It’s very hard to say “Good Bye”

When we traveled to see my parents in Taiwan every three years, my mom always counted down the days left before we arrived, starting two weeks before the big day! While we were there, she often wanted to take more pictures with us, whenever there was an opportunity to dress up or time to spare. We took group pictures again and again, in different places and at different times. We took pictures at home, in the yard, and of course, on campus! Our kids were well adjusted to this routine picture-taking and they would get ready without any hesitation! When I think back about our visit to Taiwan, 1978 was the most “fruitful” trip, as my parents were very relaxed and they still had plenty of energy to play with our kids and enjoy life with their grandchildren!

Another Beach Week-end!

This time in Northern Taiwan, we stayed in a beach home near one of the beaches in the Tamsui area. It was owned by my father’s friend, who insisted that we stay there for a couple of nights. We were then getting ready for our trip back to the USA and we were pretty busy saying good-bye to many people. The owner had to drive us there. We took a picture with him but I do not remember his name any more. He went back to Taipei with my parents and we stayed there and had a good time with the kids. I did get a chance to take some pictures of the area! Janice always remembers this place because I went down to the water without shoes or sandals and could no return to the place we were staying because the sand was too hot! She had to go back and get my sandals for me as she predicted!

Traditional Farming Customs

In 1978, another very important development in Taiwan was the introduction of the use of mechanical farming techniques. The whole society was changing in an effort to westernize everything. We could feel the changing momentum. While the old traditions still dominated what we saw, the new things were starting up everywhere. Later they called this period of three years the “launching of financial flying”. Taiwan was to become a very prosperous place. But this summer, we still saw the old methods of harvesting rice. No mechanical automation was used. The farmers still dried the rice straw on the side of the road for future uses. And at the end of the harvest, they still celebrated with a free public local show, which everyone was invited to enjoy. Included was a big celebration meal near the full moon time of the year! The entire traditional celebrative event was called “BaiBai” (拜拜）.

Mr. and Mrs. Li Yu-fong (李毓芳）

Mr. and Mrs. Li were my parents’ neighbors for many, many years, from the time they were all in Chungking and all during the Sino-Japanese war time. Mr. Li was working with my father in those early years, and Mrs. Li played mahjong with my mother for decades. In Taiwan, they lived quite close to our home on Wenzhou Street. Every time we visited our parents home there, they would come and bring some dishes or fruit to our house to show their friendship. My parents took the Li’s kind gestures for granted, as they considered them part of our extended family. In China, this kind of friendship was quite common. However, it is something I have never been able to achieve, because our circumstances in the U.S. are not conducive to that kind of friendship. We live much more independently, which is not always a blessing.

Kevin Wang’s Family

In 1978, after we came back from Hualian , we met Kevin Wang and his family for the first time. Kevin’s father had been my father's student at the Training School in Banqiao, a place for the political prisoners of the time. Kevin later came to ETSU and studied Computer Science. His parents certainly did not have an easy life there in Taiwan. I took a picture of my parents together with  him and his parents in front of house door. Clearly my parents took them into our family life, without any hesitation!

Hualian Ship

In 1978, every night, a ship named Hualian Ship would sail at night to the harbor at the northern tip of Taiwan called, Keelung, and it would sail back to Hualian in the day time. After we completed traveling the Cross Island Highway and visited in the Hualian area, we decided to ride the boat to Keelung and then take a train back to Taipei. Clearly, we did not see much on this voyage, as we went inside our cabin pretty quickly. It was too dark to see much. We did take a picture of the Hualian harbor and the kids took a picture in front the life preserver with the name of the boat on it!

Hualien Aboriginal Village

One of the places we visited in Hualien, besides beautiful scenic spots, was an Aboriginal Village. For those who came to visit, they had a show which included some singing and dancing by individuals as well as by groups. It ended usually with an audience participation program. Margaret was very enthusiastic, as usual, about this type of program. She joined the dance fully with big smiles, as you can see from these pictures!

Cross-Island Highway

Since, in Taiwan, the mountains lie in the north-south direction, the highway which now crosses the island had been under construction for quite a long time. It started perhaps in 1956 and was partly finished in 1960. The stretch from the coastal city, Hualian, going west was finished maybe only in the early seventies. We went to see this stretch in 1978. It was quite spectacular from a scenery point of view. We took a lot of pictures and bought some marble ware (vases and cups), which we still use today. We spent quite a number of days there, and visited several attractions in the region. The following are some pictures taken there.

Ali Mountain(阿里山)

The tallest mountain in Taiwan is Ali Mountain. It is one of the must-see scenic spots of Taiwan. We went there for just one day. The mountain is over 10,000 ft. And it is famous for its sunrise! Yes, we did go to see the sunrise, but we had several problems. First the sun was covered most of the time, second my camera did not catch any of my shots. Our whole family was there as we put on all our clothes to keep ourselves warm. Janice took my picture with our kids. It was along the fence where we tried to watch the sunrise! The other picture was what was left of the God-tree(神木) which was the oldest tree in the area.

Forever Connected

The Chinese have an old saying that, if you love someone, your hearts will be forever connected. In the Taida Experimental Forest, which we visited after our Kaoshung trip south, there is a sign that has that saying. (see below) There was a dead tree connected with another tree trunk which formed a heart symbolizing the words. The carving on the sign  said “Permanently connected by a common heart”. We stayed in this beautiful place for a few days, and we visited many familiar places there with our children. We were able to cool down quite a bit after our stay in the hot Kaoshung area. Another special place we visited regularly was University Pond, which has a nice bridge.