Taiwanese/Chinese tradition, giving someone an umbrella as a gift is bad luck. For the Hakka, though, it is a symbol of affection and community. In Chinese, "oil paper" (you zhi - 油紙) sounds similar to "have children" (you zi - 有子). Therefore, parents always gifted their children with a oil paper umbrella when they were married. The umbrella stood for fulfillment, harmony, and the having of many descendants. Each umbrella is completely hand-made, from the bamboo structure, to the paper top. We watched one artist at work, painting a flower scene with butterflies. There are an endless amount of scenes which can be used, from bamboo trees and flowers to Chinese beauties (the women in traditional dress) to
mountain views. The painter was incredibly fast, making bold strokes across the umbrella without once pausing or faltering. In order to be hired by the company to make the umbrellas, an individual must attend a specific school and apprentice under a master. The people working in the shop were eager to show me everything, even inviting me inside the roped off area so that I could get a better view and take more pictures.We also walked to the second floor of the shop where another artist was making ceramics. A myriad of pottery and exquisite tea things were on display for sale. I would love to go back sometime, for they told us that anyone could pay to make their own ceramic mug and inscribe their own name on it, which sounded like a lot of fun.
Before we left the villa, I went back to purchase two of the paper umbrellas. They were so beautiful, and I simply could not resist! (they are now on display in our apartment) The sales lady told us that the umbrellas were very durable and would last for three years used out in the rain, but that it would be a bad idea to take them out in a typhoon. I love that it was necessary to tell me that a paper umbrella would be ruined in a typhoon... I am fairly certain mine will never be opened outdoors lol.By the time we left, it was lunch time, so we went in search
of a restaurant specializing in traditional Hakka food. Hakka food is known for its salty taste, grease and lingering smell. In fact, according to legend, each of these traits suggests something about Hakka culture. The food is salty in order to replenish the body's sodium levels depleted from excessive sweating during long days of hard labor in the fields; the food is greasy in order to make it more filling; and the food smells good in order to "open the appetite." I would attest to the food being all three of these things, particularly "greasy" (but honestly, all food is greasy in Taiwan...). Perhaps the most interesting dish presented to me was pig knuckle or pig foot. Delicious... Slash not... If you can get over the fact that you are eating something that looks like a pig's foot, you still have to deal with the meat being entirely fat. And I have yet to figure out how one manages to eat it using chop-sticks... Believe it or not, I have seen this dish two more times since Meinong. I am pondering the idea of beginning to tell Taiwanese people that I am just vegetarian (especially to avoid being forced to try such rare delicacies as chicken feet).
In the afternoon, we visited the Mainong Hakka Cultural Museum, the landmark East Gate and a famous ceramic arts museum. The cultural museum was actually really interesting. We had an excellent tour guide who walked around describing all of the exhibits to us, and Sunnie and Nana did a wonderful job translating for me. It was quite fascinating to learn all about the Hakka history and traditions.
The East Gate was built in 1755 as a watchtower for the town. Originally, Meinong was completely surrounded by walls and gates in order to protect against attacks. Today, the East Gate is the only part remaining. Many of the village's traditions and holidays today are centered around the gate. We scrambled to the top of the gate, up a very steep and narrow staircase that was in various stages of crumbling.
We ended our day at a ceramic arts
museum where we peeked in at a huge warehouse studio, examined finished pieces in the salesroom and drank traditional Hakka tea and coffee. The studio belongs to one of the greatest ceramic artists in Taiwan, whose pieces decorate entire sides of skyscrapers, schools and train stations throughout Taiwan. The ceramics place was incredibly difficult to find, and poor Vincent became quite frustrated with himself after getting repeatedly lost. Considering that there were no road signs and that he was using a very undetailed google map, I thought he did a great job!
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