Taiwanderful recently announced the 2011 Taiwan Best Blog Awards. To enter your blog you need to make sure you are registered at Taiwanderful before 10 December. Voting will take place from 10-30 December. I am no longer directly involved in running the awards but this blog will not be entered in the awards even though it is registered at Taiwanderful.

In previous years I have used the blog awards as a time to post links to some of my favourite Taiwan blogs. Even though I’m no longer in Taiwan I still read a number of Taiwan blogs and find them a great way of keeping in touch with what’s happening in Formosa. A list of some blogs I like in several categories follows.

Politics

With the presidential and legislative elections taking place next month these blogs are packed with great analysis.

• Ballots & Bullets – run by Jon Sullivan at the University of Nottingham, lots of articles by Taiwan scholars on the 2012 election
• Frozen Garlic - analysis of some of the legislative election contests that can’t be found elsewhere
• The View from Taiwan - Michael Turton always has great analysis and interesting photos
• The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato
• Letters from Taiwan
• Taiwan Matters!
• That’s Impossible
• Dixteel’s Thought on Taiwan
• Jerome Keating
• Save the Taiwan Pink Dolphins – great environmental news and activism

Photography

• Liefintaiwan
• joshintaiwan.com
• Mark Forman (aka Bbluesman)
• Darren Melrose
• Neil Wade
• Brent Franke
• Brian Webb
• Alton’s Images
• Craig Ferguson
• Charles Meacham

Personal and travel

• Taiwan in Cycles
• Shu Flies
• Lao Ren Cha
• The New Hampshire Bushman in Taiwan
• The Daily Bubble Tea
• My Kafkaesque Life
• Patrick Cowsill
• Life in Taiwan
• Isla Formosa
• The Wild East
• Alive and kicking!
• Tumbling in Taiwan
• Taiwan-Born American
• The Taiwan Adventure
• Hiking Taiwan
• Poagao’s Journal
• A hungry girl’s guide to Taipei
• Steven Crook
• Sponge Bear
• Wandering Taiwan
• My Several Worlds

• Putting Taiwan blogs on the map
• Vote for the best blogs
• Taiwan blog links — 17 January 2011
• Register for the 2009 blog awards
• Links to Taiwan blogs

It is disappointing to see that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not provided funding to European academics to observe next month’s presidential and legislative elections (“European election observers denied funding by MOFA,” Dec. 2, page 1).

The elections should be an opportunity to showcase Taiwan’s democratic development to the rest of the world.

DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has a good chance of winning the election. If Tsai is victorious, it will mark another transition of power and solidify Taiwan’s transition to democracy that began with the lifting of martial law in 1987.

However, one hopes the transition will be smooth and trouble-free. A look at Taiwan’s recent history suggests the possibility of trouble.

KMT supporters were engaged in violent protests following the election victories of Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as president in 2000 and 2004. KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) even served time in jail for his role in leading a riot in Kaohsiung after the 2004 election.

The four-month transition period between next year’s presidential election and the swearing-in of the president is a window during which more trouble could potentially occur.

It is pleasing to the see the formation of an international committee, led by eminent figures that include former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and former presidential adviser Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), to observe the election (“US Congress to watch elections ‘closely,’” Dec. 3, page 1).

I hope that their efforts to ensure that the election is free and fair will also be supported by NGOs such as the Carter Center and Asian Network for Free Elections.

It is also important that as many foreign academics and media personnel as possible are in Taiwan at the time of the election to closely monitor the situation.

The presence of foreign observers during the election will help ensure that the democratic gains made in Taiwan during the past two decades are not put at risk.

• 2008 Presidential election links – special edition
• More election campaign posters
• Combined elections should be put to referendum
• Green Party bike ride
• Prediction market for the five cities election

Discussion forums are an important part of Taiwanease and go by the name Taiwaneasia. The English-language forum was built on the back of the Parent Pages, a resource for expat parents in Taiwan. The Parent Pages still have a distinct presence within the new site. There will also be a Chinese-language forum for “internationally-minded Taiwanese” launched soon.

A quick browse of the Taiwanease website reveals much more than just discussion forums. There is also a directory that will eventually contain listings of every possible venue of interest to foreigners in Taiwan such as restaurants, hot springs and libraries. Anthony informed me that there will be smartphone app for the directory launching in early 2012.

