Literature Park 文化綠洲

A couple of days ago I took my visitors to the Painted Animation Lane in Taichung. Our next stop after that was another culture landmark, but a very different kind.

前幾天有訪客到臺中，帶了他們去動漫彩繪巷。之後我們去了另外一個很不一樣的文化觀光景點。

This is the Taichung Literature Museum, a lush park in the middle of the Taichung City. The buildings here used to be accommodation quarters for the police force. They were built in 1932 when Taiwan was still under Japanese rule hence the style has a strong Japanese influence.

這是臺中文學館，一個在鬧市中的文化綠洲。它建於 1932年 ，以前是日治時期的警察宿舍，所以都是日式房子。

The buildings have been falling to derelict over the decades until a few years ago the local government regenerated the area and converted it to a literature complex. The whole area is around 2800sqm and has 6 buildings which is used for various literature related exhibitions and functions.

房子在過去幾十年一直荒廢，變成廢墟，幾乎要拆掉，後來市政府決定保留歷史遺址，改建成文學館。整個園區約 2800平方米，有 6棟房子用作推廣各種文化活動和展覽。

The most remarkable feature of the park is this massive banyan tree. I don't think anyone knows how old the tree is, so everyone just calls it the century old banyan tree. I don't think they're far off.

園裡最有特色的肯定是這棵榕樹。其實好像沒有人知道它的年紀，所以大家都是叫百年老榕樹，我看也蠻合適。

The tree has grown lots of aerial prop roots over the years and has pretty much surrounded and hidden the main trunk. It's actually become a structure of its own, growing around parts of old building wall and a path that still remains. You can't walk right underneath the tree now but you can walk pretty close around it. I saw a notice that this weekend a classical concert will be held here and an Austrian pianist will perform. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it otherwise I think it will be a great event mixing western classical music with an oriental environment.

老榕樹長了很多氣根，已把原本的樹幹包圍着而看不見了。整棵樹現在長到像一座獨立的建築，一排排的氣根像一道牆壁建在真的牆壁和小路旁。 老榕樹十分珍貴，所以不能在氣根下面走，但仍然可以在四周圍繞觀賞。我見到告示，大榕樹劇場這個週末有奧地利鋼琴家表演古典音樂會。 可惜我不能去，否則在亞洲老榕樹下表演西洋古典音樂，一定很好氣氛。

In my video, I'll take you for a walk around the rest of the park and to see the century old banyan tree in detail, so don't forget to check it out. Finally, I'm going to leave you with another part of the remaints of the old complex - the front gate painted in red and the blue address plate that can be found all over Taichung city. Just so you have the address if you ever decide to visit, or you can always checkout my pin on the Steemit World Map below.

我在視頻裡會帶大家遊覽文學館，近距離欣賞百年老榕樹，希望大家會喜歡。最後，我想跟大家分享警察宿舍遺留下來的紅色前門，和臺中各處可見的藍色地址牌。如果你有興趣來參觀，跟着地址找就可以，或是看我在 Steemit 世界地圖的連結也行。

Check out all my travel posts here or visit Steemit Worldmap

My video is at DLive