When Ying Taiwan

因為自己常念的作品多半是翻譯文學所以想了好一陣子，不知道是否該為學習華文的學習者 寫寫華語書籍的介紹，不過因為非華語學習者也可以看看書評決定是否支持一下出版者。因此今天就索性來寫個簡介吧！如果你喜歡這樣討論書籍的文章歡迎在下面留言讓我知道喔😁 I know the difficulties of picking a book from the foreign languages you are learning. I know how hard it is to select the ones that are suitable for the different levels of language learners. Since it is about books in Mandrin, I will not be using a lot of English in this piece. I apologize for the inconvenience. If you enjoy these kind of topics and would like to know more about the books I read please comment to let me know. Thank you. [初階]兒童文學 Children's literature 1.愛心樹 The Giving Tree 這是本相當經典的兒童繪本，講述愛與奉獻。 This is a classic. Many Taiwanese grows up reading this book of love and giving.  2.作者:郝廣才 這位作者翻譯也著作了許多童書與青少年作品，無論是品格教育還是文化歷史都有。我喜歡 的作品有<<一片披薩一塊錢>>、<<帶衰老鼠死得快>>、<<漫畫台灣歷史故事>>。 He is a Taiwanese author, who produces a lot of great works from character building to the culture and history of Taiwan. 3.出版社:小魯文

1)      撿拾路上物品 在民俗信仰中，這些路上的物品可能是別人想轉運而放置；這運勢會因撿拾而轉嫁到動貪念之人身上。在這社會中也有一種近年較少見的儀式：冥婚，這儀式便是從撿拾路上物品開始。我認為這禁忌的根本是希望世人皆不貪，讓失主能找回自己遺失的物品，是種體恤他人的心。 Picking up lost objects It is traditionally believed that the unattended objects are a conduit for transferring karmas. Anyone who takes the objects will inherit the karma. Although it is rarely performed nowadays, it can also be the beginning of a marriage - a marriage to the perished. I believe the taboo rooted in empathy for others. We want people to leave those things alone so the owners can find them at those places if they trace back their steps. 2)      贈送時鐘 在中文裡這是很不吉祥的一件事，因為發音相近於送終，會被視為詛咒他人早逝。有些人會將錶也歸於此類，也可能因此不小心得罪人，所以比較不建議以鐘錶類作為禮品。 Giving clock as a gift In Mandarin, this is rather inauspicious. For the pronunciation of the action is similar to that of attending someone’s burial service. It is considered as cursing someone to his early grave. Some people may also file watch under this category. Therefore, it would be s

農曆七月的諸多禁忌來由究竟為何 ? 這有諸多說法，多數故事指出這項習俗源於佛教，但也有部分故事認為這些禁忌源於古代君王。「寧可信其有，不可信其無。」因此不論這些習俗由何而來，至今它們仍是現代人在農曆七月中所遵守的規則。         Where do we get all these taboos of the seventh month of the Lunar Calendar? There are many theories, most of the stories point towards Buddhism, while others suggest they originated from ancient monarchs. It is better to believe it to be true than not. Therefore, no matter the origins we still abide by these regulations during the seventh month. 普遍的規則         農曆七月多數老一輩的人會說此時諸事不宜：不移居、不出遊、不嫁娶、不安排手術等等的禁忌。在七月初一的子時後，鬼門便會開啟整整一個月。在這一個月中來自冥界的居民可以在這世上自由來去，不受限制；因此人們在這一個月中便會盡量迴避。          不過在七月二十九日便會因鬼門關而回歸正常，從現代觀點來看這些習俗，或許迷信，但主要還是因為夏日天氣炎熱，希望孩子們多注意自身以及他人安全而來。 General Rule of Thumb         The elders would tell the youth this month is not good for anything. Migrating, traveling, wedding, operating, and many more things are tabooed. On the first day of the month, the doors to the world of the afterlife are opened and remain opened for the entire month. Duri

Starting from this post I will be blogging in both Mandarin and English as frequent as possible, turning this blog a bilingual one. 猜猜看這個奇特的紅色鐵桶是什麼? 我們拿它來做什麼? Guess what this peculiar red can is? What we do with it? 如果你答這是一個金爐那麼恭喜你，你答對了！ 我們將它用於焚燒紙錢或稱為金紙，紙錢是又什麼呢？ 相傳蔡倫造紙因多次試驗失敗，欲將失敗的成品銷毀又不想他人知曉，於是乎假借家人染上惡疾之名，創千百年來焚燒紙錢祈福之濫觴。 If you say this is a papier-mâché incinerator, congratulations, you're correct. We use it to burn papier-mâché or so-called ghost money.  Legend has it, this practice began with Cai-Lun, for his failures on improving the making of paper. He would like those failed attempts to be destroyed, but he did not want the others to know about the experiments. Therefore, he pretended that one of his family had an incurable ailment, only through burning the papier-mâché one shall regain her health. Thus, it began the century-old tradition of burning the papier-mâché as offerings. 近來有許多文章表示此一說法相當不正確並舉例駁斥之，但這傳說不也為這充滿東方色彩的儀式增添不少趣味嗎?學者們認為此儀式是為防盜墓衍生而來，有興趣的話可以查看看喔

