Two cents more to the BBC

Last night on my way home I passed by the Taipei City Government MRT stop. There was a lot of political rallying going on - people giving out flags and flyers and inflatable sticks and other unimaginable paraphernalia emblazoned with the crests of the candidates. On my way down the escalator a young couple ahead of me were both wearing t-shirts with "TAIWAN 1" on the back (supporters of DPP candidate Frank Hsieh 謝長廷), and holding green flags. Coming up the escalator was a man all in blue, with a great big red "2" in his hand (supporter of KMT candidate Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九). They passed each other on the escalator as the tenseness of pre-election political fission seemed to drown out all else in the air.

Today we made headline on BBC News: "Taiwan Counts Presidential Votes."There's a Have Your Say option at the end of the article - so if you'd like to give your two-cents for free, now's the time. Here's my two cents:

The Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895 ceded Taiwan to Japanese rule for 50 years. My grandfather grew up under the Japanese occupation, and it is a period which has left indelible marks on the island and its people. Hence the separate governance of Taiwan happened before 1949.

Even as a child in Taiwan, our sovereignty and independence had always been to me an incontrovertible fact. When I first understood the situation as it is today: Taiwan denied international recognition, and under the constant threat of a dangerous, ambitious neighbour, I felt a great sense of injustice.

As we move toward real democracy and further onto the international stage, I hope that Taiwan will be able to gain international recognition and support. Although I am for Taiwanese independence, I recognize the right of the other citizens in my country to have a say in the matter. Thus the question of whether Taiwan should be independent of China is one which must be put to a referendum for the Taiwanese. Although the referendums being held today are ostensibly about UN membership, independence is the real question. Those who oppose holding "provocative" referendums or pushing for independence do so not because they wish to be part of a tyrannical state with a poor human rights record, but for fear of China's military might.

China's threats of violence and tactics of international isolation against Taiwan is an atrocity against the principles of democratic freedom. The international community at large would benefit from supporting Taiwan's claims to independence - not only because it would be the right thing to do, but because if China is not taught a lesson and weaned off its habit of bullying to get its way, one day it will point its missiles and nuclear weapons at someone else.

After I gave them my two cents I had a browse around a few pages on the BBC about Taiwan. There were certain things I found curious (in addition to their statement that Taiwan had been separately governed since 1949, which I dealt with in my comment above):

From Q&A: Taiwan Elections I quote:
"The Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, dominated Taiwanese politics for more than 50 years."
Now, I know I may be biased, but I think "dominated" is perhaps an understatement. That's like saying Leopold II "controlled" the Congo Free State. While these terms are not, strictly speaking, erroneous, they sanitize an entire period of abuse and leave a seemingly unambiguous clean slate behind. The KMT government did in fact dominate Taiwan - they also conducted the 228 Massacre, imposed martial law, suppressed freedoms of speech, and instituted arbitrary detainment during the White Terror era - just to name a few things they did whilst "dominating."

"But over his (soon to be former president Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁) eight years in power, voters have become increasingly concerned about economic issues and have tired of the corruption scandals that have dogged Mr Chen and his aides."
This is correct - but I would like to add that during their years of "domination," the KMT did not hesitate to fill their coffers by pilfering from the public. Their party-assets are still a topic of dispute in Taiwan. Unfortunately, corruption is not one-sided.

"Mr Ma, whose party traditionally leans more towards China"
Just exactly what does "leans more toward" mean? It's really wonderfully vague. Officially, the KMT still thinks that it's the legitimate government in exile of ALL of China - the reason why they would be open to "a conditional peace deal with Beijing at an unspecified point in the future" is because the KMT believes it has a claim to Chinese government as a whole rather than just that of Taiwan (guess what Beijing would say to that). The "condition" here is re-unification - but I don't see the BBC getting into any detail.

From Timeline: Taiwan, I'd like to note that it begins only in 2000, thus missing out a great deal of background necessary to understanding the current situation. Also, I quote:

2002 January - Taiwan officially enters the World Trade Organisation, only a few weeks after China. Yes, but only as a "Separate Customs Territory," collectively known as "Chinese Taipei" - also the title under which we compete in international sporting events.

2003 July - Taiwan is the final country to be removed from the WHO's list of countries which were badly affected by the Sars virus. This is very interesting - because the BBC seems to have made a slip and called Taiwan a "country" - Beijing would not be pleased. Also, it fails to mention that Taiwan does not even have observer status in the WHO! On this issue, I quote:

Since 1972, Taiwan's health officials and medical professionals have been unable to take part in any WHO forums and workshops on the latest technologies in the diagnosis, monitoring, and control of diseases. Taiwan's health authorities have also been denied the right to maintain contact and coordination with the WHO, even in emergencies involving the containment and cure of existing or newly emerging infectious diseases. (Working for Health: Let Taiwan be WHO's Worthy Partner)

Now, politics aside, this is just dumb. Diseases do not recognize national boundaries. If you have ever worried for yourself or your loved ones because of a disease, or feared for nameless individuals in news reports who were perhaps even unknown to you, then you now know that the WHO's refusal to allow Taiwan participation on political grounds puts everyone (especially as the world keeps getting smaller) at risk by making us the missing link.

