with all the technical difficulties of late and the endless travelling thejayfather has been doing lately, the blog has suffered. sorry. but that does mean there is a lot to catch up on in the next few days. first, themartyrs:
entrance to the Martyr's Shrine in Taichung.
i had heard there was to be an annual ceremony on March 29 at the Martyr's Shrine in Taichung. i reluctantly dragged my sorry rear out of bed at the crack of eight to make it down there for the published start time of nine, which was duly missed. no matter, the sights were entertaining enough. as you will see below, the rank military personnel involved in the ceremony were arrayed in the most fabulous uniforms--and i mean fabulous. unfortunately, you will probably not fully be able to appreciate the Department of Defense's uniform contracting skills: the exact pastel mint green hue of the shirts strongly suggests the Gap as their supplier. very trendy.
soldiers in pretty green pastel uniforms line the entryway during the ceremony.
so far as i've been able to gather, the 29th is the anniversary of a military massacre of several students back in 1978 or so, hence high school juniors and seniors have the day off school, and the dead are remembered as martyrs. the ceremony itself was predictably bizarre--it was Taiwanese after all. ten minutes past the appointed start time, a cadre of official-looking folks, including politicos and military brass, paraded into the shrine looking a bit vexed to be there. then a high school band hidden off to the side of the shrine started to play the worst dirge i've ever heard, and the emcee began yelling in his best Kermit the Frog voice. though i'm sure that what he said was very inspirational.
compounding the oddity of the spectacle was how seriously the people took their spectating. for a nation that doesn't seem to know how to line up, on this day they were awfully concerned about maintaining perfect columns facing the shrine. we were the only white people in attendance, and weren't too bothered about the lines; i think we only got away with our sloppy non-conformism because nobody wanted to deal with the "engerrish".
the best part though, and what transformed the strange into the absurd, was just what those snappily-dressed privates were doing. i had seen it before, during the changing of the guard at the Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial in Taipei, but the supposed solemnity of this occasion made it hard to bear without laughing. you see, the Taiwanese military, in its attempts to look ceremonial, usually ends up looking more like a high school drill team. one guy leads the way, pointing his toes all over and waving his hands around like a Bolshoi ballerina, and the rest of them follow his lead by stomping around and periodically freezing with their legs and arms in mid air.
i'm sure the experience could only be appreciated by being there, and i'm glad that i was. though it only lasted 15 minutes, it's nice they recognize their mistakes of the past. and what better way to say "i'm sorry we slaughtered your children" than to prance around in pretty green shirts while holding guns?
entrance to the Martyr's Shrine in Taichung.
i had heard there was to be an annual ceremony on March 29 at the Martyr's Shrine in Taichung. i reluctantly dragged my sorry rear out of bed at the crack of eight to make it down there for the published start time of nine, which was duly missed. no matter, the sights were entertaining enough. as you will see below, the rank military personnel involved in the ceremony were arrayed in the most fabulous uniforms--and i mean fabulous. unfortunately, you will probably not fully be able to appreciate the Department of Defense's uniform contracting skills: the exact pastel mint green hue of the shirts strongly suggests the Gap as their supplier. very trendy.
soldiers in pretty green pastel uniforms line the entryway during the ceremony.
so far as i've been able to gather, the 29th is the anniversary of a military massacre of several students back in 1978 or so, hence high school juniors and seniors have the day off school, and the dead are remembered as martyrs. the ceremony itself was predictably bizarre--it was Taiwanese after all. ten minutes past the appointed start time, a cadre of official-looking folks, including politicos and military brass, paraded into the shrine looking a bit vexed to be there. then a high school band hidden off to the side of the shrine started to play the worst dirge i've ever heard, and the emcee began yelling in his best Kermit the Frog voice. though i'm sure that what he said was very inspirational.
compounding the oddity of the spectacle was how seriously the people took their spectating. for a nation that doesn't seem to know how to line up, on this day they were awfully concerned about maintaining perfect columns facing the shrine. we were the only white people in attendance, and weren't too bothered about the lines; i think we only got away with our sloppy non-conformism because nobody wanted to deal with the "engerrish".
the best part though, and what transformed the strange into the absurd, was just what those snappily-dressed privates were doing. i had seen it before, during the changing of the guard at the Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial in Taipei, but the supposed solemnity of this occasion made it hard to bear without laughing. you see, the Taiwanese military, in its attempts to look ceremonial, usually ends up looking more like a high school drill team. one guy leads the way, pointing his toes all over and waving his hands around like a Bolshoi ballerina, and the rest of them follow his lead by stomping around and periodically freezing with their legs and arms in mid air.
i'm sure the experience could only be appreciated by being there, and i'm glad that i was. though it only lasted 15 minutes, it's nice they recognize their mistakes of the past. and what better way to say "i'm sorry we slaughtered your children" than to prance around in pretty green shirts while holding guns?
3 comments:
Do they have the Gap in Taiwan?
Taiwan has NET, which is so close to the Gap as to be the same thing. only NET has much more pink in the men's section.
Pink... That reminds me of the day I picked you up from the airport busting your brand new pink shirt. Real men wear pink!
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