Tag: Chinese New Year

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The Year of the Monkey @ The Wall Street Journal!

Catherine Lee

The Wall Street Journal must have liked my Instagram photo for the Year of the Monkey at Chinese New Year ~ they’ve included it here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Wall Street Journal (@wsj)   Mine’s is the bottom right photo, taken at the Jian-Guo Flower Market in Taipei just before Chinese New Year – such a happy monkey – he kinda looks like he’s taking off down a ski slope lol! It’s also No. 26 of 33 photos published on their website – check out the link here Continue reading The Year of the Monkey @ The Wall Street Journal!

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Chinese New Year 2016

Catherine Lee

A sombre, sober and subdued Lunar New Year for all of Taiwan. It started with the deadly 6.4 earthquake early on Saturday February 6 in southern Taiwan, which led to the collapse of a number of high-rise buildings in Tainan, including the 17-storey Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex, where over 100 were killed. Electricity and water outages made the New Year even worse for many, and as High-Speed Rail services were cancelled in southern Taiwan, many people were forced to change their travel plans. TV and Newspaper reports kept us all focused on the emerging nightmare…. Tragedy after tragedy – as … Continue reading Chinese New Year 2016

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Jian-guo Flower Market 建國花市, Taipei ~ THE place to go all this week!

Catherine Lee

Yes, it’s open all day every day all this week ~ the week leading up to Chinese New Year ~ and you just MUST go! The Jian-guo Flower Market happens in the car park under the Jian-guo Overpass, not far from the Da-an Park in Taipei – normally it’s a car park during the week, and a flower market at the weekends (at the far end it stretches into the Jade Market), but this week, it’s open all day every day until 10pm.  Yesterday afternoon it was totally totally completely packed out full of people buying flowers of every kind … Continue reading Jian-guo Flower Market 建國花市, Taipei ~ THE place to go all this week!

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Ancestor Memorial Liturgy, welcoming Canon Peter Ng and listening to Joanna Fu’s wonderful Organ Music @ St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei!

Catherine Lee

Yes, a special day at St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei yesterday ~ and in all our churches too! For the Taiwan Episcopal Church, the Sunday before Chinese New Year’s Eve is celebrated every year with a special liturgy to honour the ancestors.  The liturgy takes place within the main Sunday service, usually at the end, with prayers and readings, and there’s a table for everyone to place lighted candles.  At the cathedral, the table is placed in the main entrance on the left side, and everyone lights their candle as they enter the church.  The red cards on the table list … Continue reading Ancestor Memorial Liturgy, welcoming Canon Peter Ng and listening to Joanna Fu’s wonderful Organ Music @ St. John’s Cathedral, Taipei!

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Chinese New Year Celebrations @ St. John’s University 聖約翰科技大學 尾牙餐會 Wei-Ya Banquet!

Catherine Lee

Chinese New Year is coming, and coming soon ~ YEAH!  Our students have all gone home, the local schools have broken up for the holidays, and everyone’s getting ready! Last night was our university Wei-Ya 尾牙, the end-of-year banquet for all our staff and faculty, plus VIP guests.  There was food – lots of deliciousness all packed together, lion dancing, singing and dancing shows from our students, and lots of gifts for the lucky names pulled out of a box – red envelopes, an exercise bike, huge teddy bears, and the top prize of an Apple iPhone 6 Plus … And … Continue reading Chinese New Year Celebrations @ St. John’s University 聖約翰科技大學 尾牙餐會 Wei-Ya Banquet!

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Taipei Lantern Festival

Catherine Lee

Yesterday’s Lantern Festival in Taipei was spectacular – a huge area near the Expo and Art Museum and everywhere were lanterns of all shapes and sizes, many of gods and ancient sages, myths and traditional stories, also big lantern displays from schools of all ages, fun lanterns and aboriginal indigenous ones, all with an abundance of horses of course…. Happy Year of the Horse ~ and that marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations for this year…. and a new semester starts next week here at SJU! Continue reading Taipei Lantern Festival

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2014 新北市平溪天燈節 Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival ~ Truly Awesome!

Catherine Lee

Truly awe-inspiring, honest!  Definitely a sight to behold…. Yes it was raining, the beautiful hot and sunny weather of last week having been replaced by a cold front of drizzle and cold, but nothing dampened our spirits on Saturday night at the Pingxi Junior High School as hundreds of lanterns were sent heavenwards.  Truly an awesome sight! Pingxi is an old coal-mining town in the mountains up beyond Taipei and famous for its annual sky lantern festival, made even more famous in recent years by several international media outlets, including CNN, who have proclaimed it a must-see event…. People can … Continue reading 2014 新北市平溪天燈節 Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival ~ Truly Awesome!

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Chinese New Year 2014!

Catherine Lee

And what a New Year it was!  The best weather ever ever ever, certainly ever since I ever remember – it was wonderful!  Praise God YES! Started with the New Year’s Eve Banquet just up the road at Shuang-Lian Senior Care Centre, invited by my good friends Rev. and Mrs. Hsu.  Definitely the in-place to be on the night!  Over 100 tables, over 1,000 people, whole families of 4 generations, delicious food and red envelopes for all the residents – fun! Then on New Year’s Day (Friday) to Taichung by High-Speed Rail – not easy to get a ticket, but … Continue reading Chinese New Year 2014!

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Elephant Mountain ~ and what a view!

Catherine Lee

Found a new mountain very early this morning.  Elephant Mountain.  Feel like David Livingstone, ha ha! Except that I waited for the Taipei MRT to open a new MRT station called 象山 Shiang Shan – Elephant Mountain – so now it’s so easy to get to…. Elephant Mountain (象山) is part of a range of small but steep hills called the Four Beasts Mountains (四獸山) to the far east of Taipei City. Never been there before today – in fact my neighbours here are surprised to hear me say there is actually a real Shiang Shan, Elephant Mountain, and it’s not just the … Continue reading Elephant Mountain ~ and what a view!