Profiles 1: Mr. Qiu

Mr. Qiu was one of the first people I met when I moved into my apartment. He's finishing up his undergrad years at NTU and getting ready for grad school. He loves spending time with the other college kids, enjoys deep conversations about 19th century Taiwanese history, China-Taiwan-US relations, or Tang poetry. He's also in his fifties.

Born in rural Hualien during the 1950's, Mr. Qiu was an elementary teacher for many years in the mountain villages of Hualien, where he lived with the local aborigines and would go rowing on rivers between cliffs where monkeys would howl. He spent many more years teaching in Da-an in Taipei. He's written a few books, and is currently doing a thesis on the evolution of China-Taiwan-US relations over the past few decades, comparing the views and policies of the various leaders involved. He suffers from chronic back and neck pain, and sleeps on a plastic bottle with rope wrapped around it to stimulate certain parts of his neck. He doesn't use a computer but he will gladly show you what he calls "my computer" - thousands of books crammed into 50 or so boxes, stacked ceiling high in his room.

He's very friendly, often visiting my room for late night discussions. He showed me a great local breakfast spot, and has promised to take me to his local temple.

One time I asked him if he thought Taiwan was part of China. His reply was, "Sure. But it doesn't belong to the Communist Party!" I onced asked him where he'd been in his life to which he responded, "Well, I see you've been in Taiwan for so little time and you've seen so much. The National Palace Museum, Taroko Gorge - I tell you I don't like places with a lot of tourists. Not with this neck pain and the way you get pushed around. Nope, not for me. Have I left Taiwan? Not physically, but in my books I've seen the whole world. I've been to Beijing, to Washington, to New York, to L.A., to Korea, to Japan, to Russia - there's not a place my books haven't taken me."

Adventures in Taipei

Sunday I set out for a third time to see the National Palace Museum. This time I was going to see a special visiting exhibit on Tibetan art. On the bus ride up, I got off a little late and ended up in the Shipei neighborhood, where I had lunch and caught a bus back to Shilin and then the museum.

The exhibit brought in priceless art from galleries and temples around the world and involved a lot of cooperation between China and the planners of the exhibition in Taipei. Tibetans around the world had protested the exhibit, saying China had looted these treasures when they invaded Tibet, destroyed the country, and sent its leaders into exhile. The "Republic of China" (Taiwan) also claims Tibet, and by having this exhibit on display, leaders of both Chinas could come together to promote Chinese nationalism. The exhibit may have overemphasized the centuries of cultural exchange between China and Tibet and perhaps there is some basis to Tibetans claims. Like the rest of the National Palace Museum, the exhibit was swarmed with thousands of Chinese tourists. Still, I was able to see most of the art, some of it quite exquisite.

From there I walked down to the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines, which I enjoyed greatly. The museum was quiet and empty, with only a handful of Taiwanese and Japanese tourists, in addition to myself. One of the interns at the museum, Cheng Borong, also happened to be a student at Taiwan University and I talked to her about the museum and the university. She was a history major and new Fat Cat (one of my neighbors). I also met a really nice couple who were soon to be married. The woman was a Han Taiwanese from Tainan and the man, A Du, was a Bunnum aborigine from eastern Taiwan, who works in a Japanese automobile factory near Taoyuan. They were very friendly and we talked about Taiwanese history and culture. A Du and I may have an opportunity to meet this weekend in Taoyuan for some coffee.

Wow. What an amazing museum. It featured interactive videos, a movie theater, fantastic pottery, crafts, weapons, and displays. I learned a lot about Taiwan's aboriginal people, including both their history and their current situation. The museum touched on the relationship between the various aboriginal peoples and other groups of people throughout Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean, many of whom are descended from immigrants who left Taiwan thousands of years ago. The Taiwanese aborigines came to Taiwan about 7000 years ago, but before that there was human habitation in Taiwan. What were the people there like before the current aboriginal population came there? Perhaps they were related to the current and aboriginal populations of New Guinea and Australia. The museum also touched on the differences between the different aboriginal nations in a way that was both interesting and respectful. It also spoke a lot about the conditions facing Taiwan's aborigines: abject poverty in the mountains, economic insecurity in the cities, unemployment, alcoholism, discrimination, and forced assimilation. The first floor featured some amazing bass reliefs. Some of the snake motifs and stylized depictions of humans in the art of the Paiwan people (southern tip of Taiwan) really resonated with me. They reminded me of West African art I had seen in one of my classes at Yale.