Other features of the site include event listings which will be improved in coming weeks and months. There will be an English-language classifieds site launched at Taiwanted.com. In the meantime classifieds are incorporated into the forum.

There are articles from the Taiwanease magazine that was published a few years ago. The articles are being released slowly and Anthony is also looking for writers to contribute new content.

The ”Getting it Done” section includes how-to guides “that will help people in Taiwan through tasks that might otherwise be complicated, things like getting a drivers license, or getting dual nationality for children born in Taiwan.” Anthony said this is something he is looking to the foreign community in Taiwan for help with. If people share their knowledge “it will make things that much easier for the next person, and that’s what a community is all about!”

And that community is not just online but gets together in the real world too. There are monthly events. At a barbecue at the Taipei Artists Village the caterer prepared food for 200 people and it was sold out. Last weekend there was a Christmas Happy Hour at Bobwundaye. Join the Facebook group to be notified of upcoming events. “It’s really fun to see friendships that have started as a pleasant conversation online, and matured into a great friendship in real life,” Anthony said.

Finally, Anthony said the technical stuff isn’t really the core of what he is doing, it’s more about helping people. “It’s the community and the idea of service to the community that drives me. I also have come to deeply appreciate what a fantastic place Taiwan is, and I love helping other people find that out for themselves.”

• Taiwanease magazine out now
• English language magazines in Taiwan
• +886: a new magazine
• Links

In the introduction to Why China Will Never Rule the World author Troy Parfitt sets out his motivation for writing the book. Neither academic nor journalist, he simply wants to see things for himself. However, Parfitt does not arrive in China as a naive foreigner. Instead he has already spent more than a decade living on the periphery of China in Taiwan and South Korea. This experience, combined with the author’s Mandarin speaking ability, gives the book a refreshing perspective that differentiates it from other travel books about China.

Parfitt’s journey begins in Hong Kong, another place that is on the periphery of China. It is both part of China, yet distinctly different. The opening chapters about Hong Kong and Macau provide a good counterpoint when the author’s exploration of China proper begins.

I am familiar with a few of the places the author visited and I thought that his well constructed prose painted evocative images that brought the places to life. In addition, each chapter is filled out by a substantial amount of historical research. While not academic in nature, it adds depth to the book and also helps inform the author’s thesis about why China will never rule the world. I would have liked to see a little more contemporary political and economical analysis to further support the thesis. This was touched upon in the introduction, but largely absent from the rest of the book.

Each chapter includes details of encounters with people he meets on his travels. Parfitt certainly casts a cynical eye upon all he sees and his frustration with some aspects of Chinese society is quite explicitly detailed. Some readers might find this cynicism too negative, however I found that it reflected a desire to honestly report what he saw and experienced.

After spending a few months travelling around China the author leaves vowing never to return. He then devotes the last third of the book to writing about Taiwan, a place where he lived for a decade.

A trip to Green Island and a visit to the Human Rights Memorial, which served as a prison during the White Terror period, serves as a chance to detail the history of the 228 Massacre and White Terror. From Green Island the author embarks to Orchid Island where he goes to investigate first hand the nuclear waste dump storage facility.

His visit to Tainan veers off into a discussion of Taiwan’s weird news. The author writes that he amassed a file of clippings from Taiwan’s English-language newspapers on topics such as police corruption and outlandish court rulings. This section included a detailed account of the exploits of notorious criminal Chen Chin-hsing, which drew heavily from Hostage in Taipei by McGill Alexander. Yet there is very little detail about the city of Tainan itself. Similarly writing about Taroko Gorge, the author recounts tales of headhunting and cannibalism. This is compiled from a variety of sources and reads as a collection of gruesome anecdotes while lacking context and explanation.

The chapter about a visit to Kinmen was the most engaging of the Taiwan chapters as the author successfully weaved interesting historical detail into descriptions of his travel around the islands. However, the details and descriptions of personal experiences that made the China chapters interesting are mostly lacking in the Taiwan chapters. I recommend Why China Will Never Rule the World as a well written travelogue of China.

*I took a Chinese language class with Troy way back in 1999. He provided me with a copy of the book for review. More details about the book are available at www.troyparfitt.com. Purchase Why China Will Never Rule the World: Travels in the Two Chinas from Amazon.com (affiliate link).

