Category: Taiwanese Culture & People

Strike A Pose, There’s Nothing To It

Any particular reason why the mainstream media is showing us the photographic self-portraits of a mass murderer, depicting him as some kind of kick-ass comrade of Neo and Trinity aboard the Nebuchadnezzar?

Oh, we all know why you do it
Sometimes you even slow it down
You’re giving
out some bad ideas here
I can’t believe that you don’t realize

You must be evil
You must be evil
Evil…

–Chris Rea, "You Must Be Evil"

Hats off to the local English media, which has thus far declined to be the propaganda organs of a publicity-hungry killer.

POSTSCRIPT:  Jim Treacher at the Daily Gut expresses irritation with some of the reaction:

According to MSNBC: "South Korea’s Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences, saying that there was no known motive for the shootings and that South Korea hoped the tragedy would not ‘stir up racial prejudice or confrontation.’ "  You know what? How about just expressing your condolences?  If a white American guy shot a bunch of people in South Korea, would we tell the grieving families that we hoped it wouldn’t stir up racial prejudice?

On a personal note, I’ve been approached by a couple of Taiwanese within the last few days and asked if I know how to distinguish between Taiwanese and Koreans.  I admit I probably can’t, though I make sure to ask the questioners in turn if THEY can tell the difference between Frenchmen and Poles.

I tell them that I can’t, either.  But most people ARE able to distinguish between dead homicidal maniacs and people who, by a sheer accident of birth, happen to share the same nationality.

CORRECTION:  It was Jim Treacher and not David Gutfeld at the Daily Gut who was unhappy about the South Korean government’s initial response to the Cho Seung-Hui shootings.  Apologies for that; the error has been corrected.

UPDATE:  Maybe I should have read today’s papers before writing this post, because two local English papers DID print Cho’s pictures.  The Taiwan News printed the one with Cho raising a claw hammer with two hands – which isn’t that objectionable because it just makes him look demented.  Taiwan’s China Post on the other hand, printed the one where Cho looks like an Asian gangsta-rap version of the Shadow.  Fortunate that they’re not trying to glamorize him, or anything…

Meanwhile, a couple of lawmakers with mental-health issues of their own showed up at Virginia Tech’s sister university in Taipei with the local media in tow, and staged an impromptu terrorism drill by reporting a false hostage-taking incident to police.  Needless to say, much hilarity ensued:

At a classroom where students were studying, [one of the Taiwanese nationalist lawmakers] walked in and held up a fork, saying it was a submachine gun, and pointed it at the students while asking them if they knew how to deal with such a situation.

Several minutes later, the legislative duo [and class-full of students] were confronted by dozens of police officers wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying 9mm pistols and M-16 assault rifles, who had been sent from nearby Daan Precinct.

Teach-errr, can we do the midterm NEXT week, instead?

Closing this little round-up, it looks like the Taiwanese who talked to me aren’t the only ones concerned about being mistaken for Koreans:

…some Taiwanese students in the US had asked Taiwanese compatriot organizations or their families to send them clothes or hats with the word "Taiwan" or "Taipei" or stickers of the national flag in a bid to help distinguish them from South Korean nationals after Monday’s killings.

I don’t mean to belittle other people’s concerns or fears, but I don’t for a minute believe Southerners are going to lynch ANYBODY over this.  Frankly, I think it’s a little little insulting to suggest that they might.

UPDATE (Apr 21/07):  The View from Taiwan has a more in-depth discussion of the phony terrorism drill at National Taiwan University in Taipei.

UPDATE (May 15/07):  South Korean newspapers apparently indulged in some schadenfreude immediately after the killings, printing editorial cartoons slamming American society. After learning that the shooter was Korean, however, they quickly pulled the cartoons.  (Hat tip to AsiaPundit)

The Pigeon Game

I did a post about pigeon racing in Taiwan sometime back, and David on Formosa was good enough to leave a suggestion that I watch a National Geographic program called "The Pigeon Game" on that very topic.  Missed it, but caught it several months later.  Great stuff.

Anyways, National Geographic is showing it twice again tonight: at 8 pm and at 2 am.  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

UPDATE (Apr 15/07):  A column by someone who holds that Taiwan should legalize gambling on pigeon racing, rather than on horse and auto racing.  Interesting idea, although I’m not sure that pigeon racing has as much international tourist appeal as the author claims.  Unlike horse and auto racing, pigeon racing isn’t a spectator sport – the races can take a few days, and the participants reach the "finish line" (actually, finish coop) within 20 minutes or so of each other.

Tomb-Sweeping Day

The story of Keith Richards snorting his dad’s ashes with coke made the papers here, and just in time for Tomb-Sweeping Day.  Lordy-be.  I can only imagine what Taiwanese make of us Westerners after THAT little show of filial piety.

