Almond Tea

Almond Tea

‘Almond Tea’ (杏仁茶) was the greatest enjoyment in my childhood. Especially, in the cold winter, left had held that 'Fried Dough Sticks' (油炸粿) to immerse into a bowl of hot ‘Almond Tea’, and chewing the fried dough sticks, that good taste was unforgettable forever.

In February 1966, five decades ago during the Lunar New Year, my father was maliciously arrested by the KMT polices—they also broke my grandma’s binding-feet on the same day. I thus had to get up early at 2 o’clock to kill the ducks, and then help my boss to inject water in the skins of dead ducks in order to make much more money for keeping my family alive. This kind of dirty work normally finished around at 6 o’clock. Then I walked out of the market where was full of corpse odor, a stall floated another sweet smell that is what I am talking about ‘Almond Tea’ plus ‘Fried Dough Sticks ’, and to have one was my greatest pleasure that made me forgot the humiliation of tyrant in a very brief moment.

Today, it’s fifteenth day of 2016 Lunar New Year, we called ‘Yuan-Shiao Festival’ (元宵節); I went to temple to make prayer to ask my sovereign God for giving us a peaceful year. Suddenly, I smelled both familiar and distant fragrance, and turned my head to the right and saw an Almond Tea Stall. At once, I'd not hesitate approaching to enjoy that old taste but greatest pleasure.

Actually, the concentration of the ‘Almond Tea’ is boiled to be very thick that should be called ‘Almond Paste’, but Taiwanese still called almond tea. The ‘Fried Dough Sticks’ must be made of fine flour and two sticks rolled together, and be fried to very crisp and brittle and hot, it mixed with the almond paste that simply the most delicious food on earth.

Yuan-Shiao Festival

Yuan-Shiao Festival

Monkey Lantern for Yuan-Shiao Festival

The fifteenth day of Taiwanese Lunar New Year, called ‘Yuan-Shiao’ (元宵). It’s a big festival on this very day, kids take the paper lantern in the evening and light the inside candle on the crowded streets. This ‘Yuan-Shiao Festival’ will be coming by February 22 next Monday. In regarding to this ‘Monkey Year’, government has allocated the budget to decorate the monkey lanterns in the cities and counties around Taiwan to increase the jolly moment. However, the key is to sigh the great land returning to Spring, and expecting the showers of blessing to come upon this island.

Taiwanese people are the best people in the world with the excellent characteristics, but lack of a qualified government to do the good governance. Consequently, Taiwan lost a decade, and people expected to change, hoping that ‘Monkey Year’ will be able to turn over. But there’re fortune tellers predicted that ‘’Monkey’s character is tumbling, easily and suddenly upside down…” Although Taiwan has already elected a new Madam President, but it’s actually not to easily get better because she is facing those diplomatic and internal affairs in disorder for over one decade. In addition, the other existed big issue is, many entities of corruption unjustly occupied the crucial fields on Taiwan, especially, they despise the international treaties for Taiwan is not a member of UN, and in very serious for the infringement of intellectual property rights. Nevertheless, we still make prayer in due season to worship the Most High for his blessing.

Biggest Holiday

Biggest Holiday

The holidays for Lunar New Year will be ended on Sunday, February 14.

During this biggest holiday in Golden Monkey Year, Taiwanese people are looking with hope to renew the nation after stagnated for one decade or more. We can see the symbol of ‘Golden Monkey’ everywhere, even on the bus body.

The streets were decorated with the lanterns and full of the joyful pilgrims. People make prayer at ancient temples to light the sticks of incense to ask those annual Guardians—called ‘Tysue’ (太歲)—the gods of the year archaic name in planets for protection.

Our Lunar calendar was in six decades of a circulation to identify our birth year, one of 60 guardian gods to protect those ones who born in that year. Each Guardian has a name that is convenient for people illuminating a lamp of peace concerning themselves for the whole year.

