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Taiwan Salt And Pepper Chicken Recipe 鹽酥雞 (Murphy Chu)

INGREDIENTS:

1 chicken breast, about 8-10 oz, cut into bite-size cubes/pieces
2 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs 5-spice powder (炸鹽酥雞粉)

1/2 tbs rice wine or sake
1/8 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp sugar
1 egg yolk
A bunch of Thai basil leaves
1 cup potato starch or corn flour
Oil for deep-frying

METHOD:

Marinate the chicken with the seasonings including the egg yolk for 2 hours in the fridge. When ready to deep-fry, put 1 cup of potato starch or corn flour on a flat plate. Add the chicken to the flour and coat evenly. Heat up a wok or deep-fryer with oil and deep fry the chicken pieces until they turn golden brown. Transfer the fried chicken out on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil.

Deep fry the basil leaves until crispy and garnish on top of the fried chicken. Serve immediately.

COOK’S NOTE:

The 5-spice powder used in this recipe is made with spices, salt, and pepper. It’s called 炸鹽酥雞粉 in Chinese.

Language of Taiwan (Jasmine Chu)

Greeting:

nǐ       hǎo                                                                      

你      好         Hello                                                           

xiè     xiè                                                                       

謝      謝         Thank you                 

Ghost Month (Celine Chen)

From July to August, there period of time in Taiwan known as Ghost Month. It lasts for the entire 7^th lunar month and it is believed during this time that it is the ghost’s vacation. This is a time for ghosts from the afterlife to come back and settle old scores and visit their homes.

During this time, families will burn joss paper and put out food offerings for their deceased family members. Those that forget or ignore their ancestors will be haunted by lost souls, ones that their own family members did not remember to honor. This month is very superstitious as the Taiwanese tend to not travel as much or get married during this time.  In correspondence with religion, the Buddhist Deliverance and Taoist Ghost festival are both in Ghost Month.

Taiwan Currency - New Taiwan dollars (Megan Chu)

Taiwan Currency - New Taiwan dollars


1 US dollar = $ 29 New Taiwan dollars

              1 New Taiwan dollars = $ 0.034483 US dollars

100 New Taiwan dollars = $ 3.4483 US dollars

New Taiwan Dollars  $ 1,000

New Taiwan Dollars  $ 500

New Taiwan Dollars  $ 100

New Taiwan Dollars  $ 200

New Taiwan Dollars  $ 50

New Taiwan Dollars  $ 10

New Taiwan Dollars  $ 1

Girl Scouts of Taiwan (Marie Chu)

              Girl Scouts of Taiwan     

                    

Brownie uniforms of Taiwan 

Symbol of Taiwan’s Girl Scouts    

 Age groups:

 Huey-Chi Scout 23+
 Senior Girl Scout 17-21
 Ranger Girl Scout 15-17
 Girl Scout 11-15
 Brownie Scout 7-11                                                                                     

                      

                                         

Girl Scout Uniform

    

Huey-Chi Scout Uniform

  

                                              

Beautiful Landscapes(CeCe Working) Jasmine help putting text & pictures to the post

Beautiful Landscapes

 -The Height of the Mountains:

The tallest peak of the numerous mountains and peaks in Taiwan is the 3,952-meter-tall mount Yushan. You can see sprengeri ferns near the cirque (a semicircular hollow with steep walls formed by glacial erosion on mountains) of Mount Snow, while in the cirque there are all kinds of alpine vegetation, like a paradise pon earth. Mount Nanhu has rare alpine vegetation left from the glacial period. Mount Tapachien is the most predominant peak in Taiwan, and the top looks like a barrel.

-The Breadth of the Grasslands:

The most common grasslands in the high-altitude regions are formed by Yushan canes. The scene of Giant Chinese Silver Grass all over the mountains is the best expression of autumns in Taiwan. We can find Cogongrass everywhere on the plains in Taiwan. We can see Wild Sugarcanes in the midstream and downstream of any big rivers in Taiwan.

