Tales from the Taiwanese (World Folklore Series) PDF
Preview Tales from the Taiwanese (World Folklore Series)
Tales from the Taiwanese World Folklore Advisory Board Simon J. Bronner, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Folklore and American Studies Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg Joseph Bruchac, Ph.D. Abenaki Storyteller and Writer Natalie O. Kononenko, Ph.D. Professor of Slavic language and Literature University of Virginia Norma J. Livo, Ed.D. Writer and Storyteller Margaret Read MacDonald, Ph.D. King County Library Systems Tales from the Taiwanese Retold By Gary Marvin Davison World Folklore Series LIBRARIES U N L I M I T E D A Member of ike Greenwood Publishing Group Westport, Connecticut • London Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Davison, Gary Marvin, 1951- Tales form the Taiwanese / Retold by Gary Marvin Davison. p. cm. — (World folklore series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-59158-111-7 1. Tales—Taiwan. I. Title. II. Series. GR338.D38 2004 398.2'095124'9—dc22 2004044197 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2004 by Libraries Unlimited All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, by any process or technique, without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004044197 ISBN: 1-59158-111-7 First published in 2004 Libraries Unlimited, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 A Member of the Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. www.lu.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984). 10 987654321 Contents Introduction ix Taiwan's History 1 Part One Taiwanese Values One: Little-Bitty Banping Mountain 11 Two: The Much-Deserved Good Fortune of Li Menhuan 15 Three: A Tale of Three Brothers 21 Four: Justice Comes to Elder Sister Lintou 25 Five: The Magical Rice Pot of Fairy Cave 29 Six: The Fate of a Kind-Hearted Servant Girl 33 Seven: The Virtuous Wife of Dajia 37 Part Two Taiwanese Religion and Ethics Eight: The Friendship of Taiyang Pian and Zhi Wuye 43 Nine: The Origins of the Taiwanese Ancestral Tablet 49 Ten: A Heart Buzzing with Kindness 53 Eleven: A Wealthy Landowner, a River Spirit, a City God 57 Part Three Taiwanese Tales of Natural Origins Twelve: The Origin of Fireflies 65 Thirteen: How Saltwater Came to Fill the Seas 71 Fourteen: The God of Thunder and the Mother of Lightning 75 Fifteen: The Strange Plant Known as White-Horse Mateng 79 V Part Four Taiwanese Sayings and Their Origins Sixteen: When Three People Have Only Five Eyes 85 Seventeen: The Tiger-Nosed Lion Who Wanted to Burn Up Heaven 89 Eighteen: Reckless Words Spoken Once Too Often 95 Part Five Taiwanese Legends and Historical Tales Nineteen: Iron Anvil Mountain and the Well of Koxinga 103 Twenty: The Luck of Zhishan 107 Twenty-One: The Origins of Aiyu Ill Twenty-Two: The Trials and Triumphs of General Chen-Fu 115 Twenty-Three: The Red-Haired Well 121 Twenty-Four: The Stone Turtle That Could Swim 124 Twenty-Five: The Legend and History of Longshan Temple 127 Twenty-Six: The Legend of Sun Moon Lake 131 Part Six Taiwanese Humor Twenty-Seven: The Goofiness of Chen Ah Ai 137 Twenty-Eight: A Thoroughly Goofy Son-in-Law 141 Recipes Twice-Cooked Pork 149 Stir-Fried Sesame Spinach 149 Chinese Noodles 150 Spicy Bok Choy Cabbage 150 Garlic Shrimp with Onions and Bell Pepper 151 Stir-Fried Green Beans 152 Black Pepper Shrimp with Onions 152 Drunken Chicken 153 Spicy Sweet and Sour Cucumbers 153 Stir-Fried Cabbage with Shrimp Bits 154 Stir-Fried Rice with Peas and Carrots 154 Pork Slices with Fresh Garlic and Onions 155 Pinto Beans in Soy Sauce 156 y| / Contents Coriander Chicken 156 Basil Tomatoes and Onions 157 Spicy Sweet and Sour Cabbage 158 Chicken and Mushrooms 158 Beef and Green Pepper Strips 159 Homestyle Roast Beef 160 Mongolian Barbecue 160 Sweet and Sour Chicken 162 Stir-Fried Carrots and Broccoli 163 Spicy Sesame Beef 163 Stir-Fried Snow Peas 164 Spicy Chicken with Peanuts 165 Stir-Fried Mixed Vegetables 166 Honey-Fried Chicken Drummies 166 Taiwanese Scrambled Egg 167 Index 169 Contents / yJJ This page intentionally left blank Introduction Taiwan is an island with a unique culture and a highly successful economy. It is one of those places in the world that for centuries came under the control of for eigners, even as its people were developing an identity separate from any of those outside governing groups. The world is full of societies that did not emerge as in dependent nations until the nineteenth or twentieth centuries. These countries in clude South American nations, such as Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina; European nations, such as Latvia, Slovakia, and Croatia; Central Asian nations, such as Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgystan; Middle Eastern (West Asian) na tions, such as Jordan, Israel, and Iraq; and Southeast Asian nations, such as Indo nesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Even the United States did not declare independence from Great Britain until 1776, and it only had its status as a nation recognized with the Treaty of Paris of 1783, following the American Revolution. For centuries, Taiwan was occupied exclusively by its original settlers, peo ple who today are known as "aborigines." Then, from the seventeenth century forward, Dutch, Spanish, Manchu, Japanese, and Chinese people competed for control of the island. The ancestors of most people on Taiwan today came origi nally from China, during that same span of time, beginning in the seventeenth century, when Taiwan was governed by the various outsider groups. Taiwan was then controlled by Japan from 1895 to 1945, and from 1945 until 2000 was gov erned by a political party, the Guomindang, that had escaped to Taiwan after los ing a civil war to the Chinese Communist Party, which since 1949 has controlled China. Throughout the twentieth century, then, Taiwan's history unfolded sepa rately from that of China, and its people came to look upon themselves first as Taiwanese, people whose deeper roots were mostly in China but who, over the course of decades and even centuries, had developed an identity only partially connected to the land of their ancestral origins. Today there is an ongoing effort on the island to state in clear terms what makes Taiwan's identity unique and what part aborigine, European, Chinese, Japanese, and American influences have played in shaping the island's distinct culture. Up until the 1990s, the Guomindang discouraged the production of books, plays, and art that focused on a uniquely Taiwanese identity, but in the last ix
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