Taiwan Blog Feed

I'm planning on wandering slowly (by bike) down the east coast, maybe close to the very south by Christmas Day and New Years Day. I know only Jan 1st is a holiday in Taiwan, but if I understand correctly a lot of people treat both as holidays anyway?...

Tomorrow will be the third time I’ve been set up for a matchmaking dinner this month. These things usually don’t happen to me, but I guess when it rains, it pours.

The week before last, Mom tried to lure me into having dinner with “Grandpa’s young and very talented surgeon.” I didn’t know what it was all about until she kept calling and calling and calling, asking when I’m finally getting off work, when I was working overtime at the anti-Chen Yunlin riot. And just two days before that the managing director called asking if I was free that night to meet a guy looking to marry someone. Eh… But once again, I was saved by protestors. I very happily worked in a violent mess until 22h00 that night.

Well, the guy looking for a bride is back in town (he lives & works in China) and there are no demonstrations to hide behind this time. The dinner is tomorrow. Ann, stop laughing.

On the other hand, Mom’s again rubbing her hands because next Wednesday, we’re having a “family” dinner at the exclusive Wang Pin steakhouse, which you can only get reservations through employees of the conglomerate that owns the restaurant. The Chang Geng Memorial Hospitals are part of the conglomerate. Guess who’s probably coming to the dinner?

I feel like I’m living in the middle ages. They may as well bind my feet and put me in three-inch lotus shoes.

Must think of emergency exit strategy!!!

Today it was announced that weekly unemployment in the US is at a 16 yr high in the US (27,000). What we are currently calling the “global economic crisis” (or, as they are calling it here in TW-land, the ‘Economic Tsunami’) has had a serious and very immediate impact on jobs, and the people at [...]

(via LFTC)

Writing Style: Short Stories

About the Author: Alexandria Lu

Once upon a time, there was a very beautiful princess named Emma Evans. She wanted to marry Jodi Jones, prince of Alexandria Country. But, before the wedding started, Jodi’s Mom decided she liked being a queen, so she sneered at Emma and kicked her out of the huge, imposing castle.

Emma Evans ran into the forest and cried very loudly. Suddenly, a lovable numen showed up and asked her,“What happened, pretty girl? May I help you?”

“Who are you? Oh my god! You can ……fly?” Emma Evans said wonderingly. 

“Ha! Ha! I am a magical numen, and I can help you do everything. Um……You can call me Cathy.” The numen replied.     

Emma asked,“Are you sure? I want to have a vacation on an island. Can you help me?”

“Of course, where do you want to go?”Cathy said, smiling. Then, everything started shaking. It felt like an earthquake.  Suddenly, they were on an island.

“Where are we?” the princess asked.

“Taiwan.” Cathy replied. The numen changed into a small cat and leaped up on Emma’s shoulder.

“Where should we live?” Emma asked.

“I will use my magic to make a house.” Cathy answered. Then, she used her magic to build a large construction on a ground.

Just as they stepped inside, a terrible thing happened. The doorbell rang. When Emma opened the door, she saw a handsome and very well dressed man standing outside. He didn’t say anything. He just walked straight to the big old couch and lay down on it.

“Who are you? This is my house!” Emma Evans cried.

The man said,“My name is Garner Green, and this land belongs to me. Although the house was built by you, I can prove it’s mine, because I have the deed to the house.” Being one of the most famous fashion designers in the world, Garner wanted to use the land to build a wide structure. It would be his new company in Taiwan.

“So, where can my cat and I live?” Emma asked loudly. 

“Um…… You can live here before you find a new house.” Garner replied sleepily.     

“Thanks.” she said disappointedly.

A short time later, the evil queen discovered Emma hadn’t died. In fact, the queen was actually a terrible witch. She used her magic to go to Taiwan to find the princess’ house. Then, the queen changed into an ugly rat and put some medication in Emma’s dinner to make her fall asleep. Finally, she caught her.

The little numen thought,“The queen’s magic is greater than mine. I must find someone to help.” She leaped out the window and changed into a girl. She went to find the fashion designer, Garner Green, to see if he could help. Cathy found him on the street near the house. He looked very confused when he saw her, but Cathy brushed it off and said,“Can you help me? Emma has been caught by an evil witch. She is in danger!”

Garner didn’t say anything. He rushed to the house, rescued Emma and killed the bad queen.

Emma was so happy, she told him everything about herself, including the fact that the bad witch was a queen, Emma was a real princess and Cathy was a cute magical numen. Garner and Emma realized they had fallen in love with each other. They decided to get married, and that is how the fashion designer, the pretty princess and the lovely numen live happily ever after.

