Snail Lane Taiwan

Featured Image: A colourful snail from Snail Lane, Tainan, Taiwan

  Breadtag Sagas ©: Author Tony,  12 August 2024

My first visit to Taiwan was permeated with ignorance, which stimulated me to write articles because Taiwan fascinated me in unusual ways. The first article First Visit to Taiwan summarised what I thought I discovered. The second article, though about Snail Lane, follows on with this voyage of discovery. The third article concerns Chinese Ceramics Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taiwan.

Snail Lane, Tainan, Taiwan 2024

Door Snails

Main Points

• Checking out Snail Lane, Tainan 2019
• Yeh Shih-tao (葉石濤) Taiwanese Literary Writer
• Our Visit to Tainan 2024
• Snail Lane in 2024
• Comment

Preamble

This is my first opportunity to write a whole blog in praise of my friend and gym buddy Peggy Bright and to recommend her excellent travel blog Where to Next?: Riding in cars with dogs. Although I did put Where to Next? in my 19 Best Travel Blogs article in July 2017.

Fancy Gold Snails, Snail Lane, Tainan

I read Peggy’s article Checking out Snail Lane in Tainan, Taiwan 3 July 2022 some time ago, not long after she posted it. However, I thought the article was a cute slant on the city.

At the time I knew very little about Taiwan and certainly had no idea where Tainan was, except well-south of Taipei. I also had no idea that Tainan was the oldest city in Taiwan nor that it was a centre for traditional culture and gourmet food.

Checking Out Snail Lane 2019

Snail Lane Text and Graphic, Snail Lane Footpath

In Peggy’s article Checking out Snail Lane she said:

We encountered this creative and colourful lane almost daily in late 2019 and early 2020, when the whole family gathered in Taiwan for Christmas.

Snail in Garden, Snail Lane, Tainan

The name Snail Lane stems from the writings of Yeh Shih-tao. a pioneering author and historian, who focused on the literary history of Taiwan and the lives of ordinary Taiwanese people.

Are these Snails?

Some years ago, he and his family moved into a small house near the centre of Snail Lane. Back then it had no name and was simply a collection of narrow streets, alleys and old housing communities.

Snail Light

Yeh Shih-tao brought the name Snail Lane to life in some of his writings. After the name started to stick, the local residents were inspired to clean their laneways and the surrounds of their homes, and add snail sculptures and artworks throughout the area. There are also sentences selected from Yeh’s novels and poetry.

Yellow Snail, Snail Lane, Tainan

Yeh Shih-tao (葉石濤)

Peggy also provided a link to a Taipei Times article on Yeh Shih-tao, by Han Cheung The writer who ate dreams 6-12 December, 2021. The title is from a comment by the writer who once compared writers to beasts who devour dreams to sustain themselves.

Two Snails

The article banner said:

After a carefree youth spent immersed in and writing literature, novelist Yeh Shih-tao was jailed during the White Terror. He eventually completed Taiwan’s first literary history.

More Not Snails, Snail Lane, Tainan

Yeh Shih-tao (葉石濤) was born in 1925 and died in 2008. For the first 18 years of his life in a well-off family he could ignore World War II and take refuge in literature. The family’s fortune soon disappeared.

I wondered in my article First Visit to Taiwan whether anyone would understand the nuanced view of the difficulties and tribulations of being a Taiwanese writer during the Japanese Colonial period and with the arrival of Chiang Kai-shek and rigid censorship, which we discovered in The National Museum of Taiwan Literature.

Trompe-l’oeil Snail

I said:

A small example is that with the arrival of Chiang Kai-shek, some writers who could only write in Japanese were completely disenfranchised.

Snails on Plant Climber with Guitar

Yeh Shih-tao was the perfect example of this. He struggled to make a living and was no longer allowed to write in his native Japanese. Unlike others in the ‘translingual generation’, the newspaper article goes on to say, he eagerly took up learning vernacular Mandarin.

Subtle Snails on the Bookshop, Snail Lane, Tainan

He was imprisoned for three years in 1951 under the White Terror (explained in my article First Visit to Taiwan) for his friendship with a former communist. Yeh found it difficult to find work once released and his family and friends were afraid to be seen with him on the street.

Bookshop Snails

The full newspaper article on Yeh Shih-tao is well-worth reading. Particularly, his return to writing after ten years and his future career.

Probably a quotation from Yeh Shih-tao in 1991

(The translation didn’t make much sense (possibly an artifact) and I couldn’t tie it to a quotation, but happy to include other scholarship.)

