In Taiwan there is a saying, “Tainan first, Lugang second, Monga third.” This phrase states that of the three major cities in Qing Dynasty in Taiwan, Monga (now Wanhua District, Taipei) was third. Monga’s proximity to the Tamsui river allowed its business activities to gradually flourish. The name “Monga,” which originated from “Moungar/Mankah” meaning canoe in the language of the local Pepo people, clearly suggests Monga was a place known for convenient shipping transportation and prosperous business development at the time.

Folk acrobatics have always been the most anticipated performance at the Taiwanese National Day Celebration every year. In the performances, agile acrobats execute fantastic feats, such as unicycling, jumping through flaming hoops, plate spinning, jujitsu, handstands, and human pyramids. The performers always scare the audience a bit by making the pyramid wobble on the brink of collapse before executing perfect flips in the air, landing on the ground to receive boisterous applause. Finally, the performance always ends with the biggest human pyramid, the Jin Yu Man Tang (a Chinese idiom referring to a prosperous household), bringing the cosmopolitan affair to a mighty climax.

The 24 solar terms are an ancient set of calendar terms that are still used today for guidance on coordinating agricultural activities with climactic changes. “Qingming” falls on the fifth solar term of the year, each year comprising a total of 24 terms. Its name denotes a time when flowers bloom and plants sprout new leaves to create clear (qing) and bright (ming) scenery in spring. The solar term Qingming is often associated with the Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day.

Motivated by his passion for insects since childhood, Tadao Kano (1906-1945?), after graduating from junior high school, chose to enroll at the Taiwan Governor-General Office High School that launched student recruitment for the first time. Taiwan, the southern island full of unknown species for him, thus became a spectacular stage for his life.

The Lapita Cultural Complex, according to archaeological evidence, appeared on various islands scattered over a large expanse of sea, extending westward to the Bismarck Archipelago in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Vanuatu Islands and New Caledonia, and eastward to Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. The Lapita Cultural Complex was dated as far back as 3,600 to 2,500 years ago. Pottery decorated with fine dentate stamps is a major part of the Lapita Cultural Complex, which also includes stone tools, shell artifacts, and objects of barter. From the archaeological finding, one can infer that the subsistence economies of these islands were most likely based on marine resources, and the life style was very likely related to agriculture.