Has anyone else had much experience emailing with penpals in China? How did you meet them? And how has the correspondence gone? Smoothly? Friendly? Angry at times?
Reason I ask is I have been corresponding with two people in China over the years, college students, and both times, whenever I mention that Taiwan is a separate country, they go all ballistic and crazy and irrational. The first one said: if you continue to cal Taiwan a separate country then you are NOT welcome to visit Beijing for the Olympics in 2008!
Another guy wrote, when I said Taiwan aint a bad country, all things considered, that not only was Taiwan not a country, but that MIGHT MAKES RIGHT. And when I said to him, do you really believe MIGHT MAKES RIGHT, he stopped corresponding with me.
I met both of these people on my own initiative via chateooms there. Do you think they were just cyber spies or just real pissed off Young Nationalist Fascists?
So it is the old Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde syndrome eh?
This is nothing anybody in here should find surprising. When dealing with Chinese, I call Taiwan a country when it comes up in normal conversation. However, I will not overly discuss the matter, for that will gain nothing. In my opinion, if someone has a different opinion, they are free to disagree. It is their opinion. And as long as they respect the fact that I have a right to an opinion as well, we can coexist. But if someone is not willing to allow me to have a different opinion…to hell with them.
This is the mentality ROC is going to have to deal with on the mainland. Which is why I feel the pan-Green party is in a weaker position given their political stance to deal with the Strait Issue effectively.
No matter how plausible the pan-Green feel their argument is on the island. It is out of touch with mainland politics and mood of the people there. So it will only lead to direct conflict with the mainland.
There is a flaw in ROC political system in that our foreign policy dealing with PRC exists in two extremes, while PRC political system has been consistently geared towards one goal when dealing with the Strait Issue.
Yes, Juba, you are right. They are Patriots. Narrowminded, fanatical, brainwashed fascitic Patriots, yes. It’s a very very sad state of affairs.
This is just how the mindset was in the former USSR before Gorbachev opened things up. Unless a Gorby appears in China, those patriots are in for one long ride. And we in the West (and in Taiwan) are in for one long mindset battle too. It’s scary.
These are brainwashed robotic people. We should all be very very scared. The only good Chinese are the ones who have escaped from their prison and emigrated out. But yes, patriots all, inside. Yes.
Not e-mail related, but what the heck. When I was in Tibet a few years back, I was with a Tibetan who had been educated in India. I spoke more Chinese than he did. A local Chinese (i.e. non-Tibetan)“dignitary” in some out-of-the-way hole pointedly pressed him on why he hadn’t learned the national language. He could only hang his head and agree. Me, I kept my mouth shut for once.