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Driving Me Insane

Hartley Pool | December 1, 2006

“Left…LEFT!” I screamed, as sure as I’ve ever been of anything that we were about to be pulped by a Taipei City bus, which had suddenly decided to pull out from the stop without looking where it was going. For an instant it seemed to exude a casual kind of malevolence, about to broadside us without so much as a howdy-doody - then it was somehow in front of us. More

An Imperial Past

Andrew Bullen | December 1, 2006

Mr Huang, 83, is a member of a fast-disappearing generation in Taiwan. Not, as you might first think, as someone who remembers the Japanese era first-hand, but rather as someone who was as assimilated into Japanese culture and life as a Taiwanese person could be. More

Pill-popping Practices

Daniel Wallace | December 1, 2006

Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, despite having been widely celebrated since its conception just over ten years ago, faced financial bankruptcy last year and had to be subsidized by $11bn NT of public money in order to remain operational. Some light investigation soon revealed that one of the lead architects of the system, William Hsiao (蕭慶倫), a professor of economics at Harvard University, believed that, “Taiwan NHI’s financial problems stem from two factors: people’s mindset and politicians’ intervention.” More

Visa Purgatory

Joe Schmoe | December 1, 2006

The Odyssey, one of the oldest and greatest literary works from antiquity, gave us the legend of Sisyphus – some poor bastard who had to roll a damn stone up a hill for all eternity. It’s a comforting tale in some ways, perhaps because it’s one of those stories that helps us feel better about our state of affairs, a story once used to placate the middle class, like Nicholas Cage in The Family Man. Personally, I see Sisyphus as an immigrant worker, a foreign national with a nagging visa problem. More

Dating in Taiwan

Daniel Wallace | November 17, 2006

The White Guy / Taiwanese Girl thing seems to be a powerful myth for straight Western men here, and I’d like to point out some of the fictional elements of this myth. More

Dancing to a Different Beat

Nathan Haslewood | November 17, 2006

As you approach you are first struck by the grandeur of the building; the sheer size of the yellow roofed structure and the spacious, well laid out gardens surrounding the monument. Having walked from the MRT station, you round the corner with the intention of seeing Sun Yat Sen himself before you notice Taipei 101’s neon magnificence looming up before you. It’s quiet, peaceful even, the stillness only occasionally broken by a distant siren here and giggle-laced conversation there. And it’s then that your ear picks up on a strange sound. There is some form of chanting not too far away, accompanied by a rhythmic, almost tribal drum beat. As you move closer you can begin to discern that the chanting is repetitive, with what might be described as a single “caller” being answered by an array of voices. Your curiosity now having been thoroughly tickled, you finally get close enough to glimpse white clothed bodies conducting what looks like a bizarre dance while their compadres encircle them and clap. Bewildered, surprised, but also strangely enthralled, you reach for the camera while thinking to yourself, “what in the world is going on…?” More

Gung Ho for Chinese Loanwords

Albert Creak | November 17, 2006

Words “borrowed” from other languages are called loanwords. Everyone is familiar with English loanwords from French (ballet, champagne), German (blitz, kindergarten), and even Japanese (karaoke, kamikaze), but how many Chinese loanwords can you think of, and do you know their sources? Everyone knows mahjong and kung-fu come from Chinese, but I’d venture not many would list ketchup or yen (as in to crave, or a craving) as among the English language’s many Chinese loanwords. More

In Search of the Pu Pu Platter

Albert Creak | November 3, 2006

“Once you’ve tried the Chinese food in Taiwan, you’ll never want to eat at another American Chinese restaurant again,” a 46 year-old Mr. Lin told me the other night over a fragrant pot of three-cup chicken (三杯雞, sān bēi jī) the other day. The dish is named for the sesame oil, rice wine, and soy sauce that, along with a liberal amount of garlic and basil, give the dish its distinctive flavor. And Mr. Lin is right. Although with a little legwork excellent Chinese restaurants can be found in most larger western cities, the vast majority of Bamboo Gardens, Golden Dragons and Rickshaw Cafés can’t hold a joss stick to the real McChoy. More

