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I've heard Keelung is super depressing because it's the most rainy. Outside of the big cities, it's all going to be pretty similar.
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Apr 15, 2013 05:48
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RocknRollaAyatollah posted:I just put in an application to HESS as a backup in case any other teaching jobs I've applied for fall through. What's an area of Taiwan to avoid that they might push on me? I'd like to be in Kaohsiung or Taipei just for convenience but I have no problems dealing with only having buses or buying a scooter. Please be good to this man if the motherland can not appreciate his talents. He may have random counter-revolutionary thoughts but he is a survivor of Henaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan. The only problem is that started learning crippled characters
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Apr 15, 2013 09:48
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When are you coming to Taiwan? I should give you my bosses email and you could send over a resume to her. Not a huge chain like HESS but 7 schools in Kaohsiung.
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Apr 15, 2013 10:29
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thegoat posted:When are you coming to Taiwan? I should give you my bosses email and you could send over a resume to her. Not a huge chain like HESS but 7 schools in Kaohsiung. Would it be alright if I hit her up in a couple weeks? I don't really want to waste her time and a referral from you if I get something else.
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Apr 15, 2013 12:08
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My coworkers seem to think that the recent bombing attempt on the HSR and the unlicensed protest/strike this summer are indicative of "the revolution" coming to Taiwan (what that's supposed to mean, they're certainly not communist or socialist sympathizers). Anyway, I tried to explain to them that revolutions don't tend to take place in democracies unless things get really, really bad. One of them remembers the protests that finally lead to Taiwan democratizing a few decades ago and thinks it's just like it was then, but I don't see the connection. Is this whole idea of the "new revolution" widespread, strictly limited to the more sensationalist news sources, or does it just represent a specific segment of the population that thinks things could be better but don't really know how to go about making those improvements? Maybe my coworkers are just crazy? I get that Ma is unpopular and wages are low, but I don't think we're at "cut off their heads" levels of bad here.
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Apr 18, 2013 04:00
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Hi all, I've been lurking this thread for a long time but now have a reason to post: I'm taking a three-week vacation to Taiwan with my girlfriend, a native from Taoyuan, starting tomorrow until May 10. We've somewhat set our itinerary, but if anyone can give some good suggestions, I'm 100% open to them. We'll mostly be bumming around Taipei/Taoyuan seeing the monuments, night markets, and shopping, but will have a few days in Penghu and at Kenting, and will take a week slowly circumnavigating the island by car with a few side quests into the mountains to see Alishan and Taroko Gorge, while meeting her friends in various locations along the way. A few other stops include Jiufen, Sun Moon Lake, and a drive across Route 20 (because I have a death wish). Any goons have some good suggestions other than the typical touristy stuff?
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Apr 19, 2013 05:15
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I went to Taipei for a friend's wedding this weekend, my first time ever, and by far the best part of the weekend was hitting up club luxy. Was recommended by some locals and didn't disappoint.
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Apr 22, 2013 15:07
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Zo posted:I went to Taipei for a friend's wedding this weekend, my first time ever, and by far the best part of the weekend was hitting up club luxy. Was recommended by some locals and didn't disappoint. It's the nicest one I think, I like going there a lot. Haven't been there in a long time though...
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Apr 22, 2013 16:15
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Finally got some spare time in my vacation to find some wifi. Went to Shilin night market and Shimending yesterday. I'm slowly falling in love with Taiwan. I'm amazed at how convenient everything is here, and am surprised that none of these elements have made it mainstream in America. Had to chuckle at a few shirts in the markets. There were a lot with a picture of the Eiffel Tower with misspellings and other things like "we are happy love special EFFELL TOWR" Went to the National Palace Museum the other day and couldn't help but notice that nearly everyone in the mainland china tour groups were coughing and sneezing. My girlfriend's classmate works at a hospital in Taipei and said that the island's first confirmed case of H7N9 showed up there so he took the day off.
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Apr 26, 2013 16:05
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i was in ximen today, if I'd known you were there, i'd have suggested we grab a beer. Iron Man 3 at the vieshow Imax 3D was awesome by the way!
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Apr 27, 2013 20:12
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Hey all, I'll be visiting Taipei June 2-6, staying near ximen. If anyone up for a beer or whatnot some night let me know!