-The Tranquility of the Woods:

We usually see fir forests in the main peak of the Snow Range, Mount Chilai, and Mount Tapachien. Hemlock spruces are the most beautiful coniferous trees in Taiwan. The Taiwan cypress is a very old species, and Taiwania is the tallest plant in Taiwan. White snag landscapes are the special prospects formed after the forest fire. Firs, hemlock spruces, and Taiwan red pines can possibly become white snags after the fire.

-The Solitude of the Rivers:

The eastern section of the Central Cross-Island Highway was built exactly along the valley of the Liwu River. The river basin of the Southern Sanchan Stream is larger and its upstream section more cragged and solitary, honored as “Little Taroko.” The “Mystic Valley” in Taroko National Park refers to the branch of the Liwu River, the Skadang River.

-The Attraction of the Coasts:

Nanya is also famous for its colorful weathered rock. The rich geomorphology makes Yehliu a natural classroom of geology. Cliff is one of the eight wonders in Taiwan, Chingshui Cliff is the most magnificent section of the SuHua Highway. On the left side is Shih Ti Bay, which is a one-kilometer beach with strange and unique rocks, which makes it one of the more special resorts along the coastal highway.

Early Taiwanese Literature(Moriah Pleasant) Jasmine help posting

The native peoples settled on the island of Taiwan thousands of years ago and developed distinct oral narratives, languages, customs, and cultures. For centuries, aborigines on Taiwan have been marginalized in the expression of Taiwanese culture.

Since 1980, native scholars have tried to recreate their own past by reexpressing their peoples' oral traditions. A large quantity of oral narratives about creation myths and tribal heroes have been recorded and distributed in the form of parallel texts, in which the original native languages are spelled out in Romanization and accompanied by Chinese translation. The texts are not only intended for Chinese-speaking viewers, but are also primarily used as textbooks for the younger generations in the indigenous population. For many aboriginal scholars, such texts literally constitute the last hope for their traditions to be transmitted in the struggle for cultural survival, fully aware of the brutal fact that even their children are resisting the use of the native tongue. As a result, indigenous languages and literatures are on the verge of disappearance.

Several local Taiwanese poets set in motion to make their names known during the mid-19th century, among them are: Tsai Ting-lan, Chen Chao, Huang Ching, Cheng Yung-hsi, and Lin Chan-mei. They were literati and cultural elites writing in the mode of classical Chinese lyric, and as scholars who played important roles in Taiwan's history, their influence on local culture remains strong. In response to the colonial world of the late Ching period and in reaction to their ancestors, Taiwanese poets of the next two decades became more devoted to everyday subjects and were often committed to expressing nationalist sentiment. Tang Ching-sung ­and Chiu Feng-chia were two prominent officials and poets who got deeply involved in establishing the Democratic Taiwan Nation on May 25, 1895, upon hearing the news that the Ching court had ceded Taiwan to Japan. Other major poets of this generation, such as Chen Wei-ying and Wang Kai-tai, were equally interested in describing ordinary people and popular culture. In many ways, they opened paths toward a more dynamic and democratic era of literary production, the period of Taiwanese literature under Japanese rule (1895-1945).

Taiwanese New Literature

While most literature in Taiwan prior to 1920 was written in the style of the classical Chinese tradition, a new line of modern Taiwanese literature become known in the early 1920s in a process commonly referred to as the Taiwanese New Literature movement. There was also a viable Taiwanese Language movement in the early 1930s, advocating the use of a new written language based on spoken Taiwanese, which is a version of the southern Fujianese language used by the majority of the population in Taiwan.

From the beginning, Taiwanese New Literature was an important part of a new phase of sociopolitical resistance by the Taiwanese people against Japanese colonial rule. In the 1920s, the Taiwanese intelligentsia, revolving around the Taiwanese Cultural Association (1921-1931), launched a large-scale cultural reform program full of various political agendas, in lieu of the futile and often brutally suppressed armed revolts in the first two decades of the Japanese period. Key figures of the early stage of the movement, such as Lai Ho (1894-1943), frequently regarded as the "father of Taiwanese New Literature," Chen Hsu-ku, and Tsai Chiu-tung, were also active members of the Association, participating in its well-known island wide mass education lecture tours. Not surprisingly, nationalistic sentiments were expressed through their literary works. Even after 1931, when a harsh crackdown by the colonial government put an end to the lively resistance activities of the previous decade, the New Literature movement, nourished by the sociopolitical movements of the 1920s, continued to grow among the increasingly bilingual intellectual class of Taiwan. The habit of resistance to colonialism, too, persisted, in either overt or covert forms, until the very end of the Japanese period.