Metal Martial Arts

Brian Kennedy & Elizabeth Guo | November 3, 2006

Metal and martial arts have long gone together. In modern times Mixed Martial Arts events like the UFC or PRIDE, have their contestants enter the ring to the ear shattering beat of some heavy metal tune. Beyond similar tastes in music, body piercings and tattoos are common to both heavy metal “head bangers” and to the “head bangers” who fight in full contact mixed martial arts events. But “metal and martial arts” is not just a recent phenomenon; in traditional Chinese martial arts there too has been a link between “metal” and “martial arts” albeit in a far different sense than metal music’s link with mixed martial arts. More

Walking Tours of Taipei

Daniel Wallace | November 3, 2006

You can only really know a city if you explore it on foot, and this is especially true of a particularly ugly city like Taipei. Just travelling between work, café, bar and home, you can feel surrounded by the same architecture on every street, and the same 7-11 signs on every corner; you’ve got to spend time to get down into the cracks of Taipei, to find some of the more attractive spots, and I do this by taking long walks without a map. The heat and humidity means that this is best done in the evening or at night, but as autumn has arrived, now is the perfect time of year to go searching for new places in Taiwan’s capital. More

Mosquitoes: Justifiable Force

Linda Gail Arrigo | November 3, 2006

I have just found myself a new sport, and anyone who is a big-nose old Taiwan hand, like myself, will understand just how sporting it is. More

Taiwan's "Zu Qun": Identity Politics and Posturing

Linda Gail Arrigo | October 20, 2006

Nowadays with the Democratic Progressive Party in the Presidency (at least for now) we hear a lot in Taiwan about ethnic group cultures and identity; the term is “zu qun” in pinyin, something like race/nation, and it’s supposed to be important and explain all kinds of social and political behavior. If the zu qun are balanced in representation in the media and in all kinds of social groups there will be social harmony – or that is at least the wishful vision of the ruling party. More

Feathered Bars

Nathan Haslewood | October 20, 2006

“I had to pack up my things and leave secretly in the middle of the night. I drove my sister’s car alone to my new apartment. I had to sneak out. My father wouldn’t let me leave.” While it may sound somewhat surprising, this is exactly what this young Taiwanese woman feels she was forced to do. But, Kim, at 24 years old, is very far from being your typical Taiwanese daughter. This year, she made the decision to move out of her family’s home to live independently, something that was met with a huge amount of resistance. “My father’s a very traditional Taiwanese man,” she says, “He wouldn’t let me leave and didn’t understand why I wanted to go. He thought I was going because I had a boyfriend and I wanted to live with him, but it wasn’t about that. It was about getting my independence; about getting control over my own life.” More

The Cricket Test

Daniel Wallace | October 20, 2006

I’ve asked many Taiwanese people whether the foreigners who live here should learn Chinese. On the whole, people don’t seem bothered. “If they want to, they can”… I then ask whether foreigners need to learn about Taiwanese culture, or adapt to Taiwanese lifestyles, and on this, people’s responses are even more blasé. It would be a smart move, seems to be the majority opinion, but only very rarely will someone describe it as a moral obligation. In fact, many people act surprised if I display any local knowledge at all. More

