I didn’t see the report (no tv), so I don’t know about the words used at that time, but if that councilor or whatever he was really claimed all foreigners would be on drugs - maybe an honorable member of the foreign community (I mean someone with suit and tie, better not Dan…) could publicly (media) demand an excuse or threaten to sue for libel. While it might be silly to go to the court with this case, libel suits (or to threat with them) seem very popular in Taiwan. And if those people need to step back on this one, maybe they will have to provide more substance for the other accusations…
Chinese discussion about the Huashan incident: POTS Forum. I tried posting, but got some kind of error.
Sisy Chen (Chen Wenqian 陳文茜) had people from Huashan on her TV programme debunking the DPP councillor/media nonsense about Huashan. I only caught the closing moments of the show, unfortunately.
Why has this forum gone all quiet? The absurd allegations and the insult to foreign residents in general have not been retracted. Has anyone written any “letters to the editor” about it? I’m too busy translating a scintillating report about Taiwan’s tennis raquet industry. Come on, comrades, wield your pens!
Juba,
Just curious. Why do you spell her name – [Sisy Chen (Chen Wenqian 陳文茜 ] – in abc style as “Chen Wenqian” … ?
Makes it look like she is a Chinese women in Beijing or elsewhere in China. Shouldn’t you use the Taiwan style of “Chen Wen-qian” using the hyphen? I know you studied in China for 4 years, so you probably do this as a matter of habit. But … this is Taiwan, me lad!
Do you call Chen Shui-bian as Chen Shuibian? Are you a commie pinko sympathiser apparatchik fifth columnist ninja spy?
Get with it, man, most of us Oriented regulars insist on Hanyu pinyin. You must be one of those Maoists who insist that Wade-Giles is the real revolutionary spelling, and Hanyu pinyin is a revisionist spelling favoured only by supporters of that capitalist roader Deng Xiaoping. Really! I’m talking about the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. Or maybe you just like wasting space by sticking hyphens here, there and e-ve-ry-where.
Ju-ba
The head of Taipei’s Cultural Affairs Bureau has issued words in favor of the artists.
www.taiwanheadlines.com/20020626/20020626s4.html
I- -hyphens
Go hyphens! Honestly, they’re much better pets than dogs.
I like a good dash from time to time, too, Poagao. But don’t you think Mergatroid is hypherventilating?
I was talking to a few local coworkers; they suggested that the only way to make a stink effectively would be to find someone on the same level, ie other legislators, to expose what’s going on and ask questions such as ‘why would you degrade all foreigners simply for your own benefit, especially when you distort and create all the ‘facts’ yourselves?’ and the like. I’d imagine some legislators would be jumping all over the opportunity to slam those two.
The media would then be more than happy to cover it as well; the media in Taiwan is not interested in showing its own mistakes or making sure justice is done, you have to have someone making an attack on someone else before it gets aired.
Obviously it would have to be a non-DPP legislator. Or even good ol’ mayor Ma. I’m tired of these idiots ‘crusading’ for ‘morals’ and not getting called on it (especially since they’re clearly out for their own good every time).
Anybody have any ideas?
O-kay, Ju-ba, I tay-kit ba-ku.
But I didn’t know this forum was just for Oriented regulars who have already decided how to best romanize Mandarin names. I thought this was an op-en fo-rum. Questions not allowed? I guess not.
But seriously, Juba …
why I like to hyphenate Taiwanese names in print … is to differentiate them from Chinese names. When I see a name in the newspaper or on the Internet that is spelled Chen Shui-bian, for example, I know that person is from Taiwan.
And when the name is spelled Chen Shuibian, I know the person is from China.
I think it’s a good way to differentiate the two countries, at least for readers like me who are illiterate in Chinese. Doesn’t this make sense? That’s all I was wondering when I asked you that first question.
As for the spelling of street names, etc, whatever, I will vote for whatever you suggest …
The hyphen seems useful for names in order to differentiate the Chinese way of abc spelling of names from the Taiwanese name of abc spelling of names. How do other posters feel?
Mergatroid, I realise you are about twelve years old with time to kill, but you will make yourself more popular if you keep to the subject of whatever forum you are in instead of going off on tangents. This forum is about what happened at Huashan last Saturday. There are other forums dealing with the interminable spelling debate. Try the search function at the top of this page.
