The Cousin of my Uncle is My...?

Chinese New Year has fifteen days. Each day has some special meaning that is associated with it. The first day, everyone is supposed to wake up early and stay close to home. This is a day for family. On the second day, all of the daughter's are supposed to return home to their parents. The roads are packed on this day, full of people travelling, and returning to their hometowns. Yesterday was the second day of the lunar new year, and yesterday, we joined the holiday traffic jam to drive to Tainan. Tainan is a major city in the South of Taiwan. The "nan" in its name actually means South in Chinese. I'm discovering that directional city names are a pretty normal thing here. For instance, the other day we drove through a town called Dongshi, "dong" meaning East. Tainan is often called the "culture of Taiwan," because the people from Tainan are interested in music and art, moreso than any other city in Taiwan. Most of my uncle's music students back in Taipei originally hail from Tainan, not Taipei.

In Tainan, my uncle, my cousin, and I went to visit a historical building turned tourist attraction. The building was built by the Dutch during Dutch occupation of Taiwan in the 1600's, and it was originally used as a fort. Later on, when the Chinese re-appropriated the island, they negotiated with the Dutch and took the fort as their own. The large, manor-house like structure was eventually remodeled to become a private school, and then finally a tourist attraction dedicated to its history today.

The building was interesting to look at, because of its plethora of architectural details, and each detail had some special meaning attached to it. For instance, The roof was ornamented with jumping fish and scroll work. This is a fish jumping over the dragon gate. It symbolizes someone from low birth, or social standing, jumping out of the caste they were born into and over the dragon bridge to become noble. It was encouragement for the students to study hard so that they could move up in the world and, one day, jump over the dragon bridge.

The building also had intricate carvings on all of the rafters. On one side of each beam, a dragon was carved, on the other side were birds and flowering vines. In Chinese architecture, the dragon is a masculine figure, while birds represent the feminine. The combination of the two here in this structure was a symbol of power. The emperors wanted to be surrounded by both the masculine and feminine powers, because it gave him power. So that design element, normally utilized by emperors, symbolizes the power of the inhabitants of the building.

The doorways in this building had an interesting feature. All of the entryways had a raised threshold that was at least one foot high. To enter the building, one had to step over this tall threshold. This design feature is seen in both traditional Asian schools and in palaces. The meaning being that not everyone can enter the building. For the schools, it is supposed to be motivation to continue to study hard, because not everyone can enter the school, the students need to work to make sure that they are among those who can. Traditional universities in Asia have a similar feature, the doorways there are narrow which has the same meaning as the high threshold. This is a stark contrast to Western universities, whose entry points are often vast, with no door.

After visiting Tainan, we went to eat dinner with some family that lives in the area. My uncle's cousin hosted a dinner/get together for us and his brother and sister and their families. It was the typical family reunion, have food set up buffet style for everyone to pick and chose what they want, sit around a table eating and talking, and then all of the adults continuing to sit and talk while the cousins go to another room to play cards. It was interesting to me to see just how similar these kind of gatherings are no matter what country you are in. It makes me wonder if there is some universal formula to family get-togethers, and they all follow this pattern. The food was excellent, and I got to try some things that I have yet to try during my visit. There was roast duck, and fried oysters, and pork intestines, and some wonderful spicy tofu. I'm happy to say that I liked the taste of almost everything I tried, even the intestines. 

Afterwards, my cousin and I joined all of the rest of the kids, (which is a relative term, because the ages ranged from about 16-27), in another room to play Chinese chess, and cards. I watched a chess game for a while, and then some of the other kids pulled out Uno and I joined them. They used it as an opportunity to practice English, and I used it as an opportunity to practice Chinese. No, the irony of playing a game with a Spanish name, in both English and Chinese is not lost on me. It was interesting how quickly a card game, or any game for that matter, can break the ice and bring people together, even if they don't speak the same language. It was an excellent way to practice Chinese as well, whenever I put a card down, I would say the number in Chinese. I finally nailed down the pronunciation of the number four, which is kind of difficult to remember. It was great fun, and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to meet that part of my family, even if I'm not entirely sure how they are related to me...would they be my step-second cousins, or my third cousins once removed, or...I have no idea how that stuff works, if anyone would care to enlighten me, I would be most appreciative. The situation has piqued a certain interest. Until tomorrow, fellow explorers.