I saw a video clip on YouTube the other day. It's about what people think of Taiwan. One of them said they eat dogs. I was shocked. So I want to clarify a few things: I do not deny the fact that in  the past  people do eat dog. However, during my years in Taiwan, I have not seen anyone who would eat dogs. We are a country that is good at agriculture and fishing. We don't need to eat dog. In fact, a lot of us have pets. These furry kids are pampered that you will see strollers with pets inside, not kids. Some owners even open up a YouTube account to teach people on what to cook for these kids.  Actual photo took by  Gonçalo Cruz Those who abuse animals in any ways will face charges. Though there are street cats and dogs, we do not tolerate animal abuse. There are a lot of people dedicated to helping these homeless furry kids to find their new homes. Just this year the authorities passed laws regarding sheltered animals, from this year forward, animals are not to

On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, Xǔ Xiān（許仙） prepared the wine, hid the talisman inside of his shirt. He tells his wife to come and share a drink with him. She does exactly that so her husband would not be suspicious. She thinks she is powerful enough that a bit of the wine would not hurt her. Boy was she wrong. Minutes after, she collapses onto the floor and turns into a snowy white serpent with a pair of ruby eyes.   Xiǎo Qīng（小青） walks into the room and sees her beloved mentor suffers in agony. She shouted at Xǔ Xiān "How could you! How could you do such a thing! She did nothing wrong." "She is a serpent demon, there is no way of knowing what she could have done to me!" yelled Xǔ Xiān. "I love the woman, but not THIS CREATURE." Xǔ Xiān left the city and entered the temple. Not knowing that Bái Sù Zhēn（白素貞） is with child. He became a monk. Bái Sù Zhēn was devastated. However, she thinks that once Xǔ Xiān sees that she is with his child

As Xǔ Xiān（許仙） asks for permission to be wed and getting ready for the wedding, he runs into a Doashi （道士） . "Mr. Xǔ you should be careful, you are sharing a lot of time with some sort of evil." says the Doashi . Xǔ Xiān doesn't pay much attention to his words. Xǔ Xiān carries on with the wedding. Xǔ Xiān and Bái Sù Zhēn（白素貞） lived a period of happiness. They opened up a new herbal medicine shop. The business was great. There have been years since the wedding. With the fast approaching of the Dragon Boat Festival, all the others were preparing for the festivities. People adorn their door with Asian mugwort (艾草 ài cǎo ) and wearing sachet (香包 xiāng bāo) to wear off evil spirits . Two days before May 5th, a monk who is also a Doashi passes by the front door. The monk named Fǎ Hǎi（法海） pulls Xǔ Xiān aside and tells him that he has been married to a serpent in human form. Xǔ Xiān argues with him. Fǎ Hǎi says that he has ways of proving it. Fǎ Hǎi gives him a talisma

It's been years since I first heard the story of the white serpent. I forgot when I heard it or who I heard it from, but the story is pretty much the same. A schoolboy was on his way to the market when he met a group of kids casting stones on a white serpent. He rescued the snake and set it free, then continued his journey to the marketplace. Years elapsed, the white serpent is now a powerful demon that can turn into the shape of a human. Her human form is an attractive lady named Bái Sù Zhēn（白素貞）. She knows the boy reincarnated as an educated young man named Xǔ Xiān（許仙） who lives near Xihu（西湖）. She goes to Xihu to wait for him. At Xihu, she meets a green serpent. The serpent asks Bái to be its mentor. Bái agrees and turns it into a girl dressed in green. Bái calls her Xiǎo Qīng（小青）. Xǔ Xiān works for his brother-in-law at an herbal medicine shop and lives with his sister and brother-in-law. One day a monk comes to the shop and asks Xǔ Xiān to go to the temple

Qū Yuán (屈原） was an actual person. He was in the court of the Chu state（楚國）. However, he was not being valued by the head of the state.  He was sent to exile a number of times.  The head of the state would not care for his citizens that had been Qū Yuán's worry. Legend has it, on May 5th, disheartened as he was he decided he would not want to see the downfall of his beloved country. At the bank of Miluo River, he said his good-bye to his country and leaped into the river. The news of the death of Qū Yuán (屈原） shocked the nearby villages. The villagers were afraid that the fish and the dragon in the river would feed on his remains. They quickly put together teams of cook to assemble food wrap inside leaves. Teams of boats to dunk the wrapped food into the river. Ever since then, in honor of Qū Yuán(屈原）who died on the fifth day of May, we have food wrapped in leaves which are called zongzi and dragon boat race on May 5th of the lunar calendar. Coming up next is the legen

Dunāwǔ Jié, or in my native tongue- Taiwanese, this particular day is called Gōo-lit-tseh because it is held on May 5th of the lunar calendar. Gōo-lit means the fifth day. It is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival to the West. Dragon Boat Festival According to Wikipedia, around this time of the year is when the weather gets unbearably hot and all the vermin are the most active. Therefore, we carry out the rituals to keep all the bugs away. There are many legends of why we have certain rituals on Dunāwǔ Jié. I will be sharing two of the most well-known ones - the legend of Qū Yuán and the legend of the White Serpent with you.

Taiwan a beautiful Asian island situated on the Pacific Ocean - east of China, north of the Philippines, and south of Japan. During the late16th century, people named her Formosa - meaning beautiful. Though there are no written records, we often accredited the Portuguese for the name. Nonetheless, she really deserves this name. Pic: Gonçalo Cruz Taiwan was nominated for the friendliest country in the world. As someone who grew up on the island I might be biased, but from my own experience, most people are genuinely kind and loving. We are just ordinary people. We are no different from anybody else. We act just like most people. We do have flaws. Therefore, you may still see some people that might not fall into the category of friendly. Mandarin is our common language. Our native languages are rather diverse. I, myself, speak both Mandarin and Taiwanese. English is taught in schools. We might not be fluent in English, but a lot of people understand English. If you can'