Schedium

In the light of the recent protests by Taiwanese students and activists against a planned trade deal with China, I have found myself in the uncomfortable position of criticising the demonstrations and, in some respects, defending the KMT administration led by Ma Yingjiu.  As I am not a citizen of the PRC or the ROC, I am not involved in party politics and I have no interest in changing the situation in these countries. I am a EU citizen, and that's the place where I want to be politically active. Therefore, when I talk about the politics of East Asia, I try to see things from different perspectives and not to side with one or the other party. Shortly, I am one of those who criticise or praise according to the concrete situation, and not out of ideological affiliation. As I have said in my last post , I think that the widespread support the current protests have received by international media, the expat community, and a part of Taiwan's media, are not only excessive, b

The recent student protests in Taiwan have become a highly debated topic on the island's as well as international media. The movement, which calls itself 'Sunflower Movement', was formed on March 19, when students occupied Taiwan's Legislative Yuan. The reason for this act of protest was a trade agreement with China which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was pushing through parliament in a way that the opposition party DPP and a part of the population regarded as non-democratic ( note 1 , note 2 ). While Taiwan's press was divided on whether the movement was legitimate or not, with the pro-KMT and the anti-KMT camps offering their own respective interpretation, Western media have universally celebrated the movement as a proof of Taiwan's democratic maturity. As I have explained in my previous post, I am quite sceptical about the Sunflower Movement, mainly for three reasons: 1) the protesters are trying to delegitimise an elected - though unpopula

A few days after the beginning of Taiwan's protests against a planned trade agreement with mainland China, I am still struggling to admit to myself that I am not caught in the general euphoria.  I am going to say something very unpopular, but I think the hype around these protests shows again how schizophrenic media coverage and popular perception can be. First, I shall briefly summarise the events that led to this crisis.  In June 2010,  Taiwan and mainland China signed the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), a general agreement that strengthened economic cooperation between the two countries. The follow-up to this agreement was the Cross-Strait Services Trade Agreement (CSSTA), signed in June 2013 ( note ). This pact would open 80 sectors of China's service industry to Taiwanese investors and 64 sectors of the Taiwanese economy to China. Among these areas are finance, healthcare, transportation, and tourism ( note ). Given that the fortu

A few weeks ago, I posted on my Facebook page a picture of the embassy of the Republic of China to the Vatican (Holy See), which got more likes and viewers than I'd expected. So I decided to write a short blog post about this, in which I will show you the location of the embassy and briefly talk about the history of the relations between the Vatican and the Republic of China. The Vatican is the only state in Europe that still recognises the Republic of China and not the People's Republic of China. As a consequence, Rome is the only city in the world where you can walk from the embassy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the embassy of the Republic of China (ROC). The first is in Italian territory (Italy recognises the PRC but not the ROC), while the latter is in Vatican territory (the Vatican recognises the ROC, but not the PRC). Rome is the only place on earth where the ambassador of the ROC and the ambassador of the PRC could bump into each other on th

As I have mentioned in my previous post, we cannot understand the peculiar - mostly negative - way in which the Taiwanese public perceives women who go clubbing, if we do not examine the historical development of the position and self-perception of women in the Chinese-speaking world. In this post, I would like to attempt a very brief analysis of this issue. In traditional Chinese society, women enjoyed a low position in the familial hierarchy, which was structured on the basis of inequality: the older came before the younger, the male came before the female. Therefore, in traditional Chinese families there was a distinction between superior, inferior and complementary social roles (see Lang 1946 , p. 24). As Patricia B. Ebrey explains: Confucianism, including classical and Han Confucianism, provided a view of the cosmos and social order that legitimated the Chinese patrilineal, patrilocal, and patriarchal family system. Confucian emphasis on obligations to patrilineal ances

A recent article by the popular Taiwanese tabloid Apple Daily  reveals a dark side of the island's nightlife: the phenomenon of men who sexually assault drunk women. I myself witnessed something that did not but could have ended in sexual assault. I was in a club in Taipei (it was the first of the only two times I've been to a club here) and there was a girl whom I couldn't help noticing, not only because she was very young and pretty, but also because I saw her kissing at least six men, one of whom was way older than herself. The problem is that she was obviously completely drunk; so drunk that she could barely stand on her feet. Some guys approached her, told her something, and then began groping her. I don't know if she was consenting, or if she simply did not understand what was going on.  This article is particularly interesting because, for once, it does not serve the stereotype of the bad Western guy who goes to Taiwan to find easy girls in nightclubs, b

Just a few metres away from Taipei Main Station there stands an interesting building which is easy to overlook in the urban jungle of the city. Surrounded by whitewashed walls and by a small park, it is a prominent Japanese-style construction that differs markedly from the prevailing modern architecture of the area. It is the so-called Sun Yat-sen Memorial House, which is a fascinating testimony to the history of Taiwan and the complex relationship between Taiwan and China.  Sun Yat-sen Memorial House was originally built by the Japanese during their colonial rule on the island (1895-1945) and it served as a high-class hotel; it was the most exclusive and elegant guesthouse in the neighbourhood. Its guests were mostly visiting Japanese government officials, but also the Japanese governor-general, who used to hold banquets there (see Zhuang Zhanpeng et al.: Taibei Gucheng Shendu Lvyou. Taipei 2000, p. 123).  The name of the hotel was at that time Umeyashiki (梅屋敷). The c

