Dear Taiwan " good good country people" full version part 1

The creator made my ancestors at the foot of the Tjavuvu and as we flourished from there entrusted us, the people of this hill, with the onus as guardians of these lands, these rivers, and these forests. For generations, rooted in this land rooted in our culture, in our arts, in our language, and in our stories. --Idan Pavavalong Dear Taiwan My father is from Jiangsu, Yangzhou, from the same city as Jiang Zemin. But I've never been there before, I don't even know what that place looks like. My ancestry has made me carry wherever I go this sense of nostalgia that is born to me, he said, like my birthmark There is a picture of my father in our living room, It was taken in front of the Cihu Mausoleum. Even to this day, that picture is the centerpiece of our liquor cabinet. Every time I go home, I see the picture. Actually, I think I can understand how my father feels about this country. Because he came here with the army, when I think he was only 19... He followed his leader and his battalion to this unknown and foreign land. He must have clung onto that idea of "the motherland" stubbornly over the years. I think he really hopes that one day, the Republic of China can unify China under the Three Principles of the People. For him, that must have been, other than watching his two sons grow up, his biggest dream. Often, he looks out from the shore. They say that beyond the mist there exists coasts longer, mountains taller, forests greener, and rivers faster. Our homeland is that place mother has never seen. - Yang Mu In this poem, Professor Yang describes a law school graduate who wrote a letter to ask him questions on truth and justice. When I read the piece, I had this moment of deja vu. I felt just like the law graduate in the poem. Especially with the line, I was really shaken by this. My interpretation is that "mother" symbolizes a sense of belonging, but also this land that we grew up on. And the line "mother has never seen" suggests this sense of hollow, subjugated self-identification. In spite of our different backgrounds, everything that my parents and I have seen, heard, and experienced, of the land that we grew up on, we have never recognized clearly, like the protagonist, what "homeland" looks like. "Who am I" is a simple question that the Taiwanese have never had an easy answer to. In the Borneo campaign of 1945, Taiwanese soldiers serving in the Japanese army were ordered to torture Australian captives, and thus received heavy sentences after the war. While serving their sentences in Japan, they did not receive equal treatment as their Japanese counterparts, because they were Taiwanese. After serving their sentence, those who chose to return to Taiwan were monitored for years by the ROC government on grounds that they were Japanese soldiers, regarded to have "Japanized" values. In 1946, at the end of WWII, Taiwanese physician, Dr. Tsai, sought to return to Taiwan from Canada, but her passport application was denied at the Chinese embassy because she was born in Taiwan and thus considered to be Japanese. Due to historical events in the past century, the people of Taiwan have drifted between being Taiwanese, Japanese, and Chinese. My great-grandfather is from Hunan My great-grandmother is Puyuma, and my grandfather was born in Taitung, so he has no issue with his identity. As for my father, he received Japanese education; he attended high school, and he even served as a Japanese policeman. He is a person with integrity. So when he saw what the KMT did after they came [to Taiwan], including the 228 Massacre, everyone in his generation understood the KMT for who they are. Therefore he criticizes the KMT all the time. Often, when he and his friends gather to catch up and chat, they criticized the KMT, and it irritated me. So I have distanced myself from my father, and felt that my father and I are from different countries. I thought he is not patriotic at all. I think if we group people by age, the generation that is most confused about their identity, is probably still the 35 to 55 group. This is the generation that received very strong, KMT-centric nationalistic brainwashing through their education. In the far east, there is a river Its name is the Yangtze In the far east, there is a river Its name is the Yellow River The biggest deficiency in our educational system is that it doesn't teach our children to understand our land. This results in tremendous pain and confusion... on the question of "Who am I?" Before 18, I was Chinese. I grew up studying the textbooks from the NICT which were full of KMT and nationalistic ideologies. The Great Wall of China expands for thousands of miles outside the walls is the homeland Plump grains, fragrant beans, gold everywhere and no disasters. In first grade, our teacher said to us, so when we liberate China," well, we didn't call it "liberate" back then "when we win back the Mainland, you all will be mayors! You see, the Mainland is so big, with so many provinces and counties. Over there, they don't study." Anyway, they are all poor and are uneducated. who are they going to rely on? On us! So I'm telling you, study hard." I was in first grade, and that left a deep impression in my mind. Back then I thought, "Wow, I will grow up to be a mayor!" I even told my mother when I got home, that I am going to be a mayor. Actually when were young, we've all experienced a time when our teachers repeatedly told us that we are Zhonghua peoples." "Descendants of the Dragon." Yes. Actually when we were young, we were similarly influenced by our teachers. And often I'd say "I'm Chinese, I want to be a proud Chinese." Yeah, that's what we were taught since we were young Like he said, our textbooks have