So what's being sprayed across the blogs out there?

Chinese Consumer Connection, Clyde Warden's podcasts on marketing in local culture, with a certain pudgy, balding blogger on marketing wine in Taiwan, and with Robert Reynolds holding forth in an excellent podcast on centralization vs deregulation in the educational system and elsewhere in local society.

Interview with Taiwanese-American actor Kevin Yu.

Fili on hong kong myths.

The China Beat on the Wild Strawberries.

The Mouse-Eared Kiwi does SYS.

Patrick on an old Tainan treat.

The Foreigner on the Obama Administration.

Old Taiwan photos from LIFE.

Latin American blog looks at Taiwan's struggle to maintain its "allies" in the Americas.

A-gu argues Ma does not want to sell out Taiwan to China, but will unintentionally.

D. Corey confronts Chinese students in America bent on stamping out pro-Taiwan statements.

Robert long and eloquent on the health care system here and the barbarism that is the US system.

Jerome on Annette Lu's statement on the recent detentions.

Stephanie at Tea Masters blogs on Da Yu Ling Oolong.

Mark goes to the same baseball game I did.

David on human rights here.

The Wild East: Revolutionary Agriculture right outside Taipei.

Everything of Niao-sung, photos of a small town in southern Taiwan, in English and in Chinese. A labor of love.

Kelake on micro-blogs.

The China Beat on the growing mess in China. Will nationalism + depression = war?

MEDIA: A very garbled view of Taiwan's history from Romania. An essay from a mainlander who discovers she is a global citizen in one of China's representative offices in the US. China says US is "needling" China with arms sales to Taiwan. US moves 60% of sub fleet to Pacific to offset China's growing threat. Who are the other 40% aimed at? And isn't China our benevolent strategic partner? An interview with the new Taiwan representative to Japan. Way cool: Taiwan, Lockheed in OTEC project in Hawaii. 29 Taiwanese fishermen missing after burnt out boat found off NZ. Adult children of foreigners to be able to stay in Taiwan. Because Taipei consumes a wildly disproportionate share of the nation's budget, other places are combining together to become "special municipalities" or "special regions" like Taipei. Now Kaohsiung is thinking about it. Giant economic stimulus on the way. Taiwan economy contracts in the 3rd quarter. Chen Shui-bian hospitalized. Call President stupid, get 30 days off.

EVENTS: Don't forget, Tuesday Heritage hosts Dr. Shieh to talk about his experiences in an apparent political prosecution.

[Taiwan]

Read this FEER article on Japan's plan to give everyone vouchers in a similar amount to the ones being proposed in Taiwan; they roundly condemn the effort as cynical, populist and completely ineffective.

President Ma Ying-jeou believes this weekend would be a good time for such discussions with DPP chair Tsai Ing-wen. Sadly, Tsai is unlikely to accept give the political climate; she'd probably get hammered for meeting even if she wanted to.

Insane: President Ma asked to sit down and have a meeting with DPP chair Tsai Ing-wen after he had already met personally with China's ARATS chief. Not once previous to that did he think it meeting with Tsai would be productive.

One of the more bizarre aspects of Taiwanese democracy is the complete lack of high level contacts between the parties. In say, the US, legislative leadership from both parties meet frequently with the President, and aids and lower level people are maintaining contact and conducting negotiations almost constantly. Otherwise, stupid policies like the bailout would never have a chance of passing Congress and winning the president's signature. Things are similar in most European parliamentary systems, where the majority and the opposition have frequent exchanges (not shouting matches). The lack of this level of contacts in Taiwan is one of the major reasons you so rarely see bi-partisan legislation, compromises or even

But not so in Taiwan. First, note the relative importance of the party apparatus here (a relic of Leninist party organization). The most important person in the DPP is the party's chair, not the secretary-general of the legislative caucus. In a case like the KMT's, which has a similar organizational structure, the fact that Ma Ying-jeou is president while Wu Po-hsiung is party chief has caused friction or different stances at various times, despite efforts to work together.

Second, there's such fundamental ideological opposition to each other, it's little wonder the parties have trouble even coming together at a dinner party. At least as importantly, boycotting the other party and minimizing dialog are political tactics used to demonstrate strength, while offering to have talks at inappropriate times is used to feign sincerity.

