Li Yuchun, winner of the Chinese “Super Girls” singing contest, was banned by the Taiwanese government from making public remarks while appearing at a concert in Taiwan, an organizer of the event said Tuesday. [/quote]
Entertainer from the ROC are rarely banned from speaking the press on the mainland. Sure they have guidelines they need to follow. But that’s common in high-profile entertainment worldwide.
But to outright ban an entertainer from speaking to the ROC media, is a childish display abusive power. How in the world is Taiwan going to convince anyone they are the champion of democracy if they behave in this manner.
[quote]He said authorities feared Southeast Television might use the concert to serve political purposes and “therefore we made some demands.”
He did not elaborate. [/quote]
No kidding he couldn’t elaborate, because he’s as clueless as they get when it comes to developing a cohesive plan to tackling the Strait Issue.
[quote]Jonathan Lee, an acclaimed Taiwanese songwriter, said the Taiwan government should have treated the Chinese as honoured guests.
“When Taiwanese have performed on the mainland, we received a lot of assistance from the Chinese,” he said.[/quote]
No wonder people are fleeing the island these days at a drop of a hat. Green Terror has ruined the island.
Well, she was banned from going for about a year only. But by that standard, Taiwan bans about 1.3 billion people, plus or minus a handful. The handful, as we see here, are apparently put under virtual house arrest.
Granted, more than a handful get married to Taiwanese and others enter illegally. In all of those cases, they are treated like worse than you can imagine, but of course, TI/ers (or maybe just Hoklo supremists) will point out to you that all mainland spouses are spies and all illegal workers are prostitutes, so they should be treated as such.
She also lost a huge copntract with Fanta I believe and had a vast China tour dropped. When she was allowed back in her concerts were frequently mobbed by demonstrating China nats. There was good reason to believe the party was behind the latter.
That was truly disgraceful, especially given she is a Taiwan aborigine. One presumes if anyone has the right to sing the praises of Taiwan independence it should be an aboriginal.
However, I did catch that super girl story and agree, it was absolutely insane. I blame the same stupid inflexibility in legal matters that routinely face the foreign community. You know, like musicians here under other emplyment contracts being booted out for playing publicly. Grrrr!
How can you “ban” someone from speaking to the press? How does it work? I really don’t understand this. What were they going to do, arrest her? And charge her with what? Completely bizarre.
They ban it by deporting anyone who takes part in activities that stray outside of the terms of their visa. They don’t arrest. There’ve been several notable cases of mainland Chinese citizens being deported over the years. In addition to the singer in question, a group of Shaolin monks were threatened with deportation … last month? … for planning to participate in a martial arts clinic in Taiwan.
And as far as that “singer”, you’re referring to a-Mei.
First of all, a majority of the aboriginal Taiwanese community have always voted in favor of the pan-Blues. The misperception that Taiwanese independence has anything to do with aborigines is borne of ignorance. The most famous aboriginal in Taiwanese politics is of course 高金素梅; aboriginal legislator and one of the stars of the last Ang Lee about gay men. And she’s solidly, passionately in the pan-Blue side.
Second of all, a-Mei was never “banned” from visiting mainland China. She reportedly was kept off of several state television broadcasts. She was never denied the right to perform in normal commercial concerts, and did so several times even during the ban from state TV.
And as far as the Chinese “nats” go, Beijing cracks down as ardently on ultra-leftists as they do on ultra-rightists. The original site that started many of these protests (1931-9-18.org) was shut down years ago; just this past week, several Maoist/Marxists websites were shut down. There are many millions of mainland Chinese waiting to spit on someone seen as promoting Taiwanese independence, without any CPC sponsorship needed. A-Mei has it lucky; Zhao Wei (huanzhu gege) had dung thrown on her after posing in what looked like a Japanese military flag.
But really, the story here isn’t that the super-girl was banned, or which government is more good/evil. The story here is that the DPP adminstration is fighting a hopeless battle it can never win. It can’t on one hand claim to support democracy + liberal freedoms, even as it tries to step the brakes on the natural trends of cultural integration. There will be more mainland + HK stars popular on Taiwan, and there will be more Taiwanese stars popular on the mainland. It’s just like the panda thing.
Sooner or later, some Taiwanese president is going to open the door on all of these things. I refuse to believe that in the year 3005, mainland Chinese singers + pandas will still be banned in Taiwan.
Voting for the pan-blues is a vote against the “Taiwanese” and for the hand that feeds and pays, ie the KMT. Simple enough. Soong also garnered much of the aboriginal vote because during his stint as provinical governor he regularly handed out loot to aborigines in need. This is a very well known component of Taiwan politics. Of course if you’d been to Taiwan you may have picked up on that detail.
I don’t call Maoists nationalists, though of course the tag fits much better than communist.
No, the point of super girl is the stupid and blind adherance to law. Super girl is not the only performer to suffer this stupid bureaucratic failing.
Actually, from social point of view, the aboriginals and the Hoklo never really got along. Hoklo see aboriginals as the lowest caste in Taiwan’s social structure. Aboriginals still harbor animosity towards Hoklo for driving them into the mountains.
The KMT, and later Soong’s personal political party, were seen as the “grand equalizer” in Taiwan society. Because the re-Sinicization process that occured when the KMT arrived on Taiwan included the aboriginals.
That was my point, a vote against the “Taiwanese”, ie Hoklo. One can imagine the abnorigines wanting an independent Taiwan, free of all Chinese. I support it.
Soong, the grand equalizer? Ha ha ha! Grand larceny, maybe.
Interesting eupehmism for colonialism. At least the latter’s in the dictionary.
BTW, did you know that the Chinese used to kill and eat aborigines here? The Chinese used to think that it would make them more warlike in bed. It’s in McKay’s book. Apparently, the Japanese went all out to put a stop to the practice.
