News items from David on Formosa

Updated: 24 min 41 sec ago

Photos of Formosa from LIFE

Fri, 11/21/2008 - 02:58

The Only Redhead in Taiwan had a post with photos of Taiwan from a new archive of photos from LIFE magazine hosted by Google. The collection is fascinating and contains photos of important historical events as well as more everyday shots. I searched for Formosa and found some interesting photos. I have linked the images back to the page where they are hosted at Google.

Taipei Railway Station c. 1950.

I guess these terraced rice fields are in Sanzhi (三芝), on the north coast of Taiwan.

A line up of rickshaws.

And some tricycle rickshaws in action.

This looks like the harbour at Keelung (基隆).

A couple on motorcycle pass by the Presbyterian Church on Zhongshan South Road, Taipei.

All these images are dated 1 January 1950 except for the color photo which is from 1959. There is also an extensive collection of historical photos of Taiwan at Vintage Formosa.

Related posts:

Copyright © David Reid 2008
This feed is from the blog David on Formosa. Please respect the copyright of the author. Any questions please contact me. (Digital Fingerprint:
96ce0efd4c72536e61bdc1f9d92ff829)

Human rights under attack in Taiwan

Wed, 11/19/2008 - 10:06

Some two weeks have passed since I wrote the post asking if Taiwan is becoming a police state? It was written during the middle of ARATS Chairman Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taiwan and it focused on the actions of police during that week. I now want to look more broadly at some of the major human rights issues that have occurred in Taiwan in the past few months.

The big news in the past week has been the detention of former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). In isolation it might seem that justice is being achieved, but Chen is yet to be formally indicted. Was it necessary for him to be detained for the investigation to proceed? Even if his detention was necessary his handcuffing certainly was not. Prosecutors have had more than two years to gather evidence in the state affairs fund case yet they have still been unable to prosecute Chen.

The former President’s detention must be seen as part of a broader pattern of the detention of DPP officials on corruption related charges. The cases of Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬)and Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) have also been in the news as they have gone on hunger strikes to protest their detention. Another case is that of Tainan City Councillor Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) who was swiftly given a 14 month jail sentence for an incident where he supposedly pushed ARATS Vice-Chair Zhang Mingqing.

The key issue is whether the judiciary is acting according to proper procedures or conducting a witch hunt on behalf of the KMT. It is clear that only detaining and investigating members of one party amounts to political persecution and is doing nothing to address the problem of corruption. It also seems that in Taiwan presumption of innocence is trumped by trial by media.

During the week of Chen Yunlin’s visit police acted outside the law on numerous occasions. Their actions went far beyond what was necessary to ensure the personal security of Chen Yunlin. Questions about whose orders police were acting under need to be answered.

Another issue of concern are the government interfering with the media during Chen Yunlin’s visit. The government were selective in giving media access to certain events. There were several incidents where police interfered with reporters doing their jobs. The Association of Taiwan Journalists, International Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders have all expressed concern about various incidents that took place during the week.

What is also disturbing is the government’s response, or lack of, to many of these incidents. The Wild Strawberry movement’s demands for an apology from President Ma and Premier Liu and the resignation of the chiefs of the National Police and National Security Bureau are very reasonable expectations. Yet the Premier has merely remarked that everyone should forget about it in a few days. It shows that the government is arrogant and has no real concern for human rights. It is not bothered by discontent from the public and perhaps feels it can shift the blame to the DPP with rhetoric of violence and corruption.

All these incidents need to be thoroughly investigated, yet who can be trusted to conduct the investigation? The judiciary is clearly acting in the interests of the newly restored KMT party-state. This highlights the urgent need for an independent watchdog capable of monitoring the judiciary and police. Taiwan needs a Human Rights Commission that can operate without fear of government interference. It also needs human rights education for the judiciary, police and government officials.

Even worse is that events like these continue to divide Taiwanese society. Chances of reconciliation are being passed up as Taiwan continues to play by a familiar political script. Many of these problems are rooted in the failure to achieve genuine transitional justice. For Taiwanese society to move forward human rights have to be seen as something valued and important. They are the foundation on which civil society and good government is built.