One last thing - we may have been the last country to be removed from that list, but unlike China, we are not in the habit of concealing information from international community in order to save face. Do you think you can trust the Chinese governments' reports on SARS? on the Avian-Flu? Let me remind you that they've just ejected all foreign journalists out of Tibet, and then reported that Tibetan dissidents are "turning themselves in."

2007 January - Taiwan defends school history textbooks which refer to China. Beijing accuses Taipei of introducing independence ideologies into the classroom. (ahem, and you don't inculcate your people with the idea that if Taiwan wants to separate, violence is the "legal" resort? Pot calling the kettle black, I should think)

Lastly, on the subject of being the aggressor:
2001 June - Taiwan test-fires Patriot anti-missile defence system bought from US, as China carries out military exercises simulating invasion of island.
AND
2007 March - Newspaper reports that Taiwan has test-fired cruise missile capable of hitting Shanghai or Hong Kong.

Well, I'd like to think that these are a thumbs-up to our military might - but who are we kidding? if China invaded, our only hope is to hold them off long enough to make one last call of help to the US before kissing our loved ones goodbye. I'm serious, we live under constant military threat: there are 1,300 military missiles aimed at Taiwan right now, and their numbers are multiplying. But still the BBC makes it sound as though we were looking for a fight.

Am I biased and paranoid? I'd have to say that it's a distinct possibility - but hear me out here: context is everything - and that is exactly what is lacking in what I read on the BBC regarding the cross-strait issue.

There are several other pieces on the website about Taiwan that I've not had a chance to look at yet - perhaps after dinner...

Taiwan Swing Dance Movement: Contd.

I recently became a part-time worker, which has given me some much appreciated breathing space. I do 3 days a week, get to spend 3 days up in my mountain abode, and 1 day to do swing in town. Yesterday we took advantage of the decent weather (look! no rain!), and built us a bed. Later on Toph designed flyers for the Taiwan Swing Dance Movement for an event on Saturday.

He got the information from the flyers off the Taiwan Swing Dance Movement blog. I sent it out to the other organizers (Maria & Jon, now that Claire has left us to go back to Germany) to be verified. Turns out some of the information was wrong. At the same time that I found this out, I also realized that Maria and I seem to have fallen out of the habit of, well, organizing things together.

While I was working full time I had very little opportunity to spend time on the Swing scene. I guess now that I have more time I need to catch up on developments. One of the developments that I had missed out on is that Maria's lesson times and location have changed. I didn't realize this, so the information on the blog remained much the same as before. Another thing I didn't realize is that Maria and Claire have another blog, Swing Island, also about the Taiwan Swing Dance Movement.

At this point I began to wonder if our fledgling scene had already schismed.

Sometimes in one city you get alot of little different scenes, without much interchange between them. There's even been cases where the dancers boycotted one anothers' classes and dances. It seems a little bit crazy, I know, but it happens.

Obviously we're not at that kind of stage. But I still think that it's time we brought each other up to date on what's happening, and perhaps consolidated things a little. I mean, because I didn't know about the Swing Island blog, the Taiwan Swing Dance Movement blog doesn't even link to it (whereas the Swing Island Blog links to TSDM, but it's a broken link).

I guess my goal is to have a scene that's not too fractured - especially in terms of communicating information. Luckily we still share the same Google Group, so when things happen, everyone should know about it. It's just that I was under the impression that we were working together, but lately I've begun to wonder if it's really working the way it should. Perhaps my past record of being unavailable to help out with things (also my working schedule, which effectively kills any kind of social life) has hindered things a bit. But surely it's not too late to catch up?

Re: Thanks a fucking lot, BBC & The Far Eastern Sweet Potato

I'd like to think that you and I made a little difference. The offending article regarding Tibet on the BBC websites now makes no reference to Taiwan. Though they never got back to me personally, and didn't post a correction/apology as I had suggested, at least they realized their mistake.

So if you wrote them, thank you very much.

This may also be a good time to introduce the blog of a work-colleague, The Far Eastern Sweet Potato. In fact, on reading J.M.'s response to the BBC, I am definitely put to shame. His blog is one of the most thoughtful, articulate, and informative commentaries on politics that I have come across. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Thanks a fucking lot, BBC

Here's something that almost made me spew my breakfast all over my laptop this morning. In an article on the Tibet situation, the BBC comments:

The Dalai Lama calls not for independence, but for greater autonomy within China. There are various formal frameworks through which that could be achieved.
The one-country, two-systems model devised for Taiwan is one possibility.
So far, that has gone well in Hong Kong - although Hong Kong and Tibet are at very different stages of development.

What's the problem with that? First of all, anyone who knows anything about the cross-strait situation knows that Taiwan and Hong Kong are in vastly different political situations. China has "PROPOSED," not "DEVISED" (devised, to me, implies acceptance on our part), a plan - the "one-country, two-systems," and we told them to fucking stuff it (ok, we didn't have big enough guns to put it those terms, but we are having none of it). So, here we are, an independent, democratic nation seeking international support and recognition (because we've got Asia's biggest bully breathing down our necks and aiming missiles at us) - and what does BBC do? Well, the journalistic equivalent to putting a noose around our necks and chucking us out to the wolves. Now every reader of the BBC is under the impression that the BBC thinks Taiwan is a region with "greater autonomy within China." I am disgusted, especially as I like the BBC.