always taught us that we are Chinese, blah blah blah. So we memorized a lot of texts; we spent a lot of time studying Chinese history. Like China's Xia, Shang, Zhou Dynasties, But we knew next to nothing about Taiwan's history, or music, culture, or art. We wouldn't know, who the renowned painters or artists from Taiwan are You may only have heard of Lin Hwai-min You may only have heard of Chang Dai-chien You may only have heard of these few people. Yes, and so I thought that Lord Chiang was such a great leader. When I got home, I told my dad that Lord Chiang is great, which resulted in my dad scolding me. Because when my dad was young, he was a part of the Tangwai movement. Then he said "your teachers are not teaching you right". and that "your textbooks are wrong". We even see examples of this very recently, when we talk about our national territory. What does our territory cover, right? Am I ever going to set foot on James Shoal in my life? On high school exams, our territory starts from James Shoal in the south. A kid had suddenly asked the teacher, "Where IS James Shoal?" The Republic of China, the Republic of China stands up against all tests If the Yangtze and the Yellow River still flow The Republic of China, the Republic of China will live on forever. Where I live, there is a river called Davalan. My tribe, for generations, has lived off of Davalan like a baby suckling from its mother's breast. We depend on it to grow and to live. The aborigine mentality is very simple: just grow up on the land that you were born on. That is identity. As simple as that. My grandpa lived here when he was a kid He misses so the old-time flour-tea stand The incense in Longshan Temple burns fiery orange Lord Guan's face shines bright red This is a song I wrote for my grandpa and grandma. Well, I was born and raised in Monga, and still live in Monga today. If possible, I hope that I never have to leave. I stroll to Green Grass Lane Smelling the prosperity left from the Japanese era. Grandpa's hand holding on to mine is a callous dream chiseled by a lifetime, chiseled by the ground I found Grandma's and his shadows in Sweet Potato Street when I was a college freshman. I know now many people have formed their own opinions of the movie but back when I first watched , I was extremely shocked, because it talked about the 228 massacre. In my memory, the 228 Massacre never happened. Look, that movie was so intense, with so many people running for their lives, and with so many situations. Suddenly it felt very strange, and I wondered where this all took place. With all these questions, I then discovered that there was the "228 Massacre", and it happened in Taiwan. Only then did I start to look back, and find out what really happened during that time. It was all very surprising to me. Then I looked back more and wondered, From then, I started to re-examine, more resolutely, what constitutes my country. In junior high, there'd always be a survey on ancestral origin. The class representative would go up to the podium and ask, But I remember very clearly, every time the class representative did the survey, I never wanted to raise my hand when he called on the Waishengren. How come I didn't want to raise my hand? It wasn't until many years later, after I've studied Taiwanese history, that I finally understood why I was reluctant to raise my hand back then. Because the group that I represented were once the perpetrators of this land; we were once the elite of this land. But that identity stayed with me, murky and confounded for so many years. Until one day, when I found myself crying when listening to Chen Ming-Chang's songs. At that moment, I knew, that my self-identity conflict no longer existed - I am Taiwanese. I went to Yan-Ping Middle School. During the White Terror, our school was shut down by the KMT. So some of the teachers there, would tell you that all these materials were just for the exam, and that we all should have the ability to discern right from wrong. So I started to read a lot of books, and started to realize that there were huge holes in the textbook materials. This history was different from that studied by international scholars; nor did it match local records. It was actually very hard for me to reconcile all of this, because this invalidated all of my education in these years. I spent so much time reading, I spent so much time thinking and identifying with it. That invalidated my life as I knew it. For me, the biggest tipping point, probably was the time when I read Ong Iok-tek's autobiography. He wrote that when he taught in high school, he scripted a skit. The plot of the skit was as follows: There is a group of people living on an island. Originally they were ruled by people from country A. Then, people from country A were chased away by people from country B. So now people from country B are ruling the people of this island. But these island people, after being ruled by country B, started to miss their former rulers from country A. They thought, "country A did a better job before". But then someone stood up and said, Regardless of countries A or B, we should not be subordinates. We should be our own masters. After reading this part of Ong Iok-tek's autobiography, and thought about this skit that he wrote, I felt that this is a portrayal of the development of Taiwanese identity. Taiwan has been colonized in the past, and no matter which country's people come to Taiwan to rule, I think it will never be as good as us Taiwanese being our own masters. I like reading history. When I was a kid, I enjoyed it when our teachers told us stories from Chinese history. But I don't know much Taiwanese history. Later, after I read a book by Professor Jim Lee I thought, How come everything is different