Caffeine and Adrenaline
I have cut down on posting to the blog because the family memoir project has amped up quite a bit due to a insightful trip over the New Year to Ching Shui.
The trip concluded with a series of auspicious coincidences - but I suppose it all started on a fateful Friday morning when I climbed the stairs to the 4th floor of my 4th Uncle's house to have a talk with the ancestors. I think this was key to things unfolding. The family shrine of the Pai Tsai family (yes, we have 2 ancestral tablets, instead of the usual 1) is located on the top floor and my mission was twofold - two give thanks to my ancestors and to take some pictures of the family shrine for research purposes - i.e. should the picture book story I'm working on come together, I would want to show pictures of the shrine to an illustrator so they would know what to replicate. Anyways, I go up, I bow to the three gods on the right side of the shrine (to ti kong, guanyin, and a warrior god) and procede to the left to bow to the ancestor tablets. I talk in English, though my cousin told me to address them in Taiwanese - but that would be a short conversation. I say to them to please help my parents in the United States and to look after them and I thank them for bringing us into this world and pray for opportunities to learn more about the family history and culture and to have opportunities to honor my heritage. I then approach the shrine to take some pictures. It is perhaps significant to say that I disregarded moving the incense sticks and burnt my hand.
That afternoon, after several days non-stop with crying, screaming, violent babies around me all the time, I decided to go out on the streets of Ching Shui for a walk and to snap some more photos. As I was walking down one of the roads, a small hatchback car crawled up behind me and the windows rolled down. My 1st uncle's daughter-in-law with a car full of children sat there looking at me. "Where are you going? Do you need a ride?" I must have made a pitiful picture - wandering around the streets of a small town by myself with a camera looking for excitement. I declined the friendly offer, but agreed to let my niece and her classmate accompany me on my walk. We ended up at the Guanyin temple which is right next to Show-yun's grandmother's house. After looking at the temple, Show-yun asked if I wanted to see her grandmother's house. I felt shy about it but agreed. We walked up a small hill a few yards to the old house - one of the traditional "3 piece houses" built in a U shaped structure. In the middle is the original family, and on either side, the sons with their wives live is the traditional structure of these homes. Show-yun's mom (my cousin) was there visiting with her brother Liu Li-hung (Hi, Mr. Liu!) and Li-hung speaks good English. So they gave me a tour of the house which had the old-style wooden doors and bamboo framed roof and the family broke out the old photo albums. We walked around the property, and I saw the old outhouse - for feng shui reasons - the bathroom could not be built indoors because it would offend the resident spirits. Li-hung described an old well that used to be in the backyard, which he fell into as a child. And you didn't die, I asked? I explained my interests in learning more about Ching Shui and brother and sister and kids in tow took me on a tour of the backroads of Ching Shui's farming families - more 3 piece houses, rice fields, vegetable fields, irrigation ponds, and goose eggs rock walls. And of course, little temples to To Ti Kong, the god of land. Yi-heng tells me there is a To Ti Kong for every kilometer of land. It was a magical tour of my father's hometown at the hour of the setting sun. Then before dinner, we drove up the mountain to a night view of the town, the lights of Ching Shui, Shalu, and Dajia in the distance. After dinner, Li-hung called up a friend of his who writes books on Ching Shui, Mr. Tsai Shao Ping, to come over and talk to me. He could not be reached by telephone, so Li-hung hopped on his motorcycle and disappeared and came back with him about 15 minutes later. Mr. Tsai did surveys and census for the town and knows a great deal about the history, culture, buildings and people. I could not have been a luckier duck. They told me stories of Ching Shui's famous citizens (primarily prominent citizens involved in politics) - and I learned of a robber baron type who was like Robin Hood, kung fu style. I asked for stories about women. The response was in the form of the joke - the most famous woman in Taiwan is the goddess Matsu - goddess of the sea - who helped guide immigrants from China safely here.
It was an amazing, dreamlike, accidental meeting that made the trip to Ching Shui all the more significant. Planning now for another trip where hopefully the camera will not malfunction, more research can be gathered and more plans can be conducted. Jane's idea about making paper to produce the book is to include the people of Ching Shui by having her give a workshop on how to make paper and having the community come together to produce the paper that will form the basis of the book. I love it. I love it. I love it.
