Spending time in cemeteries is not something the average foreign national in Taiwan would put on their itinerary, but for Oliver Streiter it’s a must.

Since 2007, the German citizen has visited 45,000 tombs on more than 500 graveyards in Taiwan, Penghu and Kinmen and has compiled a collection of 180,000 photographs.

The casual observer could be forgiven for speculating that Streiter is perhaps an ardent fan of the American television drama series Ghost Whisperer. But that would be a far jump from reality.

Streiter, in fact, is an associate professor at the Department of Western Languages and Literature at National University of Kaohsiung who studies tombs, in particular their inscriptions, for clues on what they say about a place’s culture, history and people.

Using GPS-equipped cameras, Streiter takes photographs of the cemeteries he visits and later analyzes the writing on the tombs, the offerings laid there, the family names and dates, as well as other details.

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