from what the teacher had taught us? Since then, I have realized that our old history textbooks were actually pretty foul, because the old textbooks would always have a chapter describing how we Sinicized other peoples, and destroyed their cultures. And doing that was so great. That is, forcing them to abandon their own languages and speak Chinese; forcing them to abandon their own clothing, and dress like the Chinese. All this was made to be commendable, but in retrospect it is a sick and disturbing thing to do. It wasn't until when I read more, listened to more underground radio programming, and got to know more former political victims that I finally realized how untruthful my education was, and that the political party who fabricated these artificial educational materials is actually very unjust and deceitful. I feel that once you saw the intent behind these elaborately woven stories, you would then realize that they are suppressing Taiwanese identity. But because of this suppression, Taiwanese identity will only grow stronger. Later, Hsin-Yeh wrote a poem, using Chen Wen-Chen's death as a theme, entitled "Someone taught me the answer to truth and justice" to answer Yang Mu: Someone taught me about truth and justice Climbing up stairs 20 years later At the *** scene in the library A row of yellowing books stand neatly like silhouettes outside the window I follow his still passionate gaze, reading, discerning a map from 20 years ago in the corner (beached by the digital tide). Which one is further? Chang'an or the sun? They all say that the sea is the furthest. Some people spend a whole life trying to reach it That self staring into the sea In the past century, the Taiwanese have fought against foreign rule, while pursuing democratic freedom, and seeking truth and justice. They've slowly developed, along the way, this sense of nationalistic identity. The people's total victory, the people's total victory. The people's total victory, total victory. The people's total victory, the people's total victory. The people's total victory, total victory. I was in high school in 1988. By "in high school", I mean we refused to learn whatever they taught us at school, so we found books to read on our own. Many people asked, "What is Taiwan?" "What is the world?" "What kind of people are we going to be?" At that time, I had not thought about national identity, I only thought about the type of society we needed. What kind of society do we expect to build? Through that process, I came to the conclusion that Taiwan is an independent country. The people's total victory, total victory. The people of Taiwan unite The people's total victory. The people of Taiwan unite I think it started for me when I became active in social movements and started to understand this land we call Taiwan, reflecting that, I was nurtured by this land called Taiwan, therefore, I call myself Taiwanese. Ultimately, it's actually very easy. You are here. You live in Taiwan. Of course you'd view the past couple hundred years of history, or the few thousand years of aborigine history, from a Taiwan-centric perspective. So that is the most natural train of thought. After spending a lot of time reading, you fall back to a plain realization. If you haven't been controlled by KMT and if there aren't all sorts of biases that try to influence you politically you fall back to simply identifying with your native land. Taiwan! Taiwan! Taiwan! Taiwan! Put your hands up, Put your hands up, Put your hands up, Would you would you put your hands up? -Yes! Put your hands up, Would you would you put your hands up? -Yes! Put your hands up, Would you would you put your hands up? -Yes! Put your hands up. Honestly, forming a band back then was not for any commercial reasons or for money. It was for our vision. We are using music as a tool to resist, or as a tool to spread our message. From Tokyo to Taipei to New York Our footsteps will never cease Music is our weapon on tour Authentic taste of "Made in Taiwan" We want to make everyone understand that This is Taiwan's music This is Taiwan's vigor This is Taiwan's creativity I want you to hear and to know Taiwan's pride is here right now we hope to use our mother tongue to create music that everyone enjoys and, in turn, make foreigners want to learn Taiwanese, want to learn Hakka, make them feel that they are beautiful languages. We can obsess over Korean and Japanese cultures, we therefore can also make foreigners and our children obsess over Taiwanese culture. us here in Taiwan, this country mother tongue works you don't even understand China, Japan, Korea on the other hand hissing up a fuss our ancestors would grumble about all the Japanese and Korean obsession together let's make foreigners obsess over Taiwan From our songs we are able to make kids feel that Taiwanese traditional music can be a lot of fun, can become so popular; that Taiwanese traditional music can be so hip. Yeah, that's it. we walk, don't stop, traveling across all five continents just like how pizza is cut into five slices we'll walk across the globe if you still don't know which country we're from TAIWAN now listen up Last year when we performed in Toronto, the venue was a location frequented by tourists. So off the stage, there were many tourists passing by. We started to perform a song of ours called "Your name is Taiwanese", and when we finished, we said that "Taiwan is a country, she is a beautiful and lovely, and independent nation". When we finished many Taiwanese students were elated. Who are you? I am Taiwanese I was born and raised Taiwanese Hakka You got to know that you grew up eating Taiwanese rice so why obsess over Japanese or Korean culture why would I want to be someone else and speak blah-blah ABCDE it is