Flame Goldrain Tree (Taiwan Golden-rain Tree) originally only grew in Taiwan. It likes to grow in a sunny spot so when you see it you’ll know the climate of where you are. It’s cheerful and optimistic coz it likes sunshine; it’s hardworking coz it’s a drought-tolerant plant and survives in poor soil.
外觀
Flame Goldrain Tree looks different in four seasons. In Spring, it’s light green and in Summer, it’s dark green; in Fall, it’s yellow and in the beginning of Winter, it’s yellowish pink, which is the color of its fruit that looks like lantern.
功用
It’s very ideal to be a street tree for viewing, shading, resisting pollution, and absorbing a lot of noise.
Its flower can beyellow dye; seeds can be worn into rosary beads; the whole plant can be used medicinally.
The Rukai tribe in Taitung have found that it has the function of judging the movement of typhoons. When the tree blooms, it indicates that it is about to enter the typhoon season, so it is necessary to make good preparations for the prevention of typhoons. When the flowers turn yellow, it means that the first typhoon is coming. When the flowers turn yellowish pink and bear fruits, it means that the typhoon season has come to an end. If a typhoon comes at this time, it must be a powerful autumn typhoon, they need to be more careful about it!
紅姬緣椿象
In winter, there are often soapberry bugs (紅姬緣椿象) that gather on the bottom of the tree to feed on the tree’s sap and seeds, which leads birds to feed on the bugs and to form a food chain.(The soapberry bugsspend a cold winter when they are imagoes, and they cluster together for warmth by making use of the weak/faint heat energy emitted by respiratory metabolism.)
In 1754 or the 18th year of the Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong’s rein,
At that time the three most important port cities in Taiwan were Tainan, Lugang, and Mengjia(一府二鹿三艋舺).
The Lin’s gathered 80 craftsmen from the mainland and some 100 local artisans. They worked on this four-sided (housing) compound for several years. It was completed between the 48th and 50th years of Qing dynasty emperor Qianlong’s rein.
原址與搬遷
In 1976 Taipei City government decided to relocate the house in order to expand敦化South Road.
At that time relocation was hardly a consensus.
It was regarded as nothing but an older house.
建物元件編碼
Based on its location, every component was meticulously indexed. Every beam, every pillar, every brick, every size – all this was clearly labeled so that the original appearance of the house could be restored.
Lin An Tai Historical House’s reconstruction set a precedent for the restoration of historical sites in Taiwan.
閩南建物(四合院)
It’s a two –partitioned, four-sided compound unique to traditional southern Fujian architecture(閩南式二進四合院) deliberately given a gradual upward leaning. It’s lower in front and higher in back.
This device is effective in/for keeping warm winters and cool summers and in/for helping natural lighting and ventilation.
Crescent pond stands out in front of the house for defense, fire-fighting, water-supply, and temperature reduction, etc. Also, it is placed there for風水considerations.
The front yard is paved with red stones(紅普石)originally used in the bottom of merchant vessels as stabilizers (壓艙石)when crossing the Taiwan Strait.
The roof of the house has a single ridge(單脊(一條龍)). Both the water pattern gable(水型山牆) and the swallow-tail ridge(燕尾式屋脊)are key symbols of traditional southern Fujian culture.
Stone and wood carvings and colored drawings have been used by artisans in depicting flowers, plants, birds, and animals. They are presented as auspicious symbols on thresholds, columns, windows, and roofed corridors(簷廊).
Hanging decorations under the eaves are presented as lotus blossoms in different stages of blooming.
One key feature of traditional southern Fujian architecture is its walls of red bricks.
The second feature is a small base added to all the stone sculptures called “counter leg”. It’s just like a table leg.
It also has “melon tubes”(瓜筒)and wooden brackets(斗拱). No ceiling is in place to conceal them. When looking up one can easily see two beams and three melons(二通三瓜). The two melons in the bottom are bigger than the one on top. This arrangement makes perfect sense in mechanics. Even the carvings have been done with mechanics(力學)in mind.
Built without screws or nails, it’s rigidly supported by crawling melon tubes as you can imagine this was not easy to accomplish.
Its main hall is an open hall; that is, the kind without any door attached. Standing outside one can directly see the altar(供桌) and wooden chairs(太師椅)in the hall.
The main hall is the most solemn and holy part of the house. It is where the Lins offer sacrifices to gods and enshrined tablets commemorating ancestors(祖先牌位).
With the main hall as the axis, wing rooms extend to the right and left symmetrically.
These wing rooms are connected by winding corridors. Ventilation is excellent as air can flow freely between them.
The garden right next to the house is now the only traditional southern Fujian style garden in the city.
The traditional southern Fujian-style garden is mainly a reflection of Taoist thought. The theme is imitating nature.
Hills symbolize the static while water, the dynamic (山主靜,水主動). Thus, the garden is fitted with rockery and cascades (假山瀑布).
帶郵輪團開心歸開心,報酬也挺不錯的,不過就是不要疏忽照顧自己。郵輪團多是大清早就得出發集合前往基隆港,以今天為例,5點半就出門搭計程車了。然後今天帶的是Highlights of Taipei,走故宮(停留120分鐘)跟中正紀念堂(停留30分鐘),也就是7點到基隆港後就幾乎沒時間上廁所和坐下來,還有6:30吃過早餐後也一直到14:00送客才有時間跑去7-11買條熱狗先止飢。