Related posts:

A day in Qingquan village

Tue, 11/18/2008 - 11:46

Before attending the Pasta’ay in Wufeng I spent the day in Qingquan village (清泉). I met Sandy early in the morning in Zhudong and she drove me up to Qingquan. Sandy is my classmate at NCCU and she is a teacher at the Taoshan Primary School (桃山國小) in Qingquan.

Qingquan is an Atayal village located in Wufeng District, Xinzhu County at an altitude of around 600 metres. It is the last major village on the road. Beyond it is the Shei-pa National Park (雪霸國家公園) and the Syakaro Historic Trail (霞喀羅古道).

After a brief tour of the Taoshan Primary School I crossed the river to the Catholic Church. There I met Father Barry Martinson (丁神父). I have read Father Barry’s book Songs of Orchid Island and it was very interesting to meet him in person. I purchased another two of his books, Chingchuan Story and an illustrated bi-lingual children’s book The Fish Boy of Orchid Island (蘭嶼的魚男孩). He also showed me another book he was working on that will be published soon. It is about San Mao (三毛; Echo Chen) who was a friend of Father Barry and often spent time in Qingquan.

I asked Father Barry to describe some of the changes he had seen in Qingquan over the past 33 years. He said that one of the major changes was communication. When he first came to Qingquan there were no phones and the road was very poor. Now people have mobile phones and cars or motorbikes. This has lead to people being more individual in their way of life rather than centred on community. Another point he noted was the people no longer suffer as greatly from poverty. The National Health Insurance scheme has relieved people of a lot of burden.

Wandering around the village there were a number of interesting things to see. The Yawee Stained Glass Studio makes stained glass windows for churches in Taiwan and also as artwork. A lot of the designs are done by Father Barry including the Atayal man and woman in the circular frame pictured above.

At lunch time I watched some of the students in the primary school practice their music. They have recorded a CD titled “Lawkah! Momoyama!” (桃山小學的夏天音樂課). The music is very beautiful and the recording is of professional standard. The students have also travelled to the USA to perform.

The students also love to play with this spinning toy. I don’t even know what it is called. [Update: Tim Maddog informs me that they are called diabolos.]

There was a lot of work going on in the village associated with the Zhang Xueliang (張學良) Memorial Hall. The hall is set to officially open next month. Zhang Xueliang is a famous figure in the history of China. He kidnapped Chiang Kai-shek in 1936 to convince him to join with the Communists to fight the Japanese. Later Chiang Kai-shek arrested Zhang. He spent 50 years as a political prisoner coming to Taiwan with the KMT in 1949. He was held in Qingquan during the 1950s.

San Mao’s home is currently undergoing renovations. Once completed it will be open to the public.

The photo above shows some damage done to the retaining wall by Typhoon Jangmi. Qingquan suffered very serious damage from Typhoon Aere in 2004 which killed 20 people.

The day in Qingquan passed so quickly. It was such an amazing place with so much to experience and discover. I hope to go back there again soon.

*photos in the Qingquan Village set at flickr.

Related posts:

Top five places in Taiwan

Mon, 11/17/2008 - 10:16

Fili has written a post asking people about the best travel spots in Taiwan. I thought I would make a list of my top five places in Taiwan.

Located in the mountains of Taoyuan County off the Northern Cross Island Highway the old trees at Lala Shan (拉拉山) are an amazing sight.

Just getting to Smangus is a journey in itself. Taiwan’s most remote village is located high in the mountains of Xinzhu County.

I love Tainan! The city has wonderful food, interesting historic sights and much better weather than Taipei.

While nearby Jiufen (九份) may be more well known, Jinguashi (金瓜石) is a place not to be missed. The Gold Ecological Museum highlights the rich history of this area. It makes a great day trip from Taipei.

Taiwan has many amazing temples. My favorite is Bao’an Temple (大龍峒保安宮) in Taipei.

I have only listed places that I have visited. It is quite a while since I have been to Hualian or Taidong, but the east coast is somewhere I would really like to explore more. There are some other places that I would like to visit and I am sure they would possibly shoot into the top five. Some places on my list include Orchid Island (蘭嶼), Jinmen (金門), Yu Shan (玉山) and the Southern Cross-Island Highway (南橫).