While at first sight the area around Taipei Main Station may seem modern and of little historical interest, if you take a closer look at the facades you will discover surprising remnants of the urban landscape of Japanese colonial Taipei.  A few days ago I was walking from North Gate along Yanping Road, one of the most historic parts of the city. The appearance of the street seems to conceal its significance. After the Guomindang's retreat to Taiwan, Taipei became the provisional capital of the Republic of China. As the economy of the island and the population of Taipei grew fast, new buildings inevitably sprang up everywhere, and the old ones were often sacrificed. However, sandwiched between new grey constructions one still finds houses and shops from the Japanese era. One of them is Taipei Futai Street Mansion. Taipei Futai Street Mansion

Greece and Taiwan are two places that seem to be totally different. I think that no one I know has ever used the names of these two countries in the same sentence. They indeed appear to have nothing in common. Taiwan is an island with around 23 million people, located in Asia and with a population mostly made up of Han Chinese. Greece is a peninsula, in the Mediterranean Sea, and it has just around 11 million inhabitants. Its culture is a mix of ancient Greek elements, Christian civilisation and Balkan culture. Nevertheless, the first time I went to Taiwan my first impression was: "Hey, this place looks like Greece!" Over time, I noticed some weird similarities between the two countries, some of which are entirely subjective and perhaps make no sense at all. However, I decided to list them off in this post. 1- Streets and Buildings: Before going to Taipei I had expected to find clean streets, neat houses, traditional architecture or super modern glittering build

Die Wahrsagerin ("The Fortune Teller"). By an unknown German painter (source: Wikipedia ) A few weeks ago I was watching an Italian news channel. I was not paying much attention to it, until the anchorman introduced a report: " Since the beginning of the economic crisis, the number of Italians resorting to fortune-telling has increased ".  According to recent statistics , more and more Italian people take refuge to the occult as a means to overcome personal hardships. During the first six months of 2013 alone, the revenue of the fortune-telling and occult business has increased by 18,5%. Around 13 million Italians resort to fortune-telling, and the topics that interest them most are career, health, and love. These services can be very expensive, and while the crisis rages and impoverishes the population, fortune-tellers' and magicians' earnings grow: a consultation can cost around 50 euros, and a "job-finding lucky charm" up to 200 eur

How many foreigners are there in Taiwan? How many of them are from Western countries? And how many are teachers? The statistics may surprise you. According to the National Immigration Agency of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan), as to 31/12/2013 there were 525,109 legally registered foreign residents. The by far largest number of them come from the following countries: Indonesia : Male 40,481; Female 151,859 Philippines : Male 33,688;   Female  53,384 Thailand : Male 52,424; Female 14,341 Vietnam : Male 64,413; Female 57,233 The total number of foreign residents from these countries alone amounts to 467,823. How many foreign residents from English-speaking countries are there? Here I will list off only those countries whose passport holders are usually considered by Taiwanese schools eligible for becoming English teachers without having a professional teacher's degree. These countries are: USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand

I do not know how other foreigners spend Chinese New Year in Taipei, but as far as I am concerned, this year has not been much more exciting than the last (which I mentioned in another post ). I think that if you have no family or girlfriend / boyfriend in Taiwan, it is quite hard to find something to do during the Spring Festival. The city seems to come to a standstill. Even some coffee shops, restaurants and Eslite bookstores are closed.  Yesterday evening I took a walk around to see if there was something going on. I have to confess that I was quite disappointed. Perhaps I went to the wrong places; but I knew of no others.  There was no particularly festive, special atmosphere, no excitement in the air, no happiness emanating from the people, and there were not even remarkable street decorations. How comes it that during the most important festival in Taiwan, everything seems so somber, and a veil of melancholy descends on this city? Or have I just imagined all this? Ma

I have said many times that I am in love with Hong Kong's skyline. A few days before leaving the city, I kept on praising with my friends the amazing feeling I have when I take a walk near Victoria Harbour, or on the Avenue of Stars, or in Central, and I look at these giants of glass and steel. Some people may prefer older architecture, but I just can't resist the breathtaking charm of skyscrapers.  I am not sure what makes Hong Kong's skyline so special. Perhaps it's the energy and dynamism they convey. Or maybe it's the modernity of their design. Or, more simply, it is just that the amazing power of the life and history of this unique city has been set in its buildings, making the soul of Hong Kong visible in all its might and monumentality. By looking at Hong Kong it seems as if the population was trying to reach to the sky; this is not urban planning made to be stunning, it is urban planning that is stunning because it reflects the soul of the place where i

2008 was a turning point in contemporary history. On the one hand, China celebreated her economic rise during the Beijing Olympics; on the other, the West plunged into a disastrous financial crisis that is still far from over. The dilemma, which is as old as economics itself, was revived: what is the role of the state in the economy? And what is the best economic policy?  When the financial crisis gave rise to the Euro crisis, the answer that most experts gave was that governments which had spent too much in the past now had to cut spending drastically. Furthermore, they had to privatise, liberalise, deregulate, and make the labour market more flexible. The result of four years of austerity and budget consolidation in the countries hit by the 2008 crisis has been disastrous. After half a decade of spending cuts, the economies of Southern Europe have been devastated. By October 2013, Greek unemployment figures reached 27.8%, and by the end of last year, GDP had shrunk by ne