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On November 14, Lin and his sons arrived at the City of Light, which referred to Paris. In his diary, Lin Xian-tang thought Paris had both lightness and darkness, but there was more good than bad. In his diary, Lin said the streets in Paris were beautiful and ordered. Also, the historical sites in Paris could remind people of history. In addition, Paris was an international city where many visitors visited. As a result, it was common for citizens in Paris to meet foreigners. In other words, Parisians did not regard foreigners as outsiders, which was totally different from people in other countries. In fact, people who had not visited Paris usually imagined Paris as a beautiful city. In their mind, the life in Paris must be luxurious and dissolute. In fact, most of the Parisians had a plain life. Even though there were some streets with many places of entertainment, the places were actually mainly for foreigners. This is so called a little darkness in light. (See Figure 6 & 7)   Figure 6: The Diary of Mr. Guan-yuan on November 14, 1927.
(Source: The Diary of Mr. Guan-yuan, the digital archives of the Archives of Institution of Taiwan History)   Figure 7: The Paris Station and Porte Saint-Denis. (Source: Michael H.Finegan Collections, the digital archives of the Archives of Institution of Taiwan History) |
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