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Meeting Cultural Workers 3
Interview with Mr. Tsung-Hsueh Li,
Hsueh on Facebook
While Lukang Explorers were looking for information about the Song of Pu-Tu in Lukang, the articles from Mr. Tsung-Hsueh Li were a great help to us. Mr. Li’s writing is insightful about the past and the present, easy to understand but with a great depth, and supported with many pertinent references. He has posted a lot on Facebook about important facts and interesting trivia of Lukang, like a Lukang professor. In fact, teaching is also Mr. Li’s daytime job. During the interview, he told us, “It is a blessing to grow up in Lukang. Our ancestors have left us with a large variety of data in culture and history.” A lot of people study the history of Lukang because this environment provides them with many cultural ingredients. It is with the efforts from our ancestors that we can see more and further, like standing on the shoulders of giants. This allows us to gain a better understanding about Lukang’s past and discuss the future potential of Lukang. Lukang Explorers asked about the historic context of the Song of Pu-Tu in Lukang in our interview on the morning of December 5th. Mr. Li replied, “This song describes Lukang as a community in the organization of Pu-Tu ceremonies. We can see it obviously from the lyrics; from ‘Day One, releasing water lanterns’ to ‘Twenty-nine, Pu-Tu all over Lukang’, everything is about this community. A certain temple should be doing something on a specific day, and sometimes temples might need to assist each other. All of these were stipulated.” But it is a pity that this community has disappeared. Now, each major temple or neighborhood community does their own Pu-Tu. There are some changes in Pu-Tu activities not only in Lukang, but in most parts of Taiwan. In the past, religious followers prepared their own offerings. They used to be busy in the early morning, shopping and cooking. These days, some people simply purchase “modularized” offerings from supermarkets, such as a 1000-NTD package of paper money, incense sticks and goodies. Alternatively, some may ask temples to purchase offerings on their behalf and choose whether they want to collect the goodies or give these away to charities. Setting up the Pu-Tu tables at temples has become an opportunity for college students to earn pocket money. As a result, while there are still many offerings, the variety of these offerings is nothing compared to the past. There are much less interpersonal interactions among local residents because it is no longer necessary to prepare for Pu-Tu on their own. Mr. Li thinks Pu-Tu for the following days is also a reflection of the traditional belief in Lukang, as posted on his Facebook. (more details available at “the Following Days” ) “There is plenty of data around, but we need to experience and observe carefully by ourselves to discover and appreciate the difference between now and then.” Mr. Li started to collate data and write about the current status of Pu-Tu sites on Facebook because of the Lukang Arts Festival in 2018. He hopes that more people get to know Lukang better. During the interview, Lukang Explorers could sense from his sparkling eyes his enthusiasm to share about the history and culture of Lukang. This interview did not only make Lukang Explorers know more about Pu-Tu in Lukang, but also take pride in living in Lukang.
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Source of photo: taken by Lukang Explorers
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