Chairman Lin Chengfeng
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Text / Hu Huasheng Photo/Huang Jinghui
Taiwan is about to be unblocked, ready to travel? There is a monument in Taichung waiting for you to dig for treasure! Walking into the Wufeng Lin family, from historical relics to the architectural style of Chinese and Western fusion, you can see the heritage and grace of the family for more than 200 years at once.
As the global epidemic eases, Taiwan's lockdown will be implemented after mid-October, making Taiwan's tourism industry, which has been boring for almost three years, ready to welcome tourists from inside and outside the island and restore its former glory.
The Wufeng Lin family in Taichung City, which owns Taiwan's largest "national monument" complex and ranks among the five major families in Taiwan, is no exception.
In the mid-18th century, the Lin family, which came to Wufeng in Taichung to reclaim and lay the foundation, was once one of the five most powerful families in Taiwan.
The most famous representative figure, Lin Xiantang, participated in promoting local autonomy, democratic parliaments, establishing schools, and establishing cultural associations, which became an indispensable page in Taiwan's modern history.
Today, Lin Chengfeng, Lin Xiantang's great-grandson and current director of Lin Xiantang Museum and chairman of Mingtai High School, like many tourism operators, hopes to use "museum sightseeing" to welcome the post-epidemic tourism boom.
Wufeng Lin Family Garden still retains a large historical complex of monuments, from south to north, about 300 meters long, walking along the periphery of the complex for about one kilometer, with a total area of about 15,000 pings (1 ping is about 3.3 square meters).
In addition to the Lin Xiantang Museum, which has a rich collection of cultural relics, there is also the Lai Garden, which is full of historical significance. Wuguilou in Laiyuan is where the poets of the Oak Society talked about wine and poetry, and are jokingly called "restaurants".
Liang Qichao, an important political figure and thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, visited Taiwan in 1911 and stayed here to exchange non-military anti-Japanese routes with Lin Xiantang and other Taiwanese gentry. Liang Qichao praised the beauty of Laiyuan and admired Lin Xiantang very much, and specially gave 12 poems as souvenirs, which became an important history of Laiyuan.
Together with Lychee Island, Xiaoxi Pond, Feiyue Pavilion, Kapok Bridge, etc. in the park, as well as other mansion buildings, it forms the characteristic building complex of the Wufeng Lin family.
Museums: Rich in historical artifacts
The rich collection of cultural relics left by Lin Xiantang has been preserved here. In 2000, the descendants of the Lin family were exhibited in the form of "Lin Xiantang Cultural Relics Museum". In 2015, Taiwan's legislature passed the Museum Law, emphasizing "publicity", "public welfare" and "professional functionality", so the Lin Xiantang Cultural Relics Museum was restructured and upgraded to a museum from 2018, with an exhibition space of 250 pings from the original 100 pings, and a richer display of historical relics.
Lin Chengfeng is very sure that this museum is the richest museum in modern times for modern people to return to Taiwan, spanning more than 200 years from the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese occupation period and the Republic of China, and is one of the few museums in Taiwan that completely preserves cultural relics.
"Foreign tourists come to Taiwan and see 5,000 years of Chinese civilization in the Forbidden City, but here they can better understand Taiwan's modern civilization and understand Taiwan," Mr. Lin said.
The "Diary of Mr. Guan Yuan" (Lin Xiantang is also called "Irrigation Garden") in the museum's collection, a total of 27 copies, is the treasure of the town hall. The diary writes down various aspects of life at that time from the perspective of a Taiwanese, narrates his vision of things at that time, and gives future generations the opportunity to glimpse the appearance of society at that time from the diary.
Another feature of Lin Xiantang's diary is his emphasis on the concept of time. He wrote down in detail what he did in detail, not only attaching great importance to the matter of punctuality, but also increasing the historical grasp and credibility of future generations. Therefore, these 27 "Diary of Mr. Guan Yuan" are also collected as important e-books by the Taiwan History Research Department.
The daily necessities, furniture, men's and women's clothing and accessories, clocks, etc. used by the Wufeng Lin family in the past are also the main display items in the museum, so that future generations can compare the differences between the past and the present.