If you care about Taiwan's international status, please help us out by emailing the BBC and letting them know that they've just made a very pro-China error.

Here's how:
Click here, and give them your two cents - better yet, demand that they give you a response.

Goodbye, grandad

Early yesterday morning my grandfather passed away. He'd been ill for about two weeks and was staying at a hospital in southern Taiwan, where my aunt works as a nurse. I went down two days a week and stayed with him. With him being in intensive care, were allowed 2 visits of 30 minutes each every day. All our extended family who could make it went to see him. My aunt flew back from Canada. I don't remember the last time when we were all together somewhere. He was very lucid, but in a great deal of pain. He had a feeding tube and was hooked up to a breathing machine. He couldn't speak so we gave him a clipboard and a pen. He asked for coffee.

Since he got ill I'd been thinking about all the things I know and remember about him. I don't know which memory is my earliest of my grandfather. Probably the time when he put me off smoking for the rest of my life: I asked if smoking is fun, since he does it so much. He told me that it is great fun, so I asked if I could try it. He lit a cigarette for me and gave it to me. I inhaled deeply and spent the next 10 minutes hacking my lungs out, tears streaming. My grandfather was a very, very clever man.

He had a whole bundle of grand-children: my father is the eldest of 5 kids, and there are 10 of us grand-kids in all. When I was wee I used to think that my grandfather liked my brother best. My brother was a very well behaved child. I remember sitting in at Japanese restaurant with my grandfather as a child, waiting for takeaway. I asked him if I could ask him a question and he said yes. I asked which one of his grand-children he prefer most. He laughed (I think slightly embarrassed but also surprised that I'd asked such a question), and said that he likes us all equally.

My grandfather was a avid golfer and mahjong player. He tried to get me into golf, buying me a membership at a country golf club and getting me a whole golfing kit (plus lessons). I was more interested in the restaurant attached to the club house, and the big lunches after a day on the driving range. I think I only went there once. He never tried to get me into mahjong, though twice he taught me to play during Chinese New Year. I never got good at it, but I always enjoyed asking him if he'd won after his pals have been 'round for a few games. Most of the times he says he'd won, and would give me a share of the takings.

As he got older, his eyesight began to wane. He was forbidden (as though we dared forbid him) from driving long distances. Still he occasionally drove me to school, and in Canada we had our weekly shopping trips to the local grocery store. My grandfather was a very methodical man. We had a shopping routine where he pushed the trolley and I got the food. We started on the left hand side, with fruit & veg, then the deli counter, the dried pasta, the tea bags and his cereal (Tony's Team Tiger Frosted Flakes), the meat, and rounded off with eggs, milk, juice, and occasionally ice cream. Once my father went grocery shopping with us, and he tried to make me push the trolley. My grandfather grabbed the trolley from him, and waved a dismissive hand (implying: "you who do not know how the shopping works, do not interfere"). We then proceeded in the usual manner.

He had a penchant for luxury vehicles: Mercedes Benz especially, and once, a Cadillac that was more boat than car. Once he told me that when he was a child, he saw rich people with houses and cars, and he swore that he'd have a house and a nice car one day. Well, he had those things several times over and more. In fact, he went from being a poor country boy who lost his father at the age of 9 and had only primary school education to being a successful businessman who spoke 3 languages, put 5 kids through university, moved most of them to Canada, and learned to use Skype and read newspapers on line at the age of 79.

Above all my grandfather was a generous man. Ever since I could remember, he had been giving me money. Red envelope money at New Year was a must, but it went far beyond that. Whenever he drove me to a film with my friends he would hand me a bill (on occasion, a wad of cash), and made sure I was more than reasonably well provided for on my journeys away from home. It was his way of showing us that he cares about our welfare and is looking after us. When the money was given for good grades (or getting into a good university), it was also his way of showing that he's proud of us. This Chinese New Year Toph and I both got a heavily laden red envelope from him. Topher's red envelope money has quickly re-materialized in the form of a pair of luxury studio monitors which are blasting out drum & bass in our Jinshan home. I squandered some of mine on clothes and deposited the rest into my bank account. (If I were anything like the cunning investor my grandfather was, I'd do something clever with the remainder.)

Of course he had his shortcomings like every other man. He was never able to kick his addiction to tobacco, which was the source of so much of his health troubles. He was sometimes temperamental and impatient. He was prone to bouts of ill humour and mild depression. But these traits don't figure much in my recollections of him. Maybe because we see the past the way we want to see it, but there's also the fact that his good points far outweigh the bad.

