Library Owl

Taipei Water Park is the nearest spot around National Taiwan University that provides some Christmas feelings.

檢視較大的地圖

Although Christmas is not an official holiday in Taiwan, one can still find beautiful lights and decoration at department stores and many other places. But the tricky question here is that when Taiwanese people import so many Western traditions, how many original customs still remain?

I went to a few sessions of our school's "European Urban Culture Festival". Someone would always threw out the same question about what Taiwan should do to follow the good examples of Holland, UK, or Spain. And there is always some speaker said that it's not about learning from others, but about knowing what is the core value of Taiwanese culture. 

As an exchange student in UBC, the problem of making others be aware of Taiwan was a tough task, and truly bothered me. As a child, Taiwanese people learnt to speak Mandarin, and it has become our first language other than Taiwanese or Hakka, or aboriginal languages. We import lots of foreign cultures while the old traditions are dying out without further notice. We talked about learning from others, regardless the true beauty of Taiwan, such as the great natural environments and traditional buildings.  

For people who do live for some time in other countries, the problem of Taiwan does not lay in learning from others but preserving our very own culture. 

Never mind my whining, the beauty of the Christmas tree do remind me of the good old days in Vancouver.

The Christmas tree outside Taipei Water Park is like 3-story high. Its awesomeness does not just lay in its height. The light changes from time to time, and makes it look like a giant faucet with running waters. I have to say the designer is wonderful to combine the concept of faucet and running waters with Christmas tree, which fit both the concept of Christmas and a water park.