After leaving the museum, I explored some of the neighborhoods along the Wai Shuang Si river until I came to the northern part of Shilin, from which I took buses back to my apartment.

Well, I was going to do some more traveling, but three typhoons hit Taiwan and I had to postpone those plans indefinitely. Still, better safe then caught in a mudslide. I've spent the past few days resting and cleaning my room, along with studying Chinese, exploring the library, and doing some reading. I am greatly enjoying Gus Speth's book on the environmental challenges of unlimited economic growth and the economic and political changes needed to address those challenges, including a curb in the growing concentration of global wealth and power. I hope to watch some movies at the library's multimedia center.

Tuesday, I decided to explore more of Taipei. I visited the National Taiwan Museum, which is different from the National Palace Museum. Located in the 228 Peace Park, the museum is one of the oldest in Taiwan. I saw an interesting exhibit on the history of camphor production in Taiwan. Camphor is an important product in chemical engineering and can be used to make gunpowder, film, clothes, and bug repellent. It was important to the economy of both Qing and Japanese Taiwan. The exhibit featured a Japanese documentary from the early 1930's. There were also exhibits on Paiwan art (which I am growing to love) and legends, endangered species, natural disasters, and Taiwan's biodiversity.

I had hoped to see the 228 Memorial Museum, but it was under construction. Instead I saw an outdoor exhibit on one of the oldest trains in Taiwan, also in 228 Peace Park. While there, I noticed a crowd outside the park, in front of the president's house. The crowd numbered in the thousands - chanting slogans in Taiwanese, singing songs, and waving banners. Hundreds of police in riot gear guarded the street across from them. Being curious I joined the rally and asked the people what they were there for. The protesters were farmers, concerned about recent changes in the policies of Ma Yingjiu's regime. The government was proposing that poultry farmers not be allowed to slaughter their own fowl and instead pay the government to contract that task out to large, government-approved companies. The farmers claim that would be too expensive for them and word begin a trend that would transform Taiwan's agricultural sector into something resembling america - large conglomerates using highly industrialized methods of food production. The farmers claim they would lose out and so would Taiwan's consumers.

Pictures:

Poultry farmers protest. Shinkuang plaza, a symbol of urban Taiwan's economy in the background.

Protesters come out despite the rain.

Protesters rest and hold up their banner.

Taiwan's farmers protest in front of the presidential palace.

One of the many lines of riot police.

Beautiful Paiwan art.

Man sits with Ronald Macdonald statue.

Well, no photos were allowed at the Tibetan art exhibit at the National Palace Museum, but I took this photo of a now closed Tibetan art gallery nearby.

Statues of Taiwan's different First Nations in the Indigenous People's Park near the museum.

Taipei Bus Driver

It was the last night I would be able to see my parents until winter break. I had come back to their hotel room after eating delicious Thai food. We watched television and chatted. It was almost midnight, so I went to the corner hoping to catch a cab. All the one's that passed by had their lights on, but fortunately within a minute the 251 bus appeared. I hopped on the bus (the only passenger at that hour) and was greeted with a warm "Hello!" by a very friendly rather eccentric driver wearing an undershit and an aboriginal style shell-covered bandana. He asked me where I was headed. "Gongguan" I said. "Oh, you go to Tai Da?" he asked. "Yep", I replied. He responded to this with ten minutes of very fast talking in heavily accented Mandarin and very broken English. He talked about his son at Tai Da, his Taiwanese heritage, his love of Taiwan, the beauty of the Taiwanese language, why Tang poems sound better in Taiwanese, and why I should be careful when eating in Taiwan because inorganic pesticides and fertilizers are all too common and completely unnatural.

My parents are back in the States now and I'm alone here in a new country. Having a lot of fun and learning a lot, but I definitely miss everyone back home.

Life in Taipei

I had a great week with my parents in Taipei. Friday night we went to a concert at a church near my apartment. The violist, Ms. Xu, was educated in America and had taught at the University of Missouri. She was phenomenal, as was the pianist. They played music by Kol Nidrei, Carl Maria von Weber, Rebecca Clarke, Max Bruch, George Enesco, Henryk Wieniawski, and York Bowen. To finish it off, she played an old Jamaican song "Go Mango Walk" as an encore. My mom had learned the words to the song as a little girl.

Saturday we went to the Taipei zoo, which was a lot of fun though tiring. Unfortunately, I lost my camera while there and have to borrow my fathers. This week we also visited the Sun Yat-sen memorial and City Hall. We were struck by how much Sun Yat-sen looks like my grandfather with his handsome features, mustache, and fine clothes.