Installments 3 & 4 of Dr. Paul Barclay's translation of Kondo Katsusaburo's experiences up to and during the 1930 Wushe revolt, which were serialized in the local Taiwan Japanese-language papers in the early 1930s. Kondo married into an aboriginal family and traveled extensively in aboriginal territory. (Installments 1 & 2) Dr. Barclay is the general editor of the wonderful Gerald Warner Taiwan Image Collection which I urge everyone interested in Taiwan to visit.

Chapter Three: Kondō Explains Aborigine Mentality

(Trans. from Taiwan nichinichi shinpō December 25, 1930)

Kondō recuperated [from malaria] at the home of Sazo Chiwakku, son of Paalan's headman. The two translators crept home about the time of the new year, January 1st, 1897. "Damn!" thought Kondō, but what could he do? He was still on the verge of a high fever and could not even stand up. At the time, many local Aborigines were concerned over his illness, so they visited Kondō at Sazo Chiwakku's home day and night. After a few days, however, the visits stopped. Kondō was puzzled by this and asked his wife [Iwan] about it. She replied that, "they were afraid of the 'Japanese people who chime' and so everybody left." Kondō thought it strange to hear that "Japanese people chimed." You see, Aborigines tend to fear things not immediately apparent to the senses, thinking them to be [haunted] by ghosts or spirits. Kondō was still groggy from his illness. He cocked his head in concentration. ‘What was this “something that chimed”?’ he wondered. "This is it!"

It was his "model 18" pocket-watch. Kondō pulled it out from his jacket with a hearty laugh. "That watch certainly chimes!" Kondō immediately called Sazo Chiwakku to show him the watch. However, Sazo Chiwakku was frightened by the "tick-tock" sound when he put the watch to his ear. He yelled and hurled the watch. They pushed the watch outside with a bamboo stick, struck it with a mallet and then pounded it with rocks because it wouldn't stop ticking. Since they had never seen a watch, it was difficult to make them understand. Furthermore, they began to fear Kondō himself, forcing him to return to Puli. Thanks to the watch, Kondō was chased off and carried back to Puli, though he had not yet fully recovered. It was January 3d.

Kondō remained ill through April. In the interim, Kondō heard no word of the Fukahori mission's whereabouts. That same month, one Lieutenant Hoshikawa, from the 3d platoon stationed at Puli, went to Truku country to look for the lost party. Hoshikawa returned, however, without any news. Thereupon, Hoshikawa summoned the Wushe tribes and ordered them to investigate the matter. Hoshikawa harshly reminded them that Fukahori had put his trust in them, and yet they had not fulfilled their responsibility. In the beginning of May [1897], the Wushe tribesmen brought the heads, one each, of [slain] Truku and Toda men to prove that they were not disloyal [to Japan] (literally "not of two minds"). They asked that all suspicion and doubt be allayed. These heads were taken at Shizitou. Each of the tribes targeted by these attacks [Toda and Truku] were customers of Kondō's trading post. Because of this incident, Toda and Truku were now foes, and ceased coming to Puli to barter. [Having lost his connections to the locals], Kondō remained in the dark about the Fukahori party's whereabouts.

To continue our story. On June 19th, a man named Chiri Wadai, of Katsukku village, took the head of a Japanese man, mistaking him for a Taiwanese. The victim was harvesting timber on Shouchengfen [Shouchengda?] mountain for construction on the Puli garrison. This was the first time a Wushe tribesman had beheaded a Japanese national. Greatly alarmed, the Aborigines ran to Kondō to find out how to apologize for the crime. The head of the Pacification-Reclamation Office at the time, Lieutenant Nagano [Yoshitora], responded angrily, ordering the men to bring him Chiri Wadai's head to apologize for the beheading of the Japanese lumberjack. But this was not so easily accomplished--the Aborigines did not bring Chiri Wadai's head to Nagano. Just as these events were transpiring, Japanese policy towards the Aborigines was shifting from "conciliation" to "subjugation." Thus, the Wushe tribes, fearing Japanese punitive expeditions, ceased coming to trade [in Puli], completely ruining business at Kondō's trading post.

