Paper in Taiwan
Instead of getting take-out for lunch, I decided to eat in at the Chang'an Buffet on Chang'An Road, Section 1. I have been feeling very guilty about the amount of paper waste I have been generating here - no styrofoam, but plenty of paper boxes. So I wanted to see if I would a) save $ by eating in and b) save paper. Much to my dismay, rather than giving me one large paper plate on which to put my food, every individual item was given a small paper plate/serving. Because I like to have a little bit of everything, that came out to four plates and a paper bowl. Coming in at about 20NT more than my usual take-out fare.
At the Su Ho Museum yesterday, there was an educational/didactic portion on the top floor on the amount of paper waste generated by the average adult living in Taiwan. I can't recall the number, because I was scrambling around between the English audio tour and the map trying to find the display, but it was ridiculous. When I finally found the display, though it was in Chinese, it reinforced a lot of what I had been thinking about. I see women in the buffets and restaurants bringing their own tupperware and plastic containers, reducing waste. And women bringing their own chopsticks to cut down on waribashi waste. I need to make it a point to "consume" less and be a conscientious citizen of the earth.
I find it ironic that my usual lunch stop is the Chang'an Buffet - the ancient poets wrote often of Chang'an, longing for home and such, laden with symbolism. Here, it's just my everyday routine and main street.
The paper museum experience began with a didactic video on the history of the founder of the Museum. The Museum has been existence for 25 years now - quite an achievement. On the ground floor is a large papermaking studio with Hollander beaters, vats and the whole set-up. Upstairs are exhibitions on different types of paper-like material, Tsai-Lun, the inventor of paper in China, displays of thousand year old paper and the special exhibition space. Following 9-11, someone donated a piece of paper found at the WTC site to the Museum - simple white lined paper from a tablet with handwriting - what appeared to be a very unfavorable self-evaluation/assessment of a worker in relationship to his job - the museum even went to the trouble to transcribe the text in full. That weird juxtaposition of text against the notion of paper as being durable enough to survive - in the other room, 1,000 year old sheets under glass standing out as a testament of the same message. Interesting learned facts on grave paper - gold is for gods, silver is for ancestors.
On special exhibition was a series of images related to Cloud Gate Theater's most recent dance/performance "Cursive." For the performance, choreographer Lin Hwai-Min (a noted author who went to the Iowa Wkshop and published a novel called Cicadas) worked with the Su Ho Paper Museum and a paper manufacturing factory to design and create 200 different kinds of paper, 20 meters in length, that would allow for the controlled flow of ink across a surface. The sheets of paper are hung on the stage and pipes release ink which stain the paper with abstract patterns as dancers unfold abstract movements against the backdrop. Reading about this project and seeing some of the samples is an out of body experience, forget blowing off the top of one's head ala Emily Dickinson. This is a step beyond.
The Taiwanese greatly revere their artistic geniuses whether Lin Hwai-Min or Li Ang - Director of the "gay cowboy" movie which comes to Taiwan on January 20.
At the Su Ho Museum yesterday, there was an educational/didactic portion on the top floor on the amount of paper waste generated by the average adult living in Taiwan. I can't recall the number, because I was scrambling around between the English audio tour and the map trying to find the display, but it was ridiculous. When I finally found the display, though it was in Chinese, it reinforced a lot of what I had been thinking about. I see women in the buffets and restaurants bringing their own tupperware and plastic containers, reducing waste. And women bringing their own chopsticks to cut down on waribashi waste. I need to make it a point to "consume" less and be a conscientious citizen of the earth.
I find it ironic that my usual lunch stop is the Chang'an Buffet - the ancient poets wrote often of Chang'an, longing for home and such, laden with symbolism. Here, it's just my everyday routine and main street.
The paper museum experience began with a didactic video on the history of the founder of the Museum. The Museum has been existence for 25 years now - quite an achievement. On the ground floor is a large papermaking studio with Hollander beaters, vats and the whole set-up. Upstairs are exhibitions on different types of paper-like material, Tsai-Lun, the inventor of paper in China, displays of thousand year old paper and the special exhibition space. Following 9-11, someone donated a piece of paper found at the WTC site to the Museum - simple white lined paper from a tablet with handwriting - what appeared to be a very unfavorable self-evaluation/assessment of a worker in relationship to his job - the museum even went to the trouble to transcribe the text in full. That weird juxtaposition of text against the notion of paper as being durable enough to survive - in the other room, 1,000 year old sheets under glass standing out as a testament of the same message. Interesting learned facts on grave paper - gold is for gods, silver is for ancestors.
On special exhibition was a series of images related to Cloud Gate Theater's most recent dance/performance "Cursive." For the performance, choreographer Lin Hwai-Min (a noted author who went to the Iowa Wkshop and published a novel called Cicadas) worked with the Su Ho Paper Museum and a paper manufacturing factory to design and create 200 different kinds of paper, 20 meters in length, that would allow for the controlled flow of ink across a surface. The sheets of paper are hung on the stage and pipes release ink which stain the paper with abstract patterns as dancers unfold abstract movements against the backdrop. Reading about this project and seeing some of the samples is an out of body experience, forget blowing off the top of one's head ala Emily Dickinson. This is a step beyond.
The Taiwanese greatly revere their artistic geniuses whether Lin Hwai-Min or Li Ang - Director of the "gay cowboy" movie which comes to Taiwan on January 20.
posted by Shin Yu Pai at 11:57 AM
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