An institution here in Taiwan is the night market. It would be somewhat equivalent to the flea markets to which people in the West are accustomed, but with a few notable differences. For one, and obviously, it is held at night. There are at least two very good reasons for this. The first being that most people are not working at that time. Chinese are extremely industrious people, some would say to the point of mania, and even Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are working days for many people, with the exception of government employees. The other reason for the markets being held at night has to do with the weather. The boiling, humid, Taiwanese daytime weather is simply not conducive to amiably strolling between stalls and food stands. There would probably be far less laughter and noise as people would huddle under protective umbrellas, hiding from the cursed sun while still trying to participate in a unique cultural experience. Thankfully, this is not the case and night markets are extremely lively places.
Another thing about night markets is that they are held virtually every night of the week in whatever available space there is. So, in Yuanlin there are four night markets, that I know of. One is held on Tuesdays and Sundays in a vacant lot where someone once had plans to build a large department store, but didn't have the finds to do. Another is held on Fridays in an adjacent vacant lot. This market was previously situated elsewhere until the owner of that land decided to build on it. A new market has recently opened on Thursdays in the parking lot of a large department store and the fourth and largest market is held on Wednesdays and Saturdays in a vacant lot encircled by apartment buildings whose residents must curse the day they bought those apartments. What people do on Mondays is anyone's guess!
Like flea markets, night markets are places where you can buy virtually anything at dirt cheap prices - clothes, toys, jewelry, shoes, kitchen utensils, pirated CDs, VCDs and DVDs, housekeeping equipment, ornaments, fruit and vegetables ... There are fun activities for children, like jumping castles, go-carts, and other games of skill where you can win prizes (which many adults, including myself, also play). And what would any Taiwanese activity be without food, lots of it. Grilled seafood, steak, grilled and fried sausages, deserts, soda drinks and fruit drinks, fruit milk and tea, stinky tofu, dried tofu, fried tofu, soft tofu!
And above the din of human passage and activity are the noises of a typical market place - squeaks, screams, whistles, loud blaring voices attempting to attract attention to this or that stall. As I sat in the night market eating my steak, served on a bed of noodles with a fried egg on the side, and hordes of people milling all around my table, I was inspired to write again.
Dion Marc Delport
7 April 2006