Above all I think his death has made me realize the meaning of "never" for the first time. Normally it's never say never, because so little is for certain. But I know for sure that I will never see my grandfather again. The enormity of that is too much to comprehend. Ever since there was an "I," there has been an "阿公" (grandad). I find it difficult to imagine that I will not visit him again in his Taipei home, or see him having tea or sneaking a smoke in the garage in Canada, or hear his voice on the other end of the line at 3 a.m. in Edinburgh. I find it difficult to understand that he won't be there holding a red envelope of congratulatory cash, smiling broadly, when I get my PhD. Somehow the "family" doesn't feel complete without him, the much beloved patriarch that he is.

I understand Tony Harrison's sentiments in Long Distance II, "I believe life ends with death, and that is all. / You haven't both gone shopping; just the same, / in my new black leather phone book there's your name / and the disconnected number I still call."

Goodbye grandad. I will miss you.

Strangely paradoxical

Does your blogger underline your misspelled words as you type, or is that my firefox doing it? Either way, it doesn't recognize words like blog, blogger, or firefox, with a capital letter or otherwise. Funny, huh?

I've always thought that these things are really the boundaries of ideology - you know, like spell check and also predictive text. They define what can be articulated (the spell check just made me not use the word "sayable" - but my soul is full of defiance, aha!). For instance, my mobile phone (the second cheapest from the shop, an old Nokia which never dies) does not know how to predictively type "fuck" or "bitch" or "arsehole/asshole" - even though I do use them in the most predictable circumstances, and often. I feel like there's an invisible boundary trying to steer me onto the right road of expression. The same goes with Chinese predictive text (if you use 新注音), which tries to guess which character you want to use (each sound that I input in Chinese has a truckload of corresponding characters). I'm not sure how it builds its database of possibilities - but it recognizes some proper names and not others. For instance, it knows Frank Hsieh (謝長廷)... but not some other folk. However, it does pick up names as I go along - so if I entered my friend Ted's name, it will remember. Makes me wonder whether it started out with a list of names that the software developers reckon will always be often used, such as Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) perhaps.

An illustration of the ways in which our ideological framework is already carved out?

Who reckons I ought to go back to Uni?

My (soon to materialize) handmade life

You may know that I cherish a burning and not so secret desire to be a crafter. I used to enjoy making things when I was wee. It's nice making things when you are wee because the critical faculties are not yet well developed. Anything that comes out of anything is amusing and the process is always fun. I would roll up a ball of newspaper and tape it around and decide that it will become, er, an apple! Then I'd paint it and make a bit of a stem and a leaf etc. - eventually I'd have an apple that I had no idea what to do with. Sometimes I shoved them in my parents' face when they came home, sometimes I give it to them (and they stack it away carefully where they always keep things like that). Some time around junior high or high school I stopped making things just for the hell of it, because: A. I was busy studying and dating boys and getting into trouble, B. I began to be critical of what I made, and think "what's the use in it?"

Well, that's all about to change. I've decided to switch to working part-time (3 days a week), so I can make things again. Also so I don't have to commute 4 hours a day, six days a week, down into town from my mountainous abode. This would hopefully also allow me to read more medieval literature - which I've been intending to do since I graduated (tsk tsk). What will I make? Well, I'm not quite sure yet - but rest assured that when I do, you'll see it here.

I also intend to sell things on Etsy. If you want to support my handmade life, buy something when the time comes!

Chinese New Year in Jinshan 金山

The walls are almost all painted and we've had a few hearty meals at home. There's daffodils on the table, and we've even started our own hoose blog at http://tudigongsneighbours.blogspot.com

Our first guests will arrive on Sunday, the folks, and some of my uncles. The plan is to have a barbecue on the verandah - but its been pissing down for days and days and days. Who knows, we might go to a restaurant instead.

Taiwan Swing Dance Movement

Some of you may know that I am one of the organizers of the Taiwan Swing Dance Movement. It's composed of four dancers who have full time jobs - so sometimes organizational time is thin on the ground. I don't get to do as much for the scene as I'd like to. It's gotten to the point where I sometimes get together with one of the girls to plan a lesson a couple of hours before we are set to teach. In a way it's a shame, but in a another way it's just how I like it. I've come to the full realization that I have only a small amount of time allotted to myself (I work 6 days a week and spend on average 3 hours a day commuting in the big city), and I have to prioritize things. So, the priorities of my time are: work (I am the breadwinner), spending time with Toph, yoga, swing, and then the many other things I don't actually get to do much gets lumped in the misc. category (go to the flower market, shopping, crafting...) The one good thing about being on the bus is that I get a lot of time with my BBC podcasts - but that's beside the point.

It's Chinese New Year next week, and in Taiwan, this is our equivalent of Christmas. It's the first time I'm spending new year at home since moving abroad 15 years ago. We're calling a 2 week hiatus to swing (we usually meet once a week on Sundays), as most folk will have family things to do. Besides, I'm going to be moving house (I've sent Toph to buy various household appliances/items and we even looked at paint swatches on line together) - so it's a pretty busy time.

