Most people associate the Legislative Yuan with its debating chamber — a room synonymous with political power, interparty strife and Taiwanese democracy.
Pictures of lawmakers engaged in violent brawls or sending pig intestines flying on the chamber’s carpeted floor have been splattered across newspapers and screens at home and abroad. There have also been defining moments like Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil’s “I am Taiwanese” speech, which he delivered on Sept. 1 last year during a six-day visit.
Yet for all the hullabaloo and excitement that the main chamber projects, it is just one of the many pieces that make up the sprawling complex serving as the workplace of hundreds of staffers, lobbyists, reporters and police officers.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
One of the lesser-known parts of the Legislative Yuan is a bustling, makeshift market just a few steps from the debating chamber.
It is a shabby, enclosed hallway lined on one side with the security chief’s office and drivers’ lounge, and on the other with a beauty salon, florist, juice stand, barbershop, laundry and shoe repair services.
The barbershop counts among its past clients former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who told reporters before ending his 44-year tenure as a lawmaker in January last year that it was one of the places he would miss the most after leaving office.
Along the various storefronts, folding tables are set up for a rotation of vendors to sell fruits, vegetables, pastries, plants and other merchandise.
In the back of the hall, there is a mini-mart stocked with items such as umbrellas, snacks and bottled drinks.
While the household products it carries — including toothbrushes, shampoos and canned fish — seem out of place in an office-based establishment, they might be justified by the overnight occupations that lawmakers and protesters have in the past organized when the legislature was in session.
Around the corner from the indoor bazaar is Kang Yuan (康園), a Cantonese-inspired restaurant that serves as the legislature’s canteen and provides an events room where lawmakers host guests.
It is known for its affordable prices — the buffet on the first floor costs NT$65 per person — and traditional banquet favorites like Dongpo-style braised pork belly and deep-fried duck with taro paste.
Positioned around the restaurant are large posters of the chamber building’s facade for tourists to photograph and pose in front of.
Although the two police officers standing guard outside its street-facing side might suggest otherwise, the restaurant’s general manager, Tsai Tsung-lung (蔡宗龍), said Kang Yuan is accessible to anyone with a reservation.
The restaurant attracts many of its customers through word of mouth, he said, adding that the popularity of its pickled cabbage has helped spread the word.
People often wonder if they would meet lawmakers at Kang Yuan and his answer would be: “Of course,” said Tsai, who described the Legislative Yuan as “the people’s palace.”
While he has grown accustomed to seeing lawmakers around the place, it is a unique experience for first-time visitors, he said.
Another rarely discussed part of the Legislative Yuan is the Parliamentary Library, which is housed inside a dingy basement in the Chun-hsien Building (群賢樓).
Smaller than the average municipal public library branch and producing a distracting hum, its physical presence appears less functional than symbolic.
Parliamentary Library data show that in December last year it recorded just 894 visits, but about 1.03 million online searches of its digital database.
Nevertheless, the saving grace of the brick-and-mortar library is a limited, but curated collection of books and periodicals on subjects ranging from politics, economics and law to gender issues, healthcare and the environment.
It is tailored to the needs of the people who have access: lawmakers, staffers, journalists, government employees, academics with special permission and members of the Interlibrary Cooperation Association.
It also includes surprising and delightful finds such as a 37-volume set of William Shakespeare’s works in Mandarin published in September 1967 by the Far East Book Company, and a manga series titled The Chef of the Ambassador by Mitsuru Nishimura and Hiroshi Kawasumi.
The Legislative Yuan has seen it all in the past 60 years since it moved to its current location in the capital’s Zhongzheng District (中正).
During that time, much attention has been paid to its main chamber, a place presented to the outside world in all its theatricality.
However, beyond the chamber is a whole other ecosystem with a life of its own.
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