Readers are welcome to leave a comment with their own top five. If you have your own blog then you might like to write a post about your five favorite places in Taiwan.

Related posts:

Links 17 November 2008

Mon, 11/17/2008 - 00:38

Taiwanese Identity has a great post detailing languages other than Mandarin being used in recent Taiwanese films.
Claudia Jean asks is White Terror creeping back? A-gu says it’s not White Terror yet.
Global Stories reflects on working for Hess.
Lao Ren Cha goes to the Pasta’ay in Wufeng.
Taiwan Air Blog has photos of Hakka Opera.
Taiwan Democracy Movement has the statement of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan. Jerome has the statement of the Taiwanese Human Rights Association of Canada.
The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato on the need for coordinated protest action.
The Foreigner on the future of US-Taiwan relations.
China e-Lobby on the arrest of Chen Shui-bian.

Wild Strawberry protests: The movement’s English blog is regularly updated and has quite a bit of material now. Jack Wu writes the protests mark a move away from Taiwan’s partisan divide. Some analysis of the German Assembly Law.

Events: Taiwan Photography Club meeting on Sunday 23 November. More details in the flickr group.

Media: USA Today interviews President Ma. In the Asia Times Cindy Sui writes about the detention of Chen Shui-bian. Taipei Times editorial on the problems of the judiciary. CNN iReport on Taiwan protests via Taipei taxi.

Please check my shared items at Google Reader and Taiwan delicious links for more.

Related posts:

Pasta’ay: Saisiat Festival in Wufeng

Sat, 11/15/2008 - 13:29

Pasta’ay (巴斯達隘; 矮靈祭) is the biennial festival of the Saisiat people (賽夏族; also spelt Saisiyat). The Pasta’ay is held in two locations. One in Wufeng and the other in Xiang Tian Hu (向天湖) in Nanzhuang. I visited Xiang Tian Hu which has a Saisiat Museum in May last year, although it wasn’t the time of the festival.

On Friday night I visited the first night of the dancing in the Zhu Family Village (朱家莊) in Wufeng District of Xinzhu County. We arrived late in the afternoon as darkness was approaching. The first place to visit was the room where a stem of silver grass is tied around your arm and also to cameras. This is to protect one from bad spirits.

The Pasta’ay is based on the legend of the “short people” who taught the Saisiat how to live on the land. The two peoples once lived together in harmony, but conflict developed and the short people were killed. The Pasta’ay is to appease and pay respect to the spirits of the short people.

After observing the scene for a while the ceremony began a little after six. First, people carrying the banners of the clans entered the field followed by people carrying bamboo torches. Finally, the local Saisiat people slowly moved by with their arms linked. They sang and many had bells attached to their back which created a distinctive rhythm.

The dancing moves around in a circle on the edge of the field. Parts of the ceremony are limited to the Saisiat people. At certain times other people might be asked to join. As we were leaving we met a man on the road. He said, “I am Atayal. I am just going there to be in the audience. If they invite me to dance I will join them. If not I will just watch.”

All outsiders must leave before midnight. However, earlier in the night people are warmly welcomed to come and watch the festival and take photos.

Last year I saw two documentaries about Pasta’ay at the Ethnographic Film Festival. To see the ceremony take place in Wufeng was a very moving experience. The Pasta’ay only happens once every two years and it is something I will remember for a lifetime.

*More photos in the Pasta’ay in Wufeng set at flickr.

Related posts:

Call for papers - 2009 NATSA Conference

Thu, 11/13/2008 - 02:30

The North American Taiwan Studies Association (NATSA) is calling for papers for its 2009 conference. The conference is at The University of Texas at Austin from 26-28 June 2009. The main theme of the conference is “Locating Taiwan: Space, Culture and Society”. The deadline for submitting abstracts is 30 November. More details here.

NATSA 2009 - call for papers - pdf file

Related posts:

Strawberry generation stands up

Tue, 11/11/2008 - 13:55

Taiwan’s twenty-somethings were labelled the “Strawberry generation” by their elders. They said they were soft and couldn’t stand up to pressure. However, the new student movement that has emerged in the wake of Chen Yunlin’s visit to Taiwan is anything but soft and weak. Taiwan’s youth are standing up for themselves and speaking out against the government’s abuses of power.

