Gourd Craft In Shanlin District／杉林區的葫蘆工藝
Gourd Craft In Shanlin District
◎English translation: Lin Fu-ju ◎Photos by Lin Yu-hung
In recent years, gourd craft has been keenly promoted in Kaohsiung City's Shanlin District. One of the most active promoters, Ho Ming-sian, says that when he moved back to Shanlin in 1996, he discovered that much of the local young population had left the area because job opportunities were lacking. Shanlin is an agricultural community. Its soil has great drainage; fruits and gourds have long been the area's main crops.
As a way of leveraging these characteristics, in 2004 He and his friends founded the Shanlin Protection Association in order to develop the gourd (also known as calabash) craft industry, promote gourd culture and create job opportunities which would enable local youth to stay and work in their hometown.
Ho's involvement in gourd craftsmanship began in 2004, and he spent five years as an apprentice to bottle-gourd art guru Gong Yi-fang. During that period he often had great ideas but was unable to realize them because he lacked the techniques. He earned nothing in those five years, yet diligently practiced every day, convinced that gourd craft was a promising field. His approach was interdisciplinary: He also learned aspects of jade and bamboo craftsmanship to bring his techniques to a higher level. He even took courses in crafts management to help him come up with ideas how to increase the value of gourds. In 2009, he began selling his own gourd sculptures and launched his gourd-craft career.
He says the gourd has a hard skin and soft flesh. Its skin is 0.3-0.4cm thick. Craftsmen need to have very skillful and precise techniques in order to create multi-level carvings with smooth and beautiful lines. Diversified carving techniques and various pigment implementations greatly enhance the value of gourds as ornamental art works. He has trained 20 students to create gourd crafts. His studio's best-selling items are bottle-gourd lamps; so popular are these they are often out of stock. Exquisite gourd crafts also attract the eyes of many collectors. He hopes more new blood can join the gourd-craft industry and enhance its competitiveness.
|
Ho Ming-sian's Gourd Craft Workshop
07-6774897
|
杉林區的葫蘆工藝
◎文／侯雅婷 ◎攝影／林裕鈜
杉林區近年積極推動葫蘆工藝，幕後推手之一的何明賢談起，他於1996年返回故鄉杉林，發現當地因缺乏工作機會，致使年輕人口大量外移。事實上，務農為主的杉林區土質排水性佳，長久以來就以栽種瓜果類蔬果為主要農作物，從這給了何明賢一個努力的方向，何明賢與朋友在2004組成「杉林愛鄉協會」，希望從栽植的葫蘆開始，發展成工藝特色的產業，進而推廣葫蘆文化、發展葫蘆工藝，也開創出就業機會，讓杉林人留在家鄉工作。
何明賢一身的葫蘆工藝技術是從2004 年開始學習，師事葫蘆大師鞏一舫，歷經5年學習，這期間他經常面臨有好點子，可是技術卻未能實踐的窘境，當然也完全沒有收入，但他堅信葫蘆工藝大有可為，於是咬牙苦撐，靠著每日不斷練習和跨領域學習，比如透過學習玉石與竹雕，幫助他技法轉換更為流暢，乃至於藝品經理人的課程，幫助他思索如何提升葫蘆的價值；2009年，他販售出第一件葫蘆雕刻作品，自此打開了葫蘆的銷售之路。
何明賢表示，葫蘆的表皮硬、內軟，再加上其厚度約為0.3～0.4公分，因此下刀的工法須非常純熟且精準，方能以流暢且富感情的線條表現多層次的雕刻 ，然而多元的雕刻技法及富變化的顏料處理，大大提升了葫蘆的觀賞性，增加其收藏價值。何明賢培植約莫20名學生一起加入葫蘆創作的工作，工作室開發出最暢銷的人氣商品為葫蘆小夜燈，經常處於供不應求的狀況，而做工精緻的葫蘆工藝品也吸引收藏家的眼光。何明賢希望更多新血加入葫蘆工藝的行列，提升產業競爭力。
Kaohsiung's Hong Kong Tea Restaurant:
The Authentic Flavor of the "People's Food"
◎English translation: Peng Hsin-yi ◎Photo by Hou Ya-ting
Several years ago, Allan Tang left his native Hong Kong to travel in Taiwan. He met a Kaohsiung girl and ended up marrying her. He has lived in Kaohsiung ever since and generally enjoys life here. However, the one thing he missed from home is the "people's food", which is found on every street corner in Hong Kong. These specialties include milk tea, French toast, pork chops over rice and stir fried "kwetiau" (flat rice noodles).
