Hakka Fun Tung Blossom

8/2/2019 Hakka Fun Tung Blossom

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 You may ll your backpack with a lot o useul items but you should rememberto bring an open mind rst. Ater all, thegreat thing about living in a oreign coun-

try is the opportunity to learn about a whole newculture and experience it rst-hand, like Taiwan’sHakka Tung Blossom Festival (客家桐花祭).

The annual estival, which attracts millions o visitors each year, is running across the island un-til May 20 this year. It is an easy and inexpensiveway to learn more about Taiwan’s Hakka commu-nity, which, according to the Hakka Aairs Council(客家委員會), totals more than 4 million people.

Despite last week’s rainy weather, James Don-ald, rom Victoria, Australia and Kenton X. Chancerom St. Vincent and the Grenadines were unazedas they walked out o the Hsinchu THSR Stationand set o or the Shihshan Recreation Area (獅山遊憩區) in Hsinchu County (新竹). The snow-likefowers have been blooming since late April, start-

ing in southern Taiwan and moving northward.“I don’t mind the rain at all because [on the

arm where I came rom] we used to pray or rain[with dances]. A lot o armers would kill them-selves because they lost their crops and their land[due to draught,]” James said to cheer people up.

 While they set out along the winding uphill roadtoward the Lion’s Head Mountain (Shihshan) Visi-tor Center (獅山遊客中心), the scenery fying by onboth sides o their car looked especially lush in therain.

The sta at the center met their trepidationabout the weather with surprising hospitality anda warm tea pot o Oriental Beauty (東方美人茶) —a Hsinchu-grown variety o oolong known world-wide or its light sweetness and ruity aroma. Alsoknown as Pon Fon Cha (膨風茶) as a tribute to theproud Hakka tea growers boasting that they couldsell the tea or such high prices, the tea’s uniqueruity note is in act the result o having been bit-ten by the insects known as leahoppers, whoseprecious bites induce the tea tree’s deense mecha-nism. The tea is wonderully sweet and smooth.

Lei Cha, Pounded Tea

Next, Guide Chung Feng-zhu (張鳳珠) broughtthem to the Siesin Tea Pavilion (歇心茶樓), a parto the Visitor Center complex looking out to the ar

misty mountains and hugged by several large tungtrees. The rain cooled the air and the whole sceneelt classical.

Chung was determined to have Kenton andJames try some Hakka snacks — sticky rice cake(粢耙) and leicha (擂茶), meaning pounded tea. Us-ing skewers, Chung divided the creamy, lustroussticky rice cake into bite-size pieces. James triedbut was not as good as her. “I have always beena big an o sticky rice balls, but it tasted even bet-ter when we made it ourselves,” James remarkedaterward.

Traditionally you pound leicha using a brancho wood as a pestle, in an earthen bowl. For a bal-anced favor, wood o oil camellia, guava or Chi-nese Crape Myrtle (九芎樹) is used.

 With the ingredients — tea leaves, pine seeds,pumpkin seeds, sunfower seeds, black sesame,white sesame and peanut — inside the groovedbowl, the owner started grinding and expandedon the origins o pounded tea. Leicha goes back tothe Three Kingdoms Era. Legend has it that whenGeneral Zhang Fei (張飛) brought his troops upon

 Wuling (武陵), a mysterious plague immobilized allthe soldiers with atigue. A local man then

told Zhang Fei a tried-and-trueamily remedy — grindraw ginger,

raw rice and tea leaves together into a paste, thencook the mixture into gruel. The remedy cured allthe solders and became well-known.

“We have all the ingredients [in St. Vincent]. We just don’t prepare them the same way!” saidKenton.

“Stay supple and use your abs and buttocksor support,” the owner told James and Kenton asthey took their turns pestling. “This is tough!” saidJames as he tried to achieve a machine-smoothpaste. Kenton took out his phone to lm the pro-cess .

 When their eorts turned the tea and seedsin the bowl into a ragrant paste, Chung broughta tray with hot water, a small dish o pued ricegrains and serving cup and spoons. “More ricewas added in the old days when leicha was eatenas a staple dish, but now we use rice pus as gar-nishes,” she said. The dark green paste turned acreamy shade o green as she poured water intothe large bowl.

