Travel B5May 15 – 21, 2008 The Epoch Times

9 4 59 5 3 2

2 13 4 8

5 4 9 32 6 49 11 7 2 5

6 5 8

613289457957314286428576139136945872574128963892763541749652318381497625265831794

This week's solution

Fill in the boxes using numbers between 1 & 9 so that each column, each row, and each 3x3 square contain all nine numbers only once.

Exclusive Epoch Times puzzle provided by Sudoku Works.

Sudoku puzzles and software at: www.SudokuWorks.com

S u d o k u

CANADIAN EXTREMES: The southernmost point of Canada is slightly south of the California-Oregon border, the easternmost point is 1-1/2 time zones ahead of Eastern Standard Time, and the northernmost point is hundreds of miles north of Iceland or Alaska. Choose the four extreme points of Canada from the list below.

The Epoch TimesGeography GuruTM

“Growing your geography knowledge”Quiz #164

Answer for Quiz #163

Read The Epoch Times next week for the answer!

WHAT COUNTRY AM I? : I am a landlocked country among famous mountains. I am slightly less than twice the size of the state of New Jersey. My people number about 7.5 million, which is less than the population of New York City. Their official languages are German, French, and Italian. I am known for chocolate, clocks, skiing, and banking. A series of international conventions of international law on humanitarian treatment are named after one of my leading cities. My people were so intent on remaining neutral that I moved from observer status in the United Nations to full membership only in 2002. I am SWITZERLAND.

Adelaide PeninsulaEllsmere IslandMoose JawNewfoundland

Point Pelee National Park/Middle IslandThunder BayVancouver IslandYukon Territory

By NADIA GHATTASEpoch Times New York Staff

One of the most luxurious and convenient ways to travel in Taiwan is by the new Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR), and you will find yourself at your destination very comfortably and on time. It takes only an hour and 50 minutes by the THSR to Tainan instead of the six-hour drive by car. What a happy way to avoid traffic!

Taiwan, a vibrant island, is known as Formosa (Portuguese for “beautiful land”) by its old Western inhabitants or as the “Little Tiger” by the global industrialized world. Taiwan first appeared on a map in 1154 during the Song Dynasty. Before the Chinese moved into Tai-wan, the original inhabitants had named current day Anping as Tay-ouan She (the land near the ocean). At that time, pirates in Asia were plenty and they frequently roamed the Taiwan Strait, an important stop for the Europeans.

During the Qing Dynasty (1661–

1887), Tainan City, then the capital of Tainan County, was the capital of Taiwan. In fact, Taiwan was the old name of Tainan before it became the name of the island itself. A lot of people passed through it—the Dutch, the Japanese, and the people from the Hun, to name a few.

Tainan is a place where, miracu-lously, the old and the new harmo-niously coexist. The fourth largest city in Taiwan, Tainan is inhabited by approximately 800,000 peo-ple and has one of Taiwan’s most diverse histories and cultures.

There is something for every-one to do in this picturesque city. Whether you are a food lover, an architect, or into science and tech-nology, you’ll never get bored in Tainan with so much to do.

The Dutch in TaiwanTainan is a 400-year-old city. The

Dutch settled here in 1622. How-ever, in 1662, they were defeated by the famous Chinese general Cheng Ch’eng-kung, known in the West as Koxinga, a lord-name given by the emperor from the Ming Dynasty. It took about nine months of fighting the Dutch before Koxinga eventu-ally ousted them.

Koxinga is a national hero of Taiwan. Koxinga’s mother was Jap-anese and his father was a Chinese businessman traveling between Tai-wan, China, and Japan; however, he was raised in China. After defeating the Dutch, Koxinga retained the established Dutch system in Tai-wan—possibly because he did not live long enough to change it, having died just a year after the victory.

In the Anping area of Tainan City, there is a very important tem-ple called the Goddess of The Sea or Matsu Temple. According to Taiwan history, the ancestors had a hard time crossing the Taiwan Strait. Although it was a short dis-tance, a lot of people drowned.

Before going on their perilous jour-ney, they went to the temple to the Goddess of The Sea and asked for a safe passage. After they arrived safely on Taiwan, they built the temple to thank her.

You will see a temple for Matsu in almost every part of Taiwan, especially where there are fishing villages. She is like a queen or an empress in the gods’ world. Her birthday is celebrated every year in the third lunar month. Pilgrims walk for seven or eight days accom-panying her statue to visit and give blessings to other people. It is the largest temple festival in Tainan.

Although this temple is about 300 years old, it has been reno-vated many times. Each time it is destroyed due to wars or natural disasters, it is renovated according

to the traditional way such as with wood and stone carvings.

The goddess Matsu has two gods helping her. The two statues on either side help the goddess find people who are drowning in the ocean. One of these gods can hear the people and the other one can see the people from a long distance. They report to Matsu so she can rescue those in need.

