Travel, Travail? a Trip to Kaohsiung
The Ke Qi-Hua House, the Kaohsiung Museum of History, and Weiwuying.
I went to Kaohsiung a few weeks ago. Before departure, I saw that we were getting more and more Covid cases. Though a bit worried, I still went for the trip as scheduled. It was a pity that I could only virtually visit most of my friends in Kaohsiung due to the concern over the epidemic. (I was happy that I still managed to go to a concert in Weiwuying with one of my friends as planned!)
In this post, I share some of the most impressive places I visited in Kaohsiung this time, which I found to be a more and more charming city over these years, with the always good, enviable weather. I hope everyone will stay safe and enjoy happy travels soon : )
Last but not least, there is the time and the book to read for our reading club in May. If you are interested, feel free to leave a comment, reply to this e-mail message or write to me at transcreation@substack.com to register!
《翻譯寫作的文字風景》是中英文雙語電子報。如果只想收到中文版,請到網站右上角的「My Account」內進行操作,也可以直接回覆這封E-mail或寫信到transcreation@substack.com,由我幫忙更改設定。再次感謝你的訂閱支持!
這篇文章的中文版在這裡。
I went to Kaohsiung a few weeks ago. The trip had been planned back in January, when I thought I would have more free time in April, and that it would be nice to spend a long vacation in Southern Taiwan. As it turned out, I did not have as much time to spare as I expected, and the trip was curtailed to a 3-day one. Short as it might be, I was still happy to have the opportunity to get out and about.
Though I planned to stay only for 3 days, after asking my friends and looking up the information, I found so many interesting sites to visit, and had to go to some birding spots too. In the end, I ended up with a too-full itinerary (as usual). For every trip, I on the one hand want to relax and enjoy the moment, while on the other want to see as many places as possible, and I have not managed to solve my conflicting tendencies yet. As a result, I often feel even more tired when returning home from the trip. That said, I still enjoyed traveling very much, no matter the trip being a relaxing one or a fully scheduled one, but sometimes I feel sorry for my traveling companion, who is really the best ever possible.
With the Kaohsiung MRT, the light rail, and YouBike, we could reach almost everywhere. The public transportation was very convenient (we rented a motorcycle only for Sizihwan). Among the places we visited this time, the most impressive ones were the Ke Qi-Hua House, the Kaohsiung Museum of History, and the Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, which I like very much: its acoustics are much better than those at the National Theater and Concert Hall in Taipei, yet the ticket prices are generally lower — another enviable thing in Kaohsiung.
The Ke Qi-Hua House
The Ke Qi-Hua House is a four-story apartment, also home to Ke Qi-hua’s “First Publishing House” (第一出版社). The apartment is cozy and can be toured around in about 40 to 60 minutes, but the visit was impressive.
Ke Qi-hua (柯旗化, 1929 - 2002) suffered from political persecution during the White Terror period. He was imprisoned simply because a copy of Dialectical Materialism was found in his residence, and was later arrested again on charges of insurrection. He spent 17 years in the dark prison in total (1951 - 1953 and 1961 - 1976). Ke graduated from the English Department of Taiwan Provincial Teachers College (now National Taiwan Normal University), served as an English teacher at Qishan Junior High School (旗山中學), Kaohsiung Girls’ Senior High School (高雄女中), and Kaohsiung Senior High School (高雄中學), and also served as a translator for the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group in 1954. His New English Grammar (新英文法) has long been a best-seller among middle school students. I knew only of Ke’s famous English grammar book and learned of his suffering from political persecution only relatively recently.
