No, it turned out to be the Thirtieth of April, but one could be forgiven for thinking it was Independence Day, what with all the fireworks going off in the distance, no doubt in honor of some Taoist god's birthday. Amber and I did go to the park this afternoon, though, where my daughter celebrated the recent breaking of her high fever, and subsequent return to 元気-ness, by riding her bike, playing baseball and hide-and-seek with her old man, and generally running around and expending energy. It was great to see her back to normal. Tomorrow morning, Amber and her kindergarten classmates will be giving their annual Mother's Day performance, so there will be no sleeping in on this particular Sunday.
Amber wields her stick in front of a banyan tree (júngshù) 榕樹, a ubiquitous sight in these here parts.
Another not-uncommon thing to see is Tibetan prayer flags, like these on a nearby rooftop. Tibetan Buddhism, or Tsàngch'uán Fóchiào 藏傳佛教 has a large following in T'áiwān 台灣, and the Dalai Lama is a popular figure here. This doesn't seem to automatically translate into widespread support for the cause of Tibetan independence, however. During the few times I've brought up the subject in my adult classes, the results were uncomfortable silences on the parts of my students. While many Taiwanese would probably favor formal independence from China under the right circumstances, I doubt many of them would feel sympathetic towards giving minorities such as the Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians the same freedom from Han Chinese (Hàntsú) 漢族 suzerainty.
Back on the home front, mother and daughter enjoy a game of Wéich'í 圍棋, the ancient Chinese board game better known in the rest of the world by its Japanese name, Go 囲碁 「いご」.
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