Eric in his defense made attempts to know more about the history and culture of Taiwan than the locals. Hence his anger when they treated him like a dumb foreigner.
He was a big independence supporter and he spent all his time trying to convince us of the logic of Taiwan not belonging to China. Even when you were just relaxing in the bar.
“Man, I bought this book last week," said Eric and we all groaned knowing what was coming.
"You know it is bullshit that Taiwan has always been a part of China."
"You have told us that before," I said.
"I know," he replied. "But i didn't have the historical evidence to back me up before. Listen please."
"Do we have a choice?"
"Not really, man. Hey, you know, up until the 1600’s the island was populated by people of Malay and Polynesian descent, the aboriginals, then the Dutch took the island briefly, but were driven out by a small Ming dynasty army, which had fled the mainland because the Ming had been defeated by the Ching – much like Chiang Kai-Shek and the commies. The Ching came then to defeat the Ming, but did not occupy or annex Taiwan, because they were not really interested in the island, just getting rid of the remnants of the Ming. Over the next 200 years, Chinese from Fukkien province emigrated to Taiwan because of starvation. They weren’t sent by the Chinese government but had come seeking opportunities much like the Europeans going to the new world. And they inter-bred with the aboriginals.
In 1887 the China government formally declared Taiwan part of its territory for no other reason than they expected Japan to annex it, and they wanted to stop Japanese expansion. Eight years later they lost the Sino-Japanese war and signed Taiwan over to the Japanese forever. Up until then the Taiwanese had been living in a state of de-facto independence for 200 hundred years and, when they knew they were going to be given to the Japanese, they declared the Republic of Taiwan; so, for a long time they have had a sense of national identity.”
Josh: “And where did you get this information from? I don’t think from KMT or Chinese Communist Party sources.”
“Of course! You have to search hard for the suppressed truth,” said Eric.
“But they were whipped by the Japanese? – When they tried to declare independence,” said John.
“Brutally and swiftly! Yes, of course, but that is not the point. Taiwan was only ever a part of China for 8 years is the point. Josh, you are an immigrant, too. Your ancestors moved to a new land to give themselves a chance.”
“Didn’t the Taiwanese butcher the native population? I have no sympathy until they redress this injustice,” said Josh.
“Native populations get wiped out. Look at our own countries. Anyway, the government is trying to do something.”
“And I don’t live in Canada in protest. Next time tell us about what the government is doing for the aboriginals then we might listen to your claims of Taiwanese moral superiority,” continued Josh.
John and Pierre were realists but they nodded anyway because they knew it made Eric angry!
Showing posts with label Taiwan history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taiwan history. Show all posts
Friday, July 24, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Taiwan characters: Eric and studying Chinese in Taiwan IX
A month after joining the taichi class things were going great. He had been adopted by a group of old women averaging 70 years old. They were all mainlanders who had arrived with Chiang Kai Shek when he lost the civil war in 1947. Eric had wanted to be adopted by a bunch of local Taiwanese, but unfortunately, most Taiwanese of this age could hardly speak Chinese and once they were together with friends would only use Taiwanese.
Today, he was having lunch at the apartment of one of them. Her 100 year old mother was sat in the chair.
"Hey, her feet were bound," he said.“That is fascinating!"
An image of himself trying to walk on toes being smashed with a sledge hammer and bent under popped into his head. "Sorry...Probably not so fascinating for her."
“So what is this a picture of?” Eric loved looking at old photos, they gave him a window into different time or place – Something pretentious like that, he thought.
“Me, my parents, Beijing. I was twelve.” In the case of this lady, that was about 75 years ago.
“So, you have any photos…in Taiwan with your parents?”
“I not see my parents…uh, since 1947. They killed by the communists.” She said in that matter-of-fact way you do when you have had fifty years to think about your parents’ murder.
“I’m sorry.” He tried to hold that thought for a moment and imagine what it was like, but it was just too much.
“I am a Christian. I will see them in heaven.” Eric suddenly remembered what a moaning, miserable, petty, worthless, skeptical bastard he was; he resolved to be a better man.
“That is a picture of my grand-daughter,” she said. “She is studying in America now, but she will be back next month. Maybe, you want to meet her.”
Meet some bitch who wants to patronize me with her perfect English? There is nothing I would like less the do in the world. “That is a pity. I am going back to America next month.”
