in which I not only get a Chinese name and official chop, but examine wedding invitations and visit a barrel maker

Here's another guest post is from North Carolina author and sculptor Joel Haas, who is traveling in Taiwan and taking plenty of pictures. This is the fifth post from Joel, see links to the others at the end.

To see the full photo album of Chinese chops and seals go to my Flickr album HERE

I needed a Chinese name and an official seal or "chop" to transact some business here. My friend and fellow sculptor, Wen Ching, came by the Taipei Artists' Village to meet me for a stroll over to his cousin's office. His cousin, Liang-Jen, is not only a sculptor but runs several other businesses, among them, teas, video productions, and arts management.

The weather's perfect here now, so we strolled along Zhong Shan North Rd. just to see the sights. It wasn't long before we came across a the sort of thing you won't find on an American mainstreet--in fact, I understand it's even unusual here considering how active and upscale Zhong Shan Rd is--we found a wooden tub maker. He makes barrels, too, whch would make him a cooper, but buckets and tubs are his specialty. His shop has been in this location since 1928 and appears to be virtually unchanged.

All the items are hand made by the man in the middle and his assistant on the left. The metal fittings and hoops are loose since it's meant that the items--made from Taiwan cyprus--will be soaked and kept wet. When wet, the wood will swell to make the metal parts fit perfectly. The big tubs are designed to bathe in with special medicinal herbs; regular buckets and dumpling steamers are seen to the right.

Pushing on, we walked through the side alleys, past shops for dried fruits, and a shop selling dried sea horses, turtle skeletons, and snake skins for medicinal purposes. I hope those aren't soaked in the barrel maker's tubs, too!

Nothing like a little turtle shell and mountain goat antlers to stir up an appetite.
I had to investigate one of the sidewalk breakfast joints offering what I thought was bread sized slabs of lard for sale. Wen Ching was showing a lot of patience waiting for me to examine every mundane detail along the streets. He had gave an astonished laugh when I asked about the "slabs of lard." They are actually pieces of rice flour bread, with various types of spices or meat embedded in them. You buy one and they toast it on the griddle, cut it up for you and top it with whichever gravy or sauce you want. We took a table, placed an order and had enough for two spending only 90 cents US.

We managed to get another two blocks down the road without eating but couldn't get past the attractive young lady selling spongy, green pancakes---with, you guessed it--red bean paste filling. The pan cakes are mixed with ground green tea and cooked on one side only before being whisked off the griddle and and rolled around a filling. The owner walked up, insisting the foreigner try one on the house. I did and must say it was good. Wonder what sort of children's Dr. Seuss book there is in "Green Pancakes and Red Beans on Yellow Dragon Street?"

They look like small green sponges the red bean past can be seen barely peeking out

We made it to Liang-Jen Lee's office without being offered more food. He immediately pulled out excellent, rare tea and so we drank several cups of tea while (you guessed it) he sent out for lunch! The REAL question in Taiwan is not China, but "What are we eating next?"

Several pots of tea and a full lunch later, we had finished discussing business. It turned out I need a Chinese name and an official chop-- or seal-- for documents. A Chinese name is not an odd idea to the Chinese. Most of them have Western names for convenience in dealing with foreigners or to use on the internet. If I have a Chinese name, then they have a way to address me using sounds they can make. This works both ways. To my mortification, I found from my friend Wen Ching, I had been mispronouncing his family name in a way that made it sound like is was saying..well, ahem...ur..fecal matter.

We soon ran into a problem. Not only is my name VERY difficult for Taiwanese to pronounce properly, but the best transliterations into characters and words come out as "Huh Joe" which means "drinks alcohol." Worse, a name chop needs three characters or words and we only had two. Wen Ching suggested I supply them with my official name including my middle name; perhaps they could figure something out with a little more to work with.

They sort of did. After much chatter between them in Taiwanese and scribbling characters back and forth to each other, they came up with (ppelled in PinYin as) Ai He Jiu. Pronounced "Aye Huh Joe."

It literally means------LOVES DRINKING ALCOHOL! (in fairness, Ai is common in Chinese)

"Well," Liang-Jen muttered, "Nobody will forget your name."

Now, we had to wander up and down the streets looking for a chop shop to make my new chop. Not so fast, I was told, I needed to decide on a style.

Style?!