written on our ancestral plaque that we come from Fukien Changtai but I've also heard Tainan formerly was an aboriginal settlement am I Hoklo or am I Siraiya I have no clue but one thing I know my name is I'm Taiwanese So I wanted to share that ultimately this question of identity became really important to me. Whether from an academic or creative point-of-view; it has become a core value. And I've found that this isn't just a personal choice. I've found that the best works, in humanities research and in literature, the best research and the most celebrated scholars, will never shy away from politics, will never overlook this issue of identity will never avoid using 'ideology' as a word. These are all fundamental issues. In other words, if you want to do good research, you have to take on these questions, and you have to be deliberate in order for your work to carry weight and be insightful. Otherwise you're always just skin deep, at a very superficial level. So it becomes that identity, and the previously mentioned 'ideology' and 'political' [sic] become questions that I have to face everyday, whether academically or creatively. I remember a few interesting personal anecdotes. When I write, I would follow suit and write 'Mainland China', but my teacher would always cross out the word 'Mainland', and from the crossing out, you can clearly feel his emotions at the time were "why write this". And when I saw this for the second time, he didn't say anything, he just crossed it out. "China's China, what's "Mainland China" " I felt, as if he were talking to me. But when I came back to look at that word, that strikethrough actually caused a huge reaction in me. It felt like I just got whipped, like how did I not realize that all I did was mechanically copy? His actions gave me a lot of chances to reflect on "who am I", "where am I from" "why did I write 'mainland China'?" "what does this actually mean?" "when I say 'mainland China', how am I positioning Taiwan? Or myself?" See, I'm thirty-some years old yet I still need someone else to remind me of the implications of one word. ...and we continued to find things to do otherwise we wouldn't be able to live. We had a doctor friend in camp who drew us a very detailed constellation map. He frequently, after lights out, taught everyone about the stars. He said that the constellations are useful, if one day you escape from Green Island, you can rely on them to find the direction to swim back to Taiwan. Come on, man! Vultures fly, circling the dark skies Plucking carrion from the ground Blood red sun, territory incise Marching forward without sound In high school, I would join bands and do music, but the music I wrote didn't have any emotions, it wasn't moving. At the time, I had not found a source of power or elements of inspiration to support my music. But after I identified with Taiwan, whether it is with aboriginal mythology, or anything else that happened on this land, they were all very touching. Despite having a period of self-denial in the process I still feel that it was worth it. Deep within you, souls of the past bound and tied Bright sun burning, the lines melt as glory dies My finding of my identity was very much worth it. At the same time I consider myself very lucky. Because I am in Taiwan, I am able to realize the importance of things here locally, and because of that I found my spark. After a struggle, after a self-resistance, an inner feud, I finally dug out what was most real. And when you present these things, Europeans, Americans alike all agree that it is important. Because for them they are also writing their own works, and when they see Asians starting to write their own works, of course they will admire, and want to follow. Wind gusts at the harbor Men mobilizing for war Their spirits shake Takao Victory lies in front of us Wind gusts at the harbor Men mobilizing for war Their spirits shake Takao Victory lies in front of us Taiwan's democratization actually coincides with a development of Taiwan's collective consciousness. In other words, a growth of identification with Taiwan. We've found that a growth of Taiwanese identity, especially in the past three years while under the KMT administration has not actually slowed. And if we take a look at the 2009 issue of the CommonWealth magazine, from one of their polls, 62% of the interviewees consider themselves Taiwanese, leaving 22% considering themselves both Taiwanese and Chinese and only 8% solely identifying themselves as Chinese. If we take a look at the data by age-group, Young people group within the same CommonWealth magazine poll, on average, make up a little over 60% of the poll's sample size. And then, about 75% of the youngsters consider themselves Taiwanese. In other words, between the ages of 20 and 30, on average, is about 15% greater. In the past few years, there's been many so-called "Prides of Taiwan". With the help of the media, that is, after Chien-ming *** very many people, if they receive an award from an international competition everyone will call him/her a "Pride of Taiwan". A very interesting thing also is that all of these Prides of Taiwan, when they receive their awards abroad, they may wave the flag, or may scream in excitement, but they will always say, "I am Taiwanese." They won't say, "I am from the Republic of China." This is a simple matter. They won't say they're Chinese, they say they're Taiwanese. (from) Chinese Taipei Right, they all say "I'm from Taiwan" or something to that effect. Because my wife's father came from China even to this day, he still feels that it's best to keep Taiwan under KMT rule. But for him, Taiwan still is independent, yet he can't say "Taiwan needs to be independent." For him, that is something that can't be talked about.