Desert Chang, ROC flag, Chinese...

Gorgeous cool, breezy, sunny day on the Taichung 95 and small farm roads in the hills above Hsinshe. 60 kms in total, but over 1300 meters of climbing. Brutal, but rewarding.

Lately a number of observers have been commenting on how the ROC flag has been hollowed out by Taiwanese identification and has now become a symbol, not of ROC-ness, but of Taiwanese-ness. There is hardly a better example of this than the Affair of the Flag involving alternative singer Desert Chang and Chinese in the audience at a concert she gave in the UK. WSJ reports:

According to Ms. Chang’s account of the clash, which she posted on her Facebook page, during the concert she held up the flag, which a Taiwanese student had presented to her. When she told the audience that the red, white and blue flag represented her home, she was immediately cut off by the audience, with one fan screaming “no politics today” and “we just want to have fun” in English.

The ROC represents not China to modern Taiwanese, but Taiwan, and home.
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Daily Links:

• Brookings: Taiwan and the TPP
• Workers in UK find five inch huntsman spider in shipment from Taiwan, freak out.
• Taiwanese cooking oil adulterated on massive scale. In Xiamen it is being taken off shelves. This will impact views of Taiwan's food abroad. Way to go, folks.
• Pro-Green Taiwan Thinktank poll finds that Ma's approval is low. Ma is having KMT charter changed to preserve him in Chairman position even if the KMT is beaten in the upcoming election next year. It really looks like he is going to attempt to run things even after he is gone. It will be interesting to watch what happens to him in the KMT when he is no longer Chairman or President.

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