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Apr 28, 2013 00:33
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Does anyone know much about applying for university-level jobs in Taiwan? I've got a PhD and I'm on my second postdoctoral research fellowship, and if I've learned anything about academic life during the last ten years it's that 1) academic jobs are tons of work and low paid, so you may as well do it somewhere nice, and 2) loving hell being an academic in the UK really sucks, I gotta get out of here. I went to a conference in Taipei to present my research last summer and it was a great time, and I found myself wondering if I could find a way to live there someday. At the moment I've got two potential job offers cropping up, both elsewhere in Asia, so at last my stock is rising and I can look seriously at permanent faculty positions. Regardless of what happens with these other jobs I'll have the connections I've made in the process, so I could start to build a research network in Asia. The trouble is I've no idea how to start looking into this idea seriously. Should I just keep track of Taiwanese university websites and watch for job adverts (doing this is a bit of a nightmare since even finding them on most sites is not easy), or should I just send out some exploratory emails to people I met at the conference (tried this once and got a very noncommittal reply so I'm a bit gun-shy now)? Does anyone know anyone working at Taiwanese universities, or heard anything generally about what it's like? I'm having fun looking at the moment, though I'm not having much success; I've got job-searching elsewhere down to a science, but searching for these things in Taiwan is new territory for me. edit: I should say too that I'm not opposed to university-level English teaching or similar, either; the career path I've chosen is pretty awful in many ways, but the actual educating-people part is pretty awesome, and I'm happy to do that regardless of the content. thorsilver fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Apr 28, 2013 |
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Apr 28, 2013 06:49
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If you're not too worried about the money, I'm sure there's work here for you. Taiwan has approximately 1 gajillion (very scientific, I know) universities and a super high matriculation rate for tertiary education. Like much of the world, many graduate curricula are taught in English. Speculation, but I would guess that knowing somebody would be even more important than usual in getting a job over here. My friend's dad runs Asia University but I think I used up all my guanxi when I literally dropped out over night. Anyhow, a lot of schools here are looking to burnish their international credentials so they really want foreign students and staff and you seem pretty qualified.
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Apr 28, 2013 12:59
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thorsilver posted:Does anyone know much about applying for university-level jobs in Taiwan? I've got a PhD and I'm on my second postdoctoral research fellowship, and if I've learned anything about academic life during the last ten years it's that 1) academic jobs are tons of work and low paid, so you may as well do it somewhere nice, and 2) loving hell being an academic in the UK really sucks, I gotta get out of here. Posted before, but the best spot to check for university job openings is via the National Science Council. Guanxi can't hurt, but I've known of more than one case where the previous internal choice was replaced at the last minute by an outstanding candidate who also happened to apply.
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Apr 28, 2013 14:38
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url posted:i was in ximen today, if I'd known you were there, i'd have suggested we grab a beer. Haha holy crap. Spent about 4 hrs there wandering about in the rain. Bought a few things in the Red Brick House. Strangely enough I went to see Iron Man 3 in TaiMall in Taoyuan Friday night. Tomorrow (Monday) I'll be downtown with the G/F to see the monuments and memorials, then should have some spare time to kill in the Xinyi district if you wanna have a beer and wander about. Send me a PM if you're able. For the most part my experience in Taiwan has been great. Lots of people staring at me, but when interacting most people seem to want to ask questions and chat. Tonight while walking back from a family mart I passed two tattooed-up hooligans hanging out infront of their building who gave me a hushed "hello hello." My response was to immediately reply with "what's up?" and they stared giggling like crazy. G/F said they were making fun of us, but if so I can't really feel intimidated by guys who spend a month's salary on their hair, who I make at least 10x more money than. What's the frequency that other goons find this happen?
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Apr 28, 2013 18:18
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Literally every day. I construction crew was doing some repairs to the bridge I cross two or three times every day. The first time I walked across it, I got some random overly cheerful, "Hi!"'s, but when I responded in Chinese and passed them a bunch more times in the same day they started to ignore me. Really nothing throws them off their game more than getting a well stated Chinese response.