• Taiwan Review goes green
• Time to cut CO2 – World Environment Day
• 10th Taipei Film Festival
• The Wall-Passer: unique sci-fi romance
• Movie review: The Fourth Portrait

It was expected that the DPP’s presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would announce her running mate this weekend. However, a report from CNA today suggests that Tsai may delay the announcement until October. Tsai is certainly keeping everyone guessing about who she will choose.

While a number of names have been mentioned there seems to be no certainty about who Tsai will pick. Some potential candidates who have been the subject of media speculation are listed below.

• Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) – Governor of the Central Bank
• Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) – former Vice Premier
• Lin Chuan (林全) - former Minister of Finance
• Lin I-hsiung (林義雄) - former DPP chairman
• Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) – former head of Academia Sinica and Nobel Laureate
• Lai In-jaw (賴英照) - former President of the Judicial Yuan
• Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) - DPP Secretary-General

The former premiers Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) were on my original list, but it seems they have been sidelined somewhat. They were given key positions on Tsai’s campaign team and included on the DPP’s legislator-at-large list.

Tsai may well choose someone who is not a member of the DPP in order to maximise her ticket’s appeal to swinging and pan-blue voters. However, she will need to appoint someone who is trusted by the DPP and it is likely she will choose someone who served in a senior position during the Chen Shui-bian administration from 2000 to 2008.

It is also possible that the candidate may not even be on this list. We will find out sooner or later.

• Possible DPP & KMT vice presidential candidates
• Taiwan needs a Green president(ial candidate)
• On the campaign trail
• Frank Hsieh campaigns in Taipei
• Prediction market for the five cities election

These past few years in Taiwan have been a rich learning experience. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to study at National Chengchi University (NCCU) where I completed a Master’s degree in Taiwan Studies. Dr David Blundell gave me some great guidance in the process of writing my thesis. David is currently editing a book titled Taiwan Since Martial Law. I have written a chapter for the book based on my thesis research and it should be published in the next few months. I will post the details of the book on this blog when it is available.

After graduating from NCCU I went to work at the Research Centre for Austronesian Peoples at Providence University. This gave me the chance to spend some more time in Smangus and to get to know the community of Marqwang in the rear mountain area of Jianshi Township. I have also visited a number of other indigenous communities around Taiwan with Dr Lin Yih-ren and thank him for his guidance and support. I must also thank Lahuy Icyeh, Watan Talu, Neqo Soqluman and Wang Hsin-han for their help over the last year.

In these past few years Venerable Chao Hwei (昭慧法師) has been very supportive and helpful. I will never forget her generosity in hosting the INEB Conference at Honghsi College in 2007. She also invited me to participate in the campaign against the Penghu casino and subsequently observe the referendum in Penghu. I have also participated in several conferences that she organised and other events at Hongshi College (佛教弘誓學院). I really must thank all the people at Hongshi College for everything they have done.

There are also many other friends and classmates who I have met during my time in Taiwan. There are lots of great people here and thank you to all of them for their friendship.

Some people have asked me if this blog will still be online after I leave Taiwan. I plan to keep this blog online for the forseeable future and I will even continue to write the occasional post about various Taiwan related topics. I will of course be closely following the news from Taiwan over the next six months in the lead up to the legislative and presidential elections.

• Images of old Taiwan
• About
• INEB study tour: Taipei
• Formosa Betrayed set for February 2010 release
• New home for David on Formosa

Last night I attended a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) campaign rally in Taichung. The rally for legislative candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was held in a primary school hall in the West District of Taichung.

As people entered the gates there were tables for collecting donations and registering support for the campaigns. Flags were also handed out and people holding minor positions in the party were introduced by name as they entered the hall.

In the hall there was lots of handshaking and greeting among the various local politicians and their supporters.

Chen Shu-hua (陳淑華) and Huang Guo-shu (黃國書), both city councillors, were the MCs for the evening. Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a professor at Soochow University and regular on the Talking Show (大話新聞), and Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), a legislator-at-large candidate for the DPP, came on stage to warm to warm up the crowd. Hsu spoke about Lin Chia-lung’s leadership of the student movement in the early years of Taiwan’s democratisation.

Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) was the next to enter the hall and speak to the crowd. He narrowly missed out on being elected as mayor of Taichung last year. He is now directing Tsai Ing-wen’s campaign in central Taiwan.