Taiwan landscape (Murphy Chu)

  Taiwan Landscape

      Taiwan is located among the Philippine, South China, and East China Sea in the Pacific Ocean. the land covers an area of 36,189 square miles with a population of 23 million. The land of Taiwan is two thirds mountain terrain and the climate is maritime subtropical. Some places in this country is heavily populated and polluted while only a few areas are more environmental and agricultural in this nation. Although, these few areas of plant-life does provide different sceneries over the year.


      During the warm spring season in Taiwan,  there are  many varieties of Asian flowers blooming, the budding of trees with smooth red petals, the growth of newborn plants, and the rise in the population of frog species.When fall comes by, the plants change their colors to red, yellow, or silver, migrating birds come to visit the country, and frogs and insects, such as the dragonfly, are seen in this season. The winter scene of Taiwan involves flowering plants, the migration of geese, and snowy mountains.

     The tallest mountain in Taiwan is Mount Yushan, at a height of 3,952 meters, and has alpine plants vegetation. Mount Snow harbors sprengeri ferns, Mount Nahu has rare alpine plants that were left from the glacial period, and Mount Tapachien has the most memorable image for its peak. Other mountains in Taiwan include Mount Hsiangyang, Mount Hohuan, and Mount Chilai.



     The grasslands of Taiwan in the highlands consists mostly of Yushan canes. The Autumn.grasslands are represented by the Giant Chinese Silver Grass. Wild sugar canes are found around the mid stream and down stream of the big rivers of Taiwan. Other grassland plants include the Cogongrass and the Taiwan Silver Grass.



     There are several types of trees within the forests of Taiwan. The Fir forests in Taiwan can be found on Snow Range, Mount Tapachien, and Mount Chilai. The most beautiful coniferous trees in Taiwan are the Hemlock Spruces. The tallest plant in Taiwan is the Taiwan cypress, which is also a very old species of trees. White Snag landscapes are formed as a special side effect of forest fires. The Fir, Hemlock Spruces, and Taiwan red pines have the potential of becoming a White Snag after a forest fire.  Other types of forests would include the Spruce forests and Board Leaf forests.
      The rivers of Taiwan set the feeling of solitude and tranquility in its scene. The eastern part of Central Cross Island Highway is built along the valley of the Liwu River. The river basin of the Southern Sanchen Stream is larger than its upstream section, which is honored as Little Taroko. The Skadang River is the Mystic Valley of Taroko National Park. Other main river of Taiwan are the Chichiawan stream, the Wan lee chiao River,  and the Mawuku Creek.


     The coasts of Taiwan provide as a natural attraction in its geographical setting. The Northeast Coast, Nanya, is known for its colorful weathered rock. Yehilu is a well known place for its geomorphology. The Chingshui Cliff is one of the eight wonders of Taiwan and is a part of the SuHua Highway. To the left of this cliff is the Shih Ti Bay, which has unusual and unique rocks within its one kilometer length that makes it a special resort along this highway. Other coastal areas in Taiwan include the Fulung Beach, Hualien Shitiping, Sanhsientai in Taitung, Sanyuan Beach in Taitung, Kenting, and Columnar Basalt in in Pengu.


     The man made landscapes of Taiwan are on par with the natrual landscapes. The symbol of great harvest are the bunches of Sorghum spikes. During autumn farmers would row across a bed of water caltrops. In the Summer, red and white water lilies bloom, grean leaves reveal a beautiful scenery, and a vast field of sunflowers attract tourists to take pictures. Other man made landscapes include the rice fields, Tung flowers, pastures, oyster culture, and onion fields.

http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/local/nature/main_e.htm