Monday, July 25, 2005

Say it ain't so! Good-bye Guanghwa Computer Market

Wolf Reinhold, who moved to Taiwan sometime during early Ching Dynasty, had a wonderful article over at POTS on the closing of the Guanghwa Market. For those of you who do not know this amazing Taipei landmark, a symbol of the island's freewheeling economy and rapid growth, that market was Taipei's major computer market. Reinhold writes:

Long a fixture for locals and foreigners alike, the market offers an eclectic mix of everything computer and peripherals on one floor to used books and magazines, music CDs and movies on another.

One of the largest computer trade shows in the world - Computex 2005 - on its Web site calls Guanghua "an important shopping spot, which you can never miss...."

Well, this year's Computex buyers, estimated to be around 27,000, were to be the last foreign crowd to shop at the venerable and important bazaar.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, calling the place and eyesore and unsafe, announced that the market will be demolished. Ma further announced that an alternate location will be provided by 2007. He also previously said that a temporary site would be found for the shops before the current site was pulled down.

Pulled down! That's hearbreaking! Reinhold goes on to point out the very similar situation that arose with the Shihlin Night Market, another incredible and beloved Taipei market that Mayor Ma destroyed. Ma promised to rebuild the place even better than before:
All that is interesting since anyone at the market today visiting the site of the former food court will see a large, flattened space surrounded by corrugated steel walls containing exactly nothing. It's not that the construction is just behind schedule - absolutely nothing has been done; not an ounce of concrete has been poured or a single nail driven. If Ma's promise is to be kept, five months from now a high-rise building ready-made for the vendors and the hungry public will have risen from the now-vacant lot.
I can't tell what Ma's drive to destroy the old informal Taiwan stems from. A friend of mine who does research on wet markets talks about how middle and upper class locals remark that traditional markets are dirty, and seem to consider them as dying remnants of yesterday's lifestyles, when in fact traditional markets remain a vital part of the island's economy, much bigger than supermarkets or volume retailers like Costco. Perhaps Ma's policy is simply an expression of upscaling. But such markets are very traditional and very Taiwanese, and Ma's move to destroy it may also reflect the widespread contempt among mainlanders for things Taiwanese -- "a market language" was how twice-defeated Presidential candidate Lien Chan's son recently described the Taiwanese language.

Either way, it is very sad to hear that another Taipei small business collective is passing. Are the beef noodle places near the train station still there?

12 comments:

Jason said...

While I wouldn't be surprised if Han arrogance played a bit role here, I think the major reason why markets like Shihlin and Guanghua markets are being "renovated," "made safer" and "improved" is a deep-seated need for approval by the upper-middle class to appear as "advanced" in western eyes (or perhaps even in their own eyes).

This isn't just a Taiwanese phenomenon. Dongdaemun market in Seoul and the Panjiayuan market in Beijing have also undergone the same "improvements" in recent years (Dongdaemun is now a 20 story skyscraper absolutely jammed with shoppers and stall--hardly what I would call safer!) as the cities attempt to emulate cosmopolitan New York or whathaveyou.

Ironically, many Seoul natives now miss the old market, having realized a little bit of Korean-ness has been lost in exchange for just another slick-looking tower that blends into the skyline. In Asia, people's concepts of antiquity and sentimental value tend to be quite different from our own (as seen in the practice of garishly repainting historic buildings and the razing of old Japanese era houses), with "old" often equated with "poverty." Its a shame that only after they've made what they feel is a leap toward modernity that they realize what they've lost.

David said...

I think it is not merely a Taiwanese problem, but a worldwide phenomena. I think Taiwan has probably resisted the trend towards shopping malls longer than many other countries.

When I first came to Taiwan in 1999 there were no shopping malls on the island (as far as I'm aware). Then they built that ugly monstrosity in Taoyuan and haven't stopped since. Now we have the "Living Mall", "Breeze Center" and so on. None of which have really contributed anything whatsoever to making Taipei a better city to live in.

Michael Turton said...

While I wouldn't be surprised if Han arrogance played a bit role here, I think the major reason why markets like Shihlin and Guanghua markets are being "renovated," "made safer" and "improved" is a deep-seated need for approval by the upper-middle class to appear as "advanced" in western eyes (or perhaps even in their own eyes).

Yeah, that's the way I read this too, in the main. Old Taiwan just keeps disappearing under the developer's axe...

Anonymous said...

While I completely agree that Guanghua Market is a commercial and cultural landmark, and its demolition is going to leave a big, empty hole in my Taipei experiences, I have a couple things to add:

1. It's a deathtrap. Certainly not the only one in Taipei, but the central nerd hive itself (the area under the bridge) is a two-story fire hazard, and not up to earthquake safety code. It was blacklisted back when A-bian was city mayor, only he knew that messing with the small businessowners for the sake of "cleaning up" the city was a huge Catch 22. He wasn't touching that mess, which was probably politically prudent. So the problem, which has been there for some time, remained unaddressed.

2. Last I heard (from 可樂報, dated May 14th, 2005), a new location had already been decided. I thought they had a 5000-square-meter plot at the corner of Hsinsheng North Road and Civic Blvd. The problem is that they're scheduled to tear down the old Guanghua next Chinese New Year, and the new Guanghua isn't going to be ready until at LEAST the end of 2006. So that means the small business owners are left floating with no storefront, paying for outside storage space, eating a HUGE loss in profits, and need to endure those losses for, at the very least a year... not to mention the time it will take to rebuild their customer base after relocation, etc.

