Rooted in Taiwan, Connected with the World

I just completed my third trip under A Day in Town, my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in approximately 350 townships in my country. My destination this time was Taipei, the capital city where I spent two-thirds of my life schooling and working. The Taipei City government administers twelve districts, with a combined population of approximately two and a half million. On this trip, I visited four districts in the north: Shilin, Beitou, Zhongshan and Datong. Shilin administers 51 villages, which are grouped into seven areas, with the mountainous Yangminshan area occupying the eastern half of the district and making it the largest district of Taipei. The old name of Shilin was Pattsiran, the indigenous Ketagalan word for "hot springs". With the  Han Chinese settlement emerging in early 18th century,  there were many literary talents from Shilin  passing the imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty, prompting the local gentry to rename it Shilin, meaning "cong...

I had self-studied English history for years and knew that, reigning for almost 38 years (until his death at age 55 in 1547), Henry VIII was arguably the best-known king in the history of England. I was particularly impressed by his denouncing of the supremacy of the papacy in Rome, resulting in the English Reformation, as well as the six wives he married during his reign, though I did not fully understand the details. Having visited England two months ago, I became more familiar with the historical setting of medieval and early modern England and can now better appreciate the related history and literature of that period. To this end, I watched a documentary about the six wives of Henry VIII and the children he had with them, which was simply brilliant for me, as I love both the English language and its history. There are many fascinating details in the video, which is over four and a half hours long, and in this post, I'll cover only the profiles of these historical figures and s...

I just completed my second trip under A Day in Town, my multi-year backpacking plan of spending a day in approximately 350 townships in my country. My destination this time was Keelung, the northeastern coastal city facing the East China Sea to the north, and surrounded by New Taipei City on the land side. The Keelung City government administers seven districts, with a combined population of over 360,000. On this trip, I visited four districts: Qidu, Ren-ai, Nuannuan, and Anle. Qidu occupies the southwestern part of Keelung, bordering Xizhi District and Wanli District of New Taipei City. It is also the largest district, accounting for 40% of Keelung's entire area. The name Qidu literally means "the seventh wall," with a story behind it: when the Han Chinese first settled in Keelung in the 18th century, various earthen walls were built to defend against attacks by the Basay, the indigenous people who lived there for centuries. The seventh such wall was located where Qidu i...

As part of my learning journey at Toastmasters, I moderated a panel discussion for the first time, with the four distinguished panelists being Alice, Jackie and Mingchun -- my fellow Toastmasters -- and Manny, our old friend and my AI teacher.  In preparation for this historic event, which was also the first of its kind in my club Sandwich Taipei, I formed a chat group on Line one month ago to facilitate communication among the five of us. Then, on Saturday morning, we met early to align and to finalize a few details, including venue setup for this special event. It worked out beautifully. Our meeting venue was rearranged in just a few minutes, with the five of us seated as panelists and the moderator. I had been worried about our venue setup and this image was simply beyond what I had imagined. As the moderator, I chose this topic for our panel discussion: Work-Life Balance in a Connected World . I chose it because work-life balance is an issue that most people can relate to. It e...