We got an opportunity to try some of the foreign food near my apartment including a less-then-stellar Mexican restaurant, a very good Pakistani restaurant, and an incredible Russian restaurant. A Thai food restaurant a short bus ride away was so good we went back a second time and chatted with the owner, who moved to Taiwan from Burma and loves swimming in the rough waters along Taiwan's northern coast.

One of the highlights of the week was getting to have dinner with my parents and my former TA from Yale. Lu Yuching, who just graduated from Yale's School of Forestry grew up in Taipei and went to Taiwan University for her undergraduate education. We went to a famous dumpling house named Din Tai Feng.

I love my new neighborhood. I'm right across the street from the university in a building whose tenants are also students, mostly Malaysian students my age though there is one student from Hong Kong and one fifty-something year old Taiwanese undergraduate named Mr. Qiu. Mr. Qiu and a heavyset Malaysian student named "Fat Cat" were the first two people I met when I moved in. They were very friendly and showed me around the neighborhood. Both of them have strong interests in history, China-Taiwan-America relations, and Tang poetry. Mr. Qiu has been teaching me some Lao Zi and Tang poetry. Two of the other guys in the building study animal science. Two more students study at universities outside of Taiwan University - one studies finance and the other one studies photography. I might do some traveling with the photography major and his friends before classes start.

Not only is my apartment a short walk from campus and Ta-an forest park, it also near a small park which is home to a Taoist shrine (Fat Cat calls the black faced deity the spiritual landlord of the neighborhood), a courtyard, a playground, and some excercise equipment.

Environment

While touring Taiwan with my family I got to see the island's unique natural beauty but also its pressing environmental issues. Endless betelnut production has led to erosion. After a Typhoon or earthquake, the looser soil is often unable to hold, leading to landslides. Taiwan's high standard of living has also brought severe environmental costs. Pollution is a given in Taiwan's large cities, and most of Taiwan's energy must be imported. Attempts to become energy independent have not been particularly successful. Pollution has decreased, but this is in part because Taiwan's many factories have moved off to China for China's cheaper labor and resources. Kind of reminds me of the old Chinese saying "Tian Zuo Nie You Ke Wei, Zi Zuo Nie Bu Ke Huo". When heaven causes troubled (natural disasters), there are ways to make do. When mankind causes trouble with nature, there is no escape. I've been reading The Bride At the End of the World by Yale's Gus Speth, so a lot interesting thoughts have been going through my head. I'll write more about it when I get a chance to.

On a different note, I did find one aspect of Taipei's waste management system very interesting. In New York, we put our garbage out in front of our homes twice a week and a truck comes by to pick it up. Because of Taipei's narrow lanes and high population density, such as system would be difficult to implement. Instead, trucks come by once a day to specific locations where residents from all surrounding blocks can come out and throw there own garbage in the truck. The trucks play a version of Fur Elise that would not be out of place if played by an ice cream truck.

Pictures:

Endless fields of betelnuts in Puli township. Betelnut overproduction has contributed to erosion.

A broken windmill lies still on the southern coast. Heat and humidity have caused over 40% of Taiwan's windmills to break down.

Inside the base of Taipei 101. Taiwan imports more than 90% of its energy.

China

Our final tour with Thomas was of the port city of Keelung. The city still has much of the old Japanese-era architecture and offers a spectacular view of the sea (from a nearby summit you can sometimes see Okinawa in the distance).

We visited a beautiful Buddhist temple where we lit incense, rang the old temple bell, and gazed at the towering statues of Buddha and Guanyin, which overlooked all of Keelung Harbor.

From there we went to the rock formations lining the northern shore where we saw spectacular views and where I had a great conversation with Thomas about the recent flood of Chinese tourists.

History lesson: After 50 years of Japanese rule, Taiwan was handed over to the Chiang Kai-Shek government of the Republic of China in 1945. Focused on their civil war in China, the new regime did little to develop Taiwan, taxed and extorted the Taiwanese, and ruled with a brutality and militaristic and draconian style which rivaled the Japanese. In 1947, when a soldier attacked a Taiwanese woman selling cigarettes without a license, all tensions under the surface broke though and a riot erupted. Chiang Kai-Shek responded to the riot with terrifying violence and within weeks tens of thousands of Taiwanese were dead. Tens of thousands more would be killed, imprisoned, or tortured over the following few decades of the "White Terror". Until the 1980's, the Guomindang Party ruled with absolute power. From the East Coast of Taiwan I could see Green Island in the distance where Chiang Kai-Shek sent political prisoners (now the theme of a beautiful folk song).