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Apr 29, 2013 01:23
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You totally threw those construction workers off their game! With all their "hi"'s and "hello"'s. Good work! I always respond with "hello" and then they shout "how are you today!?" and I also answer that. I never get a response after that. I also live in Kaohsiung and I'm sure if I answered in Chinese they wouldn't even understand. Taiwanese is far more popular with the working class down here.
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Apr 29, 2013 01:41
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thegoat posted:You totally threw those construction workers off their game! With all their "hi"'s and "hello"'s. Good work! I don't get this. They're literally mocking you because they think it's hilarious to shout in English at random people. Responding to them in Chinese reminds them that you're not a novelty and they get over it. Edit: I should emphasize that they're not just nodding and saying, "Hi," as you pass them. They're shouting and giggling and acting like they're looking at a monkey in a zoo. I consider it to be fairly disrespectful and even if they're well-intentioned, there's no harm in reminding them that they are, in fact, shouting and jeering at an actual living person. Atlas Hugged fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Apr 29, 2013 |
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Apr 29, 2013 04:52
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The best thing to do is just repeat the whole "You talkin' to me" sequence from Taxi Driver in grizzled Hokkien.
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Apr 29, 2013 04:59
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Atlas Hugged posted:I don't get this. They're literally mocking you because they think it's hilarious to shout in English at random people. Responding to them in Chinese reminds them that you're not a novelty and they get over it. This. They're not saying "Hi" because they actually want to talk to you or have anything to do with you, they're saying "Hi" to show off and see who can be the biggest idiot among them. Responding in Chinese makes them realize that there is a chance you can actually understand what they're saying, and they often times knock it off.
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Apr 29, 2013 05:04
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USDA Choice posted:If you're not too worried about the money, I'm sure there's work here for you. Taiwan has approximately 1 gajillion (very scientific, I know) universities and a super high matriculation rate for tertiary education. Like much of the world, many graduate curricula are taught in English. Cool, I'm glad there's a chance for me  My first postdoc fellowship was in Japan, and I found universities there were keen to bolster their international cred by bringing over short-term researchers, but due to an overload of PhD graduates permanent posts go almost exclusively to domestic candidates. Good to hear that Taiwanese universities might look on me more favourably!Sadly, knowing someone is pretty critical in academia absolutely everywhere now -- the PhD glut is getting worse in most places, not better, and permanent faculty positions are extremely competitive. Maybe I'm headed for disappointment with the Taiwan idea, but I figure that at worst I'd just have to do the same degrading begging and scraping I'd have to do anywhere else. skysedge posted:Posted before, but the best spot to check for university job openings is via the National Science Council. Guanxi can't hurt, but I've known of more than one case where the previous internal choice was replaced at the last minute by an outstanding candidate who also happened to apply. Thanks for this! That link is massively useful, will definitely be keeping an eye on it -- so much more straightforward than trying to find listings on every university's page. As for guanxi -- I'm guessing I'd have trouble finding that from outside Taiwan, so hopefully it's not critical!
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Apr 29, 2013 05:28
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Atlas Hugged posted:I don't get this. They're literally mocking you because they think it's hilarious to shout in English at random people. Responding to them in Chinese reminds them that you're not a novelty and they get over it. Although my favorite thing like that remains the dad who, when his kids bounded up to me and just started going "hellohellohellohellohellohellohello", bounded up to them and started going "你好你好你好你好你好你好你好你好". They got the message pretty quickly.
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Apr 29, 2013 22:07
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Well, I mostly just don't like being treated differently than a Taiwanese person for no reason. I get that I'm a foreigner in their country and that they often don't know the best way to approach or interact with me, but those guys aren't going to be shouting at every random Taiwanese dude that walks passed them and that's what gets under my skin. It's happening specifically because I'm foreign. In the grand scheme of race relations, it's a minor issue that's mostly harmless. However, Taiwan does have some serious issues with race that it needs to start addressing, so the sooner it realizes that all foreigners are people who should be treated the same as anyone else, the better.
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Apr 30, 2013 03:27
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Is there a Taiwan politics thread? I've got some questions for you guys who are into that stuff, but I don't want to derail laowaichat if there's another option.