Kondō still felt responsible for finding out what had happened to Fukahori and his men. As the sole survivor of the expedition, he could not forget the Captain's instructions. Kondō felt a burning desire to honor Fukahori's last request, to make a crossing [of Taiwan's central mountains]. Fortunately, Kondō had to remove his trading post [from Puli] anyway. Thus, he resolved to use this opportunity to fulfill his plans [to find Fukahori's remains]. To accomplish this, it was best to go into Truku country, into the Aborigine territory. His employee at the trading post, Nagakura Kichiji, happened to be married to a woman from Truku, so Kondō enlisted their support. Another employee, Itō Shūkichi, joined the group as well. Kondō, his two employees, and Nagakura's wife Tappa Kurasu departed Puli on August 20, 1897. Since Kondō's relationship to Wushe had been ruptured, he even kept his departure concealed from his wife, who was a Wushe native. Though Kondō knew the trails around Wushe well, it appeared dangerous to take them. Therefore, Kondō's party of four took the backroads [to avoid detection]; these were also risky.

++++++++++++++

Chapter Four: Commerce in Puli Disrupted
(Trans. from Taiwan nichinichi shinpō January 4, 1931)

From January through April of 1897, Kondō was completely bed-ridden. During this period, he dreamed about Captain Fukahori and his men every day. Even though fate had brought them together for less than a week here on earth, they had once pledged their lives to their nation. He felt miserable as the surviving member. [To recall] Captain Fukahori's vow! [To remember] that night in the Aborigine village, receiving the captain's ministrations! Kondō missed and longed for them fervently. He said,

This is a strange story, but [here it is]. Desperately hoping to get well, I treated myself by purchasing 75 grams of a powder extracted from boiled human bones for 4 yen. Perhaps it was due to [this concoction], but in any event, I had recuperated completely by the end of April.

At that time, the Plains Aborigines (rikuban) also practiced head-taking. This was different from the way Mountain Aborigines (kōzanban) took heads; Plains Aborigines took heads only for profit. When they took a Mountain Aborigine head, eighteen liters of palay were distributed to each household among the four Plains Aborigine villages of Puli, as a gratuity. The price on the foreign market for a human skeleton, with innards, penis, and kneecaps, was about 80 yen. Thus, this was a very profitable business. As April rolled around, Captain Fukahori's whereabouts were still unknown, even at the Puli battalion (大隊), which caused concern. Therefore, Lieutenant Hoshikawa left Wushe for Truku country to investigate, but returned without finding anything out. He concluded that there was no other way but to have the Aborigines investigate, so he summoned them and gave them a scolding:

Captain Fukahori's expedition relied on you; they sent you into the mountains [to scout], but since then, there has been no news whatsoever. What in the hell happened? Ignorance is no excuse here. You, too, are responsible [for the disappearance], so go and bring back information on their whereabouts!

It is a terrible fact that we do not understand Aborigine mentality very well. As a result of this trifling negotiation, various portentous, though unintended, chains of events were set into motion. One day in early May, the Wushe men brought two heads to the Puli Battalion. The heads belonged to Truku and Toda tribesmen.

"It seems that you have doubted us on the matter of Captain Fukahori's expedition. We, however, are not in the least disloyal. As evidence of this, we have brought you two heads from Truku and Toda. So please forgive us and do not attack us."

Here, the Aborigines revealed their true sincerity, their innermost hearts. The Toda and Truku men were attacked on the way back home from the trading post. Their heads were taken at Shizitou. The worst possible case scenario had occurred. Wushe made enemies of both Truku and Toda, both whom also stopped coming to the trading post. Consequently, [the Japanese] were now cut off from information [about the Fukahori mission's fate]. Then, on June 19th, an incident occurred which marked the first Wushe-area loss of a Japanese head. Prior to this incident, the Wushe tribes had not harmed Japanese at all. A Wushe man named Chiri Wadai, of Katsukku village, took the head of a Japanese man, mistaking him for a Taiwanese. The victim was harvesting timber on Shouchengfen mountain [Shouchengda?] for construction on the Puli garrison. Greatly alarmed, the Aborigines ran to Kondō to find out how to apologize for the crime. The head of the Pacification-Reclamation Office at the time, Lieutenant Nagano, responded angrily, ordering the men to bring him Chiri Wadai's head to atone for the crime.

The Wushe men [now] feared the anger of the Japanese, though they did not punish the wrongdoer. They also stopped coming to the trading post. Kondō was the one most troubled [by these events]. Since nobody from Toda, Truku, or Wushe came to trade anymore, there was no point in operating a trading post. What is more, Kondō also suffered because his lines of communication to know the whereabouts of Fukahori's party had been cut off.

"It seemed like a good time to shut down the trading post. More than this, I decided to go into the Aborigine country, to Truku, and investigate myself."

Now, all three of the tribes [Wushe, Toda, and Truku] presented sinister aspects. So how would Kondō enter their territory and go amongst them?

[Taiwan]