Geographically unique, Taiwan has a culture which is derived from both Oceanic and Chinese culture. Also, being exposed internationally and locally has influenced the development of its art and crafts.
Saudis are fascinated with Chinese woodcarving, weaving, wickerwork and pottery as well as ceremonial dance in parades. These have always played central roles in indigenous life.
To get a sense of the richness of Chinese art and Taiwan’s history, ask anyone who has visited the National Palace Museum. The museum has an enduring collection of over 650,000 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world. Most of the pieces are of high quality, collected by China’s ancient emperors.
The museum main artifacts categories are: Bronze, painting, jades, ceramics, calligraphy, rare books, documents, curios and pottery. The museum is divided into sections. One has to wear comfy clothes and shoes because the massive collection and the beauty of what one’s eyes are witnessing might convince one to spend an entire day there.
The items on display include jewelry, sculpture and art dating back to the Neolithic period. It’s accompanied by a piece of what looks like a real head of cabbage with a small grasshopper camouflaged in the leaves; it is an incredible piece of sculpture made on a piece of jade. Both made by craftsman in the Ching Dynasty in the mid-nineteenth century.
One of the most amazing pieces is the “Carved Olive-stone Boat” from the Ching Dynasty. The height of this tiny boat is 1.6 cm and the length is 3.4 cm and it is carved from an olive stone. The amazingly fully equipped artistic piece is carved with a covered deck and moveable windows. The interior has chairs, dishes on a table and eight figures representing the characters of Su Shih’s “Latter Ode on the Red Cliff” poem.
By mixing traditional and contemporary, Eastern and Western, local and international, Taiwan’s artists in both the visual and performing arts are exploring different approaches and developing their own unique styles.
Visiting the Ju Ming Museum was yet another glimpse on Taiwan’s modern art. Having a closer look on the life of the artist Ju Ming, a Taiwanese sculptor, who attained fame in Taiwan in the 1970s, and in New York in 1983. Ju Ming was trained as a woodcarver. He developed his skills and applied it to a range of media, including bronze, styrofoam, ceramics, and stainless steel.
In the museum, one can see strange and huge pieces of sculpture on display. The larger than life bronze figures represent Ju Ming’s Tai Chi (a form of marshal art) series. Ju Ming embodied his life through his sculpture. Back in 1976 Ju took up Tai Chi upon his mentor’s advice to develop physical and mental discipline. He developed greatly from this practice and started thinking about sculpting works on the theme of Tai Chi, which had never been done before.
One of the most well known statues of the Tai Chi series in the museum is the “Single Whip” — illustrating a faceless practitioner of the move in a stoop, right knee bent, left leg straight and arms akimbo.
Much of Ju Ming’s work is housed at the Ju Ming Museum, just outside Taipei. The museum was built at the artist’s expense and is open to the public. The museum has indoor as well as outdoor displays. Huge statues are seen outside as one walk through the alleys. The museum’s location being on the hills outside Taipei gives a great view to the relaxing green mountains.
No wonder Asians win the most number of awards in the Olympics. When one visits the famous educational institutions in Taipei, the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts, one will know the reason behind their stunning performances on the global level. In this college, youth are trained to perform Chinese opera, traditional music, dance and acrobatics. A short live performance by the students is seen in the end of the college tour. A young boy climbing six chairs and standing with one hand is truly astonishing and impressive.
It was a cloudy Sunday morning, which made the weather a bit cold but also perfect for visiting the beautiful Yeliu Geo-park. One can spend the entire day wandering along the paths of this gorgeous stretch of mountain and time-eroded rock.
The Geo-Park is made of Limestone and Calcium carbonate, on the top layer, which is more resistant to the climate compared to the other types of rocks below. After millions of years of exposure to the salty wind, seawater and strong waves of the East China Sea, erosions and weathering created many weird structures out of the limestone formation.
The area is studded with seawater-eroded holes teeming with sea-life, as well as unusual rock formations, which make the surrounding environment rich in ecological resources. Sun, wind, rain, waves and strong northeastern storms all make a major impact on this narrow piece of land.