The students’ protest began on 6 November outside the Executive Yuan in response to the abusive acts police towards peaceful protestors. In response to events of the previous days the protesters issued a statement with three demands: (1) President Ma and Premier Liu must publicly apologise to all citizens. (2) National Police Agency Director-General Wang Cho-chiun and National Security Bureau Director Tsai Chao-ming must step down. (3) The Legislative Yuan must revise the Parade and Assembly Law, which currently restricts the rights of the people.

On the evening of 7 November police forcefully removed the protesters from the front of the Executive Yuan. Police did this under the powers of the Assembly Law that the students were protesting against. The students then reconvened at Freedom Square (自由廣場) where the protest now continues.

Hsu Zen-shou (許仁碩), a law student at NTU and a spokesperson for the student protest in Taipei explained the protests were unaffilliated with political parties because the issue is about the people not parties. He said, “KMT and DPP are all the same. When I was a freshman I got hit by the DPP government and now I’m getting hit by the KMT government.”

Since Saturday morning the weather in Taipei has been cold and rainy. The students initially found it difficult to hire tents because it was an illegal protest. However, they have continued their protests in spite of the weather and this is symbolic of the students’ determination. “We always feel tired and wet and uncomfortable. But even if it rains cats and dogs we are still here,” Hsu said.

Students are simultaneously protesting in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Xinzhu and Taizhong. Hsu said, “We keep in touch with them via the internet. When something happens they can know immediately. Nobody has done this kind of thing before.”

When asked how long the protest would go on for Hsu responded, “Whether we go back home or not is according to the decision of the people at the protest. We have no leader or leader group and any big decision is made by consensus at a group meeting.”

The students have now adopted the moniker “Wild Strawberry” Student Movement (野草莓學運). The name echoes the Wild Lily Movement (野百合學運) of 1990, a student led protest that led to Taiwan having direct elections. Hsu Zen-shou also said, “wild strawberries are small and grow close to the ground. They are very strong and never give up.” Taiwan is going to hear a lot more from these students in the future.

*The movement now has an English-language blog, TAIWAN’s Wild Berries Movement, to complement the Chinese-language blog. There are live broadcasts of the protests on Yahoo Live (check the blogs for links). There is flickr group for photos of the Wild Strawberry movement and loads of videos on Youtube. Other Taiwan bloggers writing about the protests include Fili, Michael, Bala Daily, Taiwan Echo and I-fan at Global Voices.

Related posts:

Letter in the Taipei Times

Tue, 11/11/2008 - 01:28

A letter I wrote titled “Ma has lost his mandate” was published in the Taipei Times today.

The Taipei Times also has an article (pdf) in their Community Compass section about the opinions of foreign residents of Taiwan on the events last week. It includes a quote from me. It is better to download the pdf file as it includes some additional quotes.

Related posts:

Links 10 November 2008

Mon, 11/10/2008 - 00:05

Bloggers have done a great job covering the many events that went on in the Taiwan last week. While the international media only paid cursory attention to the protests and human rights issues, bloggers provided detailed and up to date information. Special thanks to A-gu, Memories of Past Tense, Michella and bloggers at Global Voices for their excellent posts.

Must read first hand accounts of the 6 November protests by the Far-Eastern Sweet Potato and Michella.
Jerome Keating describes the incompetence of Ma Ying-jeou.
Todd on identifying butterflies.
Michael Turton goes to a baseball game.
Shu Flies on the fat and the skinny.
I-fan Lin at Global Voices on the student protest (which continues). Students are also protesting in Tainan. Update: Michael has just posted an interview with the protesters in Tainan.
Stop Hushan Dam on the tracking of Grey-faced Buzzards.

Events: Check the events calendar at Taiwanderful. You can also add your events there.

Media: Jonathan Manthorpe writes on the detentions in Taiwan. Johnny Neihu writes about the police state in a well nuanced article, different to his usual tone. Ben Goren’s letter to President Ma in the Taipei Times.

There have been some problems with the availability of this blog recently. I am working to resolve the problem. If you can’t access the blog send me an e-mail with details of the error message.

