Giant Lily-Pads at Shuangxi Park (雙溪公園大王蓮)

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Shuangxi Park and Chinese Garden is a two hectare park in Taipei City’s Shilin District situated between Chiang Kai-Shek’s former Shilin Residence (士林官邸) and the National Palace Museum (故宮博物院) at the base of Yangmingshan (陽明山).

The park features beautifully crafted pavilions, courtyards, arch bridges, zig-zag bridges and a man-made lake that is surrounded by a beautifully maintained landscape designed according to the standards of what you’d typically find in Southern China’s gardens and also with the concept of Feng-Shui in mind. 

With all that being said though, the park isn’t a very popular tourist attraction and only really attracts local residents who want to enjoy a bit of the outdoors near their homes.

That is however until the Taipei City Government filled the lake with the giant lily-pads as part of their effort to show the beauty of Taipei during the Summer University Games that were held in late August.

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Before I start I should probably mention that quite a few people mix up Water Lily's and Lotus flowers and think that they are the same thing. While they are both beautiful aquatic flowers, the lotus is one that stands high above the surface of the water and has those scary-looking seeds. Water Lily’s on the other hand float peacefully on the surface of the water and have big ugly lily-pads around them.

In actuality these giant lily-pads at Taipei’s Shuangxi Chinese Garden and Park (雙溪公園) have been all-the-rage as of late with lots of photographers, models and even the mayor of Taipei descending upon the grounds to get photos of the small lake filled to the brim with these giant lily-pads (大王蓮).

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When I parked my YouBike at the entrance of the park one of the first things I noticed was that there was a well-known local Instagrammer at the gates. We had never met before but we both live in Taoyuan, so instead of walking up to her like a creep, I sent her a message and said hello to be polite.

When I entered the park and got my first look at the lily-pads I was kind of amazed - Not only was the lake completely full of them but they completely covered almost every part of the lake making it seem as if there wasn't actually even any water in it.

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These giant water lily-pads which are native to tropical regions of South America are not endemic to Taiwan, so their appearance over the past few years in Taiwan has been one that has attracted a lot of people in any of the locations that have featured them. 

Since 2013 the lily-pads have been cultivated in Taoyuan and Tainan as part of their respective Lotus Festivals which take place every summer when the flowers are in bloom. In 2013 and 2014, the giant lily-pads made their first appearance in Taipei but only appeared again after a three year hiatus this summer. 

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The giant lily-pads which can reach widths up to 130 centimetres are delicate and it takes a lot of effort to cultivate them but when they are fully grown they are known for their ability to sustain heavy objects. 

The ability to stand or sit on the giant lily-pads makes for quite a unique photo opportunity and if you know anything about Taiwan you’ll know that there are obviously going to be lines of internet models, old ladies and families wanting to take their turn to take a photo on these lily-pads.

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I’m not particularly sure how long these lily-pads will last, so if you’re free any time in the next few weeks you may want to take the opportunity to visit the park to check them out before they disappear again. 

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Map / Location

 

Address: Intersection of Fulin Rd. and Zhishan Rd. (台北市士林區福林路與至善路交叉口)

You can take a bus to the park if you want but its actually just a short ten minute walk or less than a five minute Youbike ride from Shilin MRT station (士林捷運站). When I arrived at Shilin Station, I just grabbed a Youbike and parked it outside of the park and then rode it back. 

If you prefer to take a bus however, leave Shilin Station through Exit and from there take bus 206, 255, 303, 304, 620, R4 or R30 to the Taibei High School Stop (泰北高中站). It is a short walk from there.

Since you’re going to be walking either way I think you might as well just walk or ride a bike from the MRT station instead of waiting around for the bus, but it's really up to you!

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)

Pigs of God 2017 (義民節神豬)

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Strangely enough, living in Taoyuan for the past decade, one of the most popular occasions of the year takes place at the end of the summer in the middle of Ghost Month when night markets pop up out of nowhere and the city comes alive with local culture and tradition.

The Mid-Summer Ghost Festival (中元慶典藝術節) seems to me a bit comparable to our 'Canada Day' festivities back at home when the whole community gets together to celebrate, enjoy a carnival-like atmosphere and eat some great food. 

Like local people here in Taoyuan, I have found that after all these years of living here I have made it a tradition of my own to take part in the yearly festivities. The festival always end up being a great time and allows for me to get out with friends, take some photos, enjoy some local culture and good food and meet up with people that I might not have seen for quite a while.

Despite what I see as a great time, there is a dark shadow cast over the entire event thanks to the inclusion of the "Pigs of God Competition" which is viewed both as a cruel form of animal abuse and also as an important historic, cultural and religious activity that should be protected.  