Viral Performance Art

Nana Chen | October 6, 2006

Nana Chen interviews performance artist Yeh Yi-Li. More

The Origins of Double Ten Day

Andrew Bullen | October 6, 2006

The national day of the Republic of China, on 10th October (Double Ten Day), commemorates the Wuchang uprising in 1911 which was the start of the Xinhai Revolution – leading to the establishment of the Republic. After 4,000 years of dynastic autocratic rulers in China, the latest in that line, the Qing Dynasty, was eventually overthrown after a year of turmoil, conflict and negotiation. The ideological basis for this new state was the Three Principles of the People, a doctrine proposed by Sun Yat-sen which included Mínzú (nationalism), Mínquán (democracy) and Mínshēng (the people's livelihood). In mainland China, Hong Kong and overseas Chinese communities this event is celebrated simply as the anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, but in Taiwan, the government officially claims the country to be the one and the same Republic of China founded in the chaos of 1911-1912. The event is therefore celebrated as National Day, with much pomp and circumstance in Taipei, including fireworks, military parades and the president taking the salute. More

Hard-core

John Baerg | October 6, 2006

As anyone who has spent any amount of time in Taiwan will tell you, buxibans, or cram schools, are a ubiquitous feature in Taiwan’s educational landscape, and in Taiwan’s English language buxibans, the influence of foreigners is easily seen, as most of the big chains go to great lengths to hire native-speaker English teachers. The foreign influence on cram schools isn’t limited to the employment of teachers, however. In fact, in the last twenty years, a new phenomenon has sprung up – that of the foreign-owned and operated English buxiban. Apart from the fact that they are foreign owned, there is another commonality – many of them fall under the category of HFRB – Hard-core Foreign-Run Buxiban. More

Observing Taiwan

Daniel Wallace | October 6, 2006

Figuring things out about Taiwanese culture is a fascination of mine, and I love to ask questions, conduct surveys, and theorise about the strange things I encounter. It seems that all foreigners have opinions about their host country: I just try to test mine against reality. This article describes the techniques I use. More

Why You Shouldn't Learn Chinese

Steven D. Quinn | October 6, 2006

The cover of the June 26, 2006 issue of the Asian edition of Time Magazine reads, “Get Ahead! Learn Mandarin!” The feature article narrates the tale of three Japanese businessmen who have given up nights at their favorite drinking spot for evening Mandarin classes. When asked why they’ve decided to study Mandarin, one of the salarymen vaguely replies, “We sort of unanimously agreed that Chinese would be a useful skill to acquire.” This sentiment mirrors a widely held view among up and comers in South Korea, Japan, and the West—the next twenty to thirty years belongs to China, and those who master Mandarin will be well positioned to participate in the Chinese economic juggernaut. If you’re thinking along the same lines, there are a few questions you need to consider. More

Those Green Hills Beyond the Zoo

Linda Gail Arrigo | September 21, 2006

On a crisp clear sunny day like today you can see forever. That is, if you are standing on the highest point on the southeast side of Taipei City, Erge Mountain, 680 meters elevation, you can gaze all the way across the Taipei Basin to Yangmingshan, Guanyin Mountain, and even the mouth of the Danshui River flowing out into the blue Pacific. You feel like one of the eagles floating lazily in the updraft from the sharp Bijia (Pen Rest) Mountain ridge, stretched out east to west below with rock outcroppings jutting skyward through the green. You can see the deep blue of the Feicui Reservoir to the south. And somewhat later you can rinse off the sweat from the climb in a cold mountain stream pool deep up to your neck. More

A Memory of Orange

Andrew Bullen | September 21, 2006

One of the briefer episodes in world colonial history was the Dutch occupation of a swathe of southern Taiwan in the 1600s, lasting a scant 38 years before disease, privation and a Chinese-Japanese pirate-king swept away their nascent administration. Take a trip to the Anping district in western Tainan today and few sites remain to bear witness to the European (mis)adventure on Formosa. The most prominent of these is Fort Zeelandia (安平古堡; Ānpíng Gǔbǎo), built on what was originally a sandy bank isolated from the mainland in order to provide both access to the sea and defensibility from hostile parties on the mainland. More