I have to say that I am glad to get sometime away from swing. I've found that it's too much give give give. I am, I have to admit, a selfish dancer. What I mean is that I give very little back to the scene. For instance, in Edinburgh, I probably would have been perceived by newcomers as one of the cliquey dancers - because I don't spend my time trying to bring them into the fold, and dancing with them. The truth is that usually I can't be fucked. It's hardly ever fun dancing with beginners (there are some exceptions). When I go out to dance, I'm usually after that one or two (or three if I am lucky) good dances where I don't have to think - when I'm a mechanism of response to the lead and the music. I suppose this won't make much sense if you are not a dancer. It's like when I am climbing - the physical aspect of it is the same to me. Climbing is dancing with a very large, unmoving partner, with a very far away rhythm. The good thing about both (dancing and climbing) is that moment when the little voices in my head switches off entirely (I imagine them crowding together and hushing each other "Shhh... she's trying to concentrate!"). Do you know what I mean? Normally it's think think think all day. There's always a voice saying "don't forget the keys," "that's the 257 bus, I want the blue 2," "the pan-green party policy toward China-bound investment," "no sugar," blah blah blah. It's especially intense when reading, writing, or listening to words. Surely you know what I mean. Well, some activities bring total silence in my head, and those things are relaxing: climbing, dancing, yoga, cooking, crafting... That's that kind of experience I am after when I go out dancing.

So I don't make a lot of effort to chat. I talk to the people I have gotten to know and love (little by little over a long time), and I dance with the people I know can give me that hit. The rest of the time I am roaming around waiting to either have another dance or go home.

Starting my own scene has kind of changed all of that. Now I need to be present and on all the time - especially when teaching. I have to be patient and nice and I have to be encouraging - not all of these things come naturally to me (especially the patience). I suppose in a way it's good for my character. Though I have to admit sometimes it feels like I started a scene because I feel like I should, not because I actually enjoy it (though that's only my very low and tired nights).

There's also the added problem that I know I am not an exceptional dancer. I dance passably well, and enough to enjoy myself. I am also not a natural teacher. So the whole teaching thing is even more of a struggle - having to explain to people how it's done all the while knowing that if only someone like Bill Borgida were here, they'd learn so much better and faster.

Still, they will have to make do with what they can get, and so do I - that's where the all giving thing comes in. If only there were already a scene here, I could teach (give) and dance (get). But here, the number of experienced leaders can be counted on one hand (Uh, one, to be precise). As much as I like dancing with him, it's not ultimately fulfilling in the same way. So I find that going to PlanB on Sundays is sometimes exhausting, and has little pay-off in the way of fulfilment.

But the other day I got an unexpected email which brought me fulfilment of an entirely different form. One of my students (also salsa dancer) wrote about a lesson on his blog. He talked about what he thought of the lessons, about how we teach the lindy-turn alot (it's for your own good, because it is the fundamental basic), about how with such a small number of students it's almost a private class. He talked about how he learned to overcome his salsa habits (good), and how he learned to use the follower's momentum to move (even better). He appreciated these classes and recognized our efforts (give give give). I can't say I was moved to tears - but it is nice, to know that someone has learned something. Even better is the fact that I (and Maria also) taught him that something - and it was mine to give for free (yes! free! we only charge to cover costs).

It felt good.

So I guess when our next PlanB lindy lesson comes round I'll try to wipe the weariness off my face, put my impatience in the closet, and try to do the things that I really can't be fucked doing. Why? I'm not sure. I guess I enjoy it - or rather, I know that this is necessary so that I will be able to enjoy it one day - in the future, when Taiwan has its own scene. I guess it's the same reason why I go to classes (very rarely) - because if I didn't, I couldn't enjoy dancing. But honest to God, I hate classes.

Lorem Ipsum

Have you noticed this bit of Latin on Blogger?
Lorem ipsum vim ut utroque mandamus intellegebat, ut eam omittam ancillae sadipscing, per et eius soluta veritus
I tried to find out what it means by going to a Latin dictionary - and failed. I wrote to my friend Sergi asking for help and this is what he came up with:
"Apparently since 1500s when typographers have wanted to check some kind of font, they have started a sentence with "Lorem ipsum" to indicate it's just a dummy text. It looks like Latin, but it's not Latin at all. http://www.lipsum.com/"

Absolute bullshit

Without going into too much detail...

I was translating an article a week or two ago, in regards to the legislative election which just passed. One of the candidates was Chen Yuan-chi (陳源奇). This article came from Liberty Times (自由時報), and it had several paragraphs which was lifted from a 2004 article on a television station's website. To cut a long story short, the articles (the LT and the website one) both contained a short summary of his education according to his resume. It was vaguely worded, and unclear as to whether the "educational history" listed on Chen's resume is something that was simply being quoted, or facts which have been verified. They looked pretty fucking suspect to me, so I took the bother to call some places up.

Chen claims to have graduated from Cheng Kung Universit's (成功大學) Business School. I rang up, and was connected to the School of Management. Apparently, they don't HAVE a business school - didn't have one before, don't have one now. The LT article also changed Lincoln University to Coln University, having missed out the first character in the Chinese phonetic translation. Of course, this does not answer the question of WHICH Lincoln University? Also, the Chinese term for uni could also refer to colleges. This left me with, oh, easily more than 5 choices scattered across the world. Chen also claims to have been a principal a private high school in southern Taiwan. I rang up directory assistance to find their phone number, since on line searches didn't turn up much. The directory assistance woman informed me that the school does not exist. In the end, Stardust (yes, that's her real name, in Chinese too), the super-secretary at our office found out what happened to this school. It had been shut down due to corruption and embezzlement allegations. Sounds suspect?