I tried to show in my article First Visit to Taiwan how difficult Taiwanese history was for many people. This is another example. Coming from Australia, it is difficult to realise how random regimes that you have no control over can destroy your life. Having some involvement in politics, it is so depressing how little Australians value our democratic freedoms or understand how important a responsibility voting should be.

An Artwork on a Building Site, Snail Lane, Taiwan

Our Visit to Tainan

When we decided to go to Taiwan (as outlined in a First Visit to Taiwan), I sought out Peggy’s article again and decided if we went to Tainan, we’d go to Snail Lane.

Hayashi Department Store, Art Deco, Tainan

We arrived at our accommodation in Tainan on Sunday evening, hot and bothered in the dark, after a long but lovely excursion to Lukang. The airBNB was at one end of Chennong Street, a famous boutique lane and an excellent to place to stay.

Wooden Snail on Shop

Our hostess a wonderful middle-aged Chinese lady spoke no English. But, she was an accomplished communicator who was determined to provide us with information about Tainan and happy to communicate across phone translators for as long as it took. She was also determined to introduce us to local gourmet food. Our room was spotless and rather charming and we were glad that we had three nights, one more than planned.

Wall of Confucius Temple, Tainan

Monday is always difficult in Taiwan as many things shut. We rode into the centre on Ubikes. It wasn’t far, but it was hot and the bikes were easy. We visited the Hayashi Department Store, the Confucius Temple and changed money at Land Bank (a neo-classical pompous Japanese edifice). We preferred the Hayashi Department Store, the renovation inside is splendid.

Is the Title ‘Snail’ Ironic?

The 228 Museum (concerning the massacre on 28 February 1947 across Taiwan see First Visit to Taiwan), The National Museum of Taiwan Literature and the art galleries were closed.

Land Bank of Taiwan, Tainan

However, as we had plenty of time after a delicious lunch we went to go to an old cinema Denise wanted to see and to Snail Lane.

Snail Lane 2024

A Map with QR Codes of Snail Lane Area, Tainan

As Peggy described, Snail Lane is an area of winding lanes rather than one lane within a city block. In April 2024, it was even more gentrified than when Peggy was there at Christmas/New Year 2019/20. However, there were still some run down areas to show how it had been early on.

Vintage Snail Image

The snail theme had been extended. Although some of the early snails were looking jaded. Some residents — typical of a small community — had abandoned the snail theme entirely and were promoting dogs and cats. However, we gained the feeling that this was merely a gentle protest and not a rebellion.

Not Snails, Snail Lane, Tainan

There was a new upmarket restaurant in a small square at the centre called, of course, L’Escargot and some other shops.

iPhoto Denise, L’Escargot and Snail

There was also an expensive gift and clothing shop at one corner of the complex near a main road run by a cooperative of makers. Denise bought a dress there.

Cool Snail on Trendy Design Store, Snail Lane, Tainan

I was more interested in the double heavy clear plastic drapes forming one of the entrances into a courtyard. These were held together by magnets, and weighed down by a chain, both keeping out the draught but easily parted, which I thought clever.

The Magnetic Plastic Door that I Admired

Comment

The photographs tell the story. Much had changed in four years! I think that the Snail Lane area is very slowly evolving into a key tourist area. Probably nicer to visit now than when it evolves into another Chennong Street. However, we really enjoyed staying in Chennong Street, a boutique lane area, so that I don’t think that Snail Lane will be awful in its future development. Just different. Thank you Peggy for the original story and directing us there.

Snail Sign, Snail Lane, Tainan

The sign says: 

Snail Lane Residential Area

Please Speak Softly

Please Don’t Smoke

Welcome to South America (referring to the shop)

Key Words: Snail Lane, travel, Asia, Tainan, oldest city, traditional culture,  gourmet food, Taiwan, snail, dog, cat, Peggy Bright, Leggy Peggy, Where to Next?, Yeh Shih-tao, writer, pioneering author, historian, literary history of Taiwan, novels, poetry, narrow alleys, lanes, Taipei Times, writer who ate dreams, beasts who devour dreams, White Terror, Japanese Colonial period, Chiang Kai-shek, rigid censorship, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, Japanese, Mandarin, ‘translingual generation’, Chennong Street, Hayashi Department Store, art deco, Confucius Temple, Land Bank, neo-classical, 228 Museum, art gallery, old cinema, L’Escargot restaurant, unrenovated

An Unrenovated Part of Snail Lane

A Seedier End of Snail Lane

Published in Canberra