Before Coming to Taiwan

Daniel Wallace | September 21, 2006

Before coming to Taiwan, I lived in the city of Kunming, in southwest China. There are many things I miss about my old life there; in particular, I miss the warmth and fire of Chinese people. Compared to Taiwan, people in China are much more assertive, and much more talkative towards foreigners (no matter how broken the conversation was). It was common for strangers to start conversations with me, and common for them to pay for my meal or invite me to join their drinking. Whereas, in Taipei, although I have several great friends, and have many places where people know me well, the average person in the street still gives me the wide eyed “Borg stare” - as if they think that talking to me would be a very serious, possibly even dangerous activity. I miss the hearty Chinese welcome and curiosity, and the big dreams they had for their country’s gold rush age. More

Hakka Dreams

Steven D. Quinn | September 21, 2006

Some years ago at a popular restaurant in Xinzhu,* I joined a gathering of twelve business owners, all local Rotarians, for a feast featuring the local Hakka fare. Shortly after the first bottle of whiskey was opened, the backslapping and the joshing began. “Steven, this is Mr. Gao. We call him “Hotel”. He’s the richest man in our Rotary Club.” More

Migrante Sectoral Party

Gi Estrada | September 21, 2006

‘Western’ foreigners are a fairly visible group in Taiwan, but they are outnumbered ten to one by the ‘other foreigners’ – blue-collar workers from Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. These foreign workers have faced many hurdles in coming to a new country, not least abuse by employers and indifference from the government bodies intended to protect their rights. Here Gi Estrada talks about the work Migrante has been doing for these under-represented people in Taiwan. More

Taiwan's Humpback Dolphins

Christina MacFarquhar | September 1, 2006

In 2002, Sousa chinesis won official recognition as a resident of Taiwan, leaping out of relative obscurity and into the highest category of endangered species. Despite its proximity to the heaving west coast human population, its presence had gone unnoticed by most local people, and the stretch of coastal waters in which it swims, between the Mailiao and Changpin Industrial Parks, had never before been thoroughly surveyed for cetaceans. More

1960's Taipei through American Eyes

Linda Gail Arrigo | September 1, 2006

Hard to imagine now, forty-some years ago Taipei was a somnolent Asian backwater. Though heavily militarized by the warlord forces of Chiang Kai-shek and by the American military that manned airbases ready to strike communism in China and Southeast Asia and radio listening posts, the ambience of Taipei was slow and close to nature in the languid humidity. On a typical summer afternoon, the blue of the sky above one-story tile-roofed Japanese-style houses was broken by sudden lightning and a tropical downpour, and then forty minutes later the sun broke through again and glistened on wet hibiscus bushes and tree branches pushing over the concrete walls topped with broken glass. The lanes were quiet except for neighborly foot traffic, pedicabs with their bicycle bells, and vendors hawking roast sweet potatoes or ice cream. More

The Hard World of Buses

Daniel Wallace | September 1, 2006

Taiwan is a surprise - the place that they told you was “Eastern” and "collectivistic", seems actually better described as "every man for himself". On buses, people get on, find enough space to stand, and once they've done that, they will rarely move to make things easier for other people. If I’m standing near the front, and there is space at the back of the bus, then you will have to push me past to get it. Routinely in London, someone would cry, "Can you all move back, please?" but this kind of communal thinking is not common on Taiwan’s buses. More

Mormonism in Mandarin

Steven D. Quinn | September 1, 2006

On a rainy morning in March 1988, I stood on the covered walkway outside the Taichung, Taiwan mission offices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, awaiting the arrival of my trainer, Elder Tim Bowman.* The fellow “greenies” I’d arrived in Taiwan with had departed on early morning trains for towns in the south. I had been assigned to begin my labors in the hamlet of Qingshui, about forty minutes outside of Taichung. Pacing about in freshly polished shoes and a new suit, I was impatient to begin the first real adventure of my life, and the veteran missionary who was to shepherd me into it was more than an hour late. More

The Artist Laid Bare

Nana Chen | September 1, 2006

Nana Chen Interviews Kuo Hui-Chan, performance artist/photographer, part-time lecturer Toko University applied arts department. More

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