This is my third time to blog about this event and I’m sure that if you have read my previous posts you’ll likely notice a change in the tone for which I've presented it. The reasons for this are simply that my view has ultimately evolved with the times and as I've become more experienced as a blogger, my apprehension to discuss these aspects of culture and religion has started to fade. 

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I don’t like to criticize 'culture' and I don’t feel that it is my place as an outsider to actually criticize what the people of Taiwan do in their own country - but a tradition that in normal circumstances (without religion) would not be acceptable to most people has become a horrible spectacle of animal cruelty and has brought Taiwan quite a bit of unfair international condemnation and has also numbed onlookers to the needless animal suffering that takes place in order to celebrate a single night of 'culture' and 'folk-religion'.

My coverage of the 'Pigs of God' event as a photographer and also as a blogger over the past few years is not because I want to drive traffic to my blog or write about something sensational - I want to help people understand that this event is not indicative of Taiwan as a whole and if you educate yourself more about this beautiful island nation that you'd find that its an amazing place to live, study and work and that the people who live here are some of the kindest and friendliest people you'll ever have the chance to meet. 

Pigs of God 2015 | Pigs of God 2016

Disclaimer

I just want to remind readers that as this blog moves on, there will be photos that you may not feel comfortable looking at. There is nothing particularly gruesome but I'm just warning you beforehand! 

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This year's winning pig - considerably smaller than years past. 

The event is often described by the international media as being ‘mired in controversy’ but locally it has the strange ability to arouse the curiosity of society at large who yearn for a bit of tradition in their hectic lives and is often perceived as a way to connect people to their heritage. 

This means that while there are quite a few people who oppose it, there are others who make sure to visit and do their best to experience the ‘vibrance’ of Taiwanese culture while strangely taking family photos beside the carcass of dead animals stretched out and painted for the world to see. 

The arguments for and against the festival go a little bit like this: Animal Rights Activists argue that this practice is not in line with modern Taiwanese society and that the tradition should cease to exist while supporters insist that it is a traditional aspect of Hakka culture and therefore it should be preserved.

Taiwan is a highly developed country where modernity and tradition are often at odds with each other, so when it comes to events like this groups who support these cultural traditions are often just as vocal as the opposition when their traditions are being targeted.

See: EAST - Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (台灣動物社會研究會)

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When I first came to Taiwan there were around five-ten giant pigs put on display per year. Friends tell me that when they were younger there were at least twenty or more. That number has slowly decreased with only three showing the year before last, two last year and two smaller ones this year as well.

I spoke to the director of the Taoyuan Yimin Temple (桃園市平鎮市褒忠祠) and he explained that there are fewer pigs this year due to "environmental concerns" (環保的關係) and the fact that fewer people are willing to raise the pigs nor do they have the space to keep them.

As the conversation about the ‘Pigs of God’ progresses and society learns more and more about the unnecessary suffering these animals endure during their short lives more and more people have started to oppose it - This opposition has put pressure on religious and cultural organizations to come up with new ideas and start making plans to eventually phase out the practice altogether.

Thus far over twelve temples have already stopped the contest and there are future plans for more to eventually put an end to it.

The problem however is that while some temples have 'promised' to put an end to the practice, it seems like they may be backtracking on these promises and ultimately may just keep practicing it until they’re forced to stop.

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Preparing a normal sized pig for sacrifice.

Before I focus on the negatives of this years event, I think its best to look at the positives and how things have improved over previous years:

1. The Pigs of God this year were considerably smaller than years past which shows that a little more care was taken not to abuse the animals and overfeed them as much as in years past.
2. The Taoyuan City Government promoted the usage of “Environmentally Friendly Pigs of God" (環保神豬) which were art displays made to look like pigs and constructed out of recycled products and paraded around town in the same way that the real pigs would be.
3. The event organizers planned an alternate activity where local people as well as dignitaries as high up as President Tsai Ying-Wen would come and release water lanterns on the eve of the event.

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As for the negatives, one of the things that bothers me most about all of this is how much local politicians have latched onto this event as a way to promote themselves. The event was attended by local and national level politicians from each party who mingled with the people.

The winning pig that was on display was either supported or promoted by a local DPP politician who had his flag next to the dead animal and office employees acting as a type of security in front of the pig.

When support for this event not only comes from local cultural and religious organizations but from politicians as well, it means that it is not likely that things are going to change very quickly and that is likely a sour spot for the animal rights activists who have worked tirelessly to help educate society about what is actually going on here.

At this point it seems like there has been a bit of progress and things have been changing for the better - I know that last year I seemed a little more optimistic that the practice would be ending after this year’s festivities, but right now, I can’t really see that happening.

