What’s All The Führer About?

Pics of Nazi-themed restaurants and bars in Asia.  (None from Taiwan, though.)

On a completely unrelated note, we’ve been having some record-breaking temperatures here recently.  Perhaps I’ll cool off with a tangy bei-shan guo bing san (passion fruit slurpee) from one of the local beverage stands.

Hitler Drink Shop in Taiwan

Or…maybe not.

(Photo by The Foreigner)

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Citizen Journalism In Taiwan

Funny, I spoke with a friend of mine about citizen photojournalism about a week ago, and I’ve seen two stories on citizen journalism since then.  The last one, from Monday’s Taipei Times, I’ll mention first:

Wu Ping-hai (吳平海) has neither a journalism degree nor experience working for newspapers or TV news programs.

But Wu’s video camera has recorded a footage from a wide range of events, documenting the personal stories of ordinary people and the issues that concern local communities.

Wu posts short documentaries on peopo.org, an online citizen news platform started recently by the Taiwan Broadcasting System.

Two of his films document the study of farmland tree frogs, a species only found in Taiwan, and the experiences of foreign spouses learning Mandarin in Meinung Township (美濃), Kaohsiung County.

Wu was one of more than 700 citizen journalists who have contributed to community news coverage since the creation of the platform in April.

They have generated more than 2,200 news stories over the past three months.

[…]

To ensure the quality of stories, the Web site’s administrators have asked would-be contributers to submit a formal application before posting reports and footage.

Over at The Belmont Club, Wretchard speculates where this is headed:

Here’s what I think people will see in the next decade. Big news won’t go away but readers will be able to drill-down on news stories in a way impossible before. For example, suppose new riots break out in the banleius of Paris in 2017. The reader will be able to drill down into every greater detail. Was a man burned on a torched bus? Click and find the micro-journalist who is following the recovery of the victim in a hospital. Or discover how the riots have affected a particular suburb in northern Paris. Not only will you be able to drill down, but you will be able to interact with the news. With online payment systems I believe readers will be able to support micro-journalist efforts to find out more details about an story, in a miniature version of the way readers support Michael Yon in Iraq today.

UPDATE (Jul 26/07):  Might citizen journalism be a way for Taiwanese nationalists to circumvent the stranglehold that Chinese nationalists have on Taiwan’s mainstream media?  Apparently RCTV in Venezuela carried on in reduced form on YouTube after their license was pulled, so there is some kind of precedent.

Martial Law Mentality

From a story in Monday’s Taiwan News entitled, "Scholars point out martial law mentality lingers long after era":

"The former regime has made many Taiwanese live like walking corpses, living without passion. The 38 years of authoritative rule has also made them stop thinking, with many focusing only on how to make money," [a local professor of sociology] added.

I don’t know if I would go QUITE so far.  "Walking corpses," and all that.  However, I do have an observation – an anecdotal one – about my chats in English with middle-aged Taiwanese.  Every now and then, in the course of a conversation, I will ask them an idle question:  What do they think the penalty or punishment should be for some infraction or another?

What I will hear from such people – almost invariably – is what the punishment for such-and-such a crime IS.

At that point, I often scowl a bit and look at the person somewhat suspiciously.  Because I didn’t ask them what the punishment IS – I asked them THEIR OPINION about what the punishment OUGHT TO BE.  I scowl because I can’t help wondering whether my interlocutor has deliberately evaded answering my question.

I catch myself then, and try to give them the benefit of the doubt.  After all, there’s a language barrier, so perhaps the person honestly misunderstood me.  So I politely follow up by saying that I understand what the punishment IS, but what I would really like to know is what they think the punishment SHOULD BE.

The usual reply:  "The punishment for such-and-such a crime is THIS.  And I AGREE with that."

So I’m faced with two possible conclusions here.  Either Taiwan is a society with a preternatural level of conformity, where all it’s middle-aged citizens agree WITH EVERY JUDGMENT meted out by the criminal justice system…or the middle-aged here have simply learned not to express their honest opinions about such matters.