Finally, after decades of reform, the People's Progressive Party rose to power in 2000, only to be ousted by the 2008 election after a corruption scandal. The new president, Ma Yingjiu, supported a policy of increasing economic interactions with mainland China, a loosening of the political and military divide across the strait, and policies which have made it possible for over 2000 mainland Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan every day.

Thomas was less than happy about the flood of Chinese tourists. "Maybe it helps some of the big tour groups that can arrange for such large tours but for most of us its a loss. There are economic gains but what might be lost?" He hinted that increased tourism from China and increasing economic relations with China might culminate in a loss of autonomy for the Taiwanese, Chinese dominance, and a loss of freedom for Taiwan. "Look at Tibet, you see how brutal China's government is. We like our life here, we don't want that." As we walked around the northern Chinese shore, Thomas pointed at Chinese tourists who had crossed signs saying "no trespassing" and were snapping photos. "These Chinese tourists break all our rules. They have no respect, no culture. They're used to so little freedom at home, so when they come here they act without restraint." Park rangers could be seen running around telling the Chinese tourists not to sit on the dangerous ledge, or not to stand on the fragile rock formations behind the "do not cross" signs.

Thomas did not see all of Ma Ying Jiu's policies as negative and felt it was good that he reduced the draft from 2 years to 1 and advocated releasing military tensions with China. Said Thomas, "China... we need them for their cheap labor and markets.... for survival."

The strongest anti-Chinese sentiments seemed to be in Tainan, where Koxinga had resisted the Manchu hordes centuries ago. Just like in Queens, I saw Falun Gong protesters handing out flyers, talking about the suppression of their religion, and attacking the mainland Chinese government.

While I understand these perspectives, I can't help feeling skeptical at notions of Taiwanese nationalism. Like any other nationalism, it emphasizes national identity and glazes over class differences within a country, and forces working class people to identify more with elites in their own country then working class people abroad. Does the piss poor Taiwanese aborigine living in a shack on a reservation have more in common with a Chinese peasant or with a prominent Taiwanese businessman. While the average working person in Taiwan has a better standard of living than most of China and much of America (certainly rather be clocking in at a bakery or as a janitor in Taipei then working and living in a Black ghetto in America), people in Taiwan face many of the same economic and social challenges as many people in China, for example unemployment among college graduates.

I also feel Taiwanese nationalism ignores the cultural ties between Taiwan and Fujian province, where the ancestors of the Taiwanese came from. "Taiwanese" is often reffered to as a language very distinct from "Chinese". While it is certainly not Beijing Mandarin, it is almost identical to a dialect spoken in parts of Fujian today and throughout Southeast Asia's Chinese community - Minan. Does it make sense to say Sino-Malaysian's native language is Taiwanese or millions of people in China speak Taiwanese as a native language? Just some ideas going through my head lately.

Pictures:

Marching soldiers at the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial.

A smiling bronze Chiang Kai-Shek faces China.

A Falun Gong banner in Tainan reads "Only without the Communist Party will a New China emerge."

Unique formations on the North Coast (3 photos).

The docks of Keelung.

Guanyin and a guardian tiger at a temple in Keelung.

Guanyin and Milo Fo at a temple in Keelung.

Aboriginal Village Tour

One day back from our four day tour we went on another half day tour to Wulai township just south of Taipei. Thomas was once again our tour guide and Hoppy and Lorraine were once again with us.

While in the township, we took pictures of the beautiful waterfall, enjoyed trying sticky rice cooked in Bamboo, talk a ride on a trolley, and saw a dance performance by young aborigines from a nearby village.

Well, the dance show was certainly interesting. Not sure how much it catered to tourism, stereotypes, and what a sinocentric audience would have wanted to see, or to what extent it did accurately reflect Atayal (the local aboriginal nation) culture. I remember taking a class at Yale called "Asian Environments and Frontiers" where I read a book called Taiwan's Imagined Geography which documented Han Chinese perceptions of Taiwan's geography and people over several centuries. In addition to the theft of indigenous land, forced assimilation, and massacres, the Qing Dynasty left its mark on how Taiwan's natives were viewed. A certain type of sexual objectivity and dehumanization remains from that era in how aborigines are portrayed and treated in Taiwan. Pretty aboriginal girls (almost always in the same striped red garb despite often being from different aboriginal nations) stand in front of Han vendors trying to market "authentic" goods in places like Keelung. Near Sun Moon Lake, Han merchants market owl paraphernalia (owl's were traditionally an important spiritual animal to the Thao people) near impoverished aboriginal reservations.