For those who don’t live in Taiwan, Tomb-Sweeping Day is a holiday set aside to pay obeisance at the tombs of one’s ancestors.  People typically trim away vegetation that has grown over family graves over the course of the year; in subtropical Taiwan this can entail quite a bit of work, particularly for children from urban centers who may’ve never handled a pruner or hedge-trimmer in their entire lives.  A good piece on Tomb-Sweeping Day holiday can be found here.

Joe Hung also wrote an interesting column on modern observances of this holiday.  I was unaware that the holiday used to be unfixed (the 15th Day of the Spring Equinox, so it fell on either Apr 5th or 6th).  It was fixed on Apr 5th by late Taiwanese dictator Chiang Ching-guo in order to honor his father, Chiang Kai-shek, who died on that day.  As part of a recent de-Chiangification campaign, it has been suggested that the holiday become unfixed again.

I don’t know if Tomb-Sweeping Day will be returned to its TRUE Chinese roots and become unfixed again, but I beg to differ with Dr. Hung on one point.  De-Chiangification is NOT de-Sinicization – unless one starts with the proposition that dictatorship is an inherent and essential part of Chinese-ness.

UPDATE:  The Taiwan News reports that Richards was joking about his dad’s ashes.

UPDATE (Apr 7/07):  Good pic of the day’s observances from Friday’s Taipei Times:

Taiwanese at a cemetery burning incense and paying obeisance to their ancestors.

Frankly, I’m a little surprised to see this picture at all.  Last time I showed some Taiwanese friends a couple pictures I’d taken of local tombs (mixed in with other photos – I’m not THAT morbid), they were horrified.  Said the ghosts were going to follow me now.

i-1

Get Up And ‘Go’

How can anyone resist this?  A Taiwanese kid is taunted and bullied by schoolmates because of the port-wine stain that covers nearly a quarter of his face.  He discovers a board game, Go, and practices relentlessly.  At age 27, he wins a world championship, and a short children’s version of his autobiography becomes part of the educational curriculum.

It’d be nice to think that his life story would both inspire kids to reach their potential, as well as teach them to show some humanity towards their fellows.  Yeah, it’d sure be nice.

UPDATE (Apr 1/07):  And now…the OTHER side of the story:

His father was a stern teacher. Whenever Chou lost a game he received severe punishment from his father.

Lovely man.

Japan Wins Taiwanese Hearts And Minds

So I read that Taiwan has at least 5 Japanese-inspired restaurants featuring waitresses clad in French maid outfits.  And the waitresses greet guests with a curtsy and a, "Welcome home, master."

That just beats the HECK out of China’s panda offer.  And it’s further proof that the West is falling SERIOUSLY behind Taiwan in some of the finer amenities of civilization.

Those Brightly-Packaged, Tinsel-Covered Chinese New Year Blues

The jingle bells are jingling
The streets are white with snow
The happy crowds are mingling
But there’s no one that I know.
I’m sure that you’ll forgive me
If I don’t enthuse –
I guess I’ve got the Christmas blues

-Dean Martin, The Christmas Blues

All three English papers printed roughly the same story yesterday regarding Taiwanese singles and holiday depression.  From the Taipei Times:

The festive season from Christmas until [Chinese] Lunar New Year is a time of year when single men and women sink into "the holiday blues," if the results of a study released yesterday by a singles group are to be believed.

Taiwanese singles get the blues at Christmas-time?  Chinese New Year, sure.  Nearly half-a-million turned up to the Western New Year’s celebrations in Taipei, so I can see that, too.  But Christmas-time?  No, sorry, I don’t buy it.  As an Aussie said to me recently, "Christmas is about as big here as the Dragon Boat Festival is in Perth."

But that’s just a quibble.  Just how DOES a Taiwanese know if he’s got the holiday blues?

Some of the "symptoms" respondents described included anxiety, temper flares, amnesia, an inability to focus, insomnia, fatigue, headaches, tightness in the chest, "feeling old" and bickering.

I suppose at this point we singles are supposed to commiserate and tell the world how tough we’ve got it.  But the truth is, we really don’t.  Because if you’re married, Chinese New Year is coming, and you’re going to have to cook and clean and prepare for a houseful of guests.

Reckon that’ll bring you just a LITTLE anxiety and fatigue.

On top of that, tradition says married folks have to visit their in-laws houses for Chinese New Year, too.  Perhaps you’re unaware of this, but in the entire history of Taiwan, not a single such visit has ever, EVER resulted in temper flares, headaches or bickering.  Perish the thought.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention the loud, all-night games of mah-jong.  That, I did.  Word has it insomnia occasionally ensues.  And not only for the unmarried.

Gimme That Old-Time Religion

Declining attendance in houses of worship may be a big problem for Western churches, but not here in Taiwan.  Perhaps one possible explanation for that might be…oh, I dunno, maybe the presence of pole dancers at the proceedings?

As a guy, I just have this to say:  We foreigners could really learn a LOT from these people.