筆會英文季刊
季刊索引 近期刊物 訂閱刊物

2006筆會英文季刊-秋季號

CONTENTS

 
  WATER’S SOURCE 水的歸屬
   By Wu Sheng 吳晟 
Translated by David van der Peet 范德培
 
  TIES THAT BIND 牽繫
By LIN Tai Man 林黛嫚
Translated by May Li-ming TANG 湯麗明
 
  A CULTURAL HEIRLOOM DEMOLISHED— CONTEMPLATING THE FUTURE OF THE CHINESE SCRIPT 被糟蹋了的文化瑰寶── 中華文字如何去從?
By YEN Minju 顏敏如
Translated by Chris Wen-Chao LI 李文肇
 
  WE WERE THERE THAT YEAR, AT THE FRONT IN KINMEN 那年,我們在金門前線
By Husluman‧Vava 霍斯陸曼‧伐伐
Translated by David van der Peet 范德培
 
  WHOOPING CRANE 鳴鶴
By Hsia Ching 夏菁
Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  I ALWAYS WANT TO LET LOOSE 常常想放縱
By Hsia Ching 夏菁
Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  WE ARE LAKES 我們是湖
By Hsia Ching 夏菁
Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  TERRORIST ORGANIZATION 恐怖組織
By Bai Ling 白靈
Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  LOOKING BACK AT DULAN MOUNTAIN FROM A DUGOUT CANOE 獨木舟上回頭看都蘭山
By Bai Ling 白靈
Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機
 
  PORTRAIT OF A CAFÉ PUZZLE 咖啡館拼圖
By FONG Ming 方明
Translated by Yanwing LEUNG 梁欣榮
 
  THE TRAVELS AND LOVER OF A JUNIOR HIGH GIRL 國中女生的旅行與情人
By Nina Wen-yin CHUNG 鍾文音 
Translated by Jonathan R. BARNARD 柏松年
 
  CITY OF DESIRE, DREAMS ALOFT—THE ART OF HUANG MING-CHE 慾望城市,夢想飛行── 藝術創作者黃銘哲
By KUO Li-chuan 郭麗娟 
Translated by Paul FRANK
 
  HUANG MING-CHE : FROM CONSTRUCTION TO DECONSTRUCTION AND BACK TO CONSTRUCTION 從結構、解構,再結構的黃銘哲
By Joseph WANG 王哲雄
 
  HUANG MING-CHE: A CHRONOLOGY 黃銘哲年表
Translated by May Li-ming TANG 湯麗明
 
  NEWS & EVENTS 文化活動 
Compiled by Sarah Jen-hui HSIANG 項人慧
 
  NOTES ON AUTHORS AND TRANSLATORS 
作者與譯者簡介
 
  APPENDIX: CHINESE ORIGINALS 
附錄:中文原著
 
  DIALOGUE 對話, stove-enameled sheet metal,
.240 × 210 × 70 cm × 2, 1996-97...............COVER
 
  FACING REALITY SERIES 面對現實系列, 
metal and oil on canvas
 180 × 180 cm, 2003-04
..............................................................BACK COVER
By QUO Ying Sheng 郭英聲

 

