When Ying Taiwan

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...

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 ...