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Apr 30, 2013 03:53
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TetsuoTW posted:I'll generally reply to that stuff with a "hi" or whatever, not because I don't get that they're being mocking, but because I don't give a poo poo. They can be assholes all day, gently caress do I care? I'm not the one who has to go through life a douchebag. That's an awesome dad. The worst was when I first came here, like 2006, all the kids would say "Hello moto" because of some stupid motorola commercial. ALL of them. The best was when I was eating with a Taiwanese friend at one of those department store food courts in the basement, a Taiwanese kid maybe 8 years old sitting a few tables down saw me, got really excited, and ran over to my table. He then started doing his best power rangers moves towards me, like he was getting ready to fight an alien invader. His mom quickly ran over, almost dead from embarrassment, streaming 不好意思's. I was laughing my head off.
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Apr 30, 2013 05:18
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Well, power rangers was about fighting aliens.
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Apr 30, 2013 05:35
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I'm actually really curious to see what impact the influx of foreigners is going to have on future generations here. Thousands or tens of thousands (maybe more?) of kids spend every weekday afternoon with or around foreigners in a situation that automatically places the foreigners in a position of power. I really wish I could jump forward in time twenty years and see how foreigners are perceived then.
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Apr 30, 2013 06:16
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Bloodnose posted:Is there a Taiwan politics thread? I've got some questions for you guys who are into that stuff, but I don't want to derail laowaichat if there's another option. Atlas Hugged posted:Well, I mostly just don't like being treated differently than a Taiwanese person for no reason. I get that I'm a foreigner in their country and that they often don't know the best way to approach or interact with me, but those guys aren't going to be shouting at every random Taiwanese dude that walks passed them and that's what gets under my skin. It's happening specifically because I'm foreign. It's also worth remembering that another thing that's happening specifically because we're white is the size of our paychecks. Atlas Hugged posted:I'm actually really curious to see what impact the influx of foreigners is going to have on future generations here. Thousands or tens of thousands (maybe more?) of kids spend every weekday afternoon with or around foreigners in a situation that automatically places the foreigners in a position of power. I really wish I could jump forward in time twenty years and see how foreigners are perceived then. sub supau fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Apr 30, 2013 |
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Apr 30, 2013 06:19
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TetsuoTW posted:Fire away. No promises, but go for it. Another thing is that many of the older people who do stuff like say hello and giggle to their friends are usually lower class blue collar types. They don't have much experience being around foreigners, they are not well educated, and they are basically the equivalent of white trash Americans. Like white trash they also have a maturity level about on par with a 12 year old. It gets tiresome having to deal with them, but there isn't a lot you can do about besides give no real reaction so the novelty wears off for them. quote:I can definitely say that even just in the almost 10 years I've been here, things have improved. Not a huge amount, but there has been noticeable progress. There are fewer performing monkey fuckwits on television, for a start (that one hyperactive blond rear end in a top hat aside). Hell, there's even at least one of those panel type shows full of expat women that actually treats them like human beings, which is a huge change. And even the number of point-and-stares has gone down a bunch. All we really need to really give things a solid kick in the right direction, IMO, something to happen to cut down on the number of assholes who roll up here, spend a six months trying to drink and gently caress their way through the country, never learn a word of the language, and then vanish into the mists in a cloud of their own farts. I've been here for almost four years now, and have never had much problems with the stuff you mentioned at the top of this paragraph. At least in the city, anyway. You still get a lot of staring, and general weirdness in the countryside at least. As for the foreign assholes I don't think that has become a major issue, yet. Maybe it's just me getting more in tune with how things are here as I've been here longer, but it seems like more and more people are viewing foreigners as playboys who come here to take advantage of Taiwan's hospitality then leave. I don't think Taiwan will ever be as bad as Korea, but I wouldn't be surprised if attitudes started shifting that way with a lot of people.
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May 1, 2013 04:40
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It's not as bad as Korea because the money has never been as good as Korea and it doesn't have the built in drinking and whoring that Korean culture does. There's nothing like Itaewon in Taipei (and thank god for that), but as much as I'd enjoy a place like Hongdae (art university combined with clubs and pubs), it certainly would expedite the development of negative views towards foreigners here. People tend to pick Japan over other countries for the cool factor and Korea because it's the least work for the most pay. From the foreigners I've talked to, they came to Taiwan more because they enjoyed the lifestyle and culture here and were willing to earn less for better overall conditions. I think that might start changing as jobs dry up in Korea.