Wu Sheng 吳晟

WATER’S SOURCE
水的歸屬

Translated by David van der Peet 范德培


1

    Spreading a map of Taiwan on a desk, all you see are several meandering blue lines, drawn onto a two-dimensional mix of green, yellow and brown tones: a somewhat spindle-shaped island embraced by the vast expanse of the ocean. From a global perspective, Taiwan is but a small dot at the edge of the huge Eurasian landmass.
I still recall a Japanese motion picture I saw in my youth, its name translated into Chinese as “How Japan Was Born.” Combining a rich mythical imagination with historical and cultural concepts, it was a monumental film interlacing the symbolism of flowing magma spewed forth by Japan’s Mount Fuji with images of prehistoric beasts such as dinosaurs.
Sometimes I try to picture in my mind how ages ago the island of Taiwan was born of the foaming waves. I wonder what that must have looked like. Of course it couldn’t have been the kind of instant transformation you can see in science fiction movies; rather it took a very slow and drawn-out process to give the island the shape and appearance it has today.
In my imagination, primeval Formosa appears as a spectacularly colorful cartoon, a firework of infinite possibilities and marvelous authenticity. Yet how could I, a man of our modern times, a creature tamed by civilization, trace and visualize that primordial state of long ago?
In the spring of 2002, another wood of giant Formosan Hinokis was discovered, hidden up high in the depths of the mountains. The breathtaking sight of those majestic trees provides a glimpse of an older Taiwan before most of the land was cultivated. If you take a stroll through the villages and townships of Taiwan’s countryside, you will find a cornucopia of place names that betray an ancient connection with water: Chingshui (Clearwater), Lungchuan (Dragon Well), Shuitou (Waterhead), Yungchuan (Gushing Spring), Changliu (Eternal Flow) or Hsichou (River Islet). Although these places now look no different from any other arid town, their natural water sources having long since disappeared, yet their names still speak to us of a Taiwan that once was, a place where flowing water was found everywhere.
Small as Taiwan is, large parts of it are covered with hills, terraces and soaring peaks. Many rivers originate in the slopes and precipices of these mountain ranges. Exactly 129 are on record, six of which are longer than 100km, and the largest of them all is the Chuoshui River with a catchment area that extends across four counties: Nantou, Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi.
Compared to the big streams of many countries boasting a much larger territory, the Chuoshui River is evidently not much to brag about. But because of the precipitous nature of Taiwan’s mountains which rise quickly to great heights, the rivers springing from near their lofty ridges also cover a lot of altitude along their short yet rapid and twisted courses through ragged terrain down to sea level. Add to this the changeable climate typical for maritime islands and what you get is Taiwan’s rich ecological diversity. The vertical distribution of flora and fauna comprises the tropical, subtropical and moderate zones at the lower altitudes and the cold zone at the higher altitudes. It is as if from the equatorial to the polar, all the planet’s different types of ecospheres are packed into the small island of Taiwan.
Its numerous indigenous species of plants and animals found nowhere else on earth, and the many lush landscapes which are a source of justified pride, frequently elicit praise and admiration from amazed biologists around the globe. As one of them put it, “Taiwan is like a museum showing a cross section of the world’s species.”

2

    From the Pilu Mountain north of the Chilai Main Peak, the Central Mountain Range stretches in a southwesterly direction all the way to Nengkao Mountain, its lofty heights forming the boundary between the counties of Nantou and Hualien. Nantou County is the geographical center of Taiwan, the heartland from which the island extends north and south, east and west. And if, in addition to longitude and latitude, we look at the vertical and horizontal extension in three-dimensional space, with the xcoordinate at sea-level and the y-coordinate rising skywards, then the highest points on the y-axis, furthest removed from the horizontal plane, fall on the boundary lines separating Nantou from the counties of Yunlin, Chiayi and Hualien.
You could say that my wife and I have been constantly on the go for an entire year, traveling far and wide on our “exploratory tour” of Nantou. Only after we went out there to walk the earth and experience its geographical features firsthand did we understand that those simple-looking, abstract little lines scattered across our map provide a huge challenge when you try to actually “visit” all of them in the real world. The further we went on our search for the Chuoshui River and its source, the more we felt that we could never truly finish this journey, as our hearts were torn between praising the beauty of the verdant vistas and a sense of shame at knowing so little about them.
When I first reached the headwaters of the Chuoshui River, I was overwhelmed by the emerald multitude of towering peaks, one higher than the next, the zigzagging ridges casting wide arcs of shade on the mountainsides which were shimmering in various hues of darker and lighter green. All these subtle nuances were too much for a plain farmer whose everyday life was far removed from these high mountain areas.
The massive bulks of the mountains rose one behind the other in endless succession,....

From Chang Show Foong 張曉風et al eds. Chung-hua hsien-tai wen-hsueh ta hsi er《中華現代文學大系(貳)散文卷(二)》(A Comprehensive Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Literature in Taiwan, 1989-2003. Prose Vol. 2).Taipei: Chiuko Publishing, 2003.

2006春季號 2006夏季號 2006秋季號 2006冬季號