 As they held a warm cup o Leicha in theirhands, their thoughts drited to dierent things.

James started talking to Chung aboutthe our accents o spoken Hakka

while Kenton listened to the Hakkamelodies accompanied with olksyguitars playing in the background.

“Ever since I was introducedto the Hakka culture, I have beenintrigued by their resilience andresourceulness,” remarkedKenton. “While I had writtenabout Hakka teas, it was therst time that I had an op-portunity to see what leichareally is. Even as I observedand participated in itspreparation and later

savored its rich aroma, I couldn't help but wonder

how did people come up with such a drink. I imag-ine it was just another case o necessity being themother o all inventions. Whatever the reason, theHakka people have many lessons to teach that canserve well other ethnic groups the world over,” hesaid.

Scenic Lunch, Hakka-style

Near lunchtime, James and Kenton took ave-minute ride to Yuemei Harvest Field (耕野月眉) where they sampled excellent amily-styleHakka dishes: blanched ree-range chicken (白斬土雞), stewed pork with dried bamboo (控肉筍乾),Hakka stir-ry (客家小炒) with lot o resh celery,simmered bamboo, stir-ried yam greens (地瓜葉)and a soup with an herb nicknamed “sheep nippleplant” (羊奶頭樹). Both enjoyed the ood while con-versing.

Beyond the transparent screen that keeps therain out is a whole stretch o lush scenery, includ-ing a ravine below, as i testiying to the coupletposted on the doorway, which Zhuang wrote inChinese calligraphy: “With mountains ar, likeinkless scrolls lasting a thousand autumns; withwaters near like strings o the ancient qin sound-

ing orever” (遠山無墨千秋畫, 近水代弦萬古琴).Strolling in Beipu

Beipu (北埔), about twenty minutes away romthe restaurant, is a town with quaint alleys and arich Hakka history. On this rainy day it was veryquiet. Down a ew empty roads one could see thegreen treetops and woods beyond, peppered withlittle white clusters o tung fowers.

 Among the century-old mansions in Beipu, likethe Tianshuitang (天水堂) and Jinguangu (金廣福), they wandered to the Citian Temple (慈天宮),which is geographically and also socially the town’s hub. James took an encyclopedic poster o vari-ous deities. As Kenton observed the beauty o thetemple he thought about the ways in which peoplepractice their religion and the unnecessary hostili-ties that religion breeds.

Citian Temple is the only temple in Taiwan ven-erating the original, male orm o Avalokiteśvara,a bodhisattva better known in Chinese as guan yin(觀音), and in the emale orm. According to localguide Jiang Rui-jin (姜瑞金), the temple’s jian-nian(剪粘) — sculptures made with ceramic shards,the stone dragon pillars, the gold-painted murals

and the pair o stone lions that guard the temple’s gateway. The building is the spiritual center in apredominantly Hakka settlement.

Persimmons and Pastry 

 What better way to wrap a trip than by get-ting some Hakka specialty oods or riends backhome? Beore leaving Beipu, James and Kentonvisited the Jiang Ziya Store (姜太公柿餅) to getsome dried persimmon ruits and the Lung YuanPastry Store (隆源餅行) or some delicious roundpastry with real taro or yam llings. Standing be-ore the choices o Caucasian persimmon, Hachiyapersimmon, and bull-heart persimmon, somethingsuddenly dawned on James; “I recommend theCaucasian persimmon,” he said gleeully. “I like

persimmons. Chinese medicine says

it helps to ‘calm internal heat’ (降火),” he addedwith a more serious ace.

Even as they returned the Hsinchu THSR sta-tion to head home, the rain did not abate. But theyproved that with the help o Hakka hospitality,they could celebrate the Tung Blossom Festival inrain or shine.