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May 1, 2013 05:27
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Most people I have met came to Taiwan on recommendations from friends. Many end up staying for longer periods of time than people who go to Japan/Korea, but the motivations are still the same (sex/partying). I feel like more foreigners in Taiwan would be beneficial for relations between Westerners and Taiwanese. However, it would need to be professionals, or people with families. The more party oriented horny 20 something males arrive the worse things are going to get. Not that I feel things are actually that bad now, but as I said before perceptions could change rapidly in the future.
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May 1, 2013 15:09
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I do think a lot more people come here on recommendations rather than just coming here because there was a pre-existing reputation or recruiters spammed the internet looking for forlorn college graduates. However, I don't think that most of the people here are just here for the sex and partying. I think it's easy to think that because most foreigners who come are English teachers and they tend to skew towards the recently graduated from college demographic, who would be partying and loving anywhere on the planet. Taiwanese people do this too, but foreigners just seem more open about it. This might actually be one of the reasons why foreigners get such a bad rap in places like Korea. A lot of the time, they're not doing anything worse than the locals, and in fact are possibly engaging in morally superior behavior (not cheating on your wife by loving prostitutes in KTVs after work because Jim closed an account this week), but aren't discrete about it at all. The foreigners I've met here tend to be more interested in actually teaching, learning the language, getting involved in the culture, and just trying to live a normal life. That's not to say that the loving partying element doesn't exist, it certainly does, but I don't think that's actually much of a motivation to be here. Honestly, the partying in Taiwan isn't that great if you've been anywhere else in Asia. Edit: But I'm also older than I was when I was in Korea and it's possible I'm just not hanging out with that crowd and they actually outnumber my responsible friends by a significant margin. Atlas Hugged fucked around with this message at 15:30 on May 1, 2013 |
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May 1, 2013 15:28
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TetsuoTW posted:Fire away. No promises, but go for it. Well, one of the weird things about Hong Kong politics is that you have the normal political dichotomy of liberal/conservative (with a mixed in spectrum of economic versus social permissiveness), but that by far takes a back seat in political discourse to whether or not a politician/group/party supports Beijing and Communist meddling in HK. So that influences the news we get from Taiwan, which always looks like KMT = Pro-Mainland/DPP = Anti-Mainland. I did a big fancy grad school research project on the KMT from 1949-1988, which makes the notion of the Kuomintang being Pro-Commie kind of  to me. When Taiwan voters go to the polls, are they usually thinking more about cross-straits politics or more about domestic/other policies? Also do they still have the Taiwan provincial government (while simultaneously maintaining the RoC national government that effectively controls only Taiwan province)? That was one of my favorite weird things about Taiwan's political situation, but I think I heard it got disbanded recently.
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May 2, 2013 02:51
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Atlas Hugged posted:I do think a lot more people come here on recommendations rather than just coming here because there was a pre-existing reputation or recruiters spammed the internet looking for forlorn college graduates. However, I don't think that most of the people here are just here for the sex and partying. I think it's easy to think that because most foreigners who come are English teachers and they tend to skew towards the recently graduated from college demographic, who would be partying and loving anywhere on the planet. Taiwanese people do this too, but foreigners just seem more open about it. I think every country in Asia has different expat/foreigner "groups". When I was in Taipei I was like 21 and still a student, but all I did was go out to parties and stuff. Most of the people I met that weren't my classmates (We were at Ming Chuan University, which didn't have a huge number of 留学生) were ESL teachers. I thought every night was a CRAZY PARTY!!!  Now I'm a very old 26 year old and in Chengdu I rarely go to clubs or anything anymore. My few foreign friends are all just dudes who hang out, study Chinese, and organize kickball leagues and long bike rides. Korea probably has this kind of people too, but as they aren't out at the same bars every night they might be harder to find. I think it has a lot to do with your age, really. Not to say I haven't seen 45 year old white dudes being idiots at bars in China.
