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Two-Faced Friends - Discovering a Person's Other Self

One day I searched the name of a friend of mine on Facebook. She'd been having a difficult time and I wanted to send her a message to ask how she was doing. But when I typed her name into the search bar not one, but two profiles appeared: the one which was familiar to me, and another one, of which I'd known nothing.  This person - I'll call her J. - had always been nice to me and we spent quite a lot of time together (she is not Taiwanese; I met her in another Asian country). She had told me quite a lot about her personal life, but since we'd been knowing each other for just a few months I was aware that I did not know her deeply.  She had always acted in a cute, friendly and open way, and she seemed very well-behaved and quiet. Her Facebook profile reflected my impressions of her. But, as often happens, people are not what they seem, and what they show to others is not necessarily how they really are, but how they want to be perceived.  As I looked at her

The 'USA Taiwan Government' Occupies Taiwan's Provincial Government Building

In the afternoon of July 7 two tourist coaches took around 200 supporters of the USA Taiwan Government  (UTG, Chinese: ē¾Žåœ‹å°ē£ę”æåŗœ )  to the seat of the Taiwan Provincial Government  located in Zhongxing Xincun (äø­čˆˆę–°ę‘) in Nantou County. The leader of the UTG, Cai Mingfa (č””ę˜Žę³•), and his followers entered the building through the toilet and occupied it . They raised a banner of the UTG in the office of the Governor of Taiwan Province, Lin Zhengze (ꞗę”æ則) , who was in Yilan that day.  Cai Mingfa declared: " We should not allow the government-in-exile of the Republic of China (굁äŗ”ēš„äø­čÆę°‘åœ‹ę”æåŗœ) to use illegal and violent methods against the Taiwanese people. We urge the Taiwanese people to regain possession of their own rights. " The UTG was founded on April 25, 2013 , in Washington DC by Cai Mingfa , a 58-year-old native of Guanmiao District (關廟區) , Tainan City. He lived in the USA for 11 years and has an American passport.  The UTG believes that the legal status of Taiwan after

China's Eight Non-Communist Parties

On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China in front of a jubilant crowd in Tiananmen Square. The images of that historic moment have become famous all over the world. But few know who were the people standing behind Mao as he was holding his speech.  Most of them were, like Mao, Communist revolutionaries and high-ranking politicians, such as  Zhu De (ęœ±å¾·) , Liu Shaoqi ( 刘少儇 /   劉少儇) , and Zhou Enlai ( å‘Øę©ę„ /  å‘Øę©ä¾†) .  However, one also finds names of people who were not members of the Communist Party: Song Qingling ( 宋åŗ†é¾„ /  å®‹ę…¶é½”) , the wife of Sun Yat-sen , the man who had founded the Republic of China which the Communists had long fought to overthrow; Zhang Lan ( å¼ ę¾œ /  å¼µē€¾) , the founder of the China Democratic League ; and Li Jishen (ꝎęæŸę·±), the chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang (RCCG). In fact, the PRC was founded - at least in theory - as a multi-party state under the leadership of the Chine

"Three Reasons to Marry a Japanese Girl"

A few days ago the YouTube channel Stopkiddinstudio released a video entitled " Three Reasons to Marry a Japanese Girl ". In the video, a Japanese girl named Amy explains in Chinese why Japanese girls are different from (and, according to her, better than) Taiwanese girls: 1) Japanese girls wear make-up and are well-dressed; for them, this is a way of being polite (åŒ–å¦å’Œę‰“ę‰®å°ę—„ęœ¬å„³ē”Ÿä¾†čŖŖę˜Æäø€ēØ®ē¦®č²Œ). 2) Japanese girls are considerate, they " won't ask their boyfriends to go and buy food in the middle of the night ". 3) Japanese girls are good at cooking, their food " will make their boyfriends happy and healthy ". The reactions of Taiwanese viewers have been mixed. Some people agreed with Amy and wrote that Japanese girls are indeed very cute; others wrote that both Taiwanese and Japanese girls are cute. A female viewer wrote: " Taiwanese men are gentle and soft. They can forgive us for being too natural, for acting like princesses sometimes,

Occupy Central - Hong Kong July 1 Democracy March

On July 1997, the former British colony of Hong Kong officially became part of the People's Republic of China. But while the Communist leaders in Beijing would like to remember this day as a glorious moment in the history of the whole nation, today at 3pm thousands of Hong Kongers rallied to demand more democracy , in an open act of defiance against the central government. A large crowd gathered at Victoria Park, in front of Hong Kong Central Library . The protesters are now marching towards Central , the city's business and financial district. Half a million people are expected to take part in the rally . The demonstration was organised by Occupy Central with Love and Peace , a movement launched by Hong Kong professor Benny Tai Yiu-ting . The movement demands direct elections of Hong Kong's Chief Executive in 2017.  At the end of last month, the Occupy Central movement organised an unofficial referendum . As the polls closed on Sunday, 787,767 Hong Kongers had cas

The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang (äø­å›½å›½ę°‘党革命委员会 / äø­åœ‹åœ‹ę°‘é»Øé©å‘½å§”å“”ęœƒ)

The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Guomindang (RCCG; simpl. äø­å›½å›½ę°‘党革命委员会; trad.: äø­åœ‹åœ‹ę°‘é»Øé©å‘½å§”å“”ęœƒ ; pinyin: ZhōngguĆ³ GuĆ³mĆ­ndĒŽng GĆ©mƬngwěiyuĆ”nhuƬ) is one of the eight non-Communist Parties of the People's Republic of China. It was founded in 1947 by a left-wing faction of the Guomindang. It is a member of the United Front under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is committed to the construction of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" and to the peaceful reunification of China and Taiwan.  The Origins of the RCCG The Guomindang  was founded in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen , the revolutionary who had advocated the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC) . Sun's aim was to modernise China according to his Three Principles of the People , i.e., Nationalism, Democracy, and Socialism. After the 1911 revolution led by Sun's followers and the proclamation of the Republic of China, the Guomindang became China&

My Friend Was Assaulted in Australia

Today I'm really angry. A friend of mine just told me that she was assailed by a man, who not only robbed her, but also punched her, apparently without any reason. She is a flight attendant and was spending a day in Perth after a flight. At around 5 pm the man assaulted her, took her shopping bag and hit her. Her eye was badly injured and now it's displaced. She may need surgery to fix it.  I feel so sorry because I cannot do anything for her. Actually, she is really brave and perhaps she doesn't even need my help. But I'm just so upset. I didn't expect something like this to happen in Australia, let alone in the afternoon. She went to the police, and they told her that such crimes usually don't happen in that area of the city. But they couldn't do anything.  My stay in Hong Kong wouldn't have been so great if I hadn't met her. She showed me a lot of interesting places and was always very nice to me. I can't believe that someone has done

The Armed Forces Museum of the Republic of China (Taiwan)

A couple of days ago I was walking from Ximending to Taipei Main Station when suddenly I came across a number of ... cannons and bombshells - an unusual sight in the middle of the city. I took a closer look at them and, after reading an explanation label, I realised I was standing in front of the Armed Forces Museum (AFM; Chinese: åœ‹č»ę­·å²ę–‡ē‰©é¤Ø, literally: Museum of the Historical Relics of the National Army).