I was skeptical of the dance show's highlights of hunting dances and dances related to head hunting (these people mostly farmed and have been Catholic since the 1600's). Yes, maybe head hunting did occur, but its emphasis seems geared to impress Han tourists, both Taiwanese and from mainland China. Some Han Chinese once smoked opium, were eunuchs, and bound their feet. But if in America, I dressed many modern Han Chinese in Qing Dynasty garb and had them showcase these aspects of Chinese history and culture, I'd probably face a lawsuit. No mention anywhere is made of the four hundred years of displacement, murder, and slavery that have characterized aboriginal Taiwan's interaction with the rest of the world. For half a millennium the great powers of the world have colonized and exploited Taiwan's people and resources, and for half a millennium, the people have fought back. Even the might of the Qing Empire was unable to conquer the mountain highlands along the spine of Taiwan. Imperial Japan at the height of its power only consolidated their control in the central mountains during the 1930's. In the late 1800s, Japanese and American ships would sometimes crash on the southern and eastern coasts of the island. Local indigenous people who had had bad experiences with outsiders often killed the survivors of the shipwrecks. In the late 1860's, the American government retaliated by sending hundreds of marines to crush the aborigines. The expedition failed and American marines fled the island. Later Japan would launch an invasion on similar pretexts, bringing thousands of armed troops, most of whom died of disease.

Perhaps the mainland tourists swarming tourist attractions throughout Taiwan could benefit from some real education about Taiwan's history, aboriginal culture, and meeting with real aboriginal people. Then they wouldn't have the gall to deny history, genocide, and reality by claiming "Taiwan is and has always been a part of China". Such a statement, often touted by Chinese elites, the Chinese government, and the mis-educated common people of China, denies the fact that for most of China's five thousand years history, Taiwan was not a part of China.

Trying fermented millet wine and seeing much of the southern suburbs of Taipei were some of the other highlights of the Wulai trip.

Pictures:

Thao Reservation

Memorial for the 1999 earthquake made from an old bulldozer painted with Thao decorations.

Me in Wulai, posing in front of a statue of an Ayatal king (2x).

My family + 2 Aussies in front of Wulai waterfall.

Formosa Holiday

I returned Saturday night from a 4-day tour of Taiwan, in which we got to see a lot of the island, including areas far removed from Taipei (and China) both geographically and culturally. My parents and I had a wonderful time. Our tour guide was named Thomas Xie - a former elementary school history teacher well versed in Taiwan's rich and tragic history and the island's unique culture. On our tour was a tall Dutch couple, a former Chinese diplomat who now runs a business in Flushing, a well traveled Australian couple (the husband was a veteran of the Vietnam War), a Taiwanese-American family from Edison in New Jersey, and a couple now living in Taiwan with a 3 year old son (the husband is from Japan and the wife is from China). The diversity of the group required Thomas to give the tour in English, Mandarin, and sometimes Japanese. This was great practice for me and allowed me to hear about the history, culture, geography, and cuisine of the island in both languages.

Taiwan is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Its beauty is beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Snow peaked mountains, some of the tallest in Asia, slope down to palm-tree lined beaches. Fog rolls off the hills across seaside Aboriginal village Catholic cemeteries. Buddhist and Daoist shrines line the winding roads which can take one past beetlenut plantations, rice paddies, family factories, quaint mountain towns, and historic ports. The cities are dense, cultural rich, and excited, with millions of scooters zipping in every directions and night markets filled with delicious food.

Geographically, Taiwan is mostly mountainous with the Taipei basin to the north, the western plain, and narrow strips of flat land on the east. Most of the population lives on the western plains or in Taipei. The five biggest cities are Taipei (Taibei), Gaoxiong (Kaohsiong), Taizhong (Taichung), Tainan, and Jilong (Keelung). From the southernmost point (Kenting National Park), the tip of Luzon in the Philipines can be seen in the distance and from Keelung on a clear day, the corner of Okinawa can be seen. Portuguese explorers who "discovered" Taiwan, named it Ilha Formosa - the beautiful island.

