228 Memorial Park

As an addendum to my last post, I’m including some pictures I took for the 228 memorial park in Chiayi. I have pictures of the one in Taipei as well, but I know there are plenty of those out there! =)

I liked the park, even though it felt pretty run-down.  First thing was the museum:

With it’s nifty sign (it’s directly across from the entrance shown in the first photo).

228 Massacre

February 28, 1947 was the catalyst for uprisings against the corrupt Chinese government in Taiwan.  Uprisings which were later suppressed brutally and which began decades of martial law and the period known as the “White Terror”.

For more on the history, please visit this site.

In the interest of completeness, I looked up a few articles on the events this year:

1. report from India – only “foreign” report I could find, added for perspective’s sake.

2. sit-in rally – group of people made the words “do not forget 228″ in Liberty Square.

Sesame Oil Chicken Update

While I was googling Sesame Oil Chicken, I found out that it’s normally eaten with mi^h sua^h (麵線), so that’s what I did next.. :p Below are the pictures of what I ended up with.

I cooked some of those Japanese style thin noodles in a combination of water and chicken broth, cut some pieces of chicken and poured both broths (chicken & sesame) over the noodles.

With, of course, the obligatory close-up picture.

Sesame Oil Chicken (麻油雞)

When I wandered into the kitchen to find food to eat, I remembered I had defrosted chicken thighs, so I took it out to prep it.  That’s when I realized it wasn’t boneless… oops.  I originally planned to cut it up, marinate, and stir fry but I wasn’t about to go through all the work of cutting around bone!

Long story short, I cooked them whole and the sesame oil sitting on my counter called out to me so I added it in.. the oil smelled so good, I ended up making some variation of sesame oil chicken. :p

I googled a couple recipes while it was cooking and ended up adding both rice wine and green onions.

The rest of the ingredients were fairly intuitive so I had added them already (ginger, soy sauce, water, sesame oil), along with my own creative additions (salt rubbed on chicken before frying, pepper, and a dash of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the chicken).

Here are a couple pictures of “professional” ones in Taiwan as a reference.

Yes, my pieces of chicken were clearly way bigger and they pulled the ginger out on the sides of the bowls as decoration.

They also don’t have any green onion…I thought there weren’t either but I figured it couldn’t hurt to combine recipes.  They are actually a nice touch, taste-wise.

I should get one of those fancy bowls too so I can make it look all cool and traditional looking.

Note to self: less oil, bigger pieces of ginger, and smaller pieces of chicken for next time.

UPDATE: I know the link to the second picture disappeared.. appparently that website was revamped… and is still a work-in-progress.. I don’t want to remove the picture until I find a replacement picture because it will ruin the whole format, so bear with me. =)

Ma’s plans for the economy?

Even though Ma hasn’t officially taken office yet, there’s already been several changes (or talk of changes). So keeping in mind Ma’s platform of improving the economy, let’s take a look at what’s been reported so far (in chronological order):

Plans to change “Taiwan” on stamps back to “ROC”

This is hardly surprising, considering his vow to change it back, but it is ironic since he kept saying he was “Taiwanese” before the election. It also has nothing to do with the economy.

I guess when he said “immediately”, he meant “after I attempt to eradicate Taiwanese identity/nationalism”.

Raise gas prices

Previously, gas prices were frozen (an act the KMT promoted before the election). However, post-election, KMT officials claimed, “oil companies are losing money and will go bankrupt within a month”.

It’s been a month since this was reported and there’s no sign of bankruptcy.

Free Half-Day Tour in Taipei

I was looking up some tourism stuff and found this page. Unfortunately, I can’t take advantage of it because it’s for transit or transfer passengers (at Taoyuan Airport) only.

Anyway, thought I’d put it up in case anyone has some time to spare between flights and want a free half day tour through parts of Taipei.

Looks like a pretty good deal, although the morning tour seems to go to less places. I assume it’s because the temples and pottery center are further/more spread out, while the other tour is focused on spots inside the city (which you could probably get to with MRT).

Undercover Video

I’ve been browsing various blogs and found this video:

There are YouTube versions as well, split into 5 sections. It’s a show called Dispatches where a British crew and a Tibetan refugee go undercover in Tibet to try to find out what life is like for the Tibetans there.

Notice I said Tibetans and not Chinese. I have no doubt the Chinese who relocated with government help/money/support have it good. If they didn’t, it would have been pretty stupid of the CCP to move them there and have double the trouble.

What I found interesting about the video is when this one guy said: if a Chinese came up to them and asked them questions, they would always be very positive. Why? Because you never know if you’re talking to a spy.

So counter-intuitively, a Chinese in Tibet would actually get the opposite impression, even if you mean well and really want to decide for yourself.

Who needs national security?

A few days ago, there was a news report on tv describing the conditions of a hallway in Taipei International Airport.

The report noted the number and types of rooms along this hallway, as well as the width and how long it takes to walk from end to end. From the number above the door of entry to who frequents it the most — even down to the color of the carpet, not one detail was spared.

I was shocked to find out that this was actually the National Security Secret Hallway (國安密道) used by the president and his family.

Taiwanese Heart, Global Perspectives (台灣心、國際眼)

EDIT: for those of you who checked my blog before I fixed it (around 8pm PST), I accidentally deleted a few paragraphs of my entry after the more tag. It has been re-added.

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First things first — I’d like to introduce and promote the following blog:

Taiwanese Heart, Global Perspectives (台灣心、國際眼)

This newly-created blog is maintained and authored by a fellow Cal alumni who currently lives in Taiwan. From the first few entries so far, it’s clear that this blog is unique among others in its category (Taiwanese political blogs).

Why is it unique? To answer that I need to give you some background.