The trip concluded with a series of auspicious coincidences - but I suppose it all started on a fateful Friday morning when I climbed the stairs to the 4th floor of my 4th Uncle's house to have a talk with the ancestors. I think this was key to things unfolding. The family shrine of the Pai Tsai family (yes, we have 2 ancestral tablets, instead of the usual 1) is located on the top floor and my mission was twofold - two give thanks to my ancestors and to take some pictures of the family shrine for research purposes - i.e. should the picture book story I'm working on come together, I would want to show pictures of the shrine to an illustrator so they would know what to replicate. Anyways, I go up, I bow to the three gods on the right side of the shrine (to ti kong, guanyin, and a warrior god) and procede to the left to bow to the ancestor tablets. I talk in English, though my cousin told me to address them in Taiwanese - but that would be a short conversation. I say to them to please help my parents in the United States and to look after them and I thank them for bringing us into this world and pray for opportunities to learn more about the family history and culture and to have opportunities to honor my heritage. I then approach the shrine to take some pictures. It is perhaps significant to say that I disregarded moving the incense sticks and burnt my hand.
That afternoon, after several days non-stop with crying, screaming, violent babies around me all the time, I decided to go out on the streets of Ching Shui for a walk and to snap some more photos. As I was walking down one of the roads, a small hatchback car crawled up behind me and the windows rolled down. My 1st uncle's daughter-in-law with a car full of children sat there looking at me. "Where are you going? Do you need a ride?" I must have made a pitiful picture - wandering around the streets of a small town by myself with a camera looking for excitement. I declined the friendly offer, but agreed to let my niece and her classmate accompany me on my walk. We ended up at the Guanyin temple which is right next to Show-yun's grandmother's house. After looking at the temple, Show-yun asked if I wanted to see her grandmother's house. I felt shy about it but agreed. We walked up a small hill a few yards to the old house - one of the traditional "3 piece houses" built in a U shaped structure. In the middle is the original family, and on either side, the sons with their wives live is the traditional structure of these homes. Show-yun's mom (my cousin) was there visiting with her brother Liu Li-hung (Hi, Mr. Liu!) and Li-hung speaks good English. So they gave me a tour of the house which had the old-style wooden doors and bamboo framed roof and the family broke out the old photo albums. We walked around the property, and I saw the old outhouse - for feng shui reasons - the bathroom could not be built indoors because it would offend the resident spirits. Li-hung described an old well that used to be in the backyard, which he fell into as a child. And you didn't die, I asked? I explained my interests in learning more about Ching Shui and brother and sister and kids in tow took me on a tour of the backroads of Ching Shui's farming families - more 3 piece houses, rice fields, vegetable fields, irrigation ponds, and goose eggs rock walls. And of course, little temples to To Ti Kong, the god of land. Yi-heng tells me there is a To Ti Kong for every kilometer of land. It was a magical tour of my father's hometown at the hour of the setting sun. Then before dinner, we drove up the mountain to a night view of the town, the lights of Ching Shui, Shalu, and Dajia in the distance. After dinner, Li-hung called up a friend of his who writes books on Ching Shui, Mr. Tsai Shao Ping, to come over and talk to me. He could not be reached by telephone, so Li-hung hopped on his motorcycle and disappeared and came back with him about 15 minutes later. Mr. Tsai did surveys and census for the town and knows a great deal about the history, culture, buildings and people. I could not have been a luckier duck. They told me stories of Ching Shui's famous citizens (primarily prominent citizens involved in politics) - and I learned of a robber baron type who was like Robin Hood, kung fu style. I asked for stories about women. The response was in the form of the joke - the most famous woman in Taiwan is the goddess Matsu - goddess of the sea - who helped guide immigrants from China safely here.
It was an amazing, dreamlike, accidental meeting that made the trip to Ching Shui all the more significant. Planning now for another trip where hopefully the camera will not malfunction, more research can be gathered and more plans can be conducted. Jane's idea about making paper to produce the book is to include the people of Ching Shui by having her give a workshop on how to make paper and having the community come together to produce the paper that will form the basis of the book. I love it. I love it. I love it.
posted by Shin Yu Pai at 1:21 AM
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