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May 2, 2013 03:27
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Bloodnose posted:Also do they still have the Taiwan provincial government (while simultaneously maintaining the RoC national government that effectively controls only Taiwan province)? That was one of my favorite weird things about Taiwan's political situation, but I think I heard it got disbanded recently. My understanding is that they recently did away with having a national government and their provincial government controlling the same amount of territory. I think they saw how redundant it was and made one RoC government for Taiwan and the islands. Islands like Kinmen are still seen as part of Fujian Province, but I believe its delegation to the RoC govt is similar to any county on the island, and that it doesn't have it's own provincial level government for all of its 150 square Km of "free province" as opposed to what the mainland controls of fujian. I think that the restructuring was seen by Beijing as being a step towards a completely independent state, but my understanding is that the Taiwanese just see it as a better way to organize their nationalist territory given the actual situation on the map. Plus having 20+ exile provincial governments all existing in Taiwan Province, with their officials being technically taiwanese residents elected from Taiwan Province just starts to get silly after 60 years.
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May 2, 2013 03:45
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Bloodnose posted:Well, one of the weird things about Hong Kong politics is that you have the normal political dichotomy of liberal/conservative (with a mixed in spectrum of economic versus social permissiveness), but that by far takes a back seat in political discourse to whether or not a politician/group/party supports Beijing and Communist meddling in HK. So that influences the news we get from Taiwan, which always looks like KMT = Pro-Mainland/DPP = Anti-Mainland. I did a big fancy grad school research project on the KMT from 1949-1988, which makes the notion of the Kuomintang being Pro-Commie kind of I got this one! Apologies in advance for what is sure to be lot of review for someone who has already researched this topic... So as you know, having studied the KMT, the ROC's loss of diplomatic ties with the USA/Japan/etc and loss of the UNSC seat was a huge blow to the KMT's legitimacy. Up until that point they could pretty much say "No elections until we get the mainland back", 1979 made it really obvious that that wasn't going to happen (it was pretty obvious anyway, but kind of the nail in the coffin I guess). Various intellectuals and others, then called "party outsiders" 黨外, had secret meetings to talk about democracy and forming an opposition party and all those high-faluting concepts. In 1986 they formed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), in 1987 martial law was lifted, in 1988 Chiang Jr. passed away and faithful technocrat Lee Teng-hui took over. Lee, despite being a KMT member, was a local Taiwanese (benshengren/本省人)and he did a lot to promote local Taiwanese people into positions of power where in the past those in power were almost all mainlanders (meaning people who came to Taiwan in 1949 or later, who only make up around 10% of people in Taiwan but held most of the high level positions) Lee was [re]elected by popular vote(!) in 1996. In 2000 the opposition party DPP candidate Chen Shui-Bian was elected by popular vote and so it's pretty safe to say Taiwan was democratized by 2000. Thanks in part to Lee's efforts and also the democratization process in general you see a huge spike in Taiwanese self-identifying as "only Taiwanese" or "both Taiwanese and Chinese" and fewer and fewer (maybe less than 3%?) identify as "only Chinese" anymore. Now, to actually answer your question: Since you studied 1949-1988 you know very well that Chiang never really considered himself Taiwanese and stuck to the idea of "getting back the mainland" until his death. In general, that could be considered the KMT's policy-- President Ma has said time and again that he believes in "One China, different interpretations". No matter how absurd it seems that Taiwan would still have a party whose line is basically that all of China should belong to the ROC, that's their official stance. It also helps that the KMT is sort of the right-leaning, pro-capital party. Now the DPP on the other hand is based around local Taiwanese benshengren, workers, farmers, etc. They are much more strongly in favor of a Republic of Taiwan and a "one China, one Taiwan" sort of solution. From the perspective of Beijing, the KMT is much more favorable than the DPP. This is because the KMT is at least willing to work within the notion that Taiwan is a part of China. The DPP prefer to just completely split off from China and form a Republic of Taiwan. The easiest way for me to think about this is to think of a break up where your ex is still calling you to yell at you all the time vs. completely severing. In the former case, you still have a chance to win the person back, because they are still thinking about you enough to be mad at you. In the latter case, it's like they've already moved on, and you basically have no chance because it's as if you don't exist to them. What Taiwanese voters care about depends on which election you're talking about (much like anywhere), but in the past