February 13, 2007 - A few days after I officially moved to Hsindian, south of Taipei, I took off on my bike even further souther, south of Hsindian. The roads led to fantastic scenery and
much more of a "Taiwan feel". It made me feel that Taipei is exactly what the Taiwanese international sports teams are referred to as: Chinese Taipei. Taipei feels like it's occupied by (mainland) Chinese people and Chinese culture. I'm feeling that Taipei is not Taiwanese culture.
Not that this is good or bad. I came to Taiwan thinking I was pretty green - pro-Taiwan independence - probably greener than the rest of my family, because I believe in self-determination and human rights. Now I'm just pro-peace and reconciliation, although I don't think that is possible until the mainland Chinese government changes. That's the international matter.
Domestically, I've come to feel that Taiwan is rightfully a part of China. Taiwan, as a province, is no different from any other Chinese province. That is, it has its own culture and language, but it's still Chinese. Taiwan, as separate from China, is a Cold War relic. I may have my history wrong, I should probably look this up, but if it wasn't for the U.S., Mao Tse-tung would have chased Chiank Kai-shek to Taiwan and wiped out the Nationalists once and for all. Seriously, what else would have stopped him?
I think a viable Taiwanese attitude might be, "Fine, we're Chinese, we're part of China, we don't want to be independent, but we want to be part of democratic government that respects human and state rights. We'll wait until the climate changes, and then we'll reunite". And I do think the Communist government will change or fall eventually, just like any other Chinese dynasty. It'll be the 共產朝 - the Communist Dynasty.
Oh, whoops. I forgot I'm on blog. This is a road that runs along the Hsindian River heading to Wulai. I have no idea what the huge structure is, or what it does, but it looked like they were still building something on it or around it.
iTunes soundtrack:
1. Nathan Jones (The Supremes)
2. Bounce ("Bounce" - Sondheim)
3. I Can See for Kilometers (The Who)
4. See Emily Play (Pink Floyd)
5. Failure (Kings of Convenience)
6. On the Air (Peter Gabriel)
7. Radar Follows You (Versus)
8. Female of the Species Chase ("Barnum")
9. I'm a Brass Band ("Sweet Charity")
10. Blank Page (Smashing Pumpkins)
2 comments:
I love that picture. There is something about seeing a river from above like that makes it look mythic. I realize that sounds retarded, but well, it just looks mythic to me.
oh, that's totally not retarded. you get a completely different perspective of the river metaphor when viewed from vistas.
And those gigantic concrete jacks must be about something or another.
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