Foreword: Through the Grand Hotel Mr.Wang, we received the opportunity to interview the author of “Yuanshan (Round Hill) Monga Story” - Professor Huang Shi-hai ~ ~

On Wednesday afternoon, we took a taxi to visit Professor Huang. As the data for the net community was lacking in a profound knowledge of history, we made a visit to Professor Huang.

Professor Huang’s home is Tou Tiancuo (free hold flat) and full of antiques. It seems that he is quite wealthy. Professor Huang was born in 1928, so he understands well the history of the Japanese style shrine (Jinja) in Taiwan, but he does not speak standard Mandarin. In the interview, he mixed his Mandarin with some Japanese, which we did not understand but found interesting nevertheless as we sat in a circle listening to Professor Huang. Professor Huang is in fact a very good lecturer. Many schools have invited him to give a lecture. His lecture fee is about NT ten thousand an hour, and on the day of the interview we were rather lucky to hear a three-hour course for free.

In fact, we did not quite understand the beginning of his talk, but gradually we grasped what he was speaking about. However, sitting for nearly two hours had made it almost unbearable to keep listening and made our backs and shoulders sore. How we yearned to get up for some exercise! But as this would have been disrespectful to Professor Hwang, everyone held on in the lectures, each person in the end simply going into a trance. This course lasted for three hours, a really different experience from Cyberfair!

This interview undoubtedly proved to be a lot of fun! Only the end was a little boring because we had to sit for so long without moving and Grandpa Professor Huang’s accent made us sleepy! I could not help but nod my head, even though Grandpa Huang made a lot sense... er... zzz ... Although I kept looking at him, my heart was not there; I could not prevent my heavy eyelids falling. Perhaps when the lecture began, I concentrated too hard on what he was saying and expended all my energy early. Gradually, my concentration was supported only by my “will”! This shows I have not done enough meditation. Never did I think that the person I was interviewing could train my meditation like this.

Grandpa Huang told us his life experiences without reservation. Even his embarrassing stories were generously told! He really understands the history of Taiwan like lines on the palm of his hand. He knows everything; it’s amazing! He sure has lived a full life! Old Mr. Huang has a good sense of humor and is a lot of fun to interview! As he was an orphan, his grandmother had raised him, but we do not know his feelings toward his grandmother. Overall, this interview really earned its pay! NT 10,000 per hour is not enough to hire the old Professor for a lecture, but we did not even have to spend half a dime! So I hope we can interview him again next time!

To better understand the history of The Grand Hotel, on Wednesday afternoon, we visited Professor Huang Shi-hai’s home and learned some information about the history of the Grand Hotel. At first, Professor Wong was eager to explain to us everything in detail, but sometimes he would go off-topic and even told us his life history: He had lost his father when he was four years old and his mother when he was seven. Although this was an interesting fact, it was not what we wanted to know, so we could only bite the bullet and continue listening. Professor Huang’s voice is like a lullaby; it lulls us to sleep, and we resorted to “nodding” as encouragement. Finally, we visited the Shinsheng Kindergarten. Dr. Huang said that because it used to have a stone slide shaped like the elephant – “Lin Wang,” the kindergarten recruited more than a thousand students to the school!

In the interview process, Fu-tzu and I realized Professor Huang had not even fastened his buttons, making some people giggle, and we really wanted to draw his attention. Although the interview today was hard, we still gained a lot. We hope that these visits will enrich our data about the history of Yuanshan (Round Hill). We are also very pleased that old Mr. Huang gave us a lesson on “education” and history, an in-depth understanding of the process of Yuanshan (Round Hill) from the past to the present. We hope that this Cyberfair will be successful.

In this interview, the teacher arranged for us to visit Professor Huang Shi-ihai, as his expansive knowledge of the history of Yuanshan (Round Hill) would be help our work.

As soon as we arrived and crossed the threshold we saw the room filled with antiques that looked classical and included not only a bunch of valuables, but also many valuable statues of the Gods, just like in a small museum. All the team members were amazed to see that. The Professor first introduced himself and told us that he had entered the Military Academy by passing the exam in Japanese. No wonder his accent was not easy to understand. Then he said he was an orphan since childhood and was brought up by his grandmother. Because he had no toys, he made antique toys, and became very keen in collecting antiques that soon cluttered up his home. And he said he was made more than NT ten thousand from giving a speech outside! After the introduction, Hung-ting asked him what happened to Taiwan Hotel < the predecessor of Grand Hotel >. Professor then said the hotel was initially called Taiwan Hotel but was changed to The Grand Hotel after Madame Chiang Kai-shek took over. He also told us that the roof of The Grand Hotel had once been on fire as a result of a gas leak. The roof was burned down accidentally, but fortunately at that time passengers were awake and no casualties occurred.

Then he took us to see his childhood kindergarten, which had a slide shaped like the elephant Lin Wang. It looked so real that we could hardly tell it was a fake. This trip really was not in vain.

That afternoon, we came to Professor Huang Shi-hai’s home to learn the “Yuanshan (Round Hill) source.”

Entering the old man’s compound, I was simply stunned: in this small compound was a small pond with koi living in it. The first thought automatically out of my head was: This old man is really rich! I had not expected to find anything so stunning when entering the genkan (vestibule)! Among the antiques arranged inside the house was the old man’s employment letter, photos etc. of his young days. In my heart, I thought: What a reputable “good savage”! Then, the old man's speech began!