Lin Chia-lung was next to speak. Lin is considered one of the leading figures in the younger generation of DPP politicians. He was a leader of the Wild Lily Movement (野百合學運) and later went on to serve as Minister of the Government Information Office. He moved to Taichung in 2005 to run for mayor and has since been based in Taichung with the hope of being elected to higher office.

Tsai Ing-wen took to the stage flanked by an entourage of local politicians some of whom were candidates for the legislature. I felt her speech was a bit flat. She talked about the DPP’s achievements while it controlled the executive from 2000 to 2008 including the development of the Taichung Science Park. However, she tended to ramble on a bit and lacked a clear message for voters to take away. However, it’s still early days in the campaign and this rally was more of a warm up than the main event.

*More photos in the DPP rally in Taichung set at flickr.

• DPP rally on eve of 1025 protest
• Prediction market for the five cities election
• 830 protest in Taipei
• A new generation steps forward in the elections
• Possible DPP & KMT vice presidential candidates

Yesterday I attended the first day of the 2011 Hohaiyan Music Festival (海洋音樂祭) at Fulong Beach. The festival, organised by the New Taipei City (formerly Taipei County) Government, has been running since 2000. The festival has two stages with the main stage on Fulong Beach. There are also food stalls and toilets set up on the beach and a huge staff to keep things running smoothly.

When I arrived on the beach I saw members of the No Nukes group (諾怒客) handing out posters and talking to people. It is a reminder that just a few kilometres away from this beautiful beach the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is under construction.  

The theme of the first day was Taike Rock (台客搖滾) and the first band I caught for the day was rapper MC Hotdog. The final song he performed was his well known hit “I love Taiwanese sisters” (我愛台妹). He was joined by a group of dancers for the song. They definitely added some spice to the show.

Next up were electro-rock riot grrrls Go Chic. It was perhaps a little early in the day for a band that demands its fans to dance. Nonetheless they gave an energetic performance that had at least a few people dancing.

Kou Chou Ching (拷秋勤) took full advantage of the big stage by performing with a total of seven members. They put on a great show of their unique Taiwan style hip hop. It was the first time I had seen Achino and Yobo playing the suona together.

The White Eyes (白目樂隊) were winners of the Hohaiyan Music Festival a few years ago. They have since gone on to bigger things. At the end of their set they invited the crowd onto the stage. They enjoyed a few minutes of dancing and fun.

The members of the crowd weren’t the only ones to share the stage with the bands though. Several bands invited members of No Nukes on stage during their sets. They danced and displayed their signs ensuring that everyone in the crowd knew about the fact that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant was under construction not far away.

The Hohaiyan Music Festival continues until Sunday 10 July with bands including Matzka, Sodagreen, Cheer Chen to play. Entry is free but expect huge crowds if you go on the weekend. For more information about the festival visit www.2011hohaiyan.tw.

*More photos in the Hohaiyan Music Festival set at flickr.

• Bitan Music Festival photos
• What Woodstock means to Taiwan
• Summer of music
• Mazu Festival in Ximending
• Summer of rock in Taiwan

Smangus: A Year in the Clouds, a documentary about the Atayal community of Smangus, will screen on Taiwan’s Public Television Service (PTS) tonight (30 June). The documentary had its premiere in Smangus on Tuesday night. It is a co-production between PTS and British documentary makers Dean Johnson and Frank Smith. The team filmed various aspects of the daily life in Smangus over a period of 15 months.

According to the official website of the documentary, Smangus was chosen as the subject of the documentary because it is an example of the search for sustainability and coexistence through its system of cooperative management. “Smangus Village is unique not just in Taiwan but an example to the world,” the website says.

I was in Smangus when they shot the scenes of the millet harvest. At that time they were discussing plans to film Smangus from a helicopter. Chief Icyeh had always wanted to fly over Smangus in a helicopter so he joined the crew as they filmed. You can see the video of this on YouTube.

As well as filming from a helicopter the crew filmed the giant trees (Yaya Qparung) of Smangus using cameras mounted on cables. I am sure it will be spectacular to see. Most importantly the documentary will provide a means for more people to learn about and understand Smangus.

You can see a selection of videos related to the production of the documentary on YouTube. Smangus: A Year in the Clouds will screen at 10pm on 30 