Chen also claims to have run in a huge number of elections of every sort. The Central Election Commission's database only has him registered for 3. Of course, some elections are not part of the database... but this guy is altogether starting to stink far too much.

I love working where I work because the people are great, and the pay is good. But when I find myself doing things like this, translating a piece of shit that will come out a piece of shit in English, I get seriously depressed. A journalist for LT had obviously plagiarised the website I found in order to get information about Chen to beef up an article about lesser known election candidates. This journalist also reprinted all the extremely suspect claims, and left out the first character of Lincoln University.

I couldn't find any way to get hold of Chen, or any of his associates. Unusual for an election campaign candidate, no? I thought perhaps the media had made false claims on his behalf. Maybe his resume doesn't lie? maybe he's misrepresented? But as I was unable to get hold of him, I couldn't get an answer to these questions.

In the end there's no way of knowing what's real. Not that I ever believed what I read in papers wholesale, but coming to live in Taiwan, and to work for a paper myself, has been a stunning reminder that I can't trust anything I see.

圓斗 Yuan-tou

What is 圓斗 (Yuan-tou)?
Apparently it's the end of a series of Taoist worships at temples. The written format is actually a Mandarin word-play on the character 圓 (yuan) in Taiwanese, and should be read in Taiwanese. The term refers to "the end of 斗 (tou)" - 斗 (tou) being the series of Taoist worships. As the character 圓 (Yuan) literally means circular, and symbolizes perfection, peace and quietude, and all that is good in general, the Mandarin transliteration uses 圓 (yuan) instead of the character 完 (wan) for good luck.
This won't make a lot of sense unless you can speak both Mandarin and Taiwanese and English! A bit of a specific post - but I love these fascinating details about Taiwanese culture.

chain mails and all that

Here's something that I've been meaning to post for a long while. I received an email from my friend Tomer on Nov. 19 2007. Here's what it contained (minus the Hebrew):

Disgrace for England !

This week in England every memorial of the holocaust has been removed from the schools study programs, arguing that it hurts the Muslim population that denies the holocaust.

That is a sign of an upcoming worldwide disaster, terrifying evidence of how easily countries can give in to anti-Semitism.

It has been more than 60 years since the end of World War 2 in Europe .

This email has been sent in order to create a chain of memory for those 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1900 catholic priests, that have been murdered, raped, burnt, starved to death, and humiliated by the Nazis.

Now, more than ever, considering the efforts of Iran and others ' denying the Holocaust, it is most crucial to do whatever it takes to ensure that the world never forgets .

This email should reach at least 40 million people in the world.

Join us and become a link in the chain of memory for those who have past in the terrible events of the Holocaust. Help spread this email around the world so others may understand and help as well.

Please send this message to at least 10 of your friends or contacts. Please do not delete this email; it only takes one minute to pass it on. Thank you for your efforts.

And here is my reply:

Dear Tomer:

I was horrified by the email you sent me about English schools removing the holocaust from their education. I went on line to check it out since I thought something like that must have an accompanying news story, and here is what I found:

From the BBC (Holocaust NOT banned, phew)
From The Times
From The Times (criticism of teachers not able to delivery meaningful lessons on difficult subjects, such as the Holocaust)
From The Daily Mail (Criticism of teachers avoiding difficult subjects, such as the holocaust)

The last article, from the Daily Mail specifically reports:

"In another department, the Holocaust was taught despite anti-Semitic sentiment among some pupils.
"But the same department deliberately avoided teaching the Crusades at Key Stage 3 (11- to 14-year-olds) because their balanced treatment of the topic would have challenged what was taught in some local mosques."

It doesn't seem like a case of anti-Semitism so much as just general cowardice. If children receive conflicting views about history then they should be taught in formal education that history is not fact - it is interpretation. What's the deal with schools thinking that children need to be taught what to think instead of how to think? Luckily, from what I have read, the comments reacting to these news stories is one of utter outrage at the 'dumbing down' of education, so most people seem to find it ridiculous that teachers would try to avoid teaching emotive subjects for fear of giving offence. In any case, as the BBC reports, there is not 'blanket ban' on teaching about the holocaust in England.

I wonder where this chain of emails started? I think it's a good thing to remain vigilant about cases of anti-Semitism, but I also think that in these politically charged times, it's better to be absolutely accurate about what is being reported. It appears to me, though, however, that these reports have in common the issue of the Muslim community. I'm not really sure how to respond to this except to say that it's a problem when the school (which is an ideological apparatus of the state) is touting a very different kind of ideology from that of the community who sends their children there receive their education. Although many people maintain that public education is non-denominational, I don't think it can be entirely bias-free. Secular education can easily clash with religious teachings, whether if it's the problem of Holocaust/Crusade vs. Islam, or Evolution vs. Creation/Intelligent Design/Christianity.

