tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post954849261478321189..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Lin Gets Boost in Taichung + PollsMichael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-87085023147517160182018-08-05T11:08:12.041+08:002018-08-05T11:08:12.041+08:00... cont'd re: Hakka question
Ok Michael, I d...... cont'd re: Hakka question<br /><br />Ok Michael, I did a little more homework searching through your past blog posts touching upon the nature of Hakka politics and KMT traditional dominance in Hakka areas of Taiwan (or at least in north Taiwan ... I have no idea what happens in the many Hakka areas of south Taiwan scattered all over Kaohsiung and Pingtung. Do you?) <br /><br />I feel better informed now, although am still curious about exactly how the KMT succeeded in getting a population mainlanders historically despised (ie. Taiwanese Hakka) to actually support the KMT.<br /><br />For me, the thing that took me aback so much during my brief sojourn in the hills of Hsinchu and Taoyuan were the prominent displays here and there linked to Chiang Kai Shek. I spend most of my time in south Taiwan, where I almost never see public displays of Cash My Check.<br /><br />Visited Daxi which is beautiful ... ASIDE from the proliferation of Cash My Check worship-centers: mausoleum, memorial park and statues graveyard, multiple "Xing-Guan" Cash My Check residences, picture of the mf'er in stores and shops all over the place. Compared to the south it was a weird, stomach-turning shock. <br /><br />Did you know that the Cash My Check mausoleum / former luxury residence / discarded statues park at Daxi is on land that was apparently owned by the Banqiao Lin Family and then "donated" free of charge to the ROC government for military use ... and of course then promptly turned into a Cash My Check residence? Doesn't it speak volumes about the sick levels of state coercion and corruption of the KMT authoritatian era that this place links back to expropriation (either willingly for corrupt favoritism or at gunpoint)? <br /><br />How are these places even allowed to exist in today's Taiwan? <br /><br />Regardless of whether it makes sense to me as a foreigner here, it was interesting - and encouraging - to watch my Taiwanese colleagues observe the Daxi monuments, joke about them, sort of passively accept them as a historical fact of life in Taiwan. They were far more relaxed about the whole thing than me. Good on them, I suppose. Taiwan's exist from its authoritarian decades is a gradual, peaceful and generational process.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-5286380635186161522018-08-05T09:51:13.805+08:002018-08-05T09:51:13.805+08:00Michael,
It certainly would be a happy irony if C...Michael,<br /><br />It certainly would be a happy irony if China's abuse of Taichung's Games' bid ends up helping the DPP in Taichung. Fingers crossed!<br /><br />Secondly, a question for you about Taiwan Hakka (esp Taoyuan / Hsinchu / Miaoli) support for KMT. Where does it come from and why does it exist at all? I can't think of any rational justification for Hakka alignment with the old school authoritarian KMT - it makes no sense to me. <br /><br />Perhaps you've got an old post somewhere about it?<br /><br />I had not previously visited those regions much, but recently traveled around the hills of Hsinchu and Taoyuan, visited Daxi, etc., and was taken aback by the prevalence of Chiang Kai Shek worship and public displays of strongly "blue" loyalties in what seemed to be heavily Hakka neighborhoods. I had heard about this from time to time, and picked up some of the tone from casual comments with Hakka folks I encounter from time to time in daily life; but I'm very curious about the background. <br /><br />Is it all sourced from the KMT's financial manipulation of the older animosities between Hakka Taiwanese and Minnan Taiwanese? Is it waning now that (a) the KMT has less money to throw around at them and (b) Tsai Ing-Wen is supposedly part-Hakka? <br /><br />Just curious. Thanks as always for your consistent, thoughtful and passionate analyses of Taiwan current affairs and history.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-87865210121158427142018-08-04T22:56:22.653+08:002018-08-04T22:56:22.653+08:00The 30+% that blames Taiwan are likely the same 30...The 30+% that blames Taiwan are likely the same 30-40% that identify as Taiwanese AND Chinese. <br /><br />If one identifies with the enemy state, and hopes for eventual annexation, then any effort that will assert a separate identity and eventual de jure independence is therefore wrong.TaiwanJunkienoreply@blogger.com