There will be Pigs of God at the Mid-Summer celebrations next year as well.

If you are interested in watching some live video from the event in Hsinchu, check out this video from Far East Adventure Travel or this video from Taiwan Live. 

The Pigs of God (神豬)

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The practice of putting giant carcasses of dead pigs known as the "Pigs of God" (神豬) on display as a form of animal sacrifice is a tradition that started with the Hakka people a few hundred years ago here in Taiwan.

 I should add however that animal sacrifice is something that has traditionally been common throughout almost all of the different Chinese ethnic groups. 

While there are valid historic reasons why the Hakka people of Taiwan created such a tradition, the contest that has evolved out of it has become one of those traditional cultural practices that has struggled to stay relevant in modern times due to to societal changes and attitudes towards animal welfare.

To become a “Pig of God”, the animal is typically raised for anywhere between two to four years during which time they are force-fed in much the same way as a goose or duck in France is fed in order to make foie-gras. This allows for the pigs to grow to abnormal proportions with some reaching a final weight nearing almost a thousand kilograms before being slaughtered.

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For a bit of clarity - market sized hogs sell when they are at about 250 - 270 pounds (113-122kg) meaning that a “Pig of God” grows to at least 5-6 times the normal size while winning pigs of the past have reached anywhere between 800-900 kilograms making them almost ten times the size of a normal healthy pig.

To achieve such a result the pigs are raised in a way that they are constantly overfed which eventually forces them to become immobile. This lifestyle is extremely unhealthy for the animals as they develop painful bed sores and often suffer from organ failure and various other ailments.

To add to the cruelty involved in raising an over-sized animal like this, Animal Rights groups claim that farmers often force-feed the animals heavy-metals or stones days before the contest takes place in order to achieve a higher final weight.

In the past the pigs would be taken out into the public square in front of the temples to be weighed and publicly slaughtered. This was a gruesome sight and one that I'm glad I've never had to experience.

Foreign media outlets however continue to falsely report that this is still a common practice as the pigs are brought out on forklifts, weighted and they slaughtered in front of cheering crowds.

Pigs of God History

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The Pigs of God always attract a huge crowd. 

The origin of the event is a bit difficult to explain, but it is one that coincides with the creation of the original Yimin Temple (義民廟) which was constructed as a place to memorialize Hakka militiamen and patriots who worked together to protect their homes and their families.

The spirit plaque (神位) that was placed in the temple to memorialize the fallen soldiers became known as "Yìmín Yé" (義民爺) and quickly became a community symbol that brought together Hakka people of all walks of life to celebrate their culture, identity and history.

Every year in order to celebrate Hakka culture and the sacrifice of the young soldiers, the Yimin Cultural Festival (義民節) is held in conjunction with Ghost Month festivities (中元節) to honour Hakka ancestors as well as celebrate and promote Hakka culture throughout Taiwan.

The festival, like the Pigs of God has ultimately evolved into something quite different over the years, but the general purpose remains the same.

In the early days of the festival, the community in Hsinpu got together and put on a huge feast to honour Yìmín Yé.

As pork (in addition to chicken and duck) has been one of the most important animals to sacrifice to the gods and has always has been one of the most widely ingredients in Hakka dishes, it was always one of the most predominate features of the feast.

Each year one of the local families would have to raise a pig in order to both offer it up as a sacrifice to the Hakka ancestors and to help feed the community during the feast.

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As “Yimin worship” became more predominant and ‘good luck’ was being attributed to paying respect in the temple, the annual feasts gradually became larger as a way to not only show gratitude  but to also show off a families wealth and status in the community.

As mentioned above, the responsibility for raising the pig would ultimately rotate between the prominent Hakka families in order to ensure that each family did its part and that people wouldn't foolishly waste their money when they had such an important responsibility to the community.

This rotation went on for quite some time but soon a competition (of sorts) started between families as the pigs raised for the festival became larger and larger.

Ultimately the size of the pig that was offered up each year started to symbolize the wealth and power of a family meaning that as the years went by the pigs gradually became larger and larger as a show of “face” and local power.

When the problem of "face" comes into these kinds of things in Taiwan, a competition is bound to happen, and in this case, despite the tradition of rotating year-by-year it became expected that even in off-years people would still raise a pig to submit to the competition while at the same time offering gratitude to Yimin Ye.

Thus the Pigs of God competition became a thing.

With this history in mind we can likely agree that the 'Pigs of God Contest' was one that was born out of simple human vanity. This has nothing to do with culture or religion and that is why I believe that aspects of this tradition can continue while the contest should absolutely be put to an end.   