The majority of Taiwanese people are kindness, doing good things, we work hard to keep the society in stable for prosperity. However, a minority of evildoers who organized the entities of corruption on Taiwan that spread over the public sector and private sector to do the evil things to result the consequence of stagnation and degeneration. Therefore, on the 16^th day of January in 2016, Taiwanese people selected a Madam President Tsai Ing-wen expecting to change the existed situation. 
Before ending this biggest holiday in Taiwan, we raise our hands to cheer up and shout loudly ‘Cordial Greetings’.

Second Day of Golden Monkey

Second Day of Golden Monkey

The Second Day during ‘Chinese Lunar New Year’ is a day for young married women returning mothers’ home; daughters and her husbands always go to temples with mothers to worship the gods for peace to come. Flowers and biscuits and cakes as the ‘Tributes’ are full of the tables, The ‘Burning Incense’ surround the temple.

The wealth on the Second Day of Golden Monkey was good, cool but a sunny day 

Mama and daughter together to the temple

A god whose functional is giving wisdom to the pilgrims for resolving the obstacles to come, he abstracted many parents.

Everyone prepared the flowers and biscuits and cakes as the ‘Tributes’

Fish swimming in the water to wag their tails for welcome

Our calendar is a cycle of sixty years, and there is a protector in each year

The Temple prepared the wagon subject ‘Golden Monkey’ to parade in the evening

A Billboard besides the temple to say ‘Happy New Year’ by a local politician who became a Legislative Vice President on February 10, 2016

The public places all changed by new Mayor’s couples

We can see that Taiwan is a diverse society—sincere, democratic and free; but you must fight for the battles to be a final winner.

Golden Monkey New Year

Golden Monkey New Year

Written by Li-Chang Kuo

This is the first day of ‘Golden Monkey Year’, a sunny day. In Taiwan, people are looking forward to the ‘Chinese Lunar New Year’, family members can reunion together at the hearthside, especially on the cold eve of new year. We will prepare various foods for eating and ‘Red Envelop’ for kids and parents.

Toro chips mixed with meat to be ‘Toro Cake’

The meal for a reunion dinner at hearthside

We pasted the couplets--in red paper and black word on the frame of door that signs the Spring is coming.

People get up early to the local temples to worship the gods for the blessings.

It’s a joy season to make wishes for good luck in the year to come.

The Temple also prepared to welcome the pilgrims.

The Temple decorated by the lanterns

People say ‘Kung Si’ (恭喜) to each other like ‘Congratulations’ or ‘Mazel Tov’ for cordial greeting.

There are many entities of corruption existed in Taiwan; but more integrity of people live in this Island, for example, a lot of heroes put down their routine affairs to rescue the victims of earthquake in Tainan, day and night, they do not care about the new year, but expect to save the victims first. I must salute them on this very day. Meanwhile, I make prayer to my Sovereign God concerning these upright persons to be fruitful and increase in number and fill in blessings.

My Father’s Insight

Written by Li-Chang Kuo

The earthquake happened in my hometown Tainan yesterday (2016/2/6) and disrupted the joy season of a festival of ‘Chinese Lunar New Year’ for today is the eve of our new year. We can see the grief and moaning people around Taiwan replaced the pleasures.

I can help to recall my father Kun-Cheng Kuo (1926/11/11-1999/1/4) told me the words in the whole night during the ‘Chinese Lunar New Year of 1966’, he repeated the same question he asked me more than one hundred times: “A-Chan, if Papa was out someday or arrested, what will you do?”

I still answered: “Papa, don’t you worry, I will do my best taking care of everyone, protecting grandma, younger brothers….”

Father reiterated that “A-Chan, you must keep practicing these skills of producing super-fine eyelets, this is our only hope to count on!” That just like his last words to command me in farewell, and soon later, he rode the motorcycle he made in the very eraly morning from Kaoshiung backe to Tainan to see my grandma, and he really maliciously arrested by Kuomintang (KMT) polices. My 70 years old grandma begged those polices, one of forceful polices used the over-arm-throw to attack my grandma to break her binding-feet, and jokingly said: “This is buy one and attach another (買一送一)…” Originally, it should be a joy season, but turned into tragedy as fallen to the abyss. There was not a hand reaching to us, but the stones keeping throwing in to the hole.