“Hold back, hold back, Lai Yu-ru, you must not fall asleep. Do hold back.” At this point, I was sitting in the chair and talking to myself in my mind: Don’t think I do not concentrate, I am a very attentive child, but this old man’s accent is so strong, I do not understand at all what he was saying. I only saw the old man’s saliva flying, everyone nodding in agreement and looking serious and focused. Look at that Liu Fu-tse, her eyes staring at Professor Hwang, and Kuo Hung- ting sitting straight and also staring at Professor Huang. I sat on the aside and nearly fell asleep ... my eyelids would not listen to me! I did not want this to happen! With difficulty, in the second half I beat the drowsiness! Finally, I caught the gist of what he was saying:

Professor Huang was born in 1928 when Taiwan was still under Japanese rule. He graduated from the military academy, wrote a book entitled . Although it costs NT 10,000 to hire him to give a lecture outside, we were free to listen to his lecture in his home, but I was too sleepy. Alas! Do not blame me! Kids these days don’t concentrate enough! Professor Huang went on to explain some more things. He can give an account of historical events in meticulous detail! Oh yes, this old man can also speak Japanese! Really cool!

After listening to three-hour course, we were ready to return home. Then as Professor Huang said he would take us to take a photo with the elephant Lin Wang, we exclaimed, “What? Elephant Lin Wang? Animals?” As we entered the kindergarten from the opposite side, we realized the elephant Lin Wang was actually the slide! What fun! We photographed ourselves waving at the old man before returning home. Really, quite a special backup!

In this interview, we went to visit Professor Huang Shi-hai, who talked for a very long time, but we also gained a lot of knowledge. It is said that he understands well the history of Taiwan and Taiwan’s Tourism like his own palm.

So on Wednesday afternoon, we Cyberfair team members visited the residence of Professor Huang Shi-hai because we had heard that Professor Huang knew much about the history of the Grand Hotel. We asked him to provide some information. As we entered the house, we were stunned to see so many ancient-looking antiques, so different from common household items. As we sat down, our team member Hung-ting asked him some things about Taiwan Hotel (ex-name of Grand Hotel). The professor told us it had been called Taiwan Hotel, but later on Madame Chiang Kai-shek and other political dignitaries established the “Taiwan Goodwill Association Foundation,” took over the hotel, and changed the name to The Grand Hotel. Professor Huang also told us that the Grand Hotel was once on fire and re-opened after renovation in 1998.

In addition to information on The Grand Hotel, he told us many of his personal stories and also took us to visit the realistic statue of the Lin Wang slide. Afterward, Professor Hwang even gave us paper lanterns in celebration of the Lantern Festival.

In order to enrich the data of “the history of Round Hill” for our Cyberfair, the teacher arranged for us to visit the home of the tourism professor - Mr. Huang Shi-hai. Manager Wang introduced him during our previous interview visit to The Grand Hotel. Before visiting, the teacher did not give us particular questions to ask. We were requested to play “spot response,” but to ask questions related to the history of the Grand Hotel as much as possible.

The interview location we went to is Sec. 2 (or Sec.3?) Shinsheng North Road. We traveled by taxi. When we arrived at the destination, we found the place was a row of old buildings. I glanced at my watch. As the interview time was half an hour away, we had originally arranged to go shopping. But Professor Huang, noticing some sly people outside his house, stretched his head out of the door. Realizing who we were, he greeted us warmly and kindly invited us to his house to sit. We were surprised to see Professor Huang’s home decorated with antiques, many of them Guanyin Buddha’s statues. The Professor’s eyebrows looked scary, both white and curly, and his cheeks full of wrinkles tell us he’s over 80 years. He had endured many vicissitudes in his life, which is extremely rich and full of accounts of many different people. As he began to answer our questions, I was astonished to hear his thick accent! Fortunately, the teacher would sometimes repeat his words, so I could piece together what he said. As he kept on talking with the saliva flying, I fear our expressions may have betrayed our tiredness from deciphering his words and listening to long off-topic stories! Initially in high spirits, we became helpless to say anything out of politeness. I struggled to keep myself from falling asleep and “forced open” my heavy eyelids. I pinched myself with my fingers, hoping to stay alert, but as the minutes ticked past, I could do nothing but wait. Finally, the interview was completed, and after we visited his kindergarten, this long activity came to an end.

Though the interview seemed a little waste of time, it was a big help in adding some information to the Cyberfair. Truly a special interview!

In the bright sunny afternoon, we came together all the way from the school to visit old Mr. Huang’s spacious home. The many antiques, colorful fish, and Mr. Huang’s politeness and fun words have all left an indelible impression. In the beginning, Mr. Huang continually told us about the evolution of history from the past to the present and the names of various places. It seemed that the more he spoke of the past, the more he remembered, and even the most insignificant details of his childhood were not exempt. Although Mr. Huang’s accent was somewhat difficult to decipher, we did our best to listen to Mr. Huang’s detailed explanation. As he was an orphan in his childhood, he relied little on the memory of his parents, having forgotten good memories in previous years. After the interview, he took us to the kindergarten that had the elephant “Lin Wang.” When we heard the name “Lin Wang,” we could not help but think of the animal in our hearts - Was Lin Wang really here? But when we looked around we only saw the various colorful recreational equipment and large and small slides, among which stood a familiar animal. So this was what Mr Huang meant by “Lin Wang”! When we saw the slide of elephant “Lin Wang,” we were eager to touch it because we had never seen such a vivid and interesting slide. Even its skin looked rough like the actual elephant “Lin Wang.” Not only did Mr. Huang expand our vision, but he also gave us rabbit-like lanterns, as that day was the “Lantern Festival.” Maybe we were destined to meet Mr. Huang.

This interview experience gave us a richer understanding of history and expanded our store of knowledge. We eagerly look forward to the next interview with Mr. Huang.