Related posts:

Photos of police and protests

Sun, 11/09/2008 - 03:12

I took many photos during the week of police and various forms of protest action. I tried hard to capture an important story as it unfolded. However, as I went through the photos I was filled with mixed emotions. They capture dramatic moments but they don’t tell the whole story. There was so much going on and it is easy for people to get the impression that Taipei had gone into a state of chaos. This was far from the case as the events conspired at a just a few locations in the city.

On Monday I wore a Free Tibet t-shirt. It seemed appropriate for the day and I never thought for a moment that it might cause any problems. Several ordinary citizens asked me if the police had said anything about my t-shirt. They didn’t. Similarly in the area I was at near the Grand Hotel several people were wearing t-shirts with pro-Taiwan slogans. Police didn’t do anything about them. However, I did observe police actively stopping anyone carrying symbols of protest getting closer to the Grand Hotel (detailed in an earlier post). I must add that police were always polite towards me and never tried to stop me from taking photos. At the Jingfu Gate (景福門) I got caught in a scuffle and the police allowed me to squeeze through behind their line.

On following days I deliberately wore neutral clothing. I avoided taking any flags or stickers or getting too involved in any political discussions. This was not because I was afraid of the police, but simply because I wanted to be in a position where I could observe and photograph what was going on without creating any problems. What follows is a few selected images with my comments. I hope it tells some more of the story of what happened during the week.

I really like this photo taken at the DPP rally in Jinan Road on the evening of 4 November. The man in the front came up to me and said, in English, “Please help Taiwan.”

Police lined up beside the Grand Formosa Regent (晶華酒店) on the evening of 5 November. It is difficult to estimate exactly how many police were present as they rotated their positions and took breaks inside the hotel. A crowd of more than a thousand people had spontaneously gathered to protest.

A man speaks to a group of about 14 people who spontaneously organised a sit down protest to resist the advancing line of police in riot gear. He said they should sit there and peacefully resist the police. About ten minutes later the people were forcefully removed by police.

The man in the centre of the photo tries to calm down angry protestors as they confront the police. It was actions like this that prevented the situation at Jingfu Gate from escalating into a bloody riot.

Police here are under attack from projectiles being thrown by the crowd near the Jingfu Gate. Some of the projectiles can be seen littering the ground in front of them.

As the police held their line behind their shields near the Jingfu Gate their faces showed little emotion. However, I got the sense they were tired and a little uneasy. They certainly didn’t look like they were aggressively ready to fight.

When the situation at the Jingfu Gate had calmed down, these two officers dropped back from the line and started chatting to me. They told me their names were “Mr C” and “Mr D”. They had come up to Taipei by bus in the morning from Taizhong County. Chatting with them really put a human face on the police force. They are just people doing an often difficult job.

After the police removed student protesters from the front of the Executive Yuan they reassembled on Friday evening at Freedom Square. They are continuing their protest to demand apologies from President Ma and Premier Liu as well as calling for changes to the Parade and Assembly Law.

I still stand by my comments earlier this week about Taiwan potentially becoming a police state. There is no doubt that the basic human rights and freedoms of the Taiwanese people came under attack in a way not seen in Taiwan for almost twenty years. I will try to discuss this further in another post.

*All the photos I took during the week are in the protests against Chen Yunlin set at flickr. I have also creatd individual sets for the Grand Formosa Regent protest, siege of Bo’ai and student protest at the Executive Yuan. All the sets are arranged in chronological order. There is also a short video of the 1106 protest. I didn’t record much video, but hopefully this gives an idea of the typical nature of a large protest.

Related posts:

News items from David on Formosa

Photos of Formosa from LIFE

Human rights under attack in Taiwan

A day in Qingquan village

Top five places in Taiwan

Links 17 November 2008

Pasta’ay: Saisiat Festival in Wufeng

Call for papers - 2009 NATSA Conference

Strawberry generation stands up

Letter in the Taipei Times

Links 10 November 2008

Photos of police and protests

User login

Navigation

Subscribe to updates

Get email updates

We recommend

Who's new

Relevant sites

Recent popular content

Active forum topics

Recent content

Recent comments