My father was born in a top rich family of Tainan as the year of Japanese Emperor Taishō died (1912-1926/12/25); coincidently, my grandfather contributed in cash and in kind to help Japanese Colonial Executive accomplishing the Tainan Canal in 1926. However, Japanese Militarists were eager to expand the territory in Southeast Asia, my grandpa rejected Japanese business about ‘Carrying the Comfort Women’, and lost everything as raided by Japanese Militarists in 1937 when my father was fifth grade at primary school. Then my one of older uncles was poisoned to death, another was recruited to die in Papua New Guinea; thereafter, my father was also recruited to the Japan Navy when he was 15 years old, and almost put into death. Afterwards, he almost died in the KMT’s jail. Therefore, my father usually said, “Life is fragile, people should be ‘help one another, share the harvest and cooperation’…”
I am glad the Most High giving me the gift to achieve the commitment to my father. Although he was treated badly by the others, but he always reached his hands to the needy when he had a bowl of rice to eat. Even the KMT’s Chiang Ching-Kuo took office, my father was actually end old resentments to help him to attain the ‘Citizen Diplomacy’(國民外交) since 1973, and completed the conclusion of sister city between Tainan and San Jose in 1975 to build a bridge across Taiwan to Silicon Valley, and gave the hope to many people.

In 1977, Su Nan-Chen won the City Mayor Election, one of my teachers was called into the City Hall Team for the urban planning. A group of people came to see my father to tell him about planning to open the new roads that would produce hundred hectares to build the houses and commercial complex. My father always gentled but he suddenly shouted that “Do not too greed…” and drove away those visitors, then told me that “Your grandfather owned lands more than thousand hectares, but a war came upon our family, nothing left!” Then, told me that “Environment Protection means that do not develop too much, or the mighty power of the earth will counterattack to be a plague!” Nevertheless, he still help Mayor Su to implement the tie of sister city between Tainan and Kansas City in 1978.

After the rampant of those evildoers for years, I realized really many plagues were from the ‘Man-made Disasters’; my father’s insight was right!

My Grandmother

The Suffering Memorial of Fiftieth Anniversary

Written by Li-Chang Kuo

In a joy season of ‘Chinese Lunar New Year’ that is a festival every Taiwanese longing for. No matter how much plight in the living situation, it will be satisfied as long as the family can reunion at hearthside.

Go back to hometown Tainan for commemorating my ancestor, I discovered ‘life just like the morning dew’, instantly, I become the eldest generation; facing the name plate of my grandma Kuo Chen Su-Jen (1896-1970) at Memorial Park, because this is a ‘Monkey Year’ in 2016, grandma’s zodiac was ‘Monkey’, I can help to remember that during the festival of Chinese Lunar New Year in 1966, four mighty Kuomintang (KMT) polices maliciously came to arrest my father Kun-Cheng Kuo (1926-1999) at # 45, Tsung-En Street, Tainan, the same day, those forceful polices cruellybroke my grandma’s binding-feet to make her became a paralysis, and never stood up again until she passed away on the 25^th day of October in 1970. .

Today is a ‘Passion Day’ of fiftieth anniversary of my Grandma suffered by the KMT's brutal ‘White Terror’, and recall that their corruption rampaging around the Island in the past years; consequently, I am writing this Memorial to record this story.

Grandma’s small scissor

Grandma’s small scissor

Big grip and small blade

Cut various words, insects, fish and birds

Cut out her vicissitude life

Grandma’s small scissor

Recounting the family's tears and blood

Righteous but was rampant and suffered

Lost her belongings, sons and husband

Grandma’s small scissor

It could not cut back all her loses

Her glory was blew away and

Could not wake those furious evildoers

Grandma put down her small scissors

Her slender hands hold a bowl of rice

Thanks heavenly Father’s give

A glimmer of light emerged from her heart