[quote]
“The nation has to establish a new culture based on the Aborigine, Hakka, Hokklo, Mainlander and Japanese cultures,” he said.
“One important method for Taiwan to resist the culture of the old foreign regime is to implement localization in politics and culture,” Lee said.
Therefore, Taiwan must rid itself of Chinese cultural values imposed on the country by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
“Otherwise, people in Taiwan would identify with the culture of the Chinese Communists, as most of their national and cultural identification was created by the KMT’s education,” Lee said.
“Taiwan will continue suffering from its [Chinese] colonial past if we do not establish our own unique culture,” he added.[/quote]
I agree with our President. The only way for Taiwan to move forward is to fully reject their Chinese-imposed culture and revert to a Taiwanese identity influenced by our independent development under the Japanese. In this era, we were truly able to learn what it meant to be Taiwanese. I applaud Lee’s analysis of our problems and I look foward to seeing this implemented by our government officials.
Yeah, right. The aboriginals were butchered, and the little Taiwanese guy had to keep his mouth shut. Only collaborators like the Koos managed to “develop” quite a lot independently or not.
I’m not a fan of the KMT occupation, but playing down one oppressive regime while praising another just doesn’t ring true to me.
[quote=“enzo+”]Independent development under the Japanese?
Yeah, right. The aboriginals were butchered, and the little Taiwanese guy had to keep his mouth shut. Only collaborators like the Koos managed to “develop” quite a lot independently or not.
I’m not a fan of the KMT occupation, but playing down one oppressive regime while praising another just doesn’t ring true to me.[/quote]
Japanese rule was harsh but Taiwan did develop a great deal of industry during this time. Also the Taiwanese identity developed at this time. Educational standards were better, people were able to advance their lot in life much easier. Most of all my grandparents said that Taiwan was really safe : you didn’t need to lock your door and you can trust your fellow neighbors.
Most of the people “executed” during this time were mostly petty criminals and aboriginals that didn’t want to join the modern world. It is sad that these people were killed, but they were negligible compared to 228 where 75000 to 100000 Taiwanese were butchered by the rabid KMT.
More collaborators have benefited from KMT rule than from any other period. Of all the people who have ruled Taiwan, the Chinese are the only race that killed the most Taiwanese.
Oh, if it’s only a bunch of backwards aborigines, that’s okay, then.
You know, every time I try to talk my aboriginal wife into supporting the DPP, she admits that their policies are good, but says that underneath they’re still Hokklo racists who want to to establish ethnic domination.
And then people like you come along and confirm everything she fears…
Your ignorance of the Japanese era is not nearly so impressive as your ability to damage the cause you purport to represent.
Anyone who claims to be close to the soul of the Taiwanese people as you do would recognize that jingoism (rather than appeals to democracy and improving organs of state) has been self-defeating from day one in this place. Even hardcore elements like Thomas Liao and Shih Ming were able to put a half-decent argument onto the table. Your words, in contrast, are those of a thoroughgoing bigot, and that’s assuming you are not a troll.
But while we’re dealing with the facts of the matter, perhaps you would care to enlighten us as to how many Aborigines were killed during the 228 Incident?
Lee Teng-hui is starting to sound (and act) more and more like Mao Zedong - a raving lunatic with the capacity to do a great deal of damage to the country in his old age. Compared with him, Chen Shuibian seems like a moderate with a well-balanced head on his shoulders.
I don’t know about raving lunatic. I think he believes that China’s policy is dead set, and for them there’s no compromise-- real control over Taiwan, even if they’d agree to “leave Taiwan alone” for a few decades (and who knows if they’d really do it). And he thinks that this radical problem will only get worse, so it takes a radical solution of immediate independence and a strong Taiwanese identity.
He’s wrong, I imagine, but one must agree that very very few (stable) countries have a problem with the countrymen all more or less arguing over semantic differences in national ideology and identification, even if on the whole they hold the same position. Hopefully this problem can be resolved soon.
Fortunately, he doesn’t have the popularity or cult-like following that Mao did, otherwise Taiwan would be setting itself up for a major disaster. His “radical” solutions for meeting the Chinese threat would only bring war to Taiwan. Immediate independence, changing the flag/name of the country, etc. are sure fire ways to set off those 600 or so ballistic missles pointed at Taiwan, and having a “strong Taiwanese consciousness” aren’t going to protect the lives of the 23 million people living here. Since the lifting of martial law, the Taiwanese have been developing their own sense of identity, on their own, at their own pace. This is how it should be. Having Lee Teng-hui or the government force one down their throats is no better than the KMT forcing it down their throats or the communists forcing it down the throats of the Chinese on the mainland.