A little more than a year ago Allen began making his own favorite Hong Kong dishes. He then opened the "I Love Hong Kong Tea Restaurant". Although he didn't do any paid advertising, word of mouth and Facebook made him an instant success. Every day the restaurant attracts a lineup with many patrons being Hong Kong natives, who like Mr. Tang, now live and work in Taiwan.
The menu is a simple collection of the "people's food" or as Mr. Tang explains, hearty affordable meals. Mr. Tang takes a lot of pride in his work and does not cut corners. He has not integrated any Taiwanese culinary influences into his dishes. For example his creamy milk tea is authentically made with three to eight different types of tea and blended with milk imported from the Netherlands, just like the tea restaurants in Hong Kong do. One of his success stories includes when some tourists from Hong Kong wandered into the restaurant by chance and came back the next day. "I think that means they found the food okay" he said humbly. Returning customers clearly win a stamp of approval in the restaurant industry and has boosted his confidence.
When it comes to life in Kaohsiung, Mr. Tang most enjoys the abundance of open spaces. He also appreciates Kaohsiung's warm and friendly people. "People in Kaohsiung have a habit of using Taiwanese dialect in their everyday speech" he observes and admits he still has trouble understanding it even after having lived here for a while. He encourages foreigners who intend to live in Kaohsiung to learn both Mandarin and Taiwanese in order to better communicate with locals. Mr. Tang now considers himself a Kaohsiung local. His love for Kaohsiung is exemplified in his initiative to share his native food with his new hometown.
|
I Love Hong Kong Tea Restaurant
Telephone: 0973114377
|
香港庶民料理 原汁原味在港都
◎文、攝影／侯雅婷
來自香港的鄧子聰，為愛情留在高雄，因為想念香港獨特卻又遍尋不著的小吃滋味，比如奶茶、西多士、豬扒飯、炒貴刁(類似河粉的麵食)等，1年多前開了家「我愛香港茶餐廳」，靠著口耳相傳和臉書粉絲頁，小小的店面每到用餐時間經常可見排隊的人龍，聚集許多在高雄工作的香港師傅們，道地的家鄉滋味安定他們一天的辛勞。鄧子聰談起，有些前來高雄自助旅行的港人，意外地踏進店裏吃了第一次，第二天又再度光顧，鄧子聰表示，店裏供應的全是香港街頭俯拾即見的庶民料理，能讓香港朋友在台旅行時再度光臨，代表滋味還不錯！話說得謙虛，但高回客率給了他莫大的肯定。
香港小吃的味道能在高雄呈現，鄧子聰有很多堅持。他說餐廳內的香港味道儘量不隨著台灣口味而調整，茶飲的部份更是堅持原汁原味。看似平凡的一杯「香滑奶茶」，是他精選3～8種茶葉，煮出最棒的茶色和茶香，再進口專門調製香港奶茶使用的荷蘭牛奶，因此，讓口味道地的香港奶茶在高雄飄香。
鄧子聰表示，高雄顯而易見的特質是公園綠地特別多，他說台北和香港因為太多摩天大樓，天空顯得太擁擠，在高雄時往外看，居住的空間很舒服，他也很喜歡港都人的友善、熱情，鄧子聰提起，高雄人很習慣談話時會冷不防的夾帶一句台語，這讓不懂台語的他，摸不著頭緒，因此鼓勵打算在高雄居住的外籍友人，學習國、台語，能盡興地與本地人交談，很融入高雄生活的他，每次出國回台，下了飛機就直奔香雞排攤子 ，對高雄的喜愛不言可喻。