Craig July 31st, 2007
In Wandering in Lugang part 1, we left off at the Yangciao Park. Close by, on Cingyun Rd, is the Di Zang Wang Temple. Built in 1815, this temple is dedicated to the Di Zang Wang Boddhisattva, who is worshipped as the rescuer of the dead who are suffering in hell. Di Zang Wang is better known as the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, although the Japanese call him Jizo and the Tibetans, Sai Nyingpo. In the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , made by Taiwanese director Ang Lee, Di Zang Wang appears in the guise of a Ch’an (zen) master carrying his mendicant’s staff, where he challenges the boy, Zhang Ziyi on the mezzanine of the hotel. Some suggest that the hotel in the movie stands for one of the Buddhist hells, but that is way beyond the scope of this article. Shown below is the gate to the temple, and the temple itself at the end of the courtyard.
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Craig July 31st, 2007
The BBC have an audio slideshow up at the moment, with commentary from three Associated Press (AP) photographers. Horst Faas, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize, achieved fame with his pictures of the Vietnam War; Oded Balilty, an Israeli photographer who won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News, and AP’s global director of photography, Santiago Lyon. It’s an interesting show that runs for about four minutes.
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As an aside, I recently saw Balilty’s prize winning image at the World Press Photos exhibition in Taipei. Like all good images, it really needs to be seen large to fully appreciate.
Craig July 28th, 2007
From major city to small, sleepy tourist town, Lugang (鹿港) is situated in Changhua county, Central Taiwan, a major rice growing area. Lugang literally means “Deer Harbor”, and Lugang was once blessed with a natural, deep water harbor. Historical records show that central Taiwan was once heavily populated with deer, and the port of Lugang was used by the Dutch colonizers in their trade in deer pelts and venison. During its heyday from 1785-1845, Lugang had a population of 200 000, making it the largest city in central Taiwan, and second largest after Tainan, in Taiwan.
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Craig July 24th, 2007
8 second exposure. Amazingly, most of the people stayed relatively still.
