Yes, another trip to Tainan. What can I say? I really like it there. The people are friendly, it’s easy to navigate, there is a great mixture of the old and the new, and there is just a whole lot to see.

On this trip I went to the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature (Chinese | English) | From Censorship to a Thousand Flowers Blooming: A New Landmark for Taiwanese Literature (.pdf in English only, get Adobe Reader) | A New Landmark for Taiwanese Literature: National Museum of Taiwanese Literature. Unfortunately, the English site doesn’t have a whole lot of information, but the PDF I’ve linked to is quite good, as is the story on culture.tw, so if you can’t read Chinese, you might want to check them out.

If anyone from Taiwan is reading and has recommendations for Taiwanese literature available in English translation, I would love to know about it!

Okay, so I’m a literature geek. I really enjoy reading postcolonial theory and literature, so the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature was on my list of things to see. It is also one of the places we are taking the campers each week, so the week before camp started I headed out to Tainan to check it out.

Apparently you get priority seating on the train if you are a panda.

The trip between Dahu and Tainan is quite pleasant. There is a lot of rice (I’m assuming it’s rice – if I’m wrong, please let me know) growing along the way…

and there is even a bridge that reminds me of home San Francisco.

The exterior of the National Museum for Taiwanese Literature. The building used to be Tainan City Hall.

When you walk inside, you can see that instead of tearing down the exterior of the old city hall, they just built around it. It gives the museum a great, homey feel. Of course, I’d feel at home in any museum dedicated to literature, so maybe you shouldn’t take my word for it.

The quotes read: “Poetry is special in that it can convey finely textured emotions and has a compelling power. Leaping associations become music of thought.” – Shui Lin-Ping The Lips of Natives and “If we love our ancestors, we should not hate Taiwan. Even though the island is small, the sweat and blood of our ancestors is spread everywhere.” – Lim Long-Bim Do not dislike Taiwan. I particularly like the first quote. It reminds me why I have the Chinese character for poetry tattooed on my ankle.

One of the first areas of the “Discover Taiwan Literature” tour discusses the importance of the water buffalo in Taiwanese culture (and thus, its literature): “Taiwan was originally an agricultural society, and people’s lives revolved around farming. Thus, the water buffalo became a symbol of Taiwanese society and the Taiwanese spirits. Taiwan literature, including folk idioms, folk songs, traditional or modern literature, always reflects daily lives of Taiwanese people and often contains themes and images related to water buffalo.”

On the floor of this area, there is a concrete poem about the water buffalo. The head is the Chinese character for black (which forms part of one of the characters in my Chinese name) and the horns are actually the character for horns. However, this isn’t just a poem that is shaped like a water buffalo. It actually imitates the movements of the water buffalo when you step on it!

You can check it out for yourself here!

A couple of children playing with the water buffalo poem.

There was a display that discussed the influence of Western literature on Taiwanese writers,

and there were examples of poetry and prose in both the original Chinese and in English translation.

The museum is on a busy roundabout and in the middle is a park with a statue of Sun Yat-sen.

After visiting the museum, I stopped in Chef Fresh for a cup of coffee (excellent) and a slice of cheesecake (too dry and crumbly).

Up next: My trip to the Confucius Temple in Tainan….