What is justice? (正義系啥米) was held at the Leader University (立德大學) in Tainan yesterday. The event featured a concert with a number of leading Taiwan bands as well as an exhibition about 228 Incident. The event was organised by the Leader University Hot Rock Club (立德大學熱音社) and the 228 Memorial Foundation.

An exhibition about 228 was set up at the edge of the hall with many people walking through it during the afternoon. Many of the bands encouraged people to go over and have a look at the exhibition and think about what the 228 means. Every year on 28 February there are events to commemorate the 228 Incident, but it shouldn’t be an issue that is just put in the spotlight one day a year. Events like this give people another opportunity to learn about and reflect on the meaning of 228.

The line up of bands started with Rice Roll (御飯團) a band of students from Leader University. Next was S.O.D. whose members were alumni of Leader University. I was most impressed by the post-rock sounds of Bugs of Phonon (聲子蟲). The music continued to get louder and more extreme with The Hindsight (光景消逝) taking to the stage.

Fire-Ex (滅火器) from Kaohsiung were a huge hit with the crowd.

Solemn (恕), a local Tainan band, were next on stage. They amped it up to 11 with their powerful brand of metal. I also saw them play in Taichung a few weeks ago. They put on a great show.

Last but not least ChthoniC (閃靈) hit the stage. The event ended with a screening of Tears (眼淚), a film with a theme of transitional justice. Doris of ChthoniC and the members of Fire-Ex are in the film as well. The event was a great success in bringing young people together to think about issues of justice.

*More photos in the What is justice? 正義是啥米 set at flickr.

• Justice For All Concert in Pingtung
• German magazine about Taiwan
• Transitional Justice Conference in Taipei
• Letter about the death penalty in the Taipei Times
• Tears and transitional justice

On Friday I took a bus down to Chiayi along with my friend Ian who was visiting from Australia. I took my own bike down on the bus, while Ian hired a touring bike from the Giant store. The hire service offered by Giant is very good with quality bikes at a reasonable price (more details  here). The only problem was the CRX-1 model Ian hired didn’t have a good selection of gears for hill climbing. In the afternoon we went on easy ride out to the Solar Exploration Center (北回歸線太陽館) in Chiayi County, which sits on the Tropic of Cancer.

We headed out of town on Saturday morning and once we got outside the city the roads were pretty free of traffic. The original plan was to cycle up to the Zengwen Reservoir, however this was changed to a shorter and easier route to the hot springs town of Guanziling (關子嶺).

After arriving in Guanziling it didn’t take long to find a place to soak in the hot springs. It was a very nice way to relax after a climb up some steep hills. The water in the hot springs in Guanziling is grey and muddy unlike other places in Taiwan where it is clear. Anyway I am pictured above in the cold pool with clear water.

Just outside Guanziling is an interesting geological phenomenon, the Fire Water Cave (火水洞). Here a large flame burns continuously on the rocks. It is a result of methane being released from the water.

After leaving Guanziling we cycled down to the plains again and reached the town of Baihe (白河). It soon started pouring rain and we took shelter in a tea shop. The ladies there were very friendly. Their new business selling traditional style tea and tofu dessert (古早味紅茶與豆花) was set to officially open the next day. If you ever visit the town make sure you visit the shop.

After a few hours the rain eased and we cycled on to Xinying (新營) where we found a place to stay for the night. The television news showed that the downpour had caused floods in parts of Tainan County. We had been lucky to avoid the worst of it.

The next day we set out to cycle through the farmlands of Tainan County. We discovered a man with his buffalo working on a paddy field. It was quite a wonderful sight. The roads took us through flat country with small towns and lots of agricultural activity. It wasn’t the most beautiful country in Taiwan to cycle through, but easy going without any hills. The weather was pretty hot and I got a bit of sunburn, although not too serious.

As we got closer to Tainan we reached Qigu (七股), which has a salt mountain.

Next we went to visit the Black-faced Spoonbill Research Centre. The spoonbills only visit Taiwan in the winter time, so we didn’t see any. The center has quite an extensive display and interpretive information about the birds and the wetland ecology.

When we reached Tainan City we stopped at this place for some good Australian beef in Taiwan style beef noodles. We spent a bit more time in Tainan visiting various places before heading back to Taipei via the HSR on Monday.

*More photos in the Chiayi and Tainan cycling tour set at flickr.

• Photos from Tainan
• Cycling in Taiwan video
• Photo in Sky Couch magazine
• New cycling website
• Cycling along the Tonghou River

The above sign could perhaps best be described as Chinese with Japanese characteristics. The first two characters, inside the picture of the bomb, are 炸彈 (zhàdàn). However, the form of dàn is actually Kanji rather than the traditional (彈) or simplified (弹) Chinese character. The difference is quite small. The simplified Chinese has two dashes at the top of the character, the traditional Chinese two squares and the Kanji has three dashes.

