Coincidences are an interesting thing.  Sometimes you meet someone and you realize what a small world it is.  Sometimes you expect to stay home all day, but instead you go out and learn something.

Today’s blog post won’t be too interesting, but I might as well update this blog.  My grandma woke me up early, and we went to the grocery store.  The grocery store looks a lot different than the ones I normally go to at home.  Instead of one store with different sections of produce, it looked more like a warehouse with different stalls where different people sold produce.  For example, we bought some bao zi, or stuffed buns at a stall, and we bought them directly from the vendor at the stall, as opposed to picking out the groceries we want and then going to a checkup line.  Also, the grocery store was kind of like an open-air market, except there was a roof over the entire place.  I also got my hair cut there because my hair is so thick, and it gets really hot in Taiwan (it’s usually over 90 degrees here).  The hairstylist cut my hair really well, thinning it and giving it layers. Also, it was only 100 Taiwanese dollars! (That’s approximately $3.20 in U.S. currency). So cheap and really good quality!  My grandma said that the hairstylist actually makes a lot of money because she gets a lot of customers at the grocery store.

Anyway, I didn’t have anything scheduled for today, so I stayed home the rest of the day and worked.  I swept and mopped my grandma’s apartment, and then I also worked on translating some questions, uploading audio and contacting some people, as well as some side coding projects.  In the evening, my grandma and I went to a clothing store because she needed to get her clothes ironed.  As we were walking, a typhoon was beginning.  While we were waiting for the clothes to be ironed, it started pouring rain.  And then suddenly it ended.  Fortunately, when we walked home, it wasn’t raining.  Anyway, the typhoon is currently happening and it is raining like crazy now. It’s supposed to continue throughout tonight and all of tomorrow.  I have an interview tomorrow evening, so hopefully the typhoon will clear up more by then.  During the day, I will begin the glamorous and exciting work of transcribing.

Today my grandma and I traveled to National Central University in Zhongli for an interview with Professor Hanbi Chang.  It was a 30-minute bus ride away, and my grandma, being from Zhongli, knew how to get there.

Professor Hanbi Chang is a professor at the graduate institute of Hakka social and cultural studies.  NCU’s College of Hakka Studies, established in 2003, is the first of its kind, and the Department of Hakka Language and Social Sciences is only about two years old.  According to Chang, there are about 75-80 students in the department.  Chang specializes in sociology, Hakka women and economic/ethnic relations.

The building for the Hakka studies department was huge, which surprised me a lot. It was seven stories tall!  We went to the sixth floor to interview Professor Chang.

Professor Chang talked about how in urban areas, Hakka youth are less likely to know how to speak the Hakka language, compared to rural areas.  She also talked about the motivations behind why her students choose to major in Hakka studies or pursue graduate studies in Hakka studies.  She said many of her students are Hakka and want to learn more about their culture, social sciences and ethnic studies. Many of her graduate students do research in various social sciences relating to Hakka people in Taiwan, especially ethnic relations in Taiwan.  She believes it is important to preserve Hakka culture not only for the Hakka people, but for all of Taiwan, as it is a part of Taiwanese culture.

After the interview, I asked if she could introduce me to some of her students. Two of her graduate students were at a nearby office, so she introduced me to them, and I told them I would contact them to set up an interview.  It will be interesting to hear their perspective, especially since they are pursuing research in the field.

After the interview, my grandma and I just missed the bus, so we walked around the lake that is near the Hakka studies building.

Finally we took the bus home.  For dinner, my grandma made bamboo soup, and we also ate kong xin cai, chicken claw, dried tofu, fish and mangoes.

Tomorrow is a free day, so I will work on transcribing interviews and story pitch research.

Today was officially day 1 of my research!  So my grandma and I took the bus to Longtan, where we visited the Taoyuan Hakka Culture Hall.

First we went on a tour of the museum, which featured famous Hakka people of Taiwan who made great contributions in literature and music.

The outside of the museum was decorated with posters featuring Hakka dishes, and Hakka lanterns hung from the ceiling. My grandma (who is Hakka) said that the Hakkas often use floral-print cloths for lanterns, clothing, tablecloths, etc.

It was fascinating to learn about the contributions to music and literature of Hakka people in Taiwan, and I am especially interested in learning more about the poet Du Pan Fang-ge, one of the most influential female poets in Taiwan.  She wrote poems in Mandarin, Hakka and Japanese.  Apparently, she currently lives in Zhongli (where I’m living now). Here are a couple poems she wrote in Hakka, translated to English:

After the tour, we went to the Taoyuan Department of Hakka Affairs, and I interviewed Liang Cheng Liang, Deputy Director-General of the Taoyuan Department of Hakka Affairs.  Taoyuan has the largest population of Hakka people, where 40 percent of people are Hakka.  Before the interview, he and my grandma chatted in Hakka, and turns out, my grandma’s cousin was his teacher!  Anyway, during the interview, he talked about how it is rare for young Hakka people to know how to speak Hakka.  Only 13 percent of people under 13 can speak Hakka.  Liang talked about how he spoke to a young person who did not know he was Hakka, but later on realized his identity and that the language his grandparents spoke was Hakka.  The culture park and Department of Hakka Affairs are trying to encourage more young people by holding events, but it is usually difficult to find young people to come to the events.  Usually, the events they hold have an audience of older Hakka people. They also try to encourage learning the Hakka language with contests.  Currently, they are holding a contest for Hakka young people to create Hakka films, which will run this entire summer.  Liang emphasized the importance of preserving this language, culture and identity as it is declining, and he said without the Hakka language, there is no culture.

Now comes the hard part: transcribing (which will be even harder in Chinese)!

Anyway, after the interview, I walked around the culture park and took some photos, and then my grandma and I ate lunch at a nearby restaurant.  We ate pumpkin noodles, beef with mangoes and tofu with oysters and black beans.

Since our bus ticket allows us unlimited bus rides the entire day, we decided to go to the Shimen Reservoir.  When we got there, we realized we had to walk up a tall hill.  Fortunately, we hitched a ride up and got to walk around and view the reservoir.

Also fortunately, we were able to hitch a ride back down.  We saw a fruit stand on the side of the road. The vendors had grown the crops themselves.  We bought some white peaches, dragon fruits and vegetables called kong xin cai, which means empty heart vegetable.  Finally we took the bus home.  While we waited for the bus, my grandma taught me some Hakka phrases.  It’s a bit similar to Mandarin.  For example, “hello” is ni ho and “thank you” is xi mo ni.  I’ll definitely have to learn more Hakka from my grandma this summer, especially since my research is all about how nowadays, fewer young Hakka people know the Hakka language and culture.

Overall, it was a productive day, and we even got some fresh produce! (Even though they were a pain to carry home).  Tomorrow, I will be going to National Central University in Zhongli to interview a professor.