As a non-denominational, non-qualified observer, I think that children should be presented with a variety of world views. The important thing is to teach them that everything adults tell them aren't necessarily true. I realize that this is problematic for religious upbringings. Not many faithful individuals would present the word of God (any God) to their children and say that it's not the literal truth. But secular education should be able to give a more analytic, critical perspective. To me, sowing the seeds of doubt is the true task of education. So, coming back to the idea of presenting different world views: if children are taught something at home as being indisputable fact, then they are taught at once what to think, alongside a little bit of how (not so much of the latter, I would argue). When they come to school and are confronted with a different version of what to think, alongside with a lot of how to accept that there are many many many people in the world who believe different things, then they are getting a truly important lesson.

Perhaps what I am really promoting is an accepting attitude which at least leaves room for peaceful dialogue even if the things that we believe are different from one another, and we think that everyone else who doesn't believe what we believe is utterly misguided.

This may be something worthwhile to think about for English teachers who cower before challenging subjects.

By the way, I accidentally deleted the original email you sent me with that word file. Can you send it to me again? I would like to hang onto it for reference sake...

love,

A.

From the mail bag of Johnny Neihu

Johnny Neihu has a column every Saturday on Taipei Times (台北時報) - the sister paper of Liberty Times (自由時報). Actually, more like the kept-woman of Liberty Times, and not well kept either: just compare the standard of their web sites.

Anyway, here's a letter from someone who's got his head screwed on right.
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Dear Johnny,

You must tell me which bowel of Taiwanese depravity you frequent so that I might join you for a few word-slurring beers over treasonous KMT trash talk. I cringe to think you are the only one with a license to spout off on the foul nature of your brethren or that your Hunter S. Thompson style is unrecognizable.

Now that the niceties are out of the way, let's talk shop. I, too, a foreigner no less, recognize the "pig sodomizers" amongst us.

Perhaps by the 12th round of Taiwanese formaldehyde-laden hops we could reach a consensus such as this: at the least, an ignorant "Jimmy Waiguoren" can be brought around to the reality of Taiwan, when most locals are so blindly fashioned to their shade of blue or green that they don't know, can't articulate or reason otherwise.

"It's very complicated" is my favorite answer. And by the way, did Mr. Waiguoren, in his naive fog, explain why he had such an articulate question to render forth on the "overdue scrapping of a dictator's personality cult"? ("Election 2008: The `sissy factor,'" Dec. 15, page 8.)

You see, when I can't be bothered to mission to the Combat Zone, I am quite happy to sort out Taiwanese politics outside the nearest 7-Eleven with a good plastic crate to sit on. Try hiding from the populace with 12 empty cans at your feet there, my friend! The looks I get are ominous.

And from my pulpit of cheap beer within the public domain I preach thus: "Brace yourself, Taiwan, brace yourself for the thing that is Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)."

He is a new breed of snake in this political ecosystem. Punch-drunk on power, give this guy a single glass of red wine and he'd sell his old man's ashes for a night out at the PRC "Mao Zedong's Still Our Hero" bash.

He relishes in politics for the commoner, the real Taiwanese, the Taiwanese who can no longer afford Alexander gym memberships. And the "staff writers" at the China Post, who create the fear of economic Armageddon on this island, felt it journalistically responsible to report Alexander was going under because economic hardship under the "Green Terror" forced patrons to stay home and get fat. Rubbish. Still, they often have no choice but to admit (on the back page, usually) to the economic success of this island.

The propaganda put forth in that rag of a newspaper instead implores, as would Ma, that the value of property on the island will go up when the Chinese get here. No shit? And then the bloody commoner who can't afford a dumpling will really be fucked, much less those with a chance to pursue middle class status. Can I get my gym membership money back please?

And then -- this pisses me off -- Ma claims kids only need to start learning English (whether it matters at all is arguable) in the fifth grade.

Well, I met the guy once, shook his greasy hand and posed for the photo op with my students. His indiscreet, yet telling anecdote of his background at Cambridge in Boston sickened me so that I eventually vomited on the steps outside his office. I wasn't even hung over.

First of all, there is no way in hell this guy started speaking English in the fifth grade! And all language-based evidence suggests learning two languages at a young age does not harm the dominant language. I would dare him to spin this shit in Canada. And what about Taiwanese, isn't this a second language as well? Leave the didactics of education to the experts, you dick!

Finally, but not finally, Ma has been chirping off about the "Green Terror." Is the guy retarded? I know you can't say that but I just did. So who exactly has the Democratic Progressive Party rounded up, relieved of their human rights and then executed? Sure, I wouldn't mind putting a few on the list, but my opinions are a bit "out there" at 4am.

Sometimes this place is so messed up I wonder what I'm doing here and why I bother to care about politics and freedom. Feel free to tell me to go home -- it's the obvious retort.

Just when you think Taiwan has a chance, that it just might do something right like stand up for itself, as President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) proposes, some "important" American jackass throws in his two cents.

