Schedium

On June 18, 30 Republic of China (ROC) nationals received this year's  Filial Piety Awards (孝行獎) , a prize that celebrates outstanding examples of filial devotion . Zhou Dingli (周鼎立), the oldest person to receive the award, is 85 years old, while the youngest, Wang Zhilong (王志龍) is only 14. A foreign spouse from Indonesia was also honoured with the prize. The Filial Piety Award ceremony was hosted by Wu Dunyi (吳敦義) , Vice-President of the ROC, and Chen Weiren (陳威仁) , head of the Ministry of the Interior which is also the organiser of the annual award.  The prize is an example of state-promoted filial piety (read my post about Filial Piety in Chinese Culture ). To some extent, it is comparable to the promotion of filiality through awards and memorial arches in the Chinese Empire . In Taipei itself there is still such a memorial arch. It is located inside 228 Peace Park and was constructed during the Qing Dynasty. It is also comparable to other similar public events, such a

Yesterday evening at around midnight I went to Family Mart, a big convenience store chain, next to an MRT Station to buy my dinner - a salad, rice with egg, and strawberry soy milk. When I was about to pay, I looked at the shop clerk and saw that his eyes were closed. He seemed to be asleep asleep. 'Ni  hao,' I said. He woke up. 'Ni hao,' I repeated.  He had dark circles under his eyes, and as he was scanning the products and putting them into a bag he moved sluggishly. In Taiwan, they usually give you plastic cutlery, but the clerk forgot it. 'Wo yao yi zhi chazi' (I need a fork), I said smiling. 'Ah, chazi,' he slurred. I also had to remind him to give me a straw and chopsticks.  I'm not writing this post to criticise this guy. Actually, I smiled at him and when he apologised I said it didn't matter. I really understand that convenience store clerks who do the night shift have a pretty tough time. Probably he hadn't slept much befo

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

In the afternoon of July 7 two tourist coaches took around 200 supporters of the USA Taiwan Government  (UTG, Chinese: 美國台灣政府 )  to the seat of the Taiwan Provincial Government  located in Zhongxing Xincun (中興新村) in Nantou County. The leader of the UTG, Cai Mingfa (蔡明法), 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 (林政則) , who was in Yilan that day.  Cai Mingfa declared: " We should not allow the government-in-exile of the Republic of China (流亡的中華民國政府) 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

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 (朱德) , Liu Shaoqi ( 刘少奇 /   劉少奇) , and Zhou Enlai ( 周恩来 /  周恩來) .  However, one also finds names of people who were not members of the Communist Party: Song Qingling ( 宋庆龄 /  宋慶齡) , 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 ( 张澜 /  張瀾) , the founder of the China Democratic League ; and Li Jishen (李濟深), 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

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 (化妝和打扮對日本女生來說是一種禮貌). 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,

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 (RCCG; simpl. 中国国民党革命委员会; trad.: 中國國民黨革命委員會 ; pinyin: Zhōngguó Guómíndǎng Gémìngwěiyuánhuì) 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&