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Phoenix

The dragon and the phoenix are two of the most important animals in Chinese mythology. Their meaning is deep, fascinating, and complex. Together, they are used for five to eight thousand years. The best one-sentence summary is probably that they symbolize the yin and yang of the male (dragon) and female (phoenix). (Which makes them popular for weddings and emperors alike).

This particular pair “lives” on the roof of Longshan Temple (龍山寺, Dragon Mountain Tempel) - probably the best known temple in Taipei and the spiritual and tourism center of Wanhua.

We’ll leave these two particular creatures to their play for now. (What do you see in it?) Next week will be dedicated to a different part of Taiwanese lore: Ghost Month.

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A dragon and a phoenix figure on a roof by night. The phoenix seems to take off while the dragon seems to growl at him. The warm light of the temple is contrasted by a cold glow from an apartment building in the back.

**Ben Sahlmueller** @timeintaiwan@pixelfed.social · Aug 12, 2023

Aug 12, 2023

Chicken

Maybe food stands like this one are part of the "roughness" of the neighborhood.

There is great honesty in the banality of the death of these chicken and fish. Men gotta eat. Coming from Germany I'm less used to animals sold in whole - especially when there is no ice and plastic foil around them. But chicken with heads (or their feet), whole fish (or their heads - for the soup) and even pig heads are not uncommon. Many Taiwanese I've met have proven dexterity to bite off tender bits of meat in cheeks and from behind fins.

It's easy to meet this rawness with disgust, but compared to the industrialized sterility with which animals are hold, killed, slaughtered, sold, and eaten day by day, this rawness might be good. At least it reminds us that there is something dead that once lived and thought inside our food.

(We will meet the lovely owner of this particular stand next week!)

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A small food stand, selling whole fish and chicken

**Ben Sahlmueller** @timeintaiwan@pixelfed.social · Aug 11, 2023

Aug 11, 2023

Chill

Among street photographers in Taipei, Wanhua has the reputation of being a rough area.

While the rest of Taipei is usually so save that people leave their laptops unguarded in cafés and bikes unlocked in the streets, I have been warned about "gangsters" in Wanhua. The district gained questionable fame during Taiwan's first Covid outbreak in spring 2021 (a year after the pandemic started globally, mind you!). Back then, a cluster emerged around guests of a "hostess teahouse." As prostitution is generally outlawed in Taiwan, these places are rumored to be the places to go for special services. Of course, this didn't make tracking easier...

Yet, having spent much time in Kreuzkölln in Berlin, I like the slight tension in the district - not for its danger (I might be too culturally inept to sense it), but for its aliveness. People in Wanhua are generally more chilled and less rushed then elsewhere, but feel more attentive and curious at the same time. It is a bit louder and more colorful. The area around Taipei's famous Longshan Temple is one of two major gathering points for homeless people - and becomes a lively arena where many older men play Xiangqi (象棋, Chinese Chess).

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Men in slides shuffle down the alley in a food market. They carry their lunch and seem confident, as if this is their territory.

**Ben Sahlmueller** @timeintaiwan@pixelfed.social · Aug 10, 2023

Aug 10, 2023

Ruins

In images and words we traveled down from the high-rises in Wanhua in the last days. Now we reached street level. In the gaps and cracks between shiny new apartment buildings you can find hunched ruins. Their roofs broken they seem to duck from the overpowering concrete around them. Ivy entwines their crushed spines. Sometimes trees rise from their carcasses.

Economically surprising, these places offer moments of history, tragedy, and glory - the glory of nature and chaos defying the crushing power of money. And yet, it's probably only a matter of time until one of these diggers puts them to rest.

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A hunched ruin by night. High apartment buildings rise in the back, while a blue digger seems to wait in front of it.

**Ben Sahlmueller** @timeintaiwan@pixelfed.social · Aug 9, 2023

Aug 9, 2023

High and low

The ups and downs were for me one of the most striking features of Wanhua. High rises lurking behind others, historic sides cowering behind the random seven-floor apartment building, buses, cars and scooters (so many scooters) dashing in-between.

Who sees whom? How far can you see? Who doesn't see are the questions these buildings shout out. Place and a piece of the sky are the privileges of the affluent. Yet, it's the same privileges that make the occasional park all the more precious.

(Talking about "preciousssss"... doesn't the high rise left look a little bit like a mage's tower from Middle Earth? Or maybe rather a more modern cyberpunk world?)

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