Tourist favorites of the "island beautiful" are usually depicted in photographs. In this issue the Free China Review turns to the art of a young Taiwan landscapist, Lin Tien-shih, who has specialized in the scenic panoramas of the island province. Lin's work has been widely exhibited at home and abroad. Shown on this page is his representation of the Wulai waterfall in the Taipei area. This resort has an outdoor theater featuring songs and dances by aborigines, a pushcart railway and an aerial tramway. There is a hotel and good restaurant near the falls. Wulai can be visited in the course of a half-day bus excursion.
(Pic-1)
(Pic-2)
(Pic-3)
(Pic-4; File photos)
Here are four Lin Tien-shih paintings of Taiwan scenic attractions. The Tortoise Island looming up in the Pacific off the northeastern city of Ilan (Pic-1). Just to the south the broad' and fertile Ilan plain bumps into the rugged Central Mountains. The Yehliu seascape with its contorted sandstone sculptures. This area is only about an hour's drive from Taipei (Pic-2). The visitor can circle the northern tip of the island and return without retracing a single step. The Sea of Clouds along the East-West Cross-island Highway near Kuanyuan (Pic-4). The Swallows' Grotto in Taroko Gorge near the eastern portal of the same road - so named because of the countless birds which wing past on their way to and from nests in caves and crevices along the canyon walls (Pic-3).
(File photos)
Ali Mountains of the Central Range are readily accessible to visitors via the forestry railroad that runs to the village of Alishan at 7,500 feet. Some spectacular vistas open up from this vantage point. One is the sunrise over Mt. Chu (top) and the Sea of Clouds at Tashan (bottom). Diesel trains climb from Chiayi on the south-central plain to alpine meadows and stands of pine, fir and cypress in four hours. Hikers come here to start up 13,000-foot Yushan.