Eric left around two in the afternoon and went home. He took a nap for an hour. He opened Outlook, saw an email from the translation company and closed it down again. Boredom kick-started thinking about his next move in Taipei. Taichi was fun, but he didn’t see himself getting up at five-thirty for much longer. He had tried a martial arts class, but it was filled with a bunch of foreigners. He went to the park at the end of the road and talked to the old men playing Chinese chess and mahjong. He actively engaged anyone he could in conversation. Thoughts of unpaid bills reminded him of the key point: he had to do something other than talk to people or study Chinese. He wanted it put it to practical effect. Otherwise he might as well go home. He had only started translation as a means to learn some Chinese and earn some money at the same time. The interest value of translation was simply the subject matter, and, unfortunately, if he wanted to do it full-time it meant half the time yawning through company profiles. Teaching English continued to be what it had always been: a source of easy money. Professor of Sinology just conjured up a picture of a fraud. He wasn’t a businessman. He came here to do something different. To pursue interests. He wasn’t worried about the work experience. He would go back to America in a few years and then he would do whatever. He was used to having no money. Ideally, he needed something that would allow him a total immersion environment in Chinese. He heard of one guy who took an apprenticeship in a motorbike shop, and it didn’t entirely repulse him, as it would have done before. He would have to think of something else…Actually he had heard of one other thing...
A couple of weeks later:
“You are going to study Chinese medicine in a clinic? You are going to treating Taiwanese people,” repeated back a flabbergasted John at dinner that evening.
He admired his resolve to get involved in all things Taiwanese, but Eric was going to hear - You are a foreigner, you don’t know anything about Chinese medicine - about 100 times a day and he usually exploded at the flick of a surprised eyebrow.
“Yeah, I know, but it should be so cool, man.” Eric also didn’t have a lot of faith, but it looked fascinating and so he was determined to give it a go.
Today, he was having lunch at the apartment of one of them. Her 100 year old mother was sat in the chair.
"Hey, her feet were bound," he said.“That is fascinating!"
An image of himself trying to walk on toes being smashed with a sledge hammer and bent under popped into his head. "Sorry...Probably not so fascinating for her."
“So what is this a picture of?” Eric loved looking at old photos, they gave him a window into different time or place – Something pretentious like that, he thought.
“Me, my parents, Beijing. I was twelve.” In the case of this lady, that was about 75 years ago.
“So, you have any photos…in Taiwan with your parents?”
“I not see my parents…uh, since 1947. They killed by the communists.” She said in that matter-of-fact way you do when you have had fifty years to think about your parents’ murder.
“I’m sorry.” He tried to hold that thought for a moment and imagine what it was like, but it was just too much.
“I am a Christian. I will see them in heaven.” Eric suddenly remembered what a moaning, miserable, petty, worthless, skeptical bastard he was; he resolved to be a better man.
“That is a picture of my grand-daughter,” she said. “She is studying in America now, but she will be back next month. Maybe, you want to meet her.”
Meet some bitch who wants to patronize me with her perfect English? There is nothing I would like less the do in the world. “That is a pity. I am going back to America next month.”
Eric left around two in the afternoon and went home. He took a nap for an hour. He opened Outlook, saw an email from the translation company and closed it down again. Boredom kick-started thinking about his next move in Taipei. Taichi was fun, but he didn’t see himself getting up at five-thirty for much longer. He had tried a martial arts class, but it was filled with a bunch of foreigners. He went to the park at the end of the road and talked to the old men playing Chinese chess and mahjong. He actively engaged anyone he could in conversation. Thoughts of unpaid bills reminded him of the key point: he had to do something other than talk to people or study Chinese. He wanted it put it to practical effect. Otherwise he might as well go home. He had only started translation as a means to learn some Chinese and earn some money at the same time. The interest value of translation was simply the subject matter, and, unfortunately, if he wanted to do it full-time it meant half the time yawning through company profiles. Teaching English continued to be what it had always been: a source of easy money. Professor of Sinology just conjured up a picture of a fraud. He wasn’t a businessman. He came here to do something different. To pursue interests. He wasn’t worried about the work experience. He would go back to America in a few years and then he would do whatever. He was used to having no money. Ideally, he needed something that would allow him a total immersion environment in Chinese. He heard of one guy who took an apprenticeship in a motorbike shop, and it didn’t entirely repulse him, as it would have done before. He would have to think of something else…Actually he had heard of one other thing...
A couple of weeks later:
“You are going to study Chinese medicine in a clinic? You are going to treating Taiwanese people,” repeated back a flabbergasted John at dinner that evening.
He admired his resolve to get involved in all things Taiwanese, but Eric was going to hear - You are a foreigner, you don’t know anything about Chinese medicine - about 100 times a day and he usually exploded at the flick of a surprised eyebrow.
“Yeah, I know, but it should be so cool, man.” Eric also didn’t have a lot of faith, but it looked fascinating and so he was determined to give it a go.
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