One thing that I’ve discovered about Taiwan, especially outside of Taipei, is that people want you to know how they make things. Be it a food stall in a local night market, a piano factory in Taoyuan, or a bakery in the Sanxia district of New Taipei City (formerly Sanxia city).
This week’s Photojazz Five interviewee is one of the good guys. No, he doesn’t wear underwear outside of a brightly-colored unitard and sport a cape (although he should), but he does have a selfless heart. Through his administration at PhotoMalaysia and with 35 years of experience in his utility belt (next to thebatarangs), he mentors other photographers in his community, both through authoring articles and actual, physical tutoring. Along with another administrator at PhotoMalaysia, he conducts regular “Photosafari Experiences” (PMPE), which consist of a couple of in-classroom days followed by one-to-three weeks of hands-on shooting in exotic Asian locales.
Oh, and he’s a good street photographer, too.
Before the completion of the North-South Railway in 1909, Dasi was the connective trade point between Taipei and the south. It was made so by a combination of two major factors: it was located on a river used to transport goods north-south (the Dahan river, also known as the Takoham river in the native aboriginal language) and loads of investment capital. A civil war between Hakka clans forced refugees from the wealthiest of the clans, the Lin clan, into the Takoham river region. Realizing the importance of the location, the Lin clan invested heavily in it’s development and it was soon filled with traders and merchants. I’ll make this analogy: the Takoham river was the silk road of Taiwan, Taipei was Europe, southern Taiwan was Asia. Dasi was Persia.
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Wait, what? Kawai….Taiwan? My Kawai upright piano clearly states Made in Japan! Well, it was. Sort of. We’ll get to that briefly at the end of this article. First, we need [...]
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