Saturday, Nov 8, 2008
8:30
Meet at hotel lobby (Taipei)
8:40
Depart from Taipei





Yilan Winery has a long history and was founded by 34 people including Lin Cing-Yun in 1910. The first impression that visitors have is the wall decorated by old wine jars over the last few decades. The main hall on the 1st floor displays many different wine products and good wines. Climbing up the wooden stairs to the 2nd floor, there is a gallery that details the centennial history of the old winery and provides an excellent education opportunity for you to learn about the wine making process, relationship between wine and human life, and relationship between wine and culture.

National Center for Traditional Arts

Traditional arts are rooted in people's lives and are a form of beauty derived from the art of living. According to our ancestors, the origin of our culture was divided into two categories. One was performing arts such as music, folk songs, dance, acrobats, story-telling, theatre, puppet theatre and so on. The second category was art concerned with design. This category placed an emphasis on traditional handcrafts such as sculpture, weaving, painting, collage-making, ceramics and the gold-silversmith trade. These were considered the most developed and appreciated forms of traditional arts.




Traditional performing arts evolved out of the leisure activities and the beliefs and practices of people in certain areas. The popularity of traditional performing arts is timeless. Traditional performing arts mimic the joy, anger, sorrow and happiness of life as well as the natural cycle of life and death. These aspects of life are told through story telling, singing, dancing, and drama. Much of the humor and sarcasm of life as well as human wisdom are embodied in these performances. Traditional performing arts express human emotion as well as all the basic conditions of life. The concept of art being life is clearly evident in this tradition.

Traditional handcrafts can either be functional or decorative. Some handcrafts are both functional and decorative whilst others emphasize one aspect over the other. In any case, the aesthetic values and human spirituality traditional handcrafts represent are now harder to obtain in today's industrialized society. Local handcrafts in Taiwan were made according to our daily needs, our climate, our natural environment, culture, history and religion. Traditional handcrafts represent generations of wisdom and creativity and represent the beauty of the harmony between man and nature.
Website: http://www.ncfta.gov.tw/

Pinglin Tea Museum
Located in Pinglin, Taipei County, Pinglin Tea Museum presents the Chinese tea culture and is worth visiting for tea lovers. Pinglin Tea Museum has an abundant collection of materials on tea culture. The museum is made up of the Exhibition Hall, Theme Hall, Multimedia Hall, Tea Art Hall and the Promotion Center. The Exhibition Hall has 3 exhibition areas: tea history, tea making and tea leaves, introducing how tea culture has developed in the Chinese history, rituals of tea making and commercial development of tea. We believe the visitors will have a better understanding of tea history after visiting the museum.


17:00~18:30
Back to Taipei

18:30
Dinner in Taipei
*Hwa-Young Restaurant*

Reminder:
1. Casual dress code and comfortable footwear are preferred for all tour event, necessary pharmaceuticals are to be prepared privately.
2. Tour program may vary due to unexpected bad weather.
3. Lunch & Dinner will be included for all guests joining the tour.