several elections the China issue has definitely been a main sticking point. For example, in the USA issues such as health care make the division between the left-leaning and right-leaning parties really evident. For Taiwan, although the KMT could be perceived as "business friendly" or "right leaning", they still support healthcare, mostly because they don't want to lose those votes to the DPP. Basically nobody in Taiwan wants unification, but the people of Taiwan are not so idealistic that they are willing to literally risk a war and probable death by declaring independence. So it's not surprising the KMT won the past couple of elections as Ma was viewed as someone who could bring more stability to Taiwan. However, there are a few other kinds of issues that come up. As I mentioned a few times, the KMT has generally stronger business ties, while the DPP is favored by workers and farmers and the like (this may be more due to the fact that the workers/farmers are almost all local Taiwanese who are even LESS likely to feel any strong affinity with China). The DPP has also championed some other things such as immigrant rights and environmentalism, so I guess you could think of them as a left-leaning party. It also doesn't help that politicians become unpopular amazingly quickly in Taiwan. Chen Shui-Bian is in jail on corruption charges (last I heard, they were thinking of moving him to a mental institution? I should have kept following that) and Ma Ying-Jeou's approval rate is sitting at 13% for a variety of reasons, many relating to the lousy economy. So naturally like any democracy you will see the locus of power/influence move back and forth, in this case quite extremely as people become extremely negative towards the previous administration very quickly. Taiwanese politics are really fun, there are lots of fistfights in the legislature and such All that being said, I am definitely far from being an expert though so anybody could chime in to correct me or add more information. hitension fucked around with this message at 04:27 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 04:21
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I really think that the whole Chen going to jail thing is really unfortunate. It sets a really bad precedent to start throwing presidents in jail for things like low-level embezzlement. Ma better light some incense and burn some ghost money for a KMT follow-up, or he's going to have to burn an awful lot of non-ghost paper before the next DPP president can take office and use it to crate him up right next to CSB.
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May 2, 2013 04:28
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Spanish Matlock posted:I really think that the whole Chen going to jail thing is really unfortunate. It sets a really bad precedent to start throwing presidents in jail for things like low-level embezzlement. Or maybe it sets an excellent precedent that corruption won't be tolerated no matter what (even if the true intention is to lock up your opponents/make them look bad). Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption is having a bit of a scandal right now as its looking like the former Commissioner was slightly corrupt (hosted fancy dinners and gave fancy gifts with ICAC money), whereas the thing had been single-handedly responsible for turning one of So that leads to another good question about Taiwan: is it corrupt? I know back in the one-party rule days, it was just as corrupt as the mainland is now (in fact it was almost exactly like the mainland is now in every conceivable way but that's another topic), but I get the sense that it's pretty clean now. Is that right?
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May 2, 2013 05:08
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Backweb posted:My understanding is that they recently did away with having a national government and their provincial government controlling the same amount of territory. I think they saw how redundant it was and made one RoC government for Taiwan and the islands. The Taiwan Provincial government was effectively neutralized in 1998 under President Lee. Although it seems like a no-brainer, conservative factions in the KMT put up a big stink about it since it effectively eliminated the fiction that the ROC contained anything other than Taiwan. However, the term "Taiwan Province" still persists somewhat as a vestigial term in the titles of some government bodies, and the term "the entire province" (全省) is still encountered from time to time in everyday speech, although it is rapidly being replaced by "all of Taiwan" (全台), or "the entire country" (全國). Bloodnose posted:Well, one of the weird things about Hong Kong politics is that you have the normal political dichotomy of liberal/conservative (with a mixed in spectrum of economic versus social permissiveness), but that by far takes a back seat in political discourse to whether or not a politician/group/party supports Beijing and Communist meddling in HK. So that influences the news we get from Taiwan, which always looks like KMT = Pro-Mainland/DPP = Anti-Mainland. I did a big fancy grad school research project on the KMT from 1949-1988, which makes the notion of the Kuomintang being Pro-Commie kind of To a certain extent, yes, China is the big question in politics. However, there are a lot of subtleties to it. This is my personal take on things (disclaimer: I tend towards the pan-Green side of things), so