Songyan cultural and creative park 松山文創園區, Taipei

We spent a few hours before sundown in the Songyan cultural and creative park 松山文創園區 in Taipei. A and F joined us.

Starting our walk from the brand new Eslite Hotel right next to the Park, there was such a contrast of the new and old. Loved the hotel lobby which is designed to resemble a spacious modern library with books lining the walls and high ceiling.

The Park was based on the “Taiwan Sōtokufu Tobacco Monopoly Bureau” created during the Japanese colonial period. It was the first modernized tobacco factory in Taiwan.

After some restoration, it was taken over by the Taiwan Monopoly Bureau and renamed the “Taiwanese Provincial Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Bureau Songshan Plant”.

In 2001, it was appointed by the Taipei City Government as the No. 99 cultural heritage site of the city and renamed the “Songshan Cultural and Creative Park”. In 2011, it is officially opened to the public and has been transformed into a creative hub of Taiwan.

According to its website, the architectural style of the buildings belongs to the genre of “Japanese Early Modernism”, with emphasis placed on horizontal lines, simple classic shapes, and refined workmanship. The boiler room, mechanical maintenance factory, and tobacco Factory were completed in 1939, and began producing rolled tobaccos with 1200 workers.

Apparently, the Park was not designed with a commercial focus, but rather, its mission is to kindle creativity and innovation, and to be in synch with interdisciplinary development. 

We wandered into the complex and entered a number of shops that sells crafts and designed items.

Johannes Vermeer’s masterpiece reproduced by swatch tapes

Cafe and exhibition areas

Artifacts from the past. Cigarette packs and container wrappers.

Bright colored office equipment of yesteryears.

The concept of an “industrial village” was employed. Besides the production line, the benefits and needs of the plant’s employees were also taken into consideration.

With its large open spaces and courtyards, the site was a pioneering design for industrial plants at that time.

There are a number of statues in this courtyard. We are not keen on the rather tortured pose of this statue.

Nice fountain with more statues

A penguin amongst tropical flora ?

We were too late for the Taiwan Design Museum. The tropical vegetation is a nice contrast to the cool modern designs housed in the old building.

Tobacco storage barn now used as massive exhibition spaces.

Overlooking the park is the new 16-storey Eslite Hotel where we started, it looked stunning at dusk. The lights on the facade form several horizontal lines that appear to converge on the top left corner of the building. Sparkling, dynamic architecture.

Need more time here.

National Palace Museum, Taipei – 國立故宮博物院

We spent almost a full day at the National Palace Museum (NPM) – 國立故宮博物院 which is in a suburb of Taipei. Built in the architectural style of a Chinese palace, the NPM has four stories, ornamented with corbels and colorful green tiled-roofs with yellow ridges.

A bit of history …

On Oct. 10, 1925, the NPM was officially founded to manage the Qing Imperial Possessions after the last Emperor of China abdicated. Most of the artifacts from the NPM’s collection was previously owned by the Beiping, Jehol and Shenyang (北平、熱河、瀋陽) temporary palaces. The NPM’s artifact collection comprised that inherited from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing courts.

In fall 1948, the Communist Party of China began gaining an upper hand in the Chinese Communist Revolution. The NPM decided that the most precious artifact be transported to Taiwan and the remaining artifacts be shipped whenever possible.

Jade on display in a 2-year exhibit -實幻之間—院藏戰國至漢代玉器特展

On Dec. 21, 1948, the NPM artifacts, stored in about 500 containers were transported to Taiwan via a naval ship. A second batch of about 4000 containers arrived in January 1949 by the navy and merchant ships.

Bronze from Zhou dynasty

In 1965, the new NPM in Taipei opened to the public in the current buildings displaying artifacts including calligraphy, famous paintings, bronzes, tapestries, porcelains, jades, curios, rare books, and historical documents.

The history of the NPM follows closely modern Chinese history and it is a fascinating story. Click here to read the NPM’s official history.

Inscriptions in 32 columns of about 500 characters inside a big bronze cauldron – 毛公鼎 – 877-771 BC

Tuned bell-like musical instrument

Ancient bronze dish – to my eyes the motifs are less oriental and more pre-Columbian american – Mexican/Azetec

Below are a few that caught my attention.

We like the scholarly approach in presenting the work which has been well researched and simply explained.

There are a lot of caligraphy work – we saw a group of school children doing an assignment on various pieces on display

There is so much to see calligraphy, painting, sculpture, religious art, jade, ceramics, …

Talk about neat handwriting !

We managed to only photograph the lower half of this painting.

They really are very pleasing to the eyes.

Three pieces in the museum collection are often misrepresented as national treasures because they are very popular with museum-goers. One is the bronze cauldron 毛公鼎 with the inscription we showed above.

The other is a stone 肉形石 which was carved during the Qing dynasty from banded jasper to resemble a piece of dongpo pork 東坡肉 – braised pork with skin and layers of meat and fat.

The third is a sculpted jadeite cabbage 翠玉白菜 – known for its subtle shade of green and the insect that is camouflaged.