The YuanZhuMin (aboriginal people) of Taiwan have lived on the island for thousands of years. Part of what anthropologists refer to as the Austronesian peoples, they share a common ancestry with people as far away from eachother as New Zealand, Hawaii, Indonesia, and the Philipines. Originally, they lived in both the plains and the mountains and spoke a variety of languages. The Spanish were the first of many foreign powers to come to Taiwan. They brought with them guns, greed (they were looking for gold), crops, and Catholicism (many of Taiwan's aborigines today are Catholic). The Dutch came next, and seeing the fertile soils of Taiwan would be good for their sugar plantations, created a colony. They brought death to the aborigines and slavery to Chinese. Bringing in Hokkien and Hakka indentured servants from southern China, they transformed the Taiwanese plains into Sugar plantations. They left their mark on the island - today most of the island is descended from the Chinese workers they brought over, farmers still use the Morgan (based on the Dutch hectacre as opposed to the Chinese Mu), and Tomatoes and Dairy Cows are still a part of the Taiwanese countryside.

They were defeated and driven from the Island by the great warrior, pirate, and hero Koxinga, revered today as a god in Taiwan. Koxinga, the son of a great Fujianese warrior-pirate and a Japanese mother was handed leadership of the collapsing Ming Dynasty by the last Ming Emporer as the Ming forces fled the Manchu hordes. Fleeing from his native Fujian, he arrived in the Dutch colony of Taiwan where he liberated the island from Dutch rule with his impressive 3,000 ship pirate fleet. Rumored to have had superhuman strength, statues and shrines to Koxinga abound in the city he died in, Tainan. There his small kingdom held out for a few decades before being flooded by the Manchus. Like the Guomindang 300 years later, he would never reclaim China. Tainan today is an amazing city where old architecture and cosmopilatan urbanism intertwine - at the meeting point of the mountains and sea.

We visited an old Dutch fort which later held the guns of Koxinga and later the Manchus. Under the Japanese it was a hospital, and today it is a museum/ Daoist temples. In the courtyard to the front, a statue depicts a muscular and very manly Koxinga flanked by tough warriors forcing the Dutch governor to surrender. Stone turtles to the front of the main building carry tablets in Chinese and Manchu from the Qing era. On the top floor of the main building is a shrine to the God of testing and education before which anxious students asked for help with their exams and discertation. from the balcony, much of beautiful and historic Tainan can be seen.

We also got to see the Koxinga shrine. Out front is a statue of the ultra-masculine Koxinga, riding a horse and wearing full battle gear. He looks a lot like actor the Kaneshiro Takeshi. His shrine includes a beautiful image of him wearing the imperial dragon - but since he was not the true emporer he wore a blue shirt not a yellow shirt. Below the large newer image is the older small stature of him - made of carved black wood in true Daoist style. It reminded me of a Daoist I had seen near Yingge. There, the statues of the Daoist gods were also carved from black wood. Their gaunt faces representing old heros in Fujian who had resisted the Manchus.

Manchu rule passed to Japanese and in turn to the Guomindang Party which ruled the island with an iron fist until the 1980's when democratic reforms ended martial law. In the era of martial law, the Mainlanders (who came in 1949 and now make up 12% of Taiwan) dominated economic and cultural life. The remaining 88% of the population persevered through massacres, forced learning of Mandarin, and a political policy that focused on China while igorning domestic issues. Today, 70% of Taiwan is Hokkien, 15% is Hakka, and 3% are of the various aboriginal tribes (with Ami and Atayal being the larges). Though intermarriage has blurred all these barriers and today's Taiwan appears a cultural melting pot. Taiwanese farmers chew betelnuts that aborginal peoples brought from Malaysia thousands of years ago. Hakka merchants speak Mandarin to their customers. Working class Hakka and Mainlanders in the south chat in Taiwanese with their Hokkien friends. Chinese tourists snap photos of busy Taipei streets where young students enjoy sushi and beef noodle soup. It really is an amazing place and the culture of the island is quite unique.

The original people of Taiwan, the Aborigines, make up only a fraction of Taiwan's population today. The one's on the western plains intermarried and assimilated with generations of Hakka and Hokkien immigrants. However, in the central mountain range and on the east coast, aboriginal peoples still make up a large portion of the population, being a significant minority in many counties and a clear majority in dozens of townships and small cities. Given Taiwan's democratic system, even 3% of the population is enough to swing elections, and the aboriginal populations, once neglected, are now experiencing a cultural renaissance and renewed political power.

