It was Admiral Shi Lang (施琅) who conquered Taiwan for Qing China. His armada of war junks fought a decisive sea battle off the Pescadores on July 7, 1683.

Koxinga or Zheng Chengkong drove the Dutch out of Taiwan in 1662 and founded the house of Zheng that ruled the island and the Pescadores for closely to 20 years. But he and his son Zheng Jing (鄭經) did so not as Ming emperor.

The father finally had time to ask his daughter what was all about. “What did you made the horse to come seek me out and get me back home for?” he questioned her.

Serikos is the Greek word, which means silken in English. The adjective means “pertaining to the Seres,” the Asian people from whom the Greeks first obtained the soft texture.

Of the Hoklo population in Taiwan those hailing from Quanzhou (泉州) form the preponderant majority. In the county of Tongan (同安) under the jurisdiction of the prefecture of Quanzhou, a boy was born on the twenty-second day of the eighth moon on the Chinese lunar calendar while China had yet to be reunified by the Emperor Taizhu of the Song (宋太祖) Dynasty who reigned from 960 to 976 A.D.

There are usually three Buddha images in the main hall of a Buddhist temple in Taiwan. They include Sakyamuni or Gautama Siddhartha, Dipankara (Dipamkara in Pali) or Randeng fo (燃燈佛) in Chinese, and Maitreya (彌勒佛).

Gods of thunder in China's Taoist pantheon had to work together with Feng Shi (風師) or Feng Shen (風神), Gods or Goddesses of Wind.

The imperial orders of Xuanzhong (玄宗) were obeyed to the letter. Everybody at his court and palaces searched for anything that had an image of the dragon.

One of the dragons is said to have caused storm and flood by mistake. Legend has it that during the reign (627-650 A.D.) of the emperor Taizhong of the Tang Dynasty (唐太宗), a dragon king came from his undersea palace to visit Zhangan, the capital city, where he met a Taoist diviner who knew what he was and told him to go back to carry out the Jade Emperor's rainmaking order.

Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan early last month, leaving in its wake more than 600 people dead and a third of Taiwan under floodwaters and mudslides.