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Present generation assisting previous ones
Here is the process of burning spirit money, helping ancestors of the past in the next world. The day has at long last arrived in which I have started a teaching job in Asia. As early as my time in high school, it has been a dream to explore and experience Asia first hand. While of course there will be a lot to explore on this continent, Taiwan is proving to be a fantastic gateway. I've been very surprised time after time how much of an undiscovered travel gem Taiwan really is.
For this first entry, I won't be able to expand upon any place specifically, as when I first arrived, I decided to take a bit of a whirlwind tour and explore various towns along the west coast. Therefore, I'm going to make this a bit of a general entry. By this, I'll take the opportunity to touch upon the brief history and the contemptuous political status of this country, as well as describe some general themes that I've discovered about the area.
Starting with the history, Taiwan was before known as Formosa. This name came from the Portuguese with one of the initial European travels to the area, dating back to 1544. There have been short instances of European colonialism, including the Dutch, Spanish
and others, but none of these settlements ever established a long term presence or influence. As for the original discovery of Taiwan, there is evidence that the native tribes first arrived around 30,000 years ago. These native tribes currently make up only around 2% of the population, as the vast majority of Taiwan's population are Han Chinese who immigrated in waves over the past 100 years.
Later, in the late 17th century, the Chinese Qing dynasty officially claimed Taiwan and tried to exert more control over the area. This mainly stemmed from a large amount of piracy that took place from this uncontrolled island. Taiwan still maintained a large degree of independence though. The next ruling power, who had designs to gain Taiwan ever since 1592, was Japan. Though there have been skirmishes between Japan and 'ruling powers,' by 1895, Japan officially claimed control of the island and began a strong sense of imperialism. To Japan's credit, it played an important role of industrializing the island with railroads, towns and so on. However, a forced assimilation process was quite damaging to many of the island's inhabitants. Japan retained a strong control over Taiwan up until WW II. Interestingly enough,
Taiwan was an important naval base for Japan during the war, and even many Taiwanese fought for Japan in the war. Once Japan lost the war, most of the Japanese settlers returned, though still leaving lasting influences in things such as pop culture.
While Taiwan's status was contested after WW II, it not until the Chinese revolution in 1949 that its status became even more of an issue. The Republic of China government (not to be confused with the new People's Republic of China under Mao), began to lose the Civil war and retreated to Taiwan. This retreat and new establishment of 2 million Chinese was lead by the famous Chiang Kai-shek. With this retreat, much of Chinese history was brought to Taiwan, in fear of being destroyed by the new ruling powers. Until the mid 1980's, Taiwan was rule under a form of martial law by Chiang Kai-shek. While Taiwan did develop and become economically speaking one of the Four East Asian Tigers, this period of development is still contentious in the methods of the martial government for many Taiwanese.
During this 80's decade, Taiwan became liberalized, and soon after, Taiwan's first ethnically defined president was elected.
While Taiwan has continued to develop economically and the democratic government has further established its rule, the nationality of Taiwan has been a great unanswered question. From the current Chinese government's perspective, Taiwan is under Chinese control, even though they are not acting accordingly to Chinese rule. From the Taiwanese perspective, the inhabitants left China and established their separate and official democratic government. From the perspective of those on the outside, it can be a dicey issue. Take for example the US stance. The US is currently selling arms and weapons to Taiwan and certainly supports the Taiwanese view of self rule. However, the US does not officially recognize Taiwan as its own nation and defines this dispute as the 'one country, two governments balance.' Of course, the US does not want to damage relations with China, but likewise, Taiwan is in many ways an alley to the US. Taiwan does not hold a seat at the UN, even though there are some countries that currently recognize Taiwanese statehood. It still stands as a touchy issue in the region, but the good news is that in economic and social manners, China and Taiwan are making progress in exchanges and partnerships.
There are still many divisions between the two countries, but as time has passed, the relations have improved. As for the answer to this question, it seems as if only Taoist way will reveal the truth as time passes.
Whew, if you've finished reading all of this, I'll expect a short essay concerning the major events of Taiwanese history. Ha just kidding, but after so putting so much history in writing, I still feel a teacher urge to make sure the lesson has come across. In truth, understanding the diversity of Taiwan's history is pretty important as you live and travel through the area. In short, it helps to make sense of so many different aspects throughout the society.
In terms of my general views, after a month here and the towns I visited, I am truly impressed with the kindness of the people here. I have been pleasantly greeted and welcomed literally everywhere I have traveled. Traveling within the country has been quite easy, for besides the fantastic train and bus system, people have been openly dedicated to making sure any travel questions I have get answered. I believe this stems from the Confucius cultural idea that
a guest in a home is a welcome event. In many ways, the culture has been warm and hospitable. With the topic of culture, the religion and temples of Taiwan are often a mixture between Taoism, Buddhism and local beliefs. The accommodating nature of Taiwan comes across quite clear in this example. Another great addition to the culture for myself is the Confucius respect for teachers. In strong contrasts, teaching in Taiwan is very different from teaching in America. To perhaps put it most simply, in America when the student fails, the parents and principal ask the teacher what the teacher did wrong. In Taiwan, when the student fails, the parent and principal ask the teacher what the student did wrong. While it may seem a minor difference, the major effect is that responsibility of learning is placed on the student. Hmm, maybe it's just a coincidence though on why US high schools are falling behind many schools in Asia (right, I'm sure)? Another great difference I can expand upon here is the healthcare. Here in Taiwan, there is simply a fantastic healthcare program. I went to the local clinic for acupuncture, and it cost 5$. To visit the doctor
for health needs and receive prescriptions usually ranges from 10$-20$. In short, all visits to the hospital are effective and very affordable, though they do lack the high degree of luxury as seen in the US. I find the trade off working well for me at least. The healthcare system here works well, and this is largely because people are quite healthy. Since people have a healthy lifestyle, the costs of healthcare are not that high. Of course, a crucial step is that healthcare exists so thus, people can be healthy. After living in Taiwan for the past year, watching the healthcare debate in the US from the outside was an interesting debate. How and why would you ever debate the value of healthcare for your own citizens, especially children? This goes beyond social and moral values, but economically speaking, prevention is always more cost effective than reactive. Oh well, for those who debated the healthcare passage, I suggest you come to Taiwan to observe the horrors of socialism and disastrous effect of a healthy and productive population.
Well, this post has been an extensive one, but with attempting to explain a major life transition to Taiwan in my
first month, I find this entry rather short. My following entries will be less wordy and more specific, but I hope this first entry serves a useful foundation to understand my soon to be extensive Taiwan entries. Now, off to the next Taiwanese destination.
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