After all, an openly-expressed opinion about how things SHOULD BE that differs in any way from the way things actually ARE is itself a criticism of the rulers that made things the way they are in the first place.  And criticism of the country’s rulers was the sort of thing that could get someone in heap big trouble in the bad old days of martial law.

Well, that’s my own observation about "lingering martial law mentality" in Taiwan.  Anecdotal?  Absolutely.  Try it yourself, and let me know the results.  Try it with groups of Taiwanese, and try it with individuals.  Taiwanese you know well, and those you don’t.  The middle-aged, and the young. 

I’m very interested in knowing if I’m onto something here, or whether I’m completely off base.

POSTSCRIPT:  Along similar lines, I could relate a story about a place of employment in Taiwan that is known to me.  In this workplace, certain Taiwanese employees freely talk about their support for Chinese nationalism.

Now it so happens that one of the employees there was once a political officer in the ROC armed forces.  And apparently, nary a word is EVER spoken by his co-workers in favor of Taiwanese nationalism.

A brief explanation is in order here.  Up until a few years ago, units in the Republic of China’s armed forces were organized along Leninist lines, headed by both military and political officers.  Political officers were tasked with observing the military officers for signs of disloyalty towards the Party (KMT).  They carried pistols, and were authorized to SHOOT military officers, in extreme cases.

Let me hasten to add that I’ve met this former political officer, and he seems like a very pleasant guy on a personal level.  A great guy, in fact.  But I still can’t escape the fact that none of his colleagues ever speaks in favor of Taiwanese nationalism.  And I don’t think that’s by accident, either.

End Of Martial Law

Late last week and early this week, local media had a number of stories about the 20th anniversary of the lifting of martial law in Taiwan.  The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lauded former dictator Chiang Ching-kuo for putting Taiwan onto the path to democracy, while Taiwanese nationalists denied Chiang’s role entirely, crediting the pressure exerted by the Taiwanese people instead.

For my part, I’m willing to grant Chiang Ching-kuo a certain amount of credit, because he COULD have resorted to some sort of Tiananmen-style crackdown, or even fought to the bloody end, like Nicolae Ceausescu.  I’m not willing to go overboard and beatify the man though, because the repeal may have been intended to merely be cosmetic; apparently many martial law provisions were quietly re-enacted soon after the "official" lifting of martial law.

Be that as it may, I thought it was interesting that both Chinese and Taiwanese nationalists spoke of the repeal as though the decision process was entirely indigenous – neither group mentioned outside pressure as being at all influential on the final decision.  Perhaps that’s not surprising, but I suppose it is SOME kind of common ground.

Now, I know that Michael Turton has at various times written about the pressure the American government exerted on Chiang to institute democratic reforms (links?), but I think one thing missing from the discussion (in the English language papers, at least) was the influence that the "People Power" revolution in the Philippines may have had here.  You see, I honestly DON’T remember the lifting of martial law in Taiwan in 1987, but I DO recall that sometime thereabouts Ferdinand Marcos was forced to flee Manila.  A quick check of Wikipedia refreshed my memory:

By 1984, [Ferdinand Marcos’] close personal ally, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, started distancing himself from the Marcos regime that he and previous American presidents had strongly supported even after Marcos declared martial law. The United States, which had provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, was crucial in buttressing Marcos’ rule over the years.[22]

Wikipedia recounts the penultimate day of the EDSA Revolution:

[On February 25, 1986 Marcos] talked to US Senator Paul Laxalt, asking for advice from the White House. Laxalt advised him to "cut and cut cleanly", to which Marcos expressed his disappointment after a short pause. In the afternoon, Marcos talked to [General] Enrile, asking for safe passage for him and his family. Finally, at 9:00 p.m., the Marcos family was transported by four American helicopters to Clark Air Base in Pampanga, before heading on to Guam, and finally to Hawaii.

While I’m not privy to the deliberations of Chiang Ching-kuo and his inner circle prior to July 15, 1987, it’s fair to say that the fall of a fellow dictator just 17 months previously and only a few hundred miles away must have weighed heavily in favor of democratizing in order to avoid a similar fate.

