This year is the 40th anniversary of the Department of History, so in marking this special occasion, the Liquor Culture Center will hold a special exhibition on unusual bottles. It will open in the afternoon of November 3, the 56th TKU anniversary day. Those who are interested in these artifacts and would love sampling various liquor and wine are welcome.
More than a thousand of bottles in various shapes and forms will be on display. These bottles resemble the shapes or contain the themes of transportation means, buildings, music, sports, animals, plants, people and books. For example, there are bottles that look like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the merlion which is known as the icon of Singapore, and the Constitution of the Republic of China, just to name a few. Most of these bottles are the prized possessions of Ho Yung-cheng, a professor of the History Department cum the Director of the center. He loves to collect liquor bottles wherever he goes, so some of them were purchased in his countless oversea trips. Some were purchased on the Internet as some others were found outside restaurants. He sees himself as someone who likes to go through other people’s trash, yet for him someone else’s trash is usually his treasure. Many bottles are antiques so walking into the room, one feels like embarking on journey back in time.
The star attraction of the exhibition are the world smallest sample whisky bottles that are the size of mini perfume bottles. He bought them Hong Kong and as they are a limited edition, there are not many of them in the world. He also believes some of the local sample liquor in is equally good. Some types are no longer in production. Therefore, this exhibition will be one of the rare occasions where you can still get a taste of them. Liquor apart, beer, wine, and vodka also come in sample bottles.
He also ranks his bottles in terms of “the most” in various categories. For example, a bottle that has the shape of Goddess of Mercy is “the holiest”. A bottle that is made of two Chinese opera masks with one on each side. One side represents a good character, while the other bad, in his view, is “the most dramatic” one. A set of bottles that represent the three historical figures, Liu Bei, Chang Fei, and Kuang Yu during the Three Kingdom period (220-280 AD) who swore allegiance to one another by forming a brotherhood are “the most loyal” ones. “The most poetic” bottle has to go to a bottle containing Lee Pai and San Su, two famous Chinese poets. Finally, “the most harmonious bottle” goes to a set of them consist a pair of Korean newly-wed couple, a Scottish piper and European knights. (~ Ying-hsueh Hu )