I'm Canadian, and no offense to Americans in general, but this is why I speak the same language, watch the same movies and share the same culture and history (sound familiar?), but have as much chance of growing back my hair as becoming American. I take solace in believing the Americans do know what is right and are only playing "devil's advocate" for the sake of keeping up appearances with its fat, ugly friend China.

It's not right, but it is part of the facade of international politics. I should say I support the US war on terror, because terror is real, and so is China.

Meanwhile, Taipei's jackass mayor and his punch-drunk civil servants think it wise and entirely within their realm to defy the Central Election Commission. What?

Then the China Post's Sunday editorial ("Election tricks cause concern," Dec. 16) thought it wise to speculate on "dirty tricks" that might be played by Chen and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at the risk of World War III.

Yeah, and having some nut fire a homemade gun at your gut hoping it only "wounds" you is the best way to go about trying to win an election.

If that is the case, then Chen has bigger cajones than a wild 17-year-old alpha male dog from Miaoli with three legs and its nuts dragging on the ground.

Frank Hsieh (謝長廷): Cut this task manager loose. I like him, except for the kowtowing, but he's going to lose the presidential election big time. "Frank Hu"? is what people north of Taichung are wondering.

The best advice I ever received in minor hockey in Canada -- the last game where you can fight and shake hands afterward -- was to keep my head on a swivel. That way, if you see a hit coming you can get the hell out of the way. Right now, no one in the DPP seems to see the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) charging with a vicious cross-check from behind.

But back to Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for a millisecond. I wrote "UN 4 Taiwan" on the back of my shirt during the ING half marathon on Dec. 16. I expected to make conversation or be stomped before the start line. I got neither.

Clones, Ma clones, all staggering and crawling to the finish line having never trained, just to show the world that the next big cash windfall or idea is just around the corner. Yes, when China gets here, they are the ones who will have the innate "will" to get rich.

I got one jiayou (加油) from a dude in green attire and he skirted away for fear someone heard him.

"Green terror," my butt.

As I ran through the tunnel before the finish, a song I hadn't heard in a while rang through my iPod. Pearl Jam's Do the Evolution sped up my pace for the last 1,000m and gave me goosebumps. I thought of Ma as the lyrics came screaming through Eddie Vedder's guttural voice:

Buying stocks on the day of the crash ...
All the rolling hills, I'll flatten 'em out
It's herd behavior ...
This land is mine, this land is free
I do what I want,
but irresponsibly ...
I'm a thief, I'm a liar
There's my church [the PRC],
I sing in the choir.

Taiwan, you might like the KMT bonus check, but it won't go far.

Gathering speed,

Keith Justik

P.S. Did I mention another article in the China Post? It seems the Chinese "forgive" Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) for his political bloodletting in that country. Okay? Must be a fact then.

------------

Check out the original (in two parts: Emeralds and Gray are your keywords for navigating this joke of a page) here.

Fit to wipe my arse.

Want some definitive proof that there's no neutral press in Taiwan? Want some definitive proof that the media here is a propaganda machine?

Ok, then you are asking for too much... but I do have something scandalous concerning press integrity to share with you.

The Liberty Times (自由時報) is one of the major newspapers in Taiwan. It supports the pan-green camp (Democratic Progressive Party, who has been in power for the last 8 years: pro-independence, has large grassroots following). Their rivals are China Post (中國時報) and United Daily (聯合報) - which are supporters of the pan-blue camp (The Chinese Nationalist Party, previously enforced despotic one party rule in Taiwan, imposed 50 years of martial law and white terror, murdered many dissenters, and now the major opposition party - yes, I'm as surprised as you are).

So recently a porcelain company in Taiwan, Franz, got a rare photo opportunity with the Pope. Unfortunately, the photo also featured Wang Shaw-lan (王效蘭), publisher of United Daily, third from left. Here's the photograph as released by CNA, the Taiwanese Central News Agency.

Now, when the photo was released on Liberty Times, it inexplicably altered. Can you spot the difference? Curious, isn't it? How Wang seems to have vanished from the scene. This photo was published by Liberty Times on the 17th of December, 2007, D10, if you are interested.

So what happened? Of course people noticed this rather obvious absence. And according to Liberty Times, the photo came to them that way, and they apologize for not noticing that it had been edited. Franz, however, insists that they edited the image at the request of Liberty Times.

I think the truth of the matter is a foregone conclusion - why in the name of everything Liberty Times does not stand for would anyone alter the image? And another question: did Liberty Times think that nobody would notice? They apparently take us for idiots. (Oh, by the way, this isn't the first time it's been caught editing photographs to suit their liking.) In another instance, the title of a paper being read by a man in a photograph, originally United Daily, was changed to Liberty Times, on 18th of October, 2005.

So, if Liberty Times has no qualms about changing photographs to suit themselves, then what's to stop it from changing news to suit themselves? After all, it is the Liberty Times - meaning, prone to taking liberties with the times.

I lament for the quality of free press in Taiwan.

I must add, my impression is that the other two major papers are not much better - when I come across some evidence I shall of course share them with you. Keep your eyes on this space for further farces.