WAPO: ChThoniC: A Voice for Freedom

The Washington Post has a wonderful piece on ChThoniC, the Taiwan metal band that is raising our visibility in the US:

It's all part of an effort to drum up sympathy and support among a younger generation of music fans that may not be aware that Taiwan has been self-ruled since nationalist forces fled there in 1949 after losing a long-running civil war with communist forces. It had a U.N. seat as the Republic of China until 1971, when China asserted sovereignty and threatened military action if Taiwan tried to secede. The United States has been trying to encourage a peaceful resolution ever since.

"The things that we can do are not too much," Lim admits. "We didn't organize this tour for a political reason -- first of all, it's a musical tour -- but as citizens of Taiwan we had to express our political message in the same time when our country needs our support." Lim says the band has "met fans here and in Europe, even in high school, who are involved in social justice action and want to write about Taiwan, let their classmates know about Taiwan. Who knows? Those young people may be somebody who in different areas can support Taiwan in the future.

"So we do the most that we can do and hope that after we honestly express our opinion, we can inspire more Taiwanese citizens to bravely express their own opinions in international society, like the many movie directors and the baseball players in major league baseball in Japan. We are just a heavy metal act and we have to fight for our own musical career, but at the same time we want to fight for our country."

Seeking international political recognition while asserting its independence has been difficult for Taiwan, Lim says. "In my opinion -- and I think the opinion of all the citizens in Taiwan -- they consider Taiwan is already an independent country," he says. "We have all rights like the citizens of America: We pay the tax to our own government, we vote for our own president, we have our own army. It is for us an independent country, no doubt. That would be the point we want to mention: Accept 'unlimited Taiwan,' like the song.

"But we don't write anything political in other songs," Lim adds. "All our songs are about mythology in Taiwan. I'm a fan of all kinds of mythologies since I was in kindergarten. When I started to write music, I made up my mind to write about things that normally human beings cannot do -- I love to write about gods, ghosts, spirits."

Taiwan's "recognition entrepreneurs," private citizens who raise awareness of the island and its struggle for independence, are a key aspect of Taiwan's campaign. I wish more Taiwanese citizens took the time to speak with foreigners about the island's aspirations......the article goes into some detail on the band's creative influences and its music. Good stuff.

[Taiwan]