Forbidden Nation

I picked up a copy of this book about Taiwanese nationalism, as well as I, Claudius, a few weeks ago from PageOne in Taipei 101. I, Claudius I will read in August – I have no idea when I’ll get to Forbidden Nation.

For those interested, David Frum reviews Forbidden Nation at the National Review:

Jonathan Manthorpe, a journalist who has covered China and Taiwan for the Vancouver Sun and other newspapers, has written the supremely useful single volume history of Taiwan, from its pre-Chinese Malay-Polynesian origins to the present day. The book is titled Forbidden Nation, and as the name suggests Manthorpe devotes most attention to the interaction between Taiwanese nationalism and the dynasts and colonialists who have suppressed it: mainland emperors, Japanese imperialists, the Chiang Kai-Shek regime, and now the Communist rulers of Beijing.

Manthorpe does not conceal his sympathies for the Taiwanese underdogs in thesestruggles, but he works his way through the story fair-mindedly and accessibly. The book is mercifully short, but powerfully lucid.

Frum proceeds with a brief summary of Taiwanese history, and closes with a few thoughts on idealism vs. realism in American foreign policy.

Jokes That Don’t Translate Well

Guess I’m going to have to stop the self-deprecating humor I occasionally use in Taiwan about my past life as a "professional student."  Because it turns out that the phrase has a rather more ominous connotation here than it does in the West:

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) office filed a defamation lawsuit [on July 3rd] against Cabinet Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) implying Ma served as a "professional student" for the party whenhe was at Harvard University.

In Taiwan, the term "professional student" usually refers to those who studied abroad on KMT scholarships and worked as campus spies for the party, reporting on pro-independence Taiwanese students. [emphasis added]

The story’s a bit old*, though I bring it up because I ran across this story about China sending its own "professional students" to America:

In a manner similar to Chinese espionage efforts, Chinese students are encouraged to gather seemingly innocuous data for the Chinese government.  For example, who has been saying anti-Chinese government things on campus?  Which Americans, especially Chinese-Americans, appear most likely to support the Chinese government?

As the article says, this too, is nothing new.  Relatively new however, are proposals by the KMT to allow Chinese students to study in Taiwan.  Left unaddressed in these proposals is the possibility probability that many of these Chinese students will be tasked with identifying future collaborators, and marking other Taiwanese students for blacklists, re-education camps – or worse.

It would indeed be a black joke – one translatable into any language – if the Taiwanese, having recently been freed of "professional students," were to elect an alleged one to the PRESIDENCY, and as a result, had their centers of higher education once more filled with that particular sub-set of humanity.

* The story may be old, but as the The View from Taiwan notes, it’s one that isn’t dying, and it may have significant ramifications on the Taiwanese presidential elections in 2008.

UPDATE (Aug 4/07):  Fixed the Strategy Page link.

Conform!

Over at The View from Taiwan is a post about falling afoul of unwritten rules here.  The examples are new to me, but they brought to mind an amusing description of the medical football players have to take before they are ever considered for the NFL.  What follows says nothing about Taiwan, but maybe something about human nature:

     When you get to the hospital, you are herded with the others into a long hallway to wait.  Chairs line the way and at the end of the corridor is a door.  A woman pops her head out the door every so often and beckons to the body filling the seat nearest the door.  In the true spirit of the thing, the masses have somehow determined that the correct way to proceed is for all forty remaining bodies to lift their carcasses up, only to drop them immediately in the remaining empty seat.  It’s a truncated and ridiculous version of musical chairs without the music.  At that rate, you will get up and sit down seventeen times before you are beckoned.  You revolt.  You decide to sit and not move.  You’ll wait for ten or so spaces to open up before you shuffle on down.

     When four empty chairs are between you and the next guy, those behind you start to shift uncomfortably in their seats.  Someone is not obeying the rules.  That’s not a good thing.  You start to feel like the grandpa snaking through the mountains on a single lane highway with twenty cars crawling up his back because he’s going five miles under the speed limit.  You surrender and take up your role in the mindless shuffle.  Despite your sense of the absurdity, you feel much better.

-Tim Green, The Dark Side of the Game, p 8-9