Today I was in Kaohsiung, the City of Sunshine. Even though it's mid-November it was at least 30°C and I got sunburned to fuck. Kaohsiung is a port city and has been since it was established during the Qing Dynasty nearly 400 years ago. It's passed hands many times and has been an important city to Taiwan. I originally planned to visit the old port area and train station but on my way I found this old Japanese village. It was built for the workers of an Oil Refinery. Even found this creepy old bunker which took me 4 attempts to go in cause I was so feart. This is the BIGGEST Japanese villages I've ever found in Taiwan. Despite it's age most houses are still standing and not completely destroyed. Most are abandoned yet I saw renovation going on some had residents living there. I striked up a conversation with some elderly tennis players to ask about Taiwan's history including the Japanese colonisation and White Terror periods. I've noticed it's hard to get a detailed response to these questions. Perhaps it's hard to talk about. There were 2 people who gave me detailed accounts of what happened but my Chinese isn't good yet to fully understand it all. Luckily I recorded it all so if I'm looking for someone to help me translate and transcribe the video. Overall, life during the White Terror was exactly that. A terror. It's perhaps too much to write here so I'll make a blog post detailing what they told me. I'll also get the video up too. I sometimes find it hard to ask certain questions cause I'm afraid that people may be offended or upset by the questions. The elderly in Taiwan have lived lives that most of us are lucky to have never experienced. Curfews, oppression, no freedom of speech, dictatorships, totalitarian governments, mass killings, cultural genocide just to name a few. I'll keep learning Chinese and find more personal accounts during this period. While there are plenty of books that tell us what happened, I'm interested in hearing individual stories from real people. On top of that, I want to delve deeper into the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan, particularly the tribes Rukai and Paiwan. . . . #taiwan (at 宏南中油宿舍) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5AN5lVH2F7l30Ypty5XCIgmRaAxJG6wCIa7RA0/?igshid=7vg4hl75unfv