I wrote this letter on June 24 and emailed it to the Taipei Times… Please let me know if they print it:
June 24, 2002
Dear Editor,
It seems that Wang Shih-chien and Yen Shen-kuan do not want people to have any fun. What is wrong with dancing all night? Why do the councillors pick on the "foreigners" only in their accusations of depravity? Taiwan has some of the most square and most intolerant legislators on Earth. Everything "has to be" over-controlled. Everyone must get married and have babies. But DON'T go dancing! I'm getting really very tired of the illiberality of this place. How long will it take civilization to liberate itself from the bonds of social inhibitions? It is a pointless waste of time trying to get the average Taiwanese to go out and have fun... Stay in your car. Watch TV, but never do anything exciting.
Why are the police so ineffectual when it comes to protecting life and limb, Wang and Yen? When foreigners get beat up or murdered by local
thugs, how come the cops turn tail and run away from the scene, or arrive late, or not at all? How come they never arrest the perpetrators? Everything is backwards in Taiwan: repress the joyful efflorescence of life, but fail utterly to protect ordinary folk from harm...
Cowards and wankers -- that's who Wang Shih-chien and Yen Shen-kuan represent! Take a hike, you stodgy old boys!
Sincerely,
D.... A.......
(but being a diehard user of booze and grass, guess I got no right to talk like this, huh?)
Nice try, Popo, but your letter is unlikely to be printed. You have killed off any chance it had with your use of the “w” word.
Just a point of clarification - I don’t think the people were actually dancing all night. Can anyone tell us when the gig actually finished?
No libel laws in Taiwan then. Why have the named Chinese participants accused of being stoned not sued ? Is this because this sort of crappy journalism is so common no one takes it seriously ?
Maybe I don’t get out enough. The only time I’ve ever been offered an illicit substance in Taiwan wasn’t from a foreigner, but a TVBS news crew. A foreign friend of mine was dating a TVBS camerman last year and invited him, his sound man, and a woman I can only guess was the reporter around to her apartment for her birthday bash. No sooner did these noble vanguards of the fifth estate arrive at the party then they produced several fat doobies, which they proceded to spark up in the kitchen much to the horror of (some of) their foreign hosts. Alas, I don’t think we’ll be seeing any reports on media drug fiends in the near future.
I was the last scheduled DJ that night…i finished sometime around 5 or 5:30 AM.
The organiser continued to play for the 6 people who were there.
.m
quote:
Originally posted by mmmmichael: I was the last scheduled DJ that night...i finished sometime around 5 or 5:30 AM.The organiser continued to play for the 6 people who were there.
.m
Thanks. I have been looking for that information. By Taipei standards, that is borderline “going on until morning” as the report said. 4:30 is definately not morning 5:30 is borderline and 6:15 IS morning, no?
「藝文界萬人大驗尿自清運動」Urine Saves Art Campaign
為響應「只要藝術不搖頭」，
我發起「藝文界萬人大驗尿自清運動」：
請速至附近警察局主動要求驗尿，
或郵寄您的尿袋，
到台北市議會﹑中天電視台或中時晚報，
請求協助驗尿，以取得嚴格的科學依據
以及事實的真相
請記得﹕捐尿一袋﹐救藝術一命。
本人將於6月29日7時，與火鼓友人
前往中正一分局（華山藝文特區對面）驗尿自清。
林宏璋
火鼓會策動人
(SORRY，IF 重複傳送
This is an emergency call in response to the “Ecstasy-using foreigners invading Hua-shan.” (For more info, please see the detailed coverage by David Frazier and Yu Sen-Lun, Taipei Times, June 27th or link to http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/06/27/story/0000146086.)
Emergency call:
Everyone, please send your urine sample to the city council and to the China Times Express in order for them to assess the chemical status of artists and foreigners.
Please send as much as you can in order to obtain a better scientific result and the final truth.
Bear this in mind: your urine can be the lifesaver of Taiwan art.
Art for the People
Hongjohn Lin
Fire Drum Party Organizer
quote:
Originally posted by U.S.A.: Everyone, please send your urine sample to the city council and to the China Times Express
This seems a little unfair to Taibei City Council. Rather, it should be sent to the China Times Express, Power TV and those two councillors who did all the slandering.
Wang Shijian’s address is:
台北市中山區天祥路48巷2號3樓
3F, No. 2, Lane 48, Tianxiang Rd., Zhongshan District, Taibei 104
Tel: 25367071
E-mail: tcc8717@mail.tcc.gov.tw
Since he has a degree in applied chemistry, he should be able to do the analysis himself.
Yan Shengguan can be found at:
台北市南昌路1段111巷7號
No. 7, Lane 111, Sec. 1, Nanchang Rd., Zhongzheng District, Taibei 100
Tel: 23516428
E-mail: tcc8721@mail.tcc.gov.tw
She is studying for a doctorate in law, so she can be the other half of the forensics team.