We were right! We landed in Taiwan and after we passed the
thermal fever scan (seriously...it was pretty cool) we had reached what is
officially known as the Republic of China.
To crash course you...Taiwan has been occupied by the Spanish, Dutch, Qing Dynasty China, Japanese, and then became the Republic of China under the KMT (Guomindang…or nationalist) Party in 1949. Today there is an ongoing debate as to whether Taiwan is independent from mainland China…and really it is a complex issue that currently does not have an answer. In 1949 mainland China became the People’s Republic of China and created a communist government led by Mao Zedong. The Guomindang/Nationalist Party (KMT) fled to the island of Taiwan and set up the Republic of China. Now the tricky thing is that from 1949 until the early 1970s, the USA and the UN recognized Taiwan as the “real China.” After that, the USA and the UN recognized mainland China as “the real China.”
The One China Policy
Mainland China actually sees Taiwan as being part of it, that there is only, “One China”…Taiwan believes in the One China Policy but in a different way – in their minds they have just continued the republic that was founded on the mainland in 1911 and carried it over to Taiwan…and they are thus, the true “one China.”
It’s tricky and confusing, but at the moment, so that they both benefit economically, both China and Taiwan are agreeing to disagree so that trade and greater business ventures can blossom. Then everyone wins, right?
So we arrived in Taiwan and were greeted by a different atmosphere – they are an autonomous, self-governing country after all and they have been growing economically for decades. They are a very different country than mainland China. We found ourselves in a land of far less pollution…aka blue skies!, uncensored internet, and a much more free spirited country.
We spent our first afternoon out and about, visiting Chiang Kai-Shek’s Memorial, watching the changing of the guard, seeing the Presidential Palace, and going to 228 Park – a park that commemorates the victims of a brutal demonstration-gone-wrong event in 1947 in which the KMT (who had occupied Taiwan when the Japanese surrendered in 1945) harshly and violently reacted to a civilian protest on the government monopoly on tobacco and liquor (see the album for more details).
In the park I was incredibly relieved and excited to finally confirm that absolutely nothing is wrong with my camera…the lack of crisp and vibrant pictures and the almost over-exposed look really just was all of the pollution! (It also makes me pretty freaked out that the pollution really is that intense in China)
We enjoyed a great first meal at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant where I got to fill my bowl with delicious protein! We were off to a great start!
That evening a few of the teachers and myself ventured out to check out the neighborhood and stumbled across a really "happening hang out" of sorts…it was a very serendipitous find…we found it tucked back in the corner of a city block and the figured out that the noice was coming from a very simple, absolutely huge garage shaped building that was piled full of picnic tables that could seat several hundred people. Everyone seemed college age or in their twenties and there were young performers singing various pop songs. So we grabbed a seat and tried to figure out what was customary. This was honestly one of the most amazing nights of my trip – we soon found ourselves in the middle of an amazingly fun music performance…and really an interactive show where they played various games with the crowd – we saw a marriage proposal and observed a Taiwanese kissing game in which they would challenge a couple to make out for ten seconds while the entire crowd counted down (which we could do! we were counting down in Chinese right along with the crowd!) Then, as the night wore on, the table next to us started up a conversation – and their English was amazing – we got to ask them all kinds of questions about their occupations or fields of study, their opinion on Taiwan’s foreign policy, all kinds of stuff – it was an absolutely amazing night and we were really excited to have many more days to explore Taiwan!
Click on the image below to view the album:
To crash course you...Taiwan has been occupied by the Spanish, Dutch, Qing Dynasty China, Japanese, and then became the Republic of China under the KMT (Guomindang…or nationalist) Party in 1949. Today there is an ongoing debate as to whether Taiwan is independent from mainland China…and really it is a complex issue that currently does not have an answer. In 1949 mainland China became the People’s Republic of China and created a communist government led by Mao Zedong. The Guomindang/Nationalist Party (KMT) fled to the island of Taiwan and set up the Republic of China. Now the tricky thing is that from 1949 until the early 1970s, the USA and the UN recognized Taiwan as the “real China.” After that, the USA and the UN recognized mainland China as “the real China.”
The One China Policy
Mainland China actually sees Taiwan as being part of it, that there is only, “One China”…Taiwan believes in the One China Policy but in a different way – in their minds they have just continued the republic that was founded on the mainland in 1911 and carried it over to Taiwan…and they are thus, the true “one China.”
It’s tricky and confusing, but at the moment, so that they both benefit economically, both China and Taiwan are agreeing to disagree so that trade and greater business ventures can blossom. Then everyone wins, right?
So we arrived in Taiwan and were greeted by a different atmosphere – they are an autonomous, self-governing country after all and they have been growing economically for decades. They are a very different country than mainland China. We found ourselves in a land of far less pollution…aka blue skies!, uncensored internet, and a much more free spirited country.
We spent our first afternoon out and about, visiting Chiang Kai-Shek’s Memorial, watching the changing of the guard, seeing the Presidential Palace, and going to 228 Park – a park that commemorates the victims of a brutal demonstration-gone-wrong event in 1947 in which the KMT (who had occupied Taiwan when the Japanese surrendered in 1945) harshly and violently reacted to a civilian protest on the government monopoly on tobacco and liquor (see the album for more details).
In the park I was incredibly relieved and excited to finally confirm that absolutely nothing is wrong with my camera…the lack of crisp and vibrant pictures and the almost over-exposed look really just was all of the pollution! (It also makes me pretty freaked out that the pollution really is that intense in China)
We enjoyed a great first meal at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant where I got to fill my bowl with delicious protein! We were off to a great start!
That evening a few of the teachers and myself ventured out to check out the neighborhood and stumbled across a really "happening hang out" of sorts…it was a very serendipitous find…we found it tucked back in the corner of a city block and the figured out that the noice was coming from a very simple, absolutely huge garage shaped building that was piled full of picnic tables that could seat several hundred people. Everyone seemed college age or in their twenties and there were young performers singing various pop songs. So we grabbed a seat and tried to figure out what was customary. This was honestly one of the most amazing nights of my trip – we soon found ourselves in the middle of an amazingly fun music performance…and really an interactive show where they played various games with the crowd – we saw a marriage proposal and observed a Taiwanese kissing game in which they would challenge a couple to make out for ten seconds while the entire crowd counted down (which we could do! we were counting down in Chinese right along with the crowd!) Then, as the night wore on, the table next to us started up a conversation – and their English was amazing – we got to ask them all kinds of questions about their occupations or fields of study, their opinion on Taiwan’s foreign policy, all kinds of stuff – it was an absolutely amazing night and we were really excited to have many more days to explore Taiwan!
Click on the image below to view the album:
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| July 23, 2011 - Taipei |
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