3. "I can't tell what Ma's drive to destroy the old informal Taiwan stems from." Upscaling is certainly one factor. Weeding out the 'trash' and presenting a fresh, 'clean' face to Taipei is another -- a kind of gentrification that comes along with globalization, I suppose.

Here's another clue: last I heard, there is supposed to be a five-story building erected for the shopkeepers, and they're going to be given reparation by way of rent discounts (a lot of good that will do). Two stories are supposed to be given to shopkeepers. You know who's getting the rest of that building?

The City Financial Bureau.

This is one way the Taipei City Government website describes Guanghua Market: "Why is it so cheap? ... many shop owners don't issue any receipts, and paying by cash makes negotiating prices convenient." That is, it's a den of tax-dodgers, and it wouldn't surprise me if that's one motive driving Mayor Ma's war against Guanghua Market. It's also one of the most notorious commercial venues for pornographic material, but... that's a business that will never die.

At any rate, I don't care all that much for the physical structure itself. I prefer the shops next to the bridge, as opposed to the swarm situated directly under bridge. "Old Taiwan" or not, I don't like being paranoid about my belongings because I'm too close to my neighbors to keep a constant hand on my possessions. I don't like not being able to see the wares unless I jostle up to the front -- just like everybody else. I don't like having to pay 20NT more, just because I want a receipt! They're not the nicest storekeepers anyway!

However, they are human, and I am appalled at how badly the shopowners are being screwed over. THAT's what's worth rioting about.

Michael Turton said...

That comment about taxes is interesting. What quantity of tax paid from a transaction in Taipei goes to the city government? I thought it all went to the central government.

Your other comments were very insightful. Thanks for stopping by.

Michael

Michelin said...

I fondly recall the time when I would stroll to 光華商場 after elementary class instructions to buy a stick of "pig blood cake." (How delicious it was.) Having lived near 光華商場 for many years the tech & used book bazaar served as a place of my gatherings with friends. Now amidst the wave of blind western modernisation in Taiwan, even this storied landmark is not spared.

I think I am going to faint....(Like when I saw Costco in Neihu after my many years of absence from Taiwan)

Anonymous said...

Now we have the "Living Mall", "Breeze Center" and so on. None of which have really contributed anything whatsoever to making Taipei a better city to live in.

Not true. I'm sure that up to the late 90's, Taiwan trailed the developed world on the LVHI (Louis Vitton Handbag Index). Since then, the construction of Taipei 101, Breeze Center, Core Pacific, etc. have helped Taiwan to bridge this important development gap.

But semi-seriously, though, Michael, I'm starting to disagree with you're trying to read waisheng/bensheng conflict into just about everything. You know, most of those people who live in Taibei City who go to those fancy cafes, work in fancy office buildings, shop in fancy malls, who speak Mandarin more often than Taiwanese, and who all of these modernizations are aimed to please, are in fact benshengren. You can certainly make the argument that what's replacing all of these informal markets are soulless, westernized, etc. (though I caution it's a bit easy for white people from developed countries to romanticize living in mud thatches), but I think you're misreading it by looking at it as the waisheng Man trying to the bensheng brother down.

Red A said...

Taiwan has a 5% VAT tax. If you don't get a receipt, that means the tax is being avoided. It isn't 20NT, but a large amount on computer hardware. There are also revenue taxes for smaller companies who do not use formal accounting methods. It's about 6% of 25% of revenue.

This is a vital issue for Taiwan, as retailers and street vendors can avoid paying any tax, the burden then falls to income tax from legal employees and companies.

Guess who can move to China? The companies. Guess who can never move to China, and thus should be taxed AT LEAST at the legal rate if not higher: local vendors.

Exporters get a rebate on VAT by the way - same as in China, Europe, etc. Imports are of course hit with VAT the moment they hit the docks.

Red A said...

and from a cultural side, Taiwan has really been changing - not sure what to do about that.

I recall when CKS was a smoking airport - you knew you were "home" when you could light up in the main hall.

Alas, times change.

Michael Turton said...

You can certainly make the argument that what's replacing all of these informal markets are soulless, westernized, etc. (though I caution it's a bit easy for white people from developed countries to romanticize living in mud thatches), but I think you're misreading it by looking at it as the waisheng Man trying to the bensheng brother down.

I'm quite sensitive to the problem of romanticizing the essentially unromantic, as a former Peace Corps volunteer and volunteer trainer. If I read the "ethnic" conflict into many things it is because when you clear away the cobwebs and start counting heads, many of these "policy" debates turn out to have mainlanders on one side and Taiwanese on the other. But I'll tone down my discussions of the problem of the mainlander political identity....in public. :)

Michael

Michael Turton said...

Thanks for the info, Red. I'm aware of the VAT tax, but I was really asking: why should Mayor Ma care about it?

Sean said...

Looking back at this comment, who would have imagined that instead of taking a few months to complete this project, it would take until 2009 for them to open? 4 years! It's now 2013, the market design is not very well made, and the new market already looks a little old.