Tong-Por Tay is also among my early family members who came to Taiwan. In this painting, I emphasize the traditional features of Hakka women. These women must perform tasks within and outside the family, and both land-tilling and household chores were their duties. They worked much more than other ethnic women in Taiwan in early days. Hakka women never bounded their feet and therefore enjoyed more mobility. Because most Hakka settlements lacked resources for all, many Hakka men became traveling businessmen or migrant workers, and Hakka women had to look after the entire family and educate children at home while their men were away. In this way, Hakka women had stronger opinions in the family than women in other cultures. Due to a challenging living environment, they were much more resilient than their counterparts, too. Literary critic Peng Rui-chin commented on Hakka literature in Taiwan, saying it “highlights the great women supporting the entire Hakka population.” Male Hakka writers describe Hakka women as “diligent, hard-working and dignified.” They have “the vitality and strength for survival like Mothers of Earth in a laboring world.” “These women exude warmth like the Sun. They may be quiet and plain, but they are so heart-warming that they seem to be able to melt everything down. Their warmth, love and vigor are mesmerizing. Their resilience inspires people and the world. They make undetermined men settle and feel protected under their umbrellas.” Undoubtedly, the core of the Hakka society is based on the resilience and motherhood of Hakka women. The image of the “Mother of Earth” is exactly what I hope to present in Tong-Por Tay. Unlike the stone carving-like texture in Shyang-Jou Gong, Tong-Por Tay has a much softer one. To express Hakka women’s tenderness beneath their tough looks, I used earth to form a heavy base before covering it with pieces of greige cloth. I also applied Gongbi (realist) and Xieyi (expressive) techniques in Chinese painting, using Gongbi to depict Tong-Por Tay and Xieyi to depict flowers in the background. Like in Shyang-Jou Gong, I accentuated the characteristics of the protagonist through the backdrop. I used plentiful flowers and twigs to attain the visual imagery of vitality, indicating that Hakka women are like Mothers of Earth. Nevertheless, the Xieyi technique alone is not good enough to present people’s common impression of Hakka women. Xieyi painting has derived from Chinese calligraphy. It emphasizes the use of simple brushstrokes to deliver a fulfilling picture. In terms of theme, backdrop and depth of field, Xieyi painting is quite clear-cut. However, Xieyi makes an image coming from people’s collective memories of the past too lucid. It reduces the romantic obscurity of it. Thus I added “ink-wash” in Chinese painting to create that sense of obscurity in the painting space. Finally, Tong Por-Tay emerges from the past. Composition-wise, the senior lady seems to sit in a family shrine. The upper arch is decorated with a beaded curtain, indicating that she led the family like a queen attending state affairs from behind a curtain. Influenced by a feudal ideology that men were superior to women, Hakka females had a lower status socially and family-wise. The wise Hakka women, however, could always remain independent and dignified while having a voice. They tactfully avoided the superiority/inferiority issue, winning a place both within and outside the family. The beaded curtain exactly indicates that. (Peng Hsien-hsiang)