I was touched by the story told in Taiwan History in Letters (書信裡的台灣史). During Ke Qi-hua’s imprisonment, his wife Cai A-li (蔡阿李) always told their children that “Daddy’s in America.” When the eldest son Ke Zhi-ming (柯志明, born in 1956) wrote a postcard with Bopomofo to tell his father that he was now in the first grade of elementary school, even such a simple postcard was of course examined before delivered to Ke Qi-hua. Later, when the eldest daughter Ke Jie-fang (柯潔芳, born in 1958) questioned the story of Daddy’s being in America, the whole family (including the second son Ke Zhi-zhe born in 1960) eventually had to face the truth together that “Father is a political prisoner.”1 Thanks to Cai A-li’s care and support, the family survived the most difficult years and embraced the belated reunion, though the shadows of White Terror never withdrew from Ke Qi-hua’s life.2
The Ke Qi-Hua House
Address: No. 37, Bade 2nd Rd., Xinxing Dist., Kaohsiung City
Opening Hours: 13:00 - 17:00, Tuesdays to Sundays and National Holidays (Closed on Mondays)
Admission Fee: Free
Website: http://kehouse.khm.org.tw/kkhhouse/en_index.aspx
Kaohsiung Museum of History
The predecessor of the building was the Kaohsiung Municipal Office (completed in 1939) and later the Kaohsiung City Hall. In 1992, the City Hall moved to the Executive Government Building, and the building was reorganized to be a history museum, opened in 1998.
The museum makes good use of various media (video, models, interactive games, etc.), and the texts on placards are also easy to absorb. It is rewarding and not too tiring to pay a visit, which is highly recommended. Thanks to the museum, I learned some more aspects of Kaohsiung’s history, and went to see the Holy Rosary Cathedral (founded in 1859) the next day. I also cycled to the Caogong Canal (曹公圳) before leaving the city (see photos below).
The Kaohsiung City Hall was also a place where mass killing and repression took place during the 228 Incident. The exhibition on the 2nd floor displayed a model of the repression at that time, presenting the history that shall not be forgotten.
Later, I talked with a friend about the use of historic sites. The Kaohsiung Museum of History and Taipei’s Taiwan New Cultural Movement Memorial Museum newly opened in 2018 seem to be successful cases of historic sites turned into museums, yet the operation may still be difficult. Many historic sites in Taipei are still used as government offices. My friend believes that we should move as many offices to new sites as possible so that the historic sites can be open to the public. I, however, think it not a bad idea to continue using them as government agencies. Maybe the sites could be open for a certain period of time every year, or maybe they could take reservations for guided tours. After all, in reality, we probably do not have so much energy to run so many museums. If you have any ideas on the use of historic sites, please share them with me!
Kaohsiung Museum of History
Address: No. 272, Zhongzheng 4th Rd., Yancheng Dist., Kaohsiung City
Opening Hours: 09:00-17:00, Tuesdays to Sundays (Closed on Mondays and the Lunar New Year’s Eve)
Admission Fee: Free
Website: http://khm.org.tw/en
Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts
This is one of the highlights of our trip! I am very envious of Kaohsiung people for having such a beautiful performance venue. The vineyard-style seating allows the audience to sit around the stage, bringing the audience closer to the performers, and the acoustics are great. We bought the lowest price ticket (only NTD 300, equivalent to USD 11) this time, and we were already very satisfied and look forward to coming to Kaohsiung to watch the performance next time.
Weiwuying National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts
Address: No. 1, Sanduo 1st Rd., Fengshan Dist., Kaohsiung City
Website: https://www.npac-weiwuying.org/?lang=en
Finally, here are photos of other attractions in this trip.
Reading Club in May
Welcome to join our online reading club! We will meet at 10:00 am (Taipei Time) on May 21 to discuss about Wu Zhuoliu’s Orphan of Asia together, a long-heard-of and not-yet-read classic for me.
Feel free to leave a comment, reply to this e-mail message or write to me at transcreation@substack.com to register!
Huang Renzi 黃仁姿, “Taiwan, the Life Story of a Prison: From White Terror to Criminal Code Section 100 — Ke Qi-hua’s Letters to his Family from the Prison” 臺灣, 一座監獄的身世: 從白色恐怖到刑法100條──柯旗化的獄中家書, in " Taiwan History in Letters 跨越世紀的信號: 書信裡的台灣史 (17-20世紀), (Taipei: Owl Publishing, 2019), 202-221.
Ke Qi-hua’s sentence expired in 1973, but was not released until 1976. See “A Timeline of Ke Qi-Hua’s Life,” the Ke Qi-hua House website, http://kehouse.khm.org.tw/kkhhouse/en_exhibition_L.aspx