In addition to diaries and cultural relics, the museum also has precious records such as Lin Xiantang's ink treasures, manuscripts, calligraphy and paintings, photos, and postcards.
Lin Xiantang has a wonderful life, in addition to living in Japan, he also set out from Keelung nearly 100 years ago - in 1927, touring the world for 378 days, which is the first person in Taiwan to travel around the world, traveling through Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States, traveling to 16 countries and more than 60 cities, leaving precious records and manuscripts. The museum also has a collection of many paintings, including Chen Huikun, Guo Xuehu, Yang Qidong and other early Taiwanese local painters.
Laiyuan: A fusion of Chinese and Western style architecture
As for Lai Garden, it began to be built in 1875, and the integration of mountains, water and humanities is the biggest feature, and together with Banqiao Forest Origin Garden (Lin Family Garden), Tainan Wu Chungui's "Wu Garden", and Hsinchu Zheng Yongxi's "Beiguo Garden" are collectively known as Taiwan's four famous gardens. After more than 100 years of construction and repair, Laiyuan shows the Minnan style when it was first built, as well as Jiangnan garden and Western architectural colors, and modern buildings added in recent years, the architecture in the park can be called the epitome of Taiwan's architectural history for more than 100 years.
Oak Society: Preserve and promote Taiwanese literature
In addition to the museum and the Lai Garden, the "Oak Society" established in 1902 has also left many heavyweight cultural relics in the park, such as the "20th Anniversary Inscription Monument of the Oak Society" and the "30th Anniversary Bell of the Oak Society".
The "Oak Society" is a poetry society established in central Taiwan during the Japanese occupation, and the "Nanshe" and "Yingshe" established a few years later, which are collectively known as the three major poetry societies in Taiwan. After Lin Xiantang joined the Oak Society, he became a soul figure, and the Lin family naturally became the main center of activities.
Almost all members of the Oak Society are well-known local leaders, and the poetry meeting is often held for three days and three nights, and poets from all over the north and south are also invited to participate, and calligraphy and painting, music, and Go are used as after-entertainment programs, and the topics of the poetry club are very diverse.
On the 20th anniversary of the Oak Society, a cement sculpture monument was erected that was known as the most beautiful in Taiwan at that time, with a unicorn carved on the front and a phoenix on the back, taking the meaning of "Kirin Tu Jade Book" and "You Phoenix Lai Yi" to pay tribute to traditional culture.
In 1931, in order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Oak Society, a "30th Anniversary Bell of the Oak Society" was cast, and the inscription on the bell was engraved: "Little knock small sound, big knock loud, may I toast, Ya Yun with the same geng, deafening and deafening, do not fall into the clear sound." "It can be seen that the status of the oak society at that time is high, and this bell is currently displayed in the Lin Xiantang Museum.
Hold concerts to recreate the Oak Society
Lin Chengfeng pointed out that this year coincides with the 120th anniversary of the founding of the Oak Society, and he has long started planning a special commemorative concert, which will stir Taiwan's classical poetry with world-famous songs this year, through music, in a relatively relaxed way, let the artistic conception of poetry enter the world of modern people, and reproduce the glory of the Oak Society 120 years ago.
On the same day, it is expected to perform the first movement of Vivaldi's Violin Concerto "Spring" in E major, Lu Quansheng's Taiwanese art song "Ruan Ruo Open the Window of the Heart", Huang Haihuai's erhu classic "Horse Racing", Liu Xuean's "He Rijun Comes Again", Deng Yuxian's "Looking at the Spring Breeze" and Lai Jinguang's "Night Fragrance" and other oriental repertoire.
Lin Chengfeng hopes that this concert can allow the audience to find a modern entry point in the old and new culture, and the ultimate goal is to let more people know Taiwanese culture and then fall in love with Taiwanese culture. If you want to understand the history of Taiwan in depth, the Wufeng Lin family is also a good starting point.
To welcome the post-epidemic sightseeing boom, Lin Chengfeng and Wufeng Lin Xiantang Museum Park are ready. Have you also started preparing your post-lockdown travel list?
(This article is contributed to the 20th Vision Summit 2022)