please feel free to correct me: KMT (Kuomintang / Chinese Nationalist Party): I have heard the KMT compared to the Japanese LDP (construction-industrial state), as well as the Singaporean PAP (paternalistic / authoritarian tendencies). The current KMT platform that tends to get trotted out during elections tends to be a theme of stability and pro-business politics. The main criticisms one tends to hear are that the KMT is authoritarian, corrupt (while running the courts), interested in selling out Taiwan to China to secure their own positions of power, and dominated by a small mainlander elite. Like most political parties, the KMT functions as a coalition which tends to include (again, stereotyping here): - the ultra-conservative Old Guard: the die-hard Greater China people, most of whom were the main beneficiaries of the martial law regime (the group with "special privileges" 特權階級). A small group, but in high places, eg., high government posts, retired generals... etc. These days many tend to have extensive business interests in China, and have mostly been co-opted by Beijing. May also include some of the less well off 1949 refugees (eg., enlisted servicemen), although anecdotally, the latter group ended up assimilating more quickly into mainstream Taiwanese society. - Businesses with extensive operations in China. This group can range from the small family run firm with a single manufacturing plant in China, to large multi-nationals. Tend to have an interest in placating Beijing in exchange for access to Chinese markets / cheap labor, although some go beyond that, and actively lobby for Beijing. Perhaps most notably: Tsai Eng-Ming of the Want Want Group, whose recent attempts to buy out various media outlets in Taiwan have led to a sizable backlash. - Local factions (地方派系): essentially, the KMT's local patronage network, which has traditionally been reliant on the party for wealth / power. Has grown quite extensive over multiple decades of KMT rule, and was seen as a way of solidifying party control during martial law. Includes local elites co-opted by the party, heads of agricultural / irrigation societies, as well as organized crime. - Traditional beneficiaries of the KMT welfare state: The KMT still holds a sizable electoral advantage amongst civil servants (including teachers), active duty and retired military, and employees of state run enterprises. The loyalty of said groups tended to be rewarded with comparatively generous job and retirement benefits, although the current KMT government has been in the process of reducing this for fiscal reasons. DPP (Democratic Progressive Party): Currently the main opposition party. Coalesced from the Tangwai (黨外) opposition movement during Martial Law, as a result, tends to be more friendly with various activist groups, particularly Taiwan Independence, environmental causes, human rights. The current DPP electoral platform emphasizes social justice and maintaining Taiwanese sovereignty from China. Main criticisms that come up is that the party is run by radicals, bad for the economy, corrupt (while not being in control of the courts), will lead to social disorder, and dominated by uneducated Min-Nan speaking yokels. Typical constituencies: - "Deep Green": This group includes individuals whose families were exiled / imprisoned during Martial Law. Have a tendency for demanding Taiwan independence above all else, now. Some do not view the current ROC government as legitimate, citing legalistic arguments over the status of Taiwan as an occupied territory following WWII. Generally, a small group, although the KMT likes to associate the entire DPP with this group. - Farmers / Labor/ socially disadvantaged classes: Traditionally more friendly towards the DPP's social welfare policies, which have included pension plans for retired farmers. Also since the KMT made an effort to recruit individuals in positions of power (management), while passing legislation favorable to business and packing traditional unions with KMT members, the workers naturally tended to gravitate towards the DPP for support on labor issues. - Environmental / Human Rights Activists: Legacy of the DPP being formed from the anti-Martial Law movement, as well as mobilizing against heavy industry (Chen Ding-nan was one of the first DPP elected officials who was notable for rejecting government plans for a petrochemical plant in Yilan County) and nuclear power projects pushed by the KMT. - Local factions (地方派系): Not as extensive as the KMT's local patronage network, but growing, especially in regions that tend to vote overwhelmingly DPP, such as southern Taiwan and Yilan County. There have been recent problems suggesting that some organized crime elements may be attempting to infiltrate the party. skysedge fucked around with this message at 05:51 on May 2, 2013 |
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May 2, 2013 05:27
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Regardless of their respective politics, because of its geography, Taiwan is as significant to the mainland as Cuba was/is to the USA - and for exactly the same reasons. Given that, the notion that the tail can wag the dog doesn't really bear a great deal of scrutiny. Once the DPP are actually seen as capable of maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with the PRC they'll be elected in a heartbeat.
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May 2, 2013 10:07
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