Much of this also comes from the desire of the Taiwanese people to distinguish themselves from China by promoting the island's aboriginal heritage. And the way aboriginal culture is represented often leaves out much of the bloody history of their subjection, overemphasizes aspects of their culture such as hunting and headhunting (many aboriginal people primarily farmed) and borders on exoticism or "oriental orientalism". Over a third of aborigines remain unemployed and drinking and drug abuse are serious issues in many communities. Nonetheless, Taiwan has come a long way from the days when the KMT dumped nuclear waste on Yami land or when the Mandarin was the only language allowed in public use.

While around Sun Moon Lake, we briefly visited the Thao reservation in the area and while on the East Coast, we saw a dance performance by some of the local high school kids.

Perhaps the most important contribution of aboriginal people to modern Taiwan has been the betelnut. Brought in from Malaysia thousands of years ago, the nuts are grown all over rural Taiwan and consumed by many Taiwanese for energy, stamina, focus, and relaxation. Usually, betelnuts are sold on the side of the road by girls in revealing outfits in stores which are easy to distinguish by their trademark flashing lights. It is rumored that regular consumption of the nuts over many decades erodes the stomach, but in the short term, chewing the nuts can strengthen the immune system. The slim, palm tree-like betelnut trees dot mountainsides throughout Taiwan and their overproduction has had negative effects for the environment and local farmers. Replacing natural forests with betelnut monoculture has left the soil weak and subject to erosion following earthquakes, Typhoons, or other natural disasters. Overexploitation has severely contributed to deflation (eight trees used to reap enough profit to put a student through college). A shortage of manpower in the countryside means that dead trees are often left standing, perhaps 20% of all betelnut trees now standing on Taiwanese soil. The soil may also be loosing nutrients do to overexploitation.

Well, I tried some betelnuts my dad and I got in Gaoxiong. It was a lot of fun to chew on them and spit out the juices - made me feel like a combination of a Taiwanese farmer and an American baseball player. The taste was not great, but the experience definitely left me feeling a more than a little high. Quite pleasant actually.

Some of the best scenery of the trip was at Sun Moon Lake and at Taroko Gorge. Both are grand in scale and beauty (and flooded with tourists), and quite breathtaking. Sun Moon Lake is eerily green (blue at times) and looks unbelievable from a nearby peak. The hike up the hill was not too challenging and ended with a pagoda and villa Chiang Kai-Shek had ordered built for his mother. While speeding on narrow mountain rounds through Taroko Gorge with thousand foot drops beneath us in a giant bus might not have been the most pleasant of experiences, the view was great. Milky blue lime water rushes between gigantic rock cliffs which give way to wooded slopes and epic peaks at higher elevations. The Gorge was truly mind-numbing. My mom found the winding slopes and steep drops frightening and I have to admit at times I found it more comfortable to shut my eyes for a few minutes.

We spent the second night of our round-island tour at Gaoxiong, Taiwan's second largest city and largest port. We saw the famed "love canal" and tried local snacks at a night market including fried mushrooms, cheese and potato buns, sugar cane juice, papaya smoothie, and betelnuts. While we were not in Gaoxiong very long, from what I could gather it was a really big city whose industrial and rural hinterland spread throughout southern Taiwan.

We had a great time in the Kenting National Park, whose clear waters, palm trees, and brutal heat were unlike anything I'd ever seen before. From at old Qing Dynasty fort we could see Luzon (the Philippines) in the distance. I tried some fresh coconut juice from a local vendor. Eventually we arrived on the East Coast Where I stepped in the Pacific (with my waterproof boots on since we didn't really have a lot of time there), looked out over the ocean, and took photos with my dad. This was the first time I had ever been to the Pacific Ocean.

The small seaside city of Taitung was among my favorite places on our tour. Small, charming, and easygoing, the city seemed to capture the essence of Taiwan in its people, history, food, and atmosphere. We spent the night at a lovely hotel where we got to try local food including shaved ice, delicious veggies, and some local aboriginal treats. Early the next morning when my mom sent me out to get her coffee from the local 7-11, I got to explore the city at dawn. Few pedestrians and scooters passed on the street at 5am. I walked through old narrow streets where stray dogs were enjoying a good morning scratch past unopened stores and restaurants to the nearest 7-11. There I was informed that that particular 7-11 did not have coffee until later in the day and I was given rough directions to another 7-11. Naturally, I got lost and soon had to ask directions from two kind older ladies who unfortunately only spoke Taiwanese. With some effort and a lot of hand gestures, they managed to explain to me where to go. I definitely want to return to this part of Taiwan sometime again.

