Yingge

Yingge (鶯歌) is a town to the south-west of Taipei, and is famous for its longstanding pottery industry.  Yingge means "oriole song" - apparently the name is derived from a rock formation in the area that looked something like a bird and was known as the "oriole brother" (鶯哥石).  The Chinese word for "brother" is a homophone for "song", so possibly the name of the town is another product of the general sanitisation of names by the Japanese during the occupation.

When we visited Yingge we really only had time to visit the Ceramics Museum, and do a quick walking circuit of the town.

We arrived at the Ceramics Museum just in time for the younger members of the tour to participate in a pottery class in the downstairs pottery studio.  There must have been a good twenty or so benches set-up in the studio, but seeing as there were only five kids participating in the class we all fitted onto a single bench, even including parent helpers.  The instructor demonstrated how to make a lantern or money-box in the shape of a dragon.  The techniques were so effective that both the members of our tour were able to turn-out very convincing dragons.

At the end of the class we were able to pay to have the products fired, glazed and mailed back to us.  Presumably they are already waiting for us back in Taiwan.

After the pottery class we went for a wander in the drizzle through the grounds of the museum.  There were a number of beautiful old kilns there - I gather they have visiting pottery artists from all around the world come in to work out of the grounds of the museum.

After we left the museum we walked a circuit of the town.  Surprisingly one of the biggest hits with the junior members of the tour was a  scene of some roadworkers repairing the road at a busy intersection in peak hour.  You would think that the kids had never seen roadworks before - although admittedly it was absolute bedlam.  The intersection was essentially still open, and traffic was being directed through the intersection as the workers laid sections of it, with trucks and workmen and rollers going everywhere.  I can only assume that they must work like that every day without a fatality, but from where I sat it looked like an occupational health and safety nightmare. 

One of the dragon money boxes.

The other dragon money box.

Working on a dragon money box in the pottery studio under the Ceramics Museum.

"Yingge" - the sign at the railway station.

One of the wood-fired pottery kilns in the grounds of the Ceramics Museum.

The highlight of the day - relaying a road at a busy intersection in peak hour.