The Japanese flavour of this sign extends a little further. The next part says 日式豚 (rìshì tún) meaning Japanese-style pork. The character 豚 is used for pig or pork in Japan, but in Taiwan and China 猪 (zhū) is the character used for pig or pork.

There are also two katakana following the characters. I am not sure what they say. Update: Thanks to Mark and Greta for their comments. 豚カツ (tonkatsu) means pork cutlet. See the Japanese wikipedia article for more details (if you can read Japanese) or see the English wikipedia article.

This sign is a good example of bad design. There are multiple problems here. The first is writing the English and pinyin sideways down the sign making it very difficult to read without tilting your head. It would be almost impossible to read while driving past in a car. Also the sign is visually cluttered. Reading some of the Chinese is difficult simply because it is too small, especially the 3公里 (3 kms) in red at the top and the 台江文史生態之旅 on the left hand side.

The other major problem with this sign is the strange combination of pinyin, English and Arabic numerals. There is also a spelling mistake in the English, gress instead of grass.

The first character of the sign, 四, has been written as 4 rather than written in pinyin as si. The next character, 草, has been written as grass (with a spelling mistake) rather than the pinyin cao. The next two characters, 大眾, are written in Tongyong Pinyin as Da Jhong. This is the only part that might be considered correct. The last character, 廟, is written as miao. While this is correct pinyin it would usually be translated to the English word temple.

The best way of writing the pinyin and English on this sign would be Sih Cao Da Jhong Temple (using Tongyong Pinyin) or Si Cao Da Zhong Temple (using Hanyu Pinyin).

NOTE: You can see higher resolution versions of these photos in my photo gallery. 4 Gress Da Jhong Miao and Bomb.

Also if I have made any mistakes or misinterpretations don’t be afraid to correct me in the comments.

• Certification for Mandarin teachers in Taiwan
• Protesting the KMT referendum boycott
• Trip to Marqwang and Smangus

I took almost 700 photos in Tainan and it has taken me a while to sort through them all. I have uploaded some to flickr and more to my photo gallery. Here are the links:

• Tainan: Gods on parade
• Tainan and Anping
• Tainan temples
• Tainan photo set @ flickr
• Stone carvings (includes photos from Tainan and Greater Taipei)

• Amazing Tainan
• One year in Taiwan
• Mum and Dad visit Taiwan
• Links 17 September 2007
• Photos from the weekend

My first impression of Tainan (台南) was nothing special. I got off the bus and walked to my hotel; the streets of Tainan looked little different from any other city in Taiwan. After taking a brief rest I set out to explore the city.  

It wasn't long before I saw a parade going through the streets. There were statues of gods carried on palanquins and various colorful banners. Perhaps I only caught part of it because it quickly passed.

A little later I heard music coming from a small alleyway and went to see what it was all about. I was soon caught up in the middle of a stupendous parade. Gods of all shapes and sizes, people in amazing costumes, cymbals and horns to create plenty of noise. All would stop briefly to pay respects to the god in the small local temple before disappearing down the alley.

As I spent the rest of the day wandering the streets of Tainan I encountered this parade several times. It was accompanied by a cacophony of activity wherever it went, particularly the fireworks that were set off! 

When I wasn't observing the parade I was visiting some amazing temples filled with exquisite artwork and rich in history. Many of the temples have more than 300 years of history.  

The next day, completely by chance, I came across another amazing temple ritual at the Fengshen Temple (風神寺). After a huge amount of fireworks were set off and several statues of gods were brought into the temple two men took centre stage. Brandishing swords and other weapons they became possessed by the gods. One man cut his tongue and performed a strange dance. Another man had a ball studded with nails in his mouth. 

A man explained to me in English that it was the birthday of the god in the temple. People from temples all around Taiwan come to pay respect to the god. He also told me that 300 years ago this temple was at the water's edge and it was a place were traders came from China. A stone gate near the temple was called the Old Government Reception Archway (接官亭). 

There was so much to discover in Tainan that three days there was barely enough. On the second day I also visited Anping (安平). The most famous place there is the Anping Fort (安平古堡), also known as Fort Zeelandia. This was built by the Dutch in the early 17th Century. The fort was originally on an island (see the picture), but the local landscape has changed markedly since then. Although its position close to the water still allows one to appreciate its links to Taiwan's maritime history. Anping is also home to more temples and old buildings.

Another thing I liked about the city was the number of attractive parks. The photo is of the Chenggong Lake in the grounds of Cheng Kung University (成功大學). There are many large and beautiful banyan trees. These are home to many squirrels. 

On my final day in Tainan I tried to visit a few of the places that I had earlier missed. There were still a few things I didn't see, but that's a good excuse to go back again.  

P.S. I have a huge amount of photos to sort through and I will upload many of them to my photo gallery. In the meantime have a look at my photos tagged Tainan at flickr.  

• Photos from Tainan
• Top five places in Taiwan
• One year in Taiwan
• Mum and Dad visit Taiwan
• Photos from the weekend