Forts in TainanFort Zeelandia, the second fort

built on Taiwan by the Dutch, is now called Anping Fort. It is so named because Koxinga renamed that area Anping. It is difficult to see the original part as only a few stones are left. All the buildings have been renovated. The brick was imported from Indonesia since bricks were

not available on the island. The mortar was a mixture of sticky rice, syrup, and a bit of clay and oyster shell, which rendered something like cement.

The Eternal Golden Fort in Tainan was designed by the French, built by the Chinese, and had Brit-ish cannons. It was dubbed “eter-nal” because the builders believed that the building was very solid and could stand forever.

In the past, cities were sur-rounded by walls and had at least four gates. Tainan is now left with just two gates—the east and the south gates. During modernization and the construction of roads, the walls were torn down.

Spirituality in TainanThe Dutch, while in Taiwan and

in order to impose their power, built churches there and, during Koxinga’s reign, they brought the Han Chinese literature and tradi-tional religions. Koxinga, on the other hand, built Confucius Temple which was the first school on Tai-wan. The Chinese also built Matsu Temple to consecrate Matsu. This temple became the focus of the main belief of the people who came from China. Because many Chi-nese people immigrated to Taiwan during this period, Chinese people became the largest ethnic popula-

tion on Taiwan. A must visit is, of course, Con-

fucius Temple, built in 1665, which is classified as a first-class national historic site and the first school of Taiwan. It was called “Wen Miao” when the son of Cheng Ch’eng-kung (Koxinga), Cheng Ching, approved the construction on the right side of the hill and the National Acad-emy, called Kuo Hsueh, on the left side of the hill with both of them facing the south. On the east side stands the Ming-Lun Hall (Hall of Ethics) for instructors to give lectures and to cultivate intellectu-als. On the west side was the sanc-tuary called Ta-Chen Hall (Hall of Great Achievement), which houses the mortuary tablet of Confucius as well as those of his distinguished disciples, the Four Sages and the Ten Philosophers (refer to editor’s note).

Before the Qing Dynasty ended, people who wanted to work for the government had to pass many civil tests, the last of which was the imperial test. Those with the highest score got a chance to go to the pal-ace and meet the emperor person-ally, and he would then give them this final test. For the person who got the highest score on this one, when he returned to his home town, the township would build a Confu-cius Temple in his honor and would open a gate for him so that he could pass through. However, in Taiwan today, they do not have such a large formal gate, so people have to go in from the side door.

There is a Confucius Temple in every city in Taiwan. Inside the main building of the first temple/school there are words presented by the emperor in the Qing Dynasty and every president since the coun-try was established. All have pre-sented words to show respect to Confucius. Confucius was born in 551 B.C. and there is no record of how he looked; therefore, there is no statue at the temple, only a tablet in the main building.

During his life, Confucius had about 3,000 students and, even today, people study his philoso-phies. He is considered a teacher for all generations. He believed that education should be available to all and not just the wealthy.

There is a wealth of history and culture in Tainan—just waiting for you!

Editor’s Note:The “Ten Philosophers” are ten

disciples described in a chapter from the Analects of Confucius: “Disci-ples who traveled with me between Chen and Ts’ai.” They are Min Sun, Jan Keng, Jan Chong-kung, Tsai Yu, Tsu Kung, Jan Chil, Chi Lu, Tsu-yu, Tsu-chia, and Chuan Sun Shih. Later, Yu Juo and Zhu Xi were added, and the “Ten Philosophers” became the “Twelve Philosophers.”

The Four Sages were considered lesser saints. They are Yen Hui, the Fu sage; Tseng Sen, the Tsung sage; Kung Chi, the Shu sage; and Mun Ko (better known as Mencius), the Yan sage.

ANPING FORT: Anping Fort, formerly Zeelandia Fort (Dutch), was constructed with Indonesian bricks held together by mortar made of sticky rice, syrup, and a bit of clay and oyster shell. NADIA GHATTAS/THe epocH TImeS

ETERNAL ENTRANCE: Remaining original stones of the Eternal Fort. NADIA GHATTAS/THe epocH TImeS

MATSU TEMPLE: The Goddess of the Sea, or Matsu, is an important part of Taiwan culture, particularly for fishermen. This is a photo of the interior of the 300-year-old Matsu temple. NADIA GHATTAS/THe epocH TImeS

Tainan, Taiwan: History and Culture

GATE TO THE CITY: This is one of only two gates remaining of the four original gates for the walls that surrounded the city of Tainan before modernization. NADIA GHATTAS/ THe epocH TImeS

CONFUCIUS TEMPLE: The Confucius Temple has the distinction of being the first and highest school of learning in Taiwan. This is the main building where people pay respect to Confucius. NADIA GHATTAS/THe epocH TImeS

Tainan is a place where, miraculously, the old and the new harmoniously coexist.