Expanding Readers’ Ideas About Taiwan

Pickling and curing are traditional techniques used by our forefathers to preserve foods. Pickled foods can be stored or given as gifts, and in earlier times some were eaten only at the Lunar New Year. Our Cover Story this month looks at various kinds of pickled foods, including vegetables, fruit, meat, and seafood. While learning about the pickled foods of different localities, we also explore their history and ethnic culture.

In another article, we visit paper sculptor Hung Hsinfu, whose works evoke a festive ambience and who always produces amazing sculptures for Lantern Festival. He is currently creating a series of works that bring Taiwan endemic species to life. Hung says: “Paper sculptures are not created using computer design tools. Rather, the design depends on the animal’s anatomical structure, and only by trial and error can one use paper to reproduce the skeletal framework and distinctive characteristics of a subject.”

The decorative metal lattices that adorn windows and balconies in Taiwan bring back memories of home for many people who have moved to the city for work. The methods used to produce such lattices in large numbers from the 1950s through the 1970s symbolize the material culture of that era. Professor Chen Cheng-che of Nanhua University, an expert on old houses in Tainan and Chiayi, told us: “The curved lines with which window lattices were designed and made were an expression of craftsmanship and of art.” You will find many interesting lattice designs and related stories in our report.

Last year, the Ten Drum Art Percussion Group was invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to perform in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. 2022 was the 30th anniversary of the opening of representative offices in each other’s territories by Taiwan and Vietnam, and to mark the occasion the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vietnam held the 2022 Taiwan Culture and Tourism Promotion Fair. Ten Drum played at the two-day fair, which attracted more than 10,000 visitors.

The exhibition Centenary Dialog, at the National Taiwan Museum, features artifacts from Southeast Asia, related to every aspect of life, that entered the museum’s collection when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. The exhibition has been shaped by interactions among museum staff, Southeast Asians living in Taiwan, and cultural historians. We also bring you stories on the 2022 Inter­national Youth Ambassadors Exchange Program, and the scroll painting Formosa Ever­green held by the National Museum of History, as well as this month’s Readers’ Photos, on the theme of the fisheries industry. We hope this varied content will help readers to expand their ideas about Taiwan over the Lunar New Year holiday.