Liang-Jen pulled a sheet of paper from his files. On it were examples of his companys seals. In one column large size seals were arrayed in various styles of calligraphy; to the right was a column of smaller seals. The left ones, they explained were seals used only for various specific functions of the company. There was one seal style used for company proposals and promotional material; another, using older style calligraphy, was only to be used by the company accountant on financial reports. The seals in the right column were the corresponding styles of company personal seals to be used with each large seal. For example, a financial report would have both the large seal stating the name of the company and a smaller personal seal of the person authorizing the report.
I insouciantly took a photo of the sheet as an example for this travelogue. There ensued between Wen Ching and Liang-Jen a short conversation in Taiwanese; then, Wen Ching explained in English, that since seals are official and legal signatures perhaps it would be best if in an era of PhotoSHop and easy digital reproduction, that I not publish a sheet of their seals. It is akin to publishing a photo of somebody's bank account numbers or signatures here in the West. Embarressed, I hastily deleted the photos and they very kindly allowed me to photograph a sheet of seals from a defunct company (which I have altered slightly, so they can still be detected as forgeries.)
The maze like calligraphy is the most ancient style; the brush type being more "modern"

Finally, we were ready to find a chop shop. Wen Ching's father-in-law is a retired master chop carver--in the old days, seals were hand carved. One had to be both an excellent craftsman and an excellent calligrapher. Now, seals are machine carved, running off computer programs. You can go to a very high end chop maker or even find them on the streets. Street chop vendors often work along with key makers--the equipment is the same.

We left the office; walked past the orchids growing on trees along Renai Rd;

Past fruit stands

and coral carvers

and all sorts of other shops--a brassierre shop, a woman preparing betal nuts, and a place that seemed like a

until we found a chop shop similar to this one

stone chops with miniature statues are quite collectable but very expensive. I, and most people, buy wood or plastic sticks from which chops are made, sans decorative little statues

Our chop maker poses with me before starting on making my chop

He paints the end of the blank chop red; then brushes on the calligraphy. Note the wooden nifty adjustable chop holder.

Getting ready to make a chop the modern way--he wouldn't really have to use the red paint and calligraphy.
Notice the large character for "Ai" will be on the right. Chinese reads from right to left, and Chinese always state a family name first.

A machine cuts my chop

My finished chop. The characters written out with a ball point pen and taken to the chop maker on the right. My chop and the red ink pad, a donation from Liang-Jen since I had forgotten to buy any at the chop shop. Note there is a cap on the right to put over the chop end when not in use. Notice also the dot on the chop so the user knows which way to position it when applying the chop so the characters are right side up and reading from the right. If seals wear out or are damaged, the bottom is simply sanded smooth again and a new seal carved.

It's tough making a living as a chop maker. My wooden chop cost me only NT$ 130 (about US$ 3.75) so they are also the place to have wedding announcements, wedding invitations, birth announcements, and business cards printed. See the photo of a sample fancy wedding invitation below.

Nearly all the chop shops, but not the sidewalk vendors, sell elaborate stone and wood carvings for collectors, but that's not a real money making market. They occassionally also sell ornate stone chops made as gifts. Below, one of the stone curios for sale at the shop.

Our chop maker's front window. The elaborate stcker seen below was in several places in the shop. I also saw it in many other places. It is an ornate combination of four characters welcoming good fortune and money to come into the this place.

So, sealed, but not signed, that was the end of my Chinese name and chop adventure.
It was not the end of the day's adventures by any means but it's all I have room or time for now. We had a discussion of door gods we found in an alley; walked by the Dr. Sun Yat-sen house; and I took Wen Ching out to supper at a Xian style restaurant which serves odd Chinese food even by Chinese standards. Xian cuisine is totally different. Xian, you may recall is the province in north central China where the large underground ceramic army was found. But that's all for another newsletter.

My photo albums of my Taiwan trips can be found at Flickr.

Joel Haas is a sculptor from Raleigh, North Carolina. You can see his works at his website or at Neighborhood Sculpture Walk, and read stories at his blog.

Also see Joel’s previous posts:

A Trip to Taipei’s Shilin Night Market

Red Bean Filled Hockey Pucks and Mind Control

Yam Wielding Grannies, Plastic Bugs, and Cilantro Ice Cream

Not in Kansas Anymore