A strong Chinese flavor
Apart from homesick Chinese, the main clientele for Chinese restaurants are local people. When Westerners eat out, they set great store by the restaurant's ambience, so the Chinese atmosphere in Chinese restaurants overseas is particularly strong. Above the main doorway, one may see vermilion dougong brackets supporting a green tiled roof, and outside the entrance, a pair of snow-white stone lions. Then, on entering the restaurant's waiting area, there may be a dragon-carved imperial throne flanked by a pair of elephants bearing vases on their backs, symbolizing peace, and Qing-dynasty dress for guests to have their photos taken in. Further inside, one may be greeted on both sides by palace-style brass standard lamps, multi-colored vases as tall as a person, and carved wooden seating partitions. At the end of the aisle one glimpses an altar table, on which stand figures of Fu, Lu and Shou, the three star-deities responsible for the blessings of happiness, high office and longevity. Everything one sees or uses-from the carpet underfoot, with its symbolic pattern of five bats around a stylized shou ("longevity") character, the Ming-style chairs and tables, and the blue-and-white porcelain crockery, to the pool in the garden, decorated with strangely shaped stones, and the hexagonal shade pavilions-was made in Taiwan by the Sung family's China Palace company and shipped across the seas in containers.
In China Palace's factory in the Shihlin district of Taipei City, workers in the woodcarving department use mechanical fretsaws to first cut out all kinds of decorative openwork designs in wooden panels, while craftsmen with dozens of carving tools laid out beside them carve out one lifelike magpie after another, completely by hand. The walls of the work area are festooned with hundreds of stencils of auspicious motifs. Meanwhile in the carpentry department, the craftsmen are busy making large items of furniture, such as imitation antique wooden cabinets and seating partitions. After the carpentry and carving is complete, the items are passed to the painting department to be painted. After years of use, the workbenches there are covered with thick layers of paint. Because of rising wage levels in Taiwan, the craftsmen who do the lifen decoration produce simpler designs than in the past, and in response to changing tastes in interior decor they have begun using the same skills to do color decoration on glass.
The items produced here are all made to the dimensions measured out by China Palace's Taiwanese designers on their visits to customers' premises overseas. Large items such as shade pavilions, roofs or moon arch doorways have to be made in several pieces for assembly on site, to reduce their shipping volume. Once the installation of partition walls, mains services and air conditioning are complete at the overseas customer's premises, the items made in Taiwan are packed according to type, and loaded into shipping containers. At the customer's premises, they are unloaded according to the packing list and placed directly at the point where they are to be installed. With the drawings provided, they can be quickly assembled on-site even by local workers.
A strong Chinese flavor
Apart from homesick Chinese, the main clientele for Chinese restaurants are local people. When Westerners eat out, they set great store by the restaurant's ambience, so the Chinese atmosphere in Chinese restaurants overseas is particularly strong. Above the main doorway, one may see vermilion dougong brackets supporting a green tiled roof, and outside the entrance, a pair of snow-white stone lions. Then, on entering the restaurant's waiting area, there may be a dragon-carved imperial throne flanked by a pair of elephants bearing vases on their backs, symbolizing peace, and Qing-dynasty dress for guests to have their photos taken in. Further inside, one may be greeted on both sides by palace-style brass standard lamps, multi-colored vases as tall as a person, and carved wooden seating partitions. At the end of the aisle one glimpses an altar table, on which stand figures of Fu, Lu and Shou, the three star-deities responsible for the blessings of happiness, high office and longevity. Everything one sees or uses-from the carpet underfoot, with its symbolic pattern of five bats around a stylized shou ("longevity") character, the Ming-style chairs and tables, and the blue-and-white porcelain crockery, to the pool in the garden, decorated with strangely shaped stones, and the hexagonal shade pavilions-was made in Taiwan by the Sung family's China Palace company and shipped across the seas in containers.
In China Palace's factory in the Shihlin district of Taipei City, workers in the woodcarving department use mechanical fretsaws to first cut out all kinds of decorative openwork designs in wooden panels, while craftsmen with dozens of carving tools laid out beside them carve out one lifelike magpie after another, completely by hand. The walls of the work area are festooned with hundreds of stencils of auspicious motifs. Meanwhile in the carpentry department, the craftsmen are busy making large items of furniture, such as imitation antique wooden cabinets and seating partitions. After the carpentry and carving is complete, the items are passed to the painting department to be painted. After years of use, the workbenches there are covered with thick layers of paint. Because of rising wage levels in Taiwan, the craftsmen who do the lifen decoration produce simpler designs than in the past, and in response to changing tastes in interior decor they have begun using the same skills to do color decoration on glass.
The items produced here are all made to the dimensions measured out by China Palace's Taiwanese designers on their visits to customers' premises overseas. Large items such as shade pavilions, roofs or moon arch doorways have to be made in several pieces for assembly on site, to reduce their shipping volume. Once the installation of partition walls, mains services and air conditioning are complete at the overseas customer's premises, the items made in Taiwan are packed according to type, and loaded into shipping containers. At the customer's premises, they are unloaded according to the packing list and placed directly at the point where they are to be installed. With the drawings provided, they can be quickly assembled on-site even by local workers.
Over 300 species of aquatic plants populate Lin Chun-chi's paddies, including (shown left to right above) the Taiwan brandy bottle, water hyacinth, lantern seedbox, and water snowflake.