When Ying Taiwan

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'