Your ignorance of the Japanese era is not nearly so impressive as your ability to damage the cause you purport to represent.
Anyone who claims to be close to the soul of the Taiwanese people as you do would recognize that jingoism (rather than appeals to democracy and improving organs of state) has been self-defeating from day one in this place. Even hardcore elements like Thomas Liao and Shih Ming were able to put a half-decent argument onto the table. Your words, in contrast, are those of a thoroughgoing bigot, and that’s assuming you are not a troll.
But while we’re dealing with the facts of the matter, perhaps you would care to enlighten us as to how many Aborigines were killed during the 228 Incident?[/quote]
Whatever reasons or history behind the Japanese colonial period is irrelevant because they laid the foundations of Taiwan’s economic growth. All of our nation’s major cities were developed during this era, such as modern ports, railroad, agriculture, banks and academic institutions.
I can’t say the same for the KMT who are simply the worst government on Taiwan. Yet the KMT textbooks always emphasize that they did all the improvements that the Japanese did and that Taiwan was a POS until they showed up. The KMT have no claim to China and neither do the Chinese. It is all just a cheap excuse to hold on to power and to satisfy their imperialist ambitions.
President Lee has seen this ahead of time and he is trying to warn us all. Most of all his message is to get us ready as a nation and to prevent a future 228 at the hands of the Chinese communists. It is good to know that there are aboriginals who support the DPP in principle, since many of them have been bought out by the KMT and tend to go pan-Blue. As I have said before over 75,000-100,000 Taiwanese (hakka, Taiwanese, and aboriginals) were ruthless cleaned by the KMT genocide.
This death toll is as high as claimed anywhere else (Shih Ming once said 100,000 as I recall) but may be far greater than the actual number; not that it matters, because a massacre is a massacre, and the motivations for it are made no less insidious because of the number killed.
But I repeat, if you are so confident in your assessment of the death toll of that period, how many Aborigines died, and where? Enough of your single-sentence polemics, Masaotakashi. Show some evidence.
Well without reading former president Lee’s statement in Chinese, I can not say exactly what he means but I would interpret his statements as clearing out the Chinese only culture created in Taiwan by the KMT and replacing it with a culture based on the history and people of Taiwan.
As someone who went through part of the KMT brainwashing education system in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I was taught only history and culture from China. I still remembered the assignment I was given as a first grader to color in the map of the provinces of China where my family came from. I tried to look for chunghwa, where my family came from, but there was no map of Taiwan on that map. So I had to ask my mother what to color in. She pointed to fujien and said just color that. There was no mention of Taiwan’s history in my education but there was plenty of reading on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. I didn’t even really understand why my grandparents spoke fluent Japanese. I always thought because Taiwan was occupied by the Japanese in WWII that they spoke Japanese. It was not until I was in the US, that I learned about the different groups that lived on Taiwan and the history of Taiwan. I was also surprised when I went back to Taiwan for the first time in 11 years in the early 90’s that the kids there didn’t really speak Minnan only Mandarin, only the kids who grew up outside of Taiwan can speak it.
The history and culture of a society defines who they are. The decades of KMT rule attempted to erase the history and culture of the people of Taiwan. A lot of the history and culture still reside in the minds of the senior citizens of Taiwan. A lot of the Aboriginal histories is passed down in oral traditions and will be lost forever if the Chinese only culture is allowed to continue. Former President Lee is saying that the culture and history of Taiwan should include all who live in Taiwan and not be whitewashed over by the Chinese only culture forced on Taiwan by the KMT. In trying to appease the Chinese bullies on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, the people of Taiwan will lose who they are. As Neville Chamberlain has proven, policy of appeasement does not work.
While not the most ridiculous phrase in this thread it is certainly one of the most.
Irrelevant!?!
Also,
[quote=“zhujianlun”][quote=“Masaotakashi”]
Most of the people “executed” during this time were mostly petty criminals and aboriginals that didn’t want to join the modern world.[/quote]
Your ignorance of the Japanese era is not nearly so impressive as your ability to damage the cause you purport to represent. [/quote]
zhujianlun, I respectfully disagree, I think they are equally impressive!