“The trip had a strong infuence on the wayI see Hakka culture and tradition,” James com-mented. “Speaking with the people there andreceiving such a warm welcome made up or thedisappointing weather. My avorite experiencewas grinding up the special Hakka tea.” ■

PrimeHappenings2

Friday, May 4, 2012

The China Post

Hakka Fun

B y Lin y utingThe China Post

If you are ready to go off the beaten track, follow James and Kenton 

while they make a trip to Hsinchu and meet local people 

Hakka Tung Blossom Festival 

wins over foreigners’ hearts

(Top) The Siesin Tea Pavilion, part of the Lion’s

Head Mountain (Shihshan) Visitor Center, is

surrounded by tung trees in bloom, far and near.

James Donald, left, and Kenton X. Chance, right, find their way around Beipu, a town with quaint alleys anda rich Hakka history.

A DV E R T I    S E ME NT 

P h 

 o t   o s : W  a n  g  C  h  i    e n -  y  u  ,T  h   e  C  h  i   n  a P   o  s  t   ;   t  h   e H  a k  k   a A f   f    a i   r   s  C   o  u n  c i   l    a n  d   t  h   e T   o  u r  i    s m B  u r   e  a  u 

E   d  i    t   e  d   b   y D i   mi    t  r  i   B r   u  y  a  s 

How to get there

q Take Taiwan Railway (臺鐵) to ZhubeiStation (竹北) or Taiwan High SpeedRail (高鐵) to Hsinchu Station (新竹)

w Take the Taiwan TouristShuttle (台灣好行專車)operated by ChampionTransportation (金牌客運), which stops at

Beipu (北埔老街), andLion’s Head Mountain(Shihshan) Visitor Cen-ter (獅山遊客中心), andboth o the abovemen-tioned train stations.The bus runs between 8a.m. and 5 p.m.

For more info check ‚ tung.hakka.gov.tw (the estival’s oicial

website with ino such as bloom status)

‚ www.taiwantrip.com.tw 

‚ (03) 580-9296 Lion’s Head Mountain

Dear James,Congratulations on your first year back in 

Taipei. Hopefully you will have Labor Day off to visit the beautiful Tung Blossom Festival and see the temple, the people and taste the wonderful food.

James Donald is from Victoria,

 Australia. He worked in Taiwanfive years ago as a journalist,followed a group of Belizeanartists to Central America to writea book about them, and thenrecently returned to Taiwan againand loves its frenetic energy.

D e a r  K e n t o n ,

Ho  p e f u l l y ,  o n e   y e a r   l a t e r ,  y o u   s t i l l   h a v e  

w i t h   y o u   t h e   m a n y   l e s s o n s   y o u   l e a r n t   a b o u t  

t h e   Ha k k a   p e o  p l e   a n d   t h e i r   c u l t u r e .  As   t h e  

t u n g  f l o w e r s  o  p e n  i n  T a i w a n  t h i s  s  p r i n g , m a y  

t h e  Ha k k a   p r i n c i  p l e s  o f  f r u g a l i t y , r e s o u r c e f u l -

n e s s , a n d  a d a  p t a b i l i t y  

b l o o m  i n  y o u r  l i f e  a l s o .

 Ken ton  X. C hance

  is  from 

S t.  V incen t and  t he Grenad ines 

and  has  been a  journa l is t  for  ten 

 years. He  ho lds a B A  in  journa l ism 

& mass commun ica t ion  from 

M ing C huan  Un i vers i t y (  銘 傳

大學 ) and  is e xpec t ing a M A 

 in  in terna t iona l a f fa irs ( g lo ba l 

go vernance )  from  t ha t un i vers i t y 

ne x t mon t h.On April 28, the Hakka Affairs

Council held a “future postcard”

campaign as part of this year’s

Hakka Tung Blossom Festival. Par-

ticipants sent postcards to them-

selves, to be received in a year’s

time. We asked Kenton and James

what messages they would write to

themselves to commemorate this

tung blossoms trip.

(Right) Kenton and James try

samples of dried persimmon, a Hakka specialty

that calms one’s internal heat in the parlance of

Chinese medicine.

(Left) Kenton and James lunch on classic Hakka

dishes at Yumei Harvest Field.

(Above) Guide Chung Feng-zhu helps James prepare

leicha, a traditional Hakka drink made by grinding

tea leaves and various seeds.