Enjoy the scenery of Taiwan from a close distance and explore the connotation of Taiwan in depth
Reading is like traveling. It not only allows you to enjoy the beautiful scenery and feel happy, but also broadens your horizons and increases your knowledge. Choosing a good book is like finding a good tour guide. It allows readers to understand the stories behind the scenery and the history hidden in the ancient monuments while enjoying the beautiful scenery. Undoubtedly, "Only by Going This Way can You See the Real Taiwan" by columnist Shangguan Luan is a "tour guide" book that leads us to visit, know and understand Taiwan.Scenery is naturally the focus of visiting the treasure island of Taiwan. When it comes to Taiwan, many readers will naturally think of Sun Moon Lake and Alishan. In fact, Taiwan has many beautiful scenery with different characteristics and styles. For example, the Yilan Line from Badu to Su'ao, the North Line from Su'ao to Hualien, and the Huadong Line from Hualien to Taipei recommended in the book are three lines that can be combined into one. If you want to see the mountains, you can see the mountains, and if you want to see the sea, you can see the sea. When the train passes through the Lanyang Plain, you can first appreciate the fertile plains and overlook Guishan Island; after passing Su'ao, the scenery outside the window immediately changes, and the magnificent landscape of mountains and rivers appears before your eyes. It is worth mentioning that the Suhua Highway is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean on the left and the majestic mountains with a view every five steps on the right. Everyone is shocked. As the east coast of Taiwan is invaded by the waves of the Pacific Ocean, the entire coastline is mostly rugged and steep reefs. The scenery is breathtaking, especially the famous Qingshui Cliff. For Taiwan, where there is a view every three steps and a painting every five steps, scenery is the greatest resource, so that Taiwan Railway has organically combined transportation and sightseeing, successfully turning the process of rushing into a tourist experience. Tourists who come to Taiwan will try to take a Taiwan truck to see the scenery. Taking the Taiwan Railway to see the scenery has become a pleasant experience: taking the Pingxi Line, you can enjoy the beauty of the mountain walls, streams and waterfalls, and feel the simple style of the island. The main attractions include Shifen Waterfall, Yeren Valley Waterfall Group, Lingjiao Waterfall, etc.; taking the Neiwan Line, you can enjoy the simple scenery of the mountain city. The main attractions along the way include Beipu Scenic Area, Wuzhishan Scenic Area, etc.; taking the Jiji Line, the main attractions along the line include green tunnels, monuments, streams, old kiln factories, etc. These routes are full of picturesque scenery, and even the interior and exterior of the carriages are carefully designed, full of artistic atmosphere, turning the journey into one of the purposes of the trip. Taiwanese movies such as "Cape No. 7" and "A Dust in the Wind" all show the beautiful scenery. Of course, Taiwan's beauty is not limited to this, but a glimpse of the leopard is a glimpse of it. More scenery is freely and wonderfully described in the book.
As one of the focal points of modern world politics, Taiwan naturally has rich historical connotations. Behind every corner and every monument in Taiwan, there are long-lasting historical stories. For most mainlanders, their understanding of Taiwan in the past was limited to textbooks and media propaganda, and the biggest historical cognition was that "Taiwan has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times." However, although Taiwan has been a Chinese territory since ancient times, in modern times, it has successively suffered invasions from foreign forces such as the Spaniards, the Dutch, and the Japanese, and Taiwan's "aboriginals" have suffered several ruthless killings. Take Xiaoliuqiu Island as an example. In the Ming Dynasty, it became a place for sea merchants or pirates to replenish and have a safe haven. The first people to live on the island were a group of Siraya people. After the crew of the Dutch ship "Golden Lion" went ashore to take water and disappeared in 1622, the Dutch sent troops to retaliate and carried out the famous "Lamei Island Massacre", clearing all the residents of the island, regardless of whether they were dead or alive. The Dutch transported the "natives" of Froude as slaves to Batavia (Jakarta, Indonesia), the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, and at the same time attracted and kidnapped many immigrants from China. The current Chinese pattern in Indonesia has gradually formed since then. Therefore, Xiaoliuqiu can be said to be a microcosm of the bloody history of Taiwan being pulled into the process of globalization during the Age of Navigation. Many things that changed the history of Taiwan have also happened in the Grand Tianhou Temple in Tainan. After Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, the Tainan gentry and Taiwan Governor Tang Jingsong announced the establishment of the "Taiwan Democratic Republic" in Taipei, but they only lasted ten days before abandoning the city and fleeing. Liu Yongfu, who was stationed in Tainan at the time, established himself as the "Grand President" and established a "Presidential Palace" for a while. When the Japanese army arrived at the gates of Tainan in October, Liu Yongfu was really powerless to save the situation, so he disguised himself and fled to Xiamen. Taiwan has completely become a Japanese colony. Of course, in addition to the history of Taiwan itself, celebrities who moved to Taiwan from the mainland have also left an indelible mark in Taiwan, carrying the historical memory of the Taiwanese people. For example, the "February 28" route, the former residences of Hu Shi, Fu Sinian, Liang Shiqiu, etc., have all written the historical face of Taiwan with their own footprints. Therefore, from a certain perspective, Taiwan can also be called a place that has been crushed by history. Without the explanation of the tour guide, it is difficult for us to understand the stories of time hidden behind these monuments.
As a Chinese who likes to eat and loves to eat, Taiwanese food is naturally an indispensable topic. The book introduces that there are hundreds of snacks in Taiwan, and new ones are constantly invented every day; there are more than 100,000 restaurants of all sizes, 250,000 mobile stalls, each of which has a moving story; there are hundreds of food programs and thousands of food books. So many tourists can go to Sun Moon Lake when they come to Taiwan, but they must go to the night market. In 2014, CNN launched an article "10 Things That Make Taiwan Better Than Other Places" and pointed out that among the ten things that Taiwan is unique in the world, Taiwan's night market, theme restaurants, vegetarian restaurants, and steamed dumplings are among them. This shows the huge influence of Taiwanese food. The regional differentiation of Taiwanese snacks is also quite obvious, basically "sweet in the south and salty in the north" and "steamed in the south and fried in the north". For example, meatballs are steamed in the south and fried in the north. All snacks are roughly divided into stews, soups, sausages, and various fried ones. The famous snacks in each place are also very different: Tamsui has A-gei, Changhua has meatballs, Hsinchu has meatballs, Pingtung has pig's feet, Yilan has scallion pancakes, Tainan has rice cakes... Among them, Din Tai Fung's steamed dumplings have created a good reputation and gradually developed into a multinational chain restaurant. In 1993, Din Tai Fung was rated as one of the "Top Ten Gourmet Restaurants in the World" by the New York Times, and it was also the only Chinese restaurant on the list. It is really amazing that traditional Chinese regional snacks can achieve this level. This is also the most successful example of Taiwan's local flavor taking the route of fashion and boutique.
There are many topics about Taiwan, and there are countless contents worth browsing and studying. However, there are few books that can analyze and include Taiwan's scenery, history, population, society and spiritual connotation. "Only by Walking This Way can You See the Real Taiwan" is a travelogue that can accommodate the above content. It not only records Taiwan's scenery travelogue, but also has a social observation with a spirit of analysis; it not only focuses on numerous monuments and food, but also has a deep interpretation of Taiwan's history and social connotation. It is highly recommended.
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