Only we can save this great country from ruin.
Welcome back to the island.
Thought you had decided not to do so.
Probably should shave that thing growing around your lips, though.
If you mean the young generation who cares about Taiwan, yes, they have my vote and my support.
As to the mustache, he looks like my Dad. Asian genes simply do not give enough boost. I like men with facial hair, unless it is a single scary strand growing out from a wart.
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I do hope his family is actually Taiwanese and not waishenren.
There are waishenren supporting the DPP. Wouldn’t be far fetched to have one active in PFP.
No, I just mean that a TBA waishenren is probably less Taiwanese than, well, me.
You don’t chose your family, but you can chose your politics.
There’s a long history of dissident brave so-called “waishenren” in Taiwan. As well as cowardly collaborators from so-called “benshenren.”
If this guy has chosen the NPP (and vice versa) he’s clearly trying to make a difference. Good luck to him!
Guy
Meh.
They’re not “so-called” waishenren/benshenren. The distinction is (or was) vitally important in Taiwan politics, less so nowadays since I guess we’re into a second generation.
Lots of mixed families nowadays, and also those who don’t neatly fit: indigenous folks, new immigrants, etc.
But my larger point is this binary framing (wai/ben) of an entire society really misses a lot: class positions, regional positions, generation, gender, etc.
That being said, elite Mainlanders who have ruled this island with entitlement are annoying as f*ck. But so are the bootlicking collaborators that helped to keep these guys in power.
Guy
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Cool. Maybe can bring some new ideas or globalized ideas.
Haha do you envy his peach fuzz? I had more facial hair at age 16 then he does now in his 30s. Pressure living in hipster America must’ve gotten to him.
Crap article. There’s basically nothing in it about the guy’s political positions. Although the fact that he’s running as an NPP candidate means he probably espouses vague, fuzzy socialist causes.
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Those “elite” mainlanders are filthy rich, brainwashing and controlling those down right poor veterans who lost everything when they were forced to flee to Taiwan with chiang kai-shek. During 228, waishenrens were persecuted too. It’s one brutal regime that eats its own.
There are Taiwan-loving 2nd generation waishenrens for sure, just not that openly nor a whole lot. Most are like 聞腋青年, living a great life and staying blissfully ignorant about most things.
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I’ve always been out of the loop here, but in the past few years I’ve gotten even worse, so I guess that’s why I missed this one:
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March 1947 was certainly a bad time to be on this island. But really the persecution of so-called “waishenren” began in the subsequent White Terror, where perceived political enemies or dissidents got locked up or disappeared. During this time, they were statistically more likely to be persecuted by the state than so-called “benshenren.” Lots of these guys fought to change an unjust system. They should not be forgotten, despite (or perhaps especially because!) of the bad behavior of the Mainlander elite.
Guy
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Good point. A lot of the unmarked graves in the Fude cemetery are actually for waishenren. It must have been a terrible time for those young soldiers. Anyone with a grudge against you could plant a communist broadsheet in your quarters and then call in the military police. You’d be dead within 24 hours.
So if they were born here and went to school here and grew up here they are less Taiwanese than you , because their grandparents came here in 1949? Therefore by your logic the Ben Shen Ren are less Taiwanese than the indigenous tribes ?