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As I mentioned in my introduction, the weekend of this festival is one of my favourite times of the year and is one that I’ve attended pretty much every year since I’ve come to Taiwan.

As the years have passed I stopped looking forward to the ‘sensational’ aspects of the festival and more so towards the coming-together of the local community to celebrate their culture and their heritage.

There are many ways to improve amazing festival while at the same time celebrating Hakka culture and history - I have seen with my own eyes that a lot of these changes are already taking place and that while the ‘Pigs of God' were an important aspect of the past, they are not an important part of the future.

I realize that this is a touchy topic and although its not my first time to blog about it, if you have any questions, comments, corrections or more importantly criticisms, don’t be shy - Comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Photos) 

Dadaocheng Photowalks

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A year or two ago I took part in an International Photowalk and photo exhibition to help promote awareness of the plight of the historic Nanjichang Community (南機場) in Taipei.

The event, which took place on two separate occasions saw a group of local as well as expat photographers descend upon the community to take photos to help tell the story of a community that is in danger of disappearing.

The event was organized in conjunction with local community leaders as well as by TC Lin, a well-known Taiwanese street photographer.  The whole event was a learning experience for all involved, especially myself who hadn’t visited the community before the event.

When TC put forth the idea of once again getting us all together to put on an International Photowalk to help promote one of Taipei’s history communities, I clicked the “attend” button without a second thought. This time however, I was coming in much more prepared than the last one because the photowalk was being held in Taipei’s historic Dadaocheng Area, a place that I’ve blogged about quite a few times in the past!

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The International Photowalk and the exhibition that will follow was organized as part of the annual Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts (大稻埕國際美術節) which aims to bring together Taipei’s artistic community and have them converge on Dadaocheng for a month of celebrating the revitalization of the area.

The two photowalks that were arranged led us around most popular and well-known areas of Dihua Street (迪化街) but much further down the road into areas that are not as commonly visited by tourists.

Our first photowalk was more of an introduction to the event and a bit of a tour around the area for people who were unfamiliar while the second walk was more of us just walking around, taking cover from torrential downpours, chatting and taking photos.

The photos that will ultimately be used for the exhibition will focus primarily on Street Photography from both local and expat photographers who are submitting photos that will candidly show the people of Dadaocheng going about their lives.

If you don’t know what Street Photography is, my definition goes a little like this: It is a style of photography that requires 'quick-thinking' and 'chance encounters' between a photographer and his or her subjects in candid situations.

Street photography more or less is meant to act as a mirror to society and the photos are meant to evoke a response from the audience as to the different aspects of life that they may or may not be familiar with.

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Most highly skilled Street Photographers are able to blend a bit of irony into their photos which offer a deeper meaning to what is happening. For me (a rather unsuccessful street photographer) I tend to focus on aspects of life in Taiwan that the people here are unlikely to notice. As an expat I’m able to look at certain aspects of life in Taiwan through the lens of an outsider which allows me to notice things that locals may take for granted.

Ultimately what is displayed at the photo exhibition will depend on what the photographers who participated submit. The photos don’t necessarily have to be street photography, but they must show aspects of life in Dadaocheng.

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Even though I already have a wealth of photos from the area after blogging about the Dihua Street Lunar New Year Market, the historic City God Temple, the historic Dadaocheng Wharf, etc. But decided instead of submitting older photos that I’d only submit photos taken on the photowalks and only provide new work.

The photos I’m posted here today were all taken on the two photowalks and while there might be a bit of 'irony' in some of them, I think they show some aspects of life in Dadaocheng that most tourists miss as they usually only stay on the restored and busiest sections of Dihua Street.

The photowalks were a good time and a lot of friends who I hadn’t seen in a while came out to take part, so even though I didn’t get as many shots as I would have liked, it was still a great time and I’m really looking forward to the exhibition as well as some of the events that will take place during the Festival of Arts.

If you are free during the month of October, make sure to take a look at that event schedule and head over to Dadaocheng to take part in some of the great events that are planned - there will be art exhibitions, dance performances, traditional theatre, live music and of course photography exhibitions.

Website: Tua-Tiu-Tiann International Festival of Arts

The photo exhibition will open on October 1st between 2:30-5:00 at the URS127 galley and the photos will be on display for the entire month.

If you have been looking for the opportunity to find out who I am or just want to meet up with me and kick me in the teeth, I’ll be there on that day - hope to see you there!

Likewise, you are invited to join myself and the other talented photographers who took part on the afternoon of the opening (Oct 1st) for an after party at Dadaocheng’s Le Zinc 洛 Cafe and Bar, which is a short walk from the two exhibition spaces! 

Hope to see you there! 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Photos)