On the train ride from Hualien to Taipei I noticed a strange phenomenon that I had sometimes noticed on the subway. The train stops were announced not only in Mandarin, but also in Taiwanese and Hakka. While no aboriginal languagest were included and just about anyone on the train could have understood enough Mandarin (the stops were also announced in English for us foreigners), the simple gesture of including Taiwanese and Hakka on the train announcements spoke volumes of the differenced between Taiwan and America. It would be amazing to hear train stops announced on New York subways in Spanish and Chinese.

While on the tour, we had an opportunity to meet and interact with a variety of interesting people including Hoppy, the aforementioned Australian Vietnam War veteran. Having traveled all over the world including Russia, Singapore, America, Canada, and China (his wife and him were among the first Western tourists allowed in Xinjiang during the 1980's). He can crack a coconut open with his bare hands, carries around a Rambo-esque knife, loves beer, and refuses to eat rice or drink tea. His wife is a direct descendant of a Polynesian Queen (I think Samoan) and had an ancestor who owned a plantation in Papua New Guinea during the 19th century. They were certainly an interesting couple to get to know and talk to.

I personally enjoyed talking to and learning from Michele, a former Chinese diplomat who now runs a business in Flushing, Queens. We talked about the countries she had been to, what it was like being separated from her family while away serving her government, her views on Chinese history, her experiences during the Cultural Revolution, and love of Alishan tea.

Pictures:

Aboriginal Mural of Deer somewhere in a mountain town.

Temple in Taroko Gorge

Clouds Rolling off Mountains

Hiking in Kenting NP

Lighthouse

Kenting

Gaoxiong Skyline

Koxinga Statue

Temple Above Sun Moon Lake

Pagoda above Sun Moon Lake that Chiang Kai-Shek built for himself.

Taroko Gorge

Koxinga Shrine

Me, standing in front of the Pacific Ocean.

Dragon Fish in Gaoxiong

View of Sun Moon Lake.

Days 4 and 5

Monday was apartment hunting day. While altogether stressful, difficult, and grueling, the day did give us a chance to explore the neighborhood of Da'an, to explore NTU's campus, and to try a great Italian restaurant near campus. In the end I decided on a beautiful apartment less than a ten minute walk from class. The apartment was relatively cheap, clean, and spacious.

Today we slept in, ate breakfast, rested, ate lunch at the lovely vegetarian restaurant, and headed out on the best tour yet. The tour bus talk us through the winding mountain roads in the northern suburbs of Taipei to Yangming Mountain, where ruling green hills give way to rocky craters spouting hot sulfuric steam. We did some light hiking with lovely views of the eerily green hills, not too overpowering smells of the hot springs, and at one point a view of Taipei 101 in the Taipei basin to the distance. We also hiked on a path that led through picturesque ponds and gardens where one newly-wedded couple was taking photos.

Next we want to a spa and bathed in the warm sulfuric water. It was relaxing, soothing, and felt great for my back and skin. My bracelet got tarnished but hopefully that will clear up.

On the road I heard snippets of a conversation our tour bus driver was having with a tourist from Malaysia. They talked about the Chinese community in Malaysia and the differences between those with Hakka and Hokkien blood and between the Sino-Malaysians and Taiwanese. They also talked about immigration to Taiwan and how that was affecting employment. The driver claimed immigrants from throughout Southeast Asia were taking away jobs from the Taiwanese but much of the blame really lay at the feet of the youth in Taiwan who he contrasted with his generation: "They all want to be managers. No one wants to start low and work hard to work their way up. So, they end up unemployed."

We ate dinner at a good Japanese restaurant.

Tomorrow we head to other parts of Taiwan!

Pictures:

Hot Spring at Yangmingshan.

Lizard on the trail.

View.

Taiwan University's campus.

More of the lovely campus.

Day 3

Had another great lunch of noodle soup, dumplings, fried rice, Chinese donuts, and eggs. Went with mom and dad on a tour of Sanxia and Yingge. The Daoist Temple at Sanxia was breathtaking and the town charming. The porcelain shop we visited, while filled with amazing artwork, was a frightening experience - I spent most of the time afraid that I would accidently break something. Looking forward to apartment hunting tomorrow.

Pictures:

A Daoist Temple on the Outskirts of Taipei.

A Buddhist Temple Across from the pottery factory.

Dragon columns in the Daoist temple.

Pottery in the pottery factory.

Busy streets of of Sanxia or Yingge (can't remember which)