There was a huge shop in the museum to satisfy all tastes in souvenirs, collectibles and gifts. The intellectual properties are being monetized smartly. We spent quite a bit of time shopping and happily took home a fridge magnet in the shape of the braised fatty pork rock.

We went to the affiliated restaurant on the grounds of the museum, a nice modern place. The famous pork and cabbage are on the Silks Palace menu.

Love to spend more time here.

Former residence of Marshal Zhang 張學良, Taipei – part 3/3

This is the third post on our visit to the former residence of Marshal Zhang 少帥禪園 in Taipei. Part 1 is about the buildings. Part 2 tells the story of the famous resident. This post covers our lunch at the restaurant.

Zhang Xueliang 張學良 who was under house arrest over a 40-year period lived here for a long time. For his story, see part 2.

The restaurant offers four set menus – no a la carte dishes. We ordered the Young Marshal’s Menu and Lady Zhao’s All Fish Menu.

Traditional Chinese food served in the style of a Western style tasting menu.

Zhang Xueliang emigrated to Hawaii in 1990 and died there in 2001 at 100 years old. The restaurant claims that they researched his diet and designed the meals accordingly.

Lady Zhao is 趙一荻 aka Edith Chao (nicknamed 趙四小姐) was the mistress of Zhang who accompanied him for many years in this residence. Her preference for fish in her diet is unknown to us.

According to Wikipedia, to accommodate the mistress, Zhao begged for and received the acceptance of the wife.

The liquid was not there when it came out. I took too longer taking the picture.

Obviously, some one spent time designing these dishes.

Traditional chicken and abalone soup cooked in a bowl with a heavy lid.

Le Creuset concept. All the goodness remains in the soup.

A Chinese meal must have some rice. Right ?

The different colorful plates added to the experience.

We were pleasantly surprised by the meal. Highly recommended.

Former residence of Marshal Zhang 張學良, Taipei – part 1/3

Happy New Year of the Pig !

We visited Taiwan in November last year. It has been many years since we lasted visited this island. We only had time to see Taipei.

Upon arrival, we checked into a spa hotel in Beitou 北投 in an area north of Taipei, which is famous for its volcanic sulfurous hot springs. Nearby is the former residence of Marshal Zhang which has been turned into a commercial enterprise – 少帥禪園 that include a tea house, a restaurant and a foot spa.

The residence comprises several small buildings built on a steep hillside overlooking Beitou and the Thermal Valley 地熱谷. The buildings are connected by walkways and stairs.

View of the roof of the residence and Beitou in a distance.

The gardens are very lush and well-tended. There are lots of little cutesy ceramic animals scattered all over the place. A bit too much if you ask me. I am pretty sure there were none when the Marshal was living there. You will notice them in the pictures.

The whimsy decorations soften the historical purpose of the residence – it was a place of house arrest for Zhang Xueliang or Chang Hsueh-liang 張學良 (1901-2001) nicknamed the “Young Marshal” (少帥), who was detained for almost 40-year period (1949-1975).

His study includes a photo of the “young marshall” and his lover 趙一荻 (nicknamed 趙四小姐, later his second wife) who accompanied him at this residence.

We know very little Modern Chinese history. My school did not teach Modern Chinese history.

He was a Manchu warlord who became a republican marshal and played an important role in shaping the Chinese world as we know it today. We will go into his story in the next post.

The residence was originally a part of the complex of the Xin Gao Hotel, built in the 1895-1945, Japanese colonial period.

In 1920, it was turned into a club for the Japanese military. During World War II, it was also a spot for the final pleasures of kamikaze pilots before they headed out on their suicidal missions.

A building which housed the guards who watch over the young marshal is converted into a tea house (open only in the afternoon). A beautiful set of drawers surrounded by soft toys and knickknacks is visible at the entrance to the tea house.

There is a place to soak one’s feet in warm sulfurous whitish water piped in from a nearby hot spring.

Flanked by banyan trees with hairy aerial roots, it was a shady, breezy relaxing spot. Perfect after some walking and just before lunch.

We booked a table for lunch at the restaurant. Our next post will feature the story of the young marshal, to be followed by a post on the fabulous food we had.

 

Our trips 2018, part 1

Dear Readers, Happy 2019 !

It is a tradition on this blog to take a look back at some of the places we visited last year. We traveled more in 2018 than 2017, at least in terms of distance traveled. Chris had been to Hong Kong and Tokyo twice and went to the Middle East.

Click on links, where provided to read more about the places of interest. There are usually a series of related posts per location, you can discover them easily in the calendar at the bottom of the post.

In reverse chronological order:

London – Regent Street, an early Christmas for us

Covent Garden, London

Hong Kong  – on Star Ferry in October

Taipei, Taiwan

The new Eslite – 誠品行旅

The old Grand – 圓山大飯店

Beitou –  just outside Taipei – 少帥禪園

Los Angeles – wedding at NeueHouse in Hollywood

Col de la Croix de Fer, 2067m in the Alps, France

Albertville, France

Tokyo, in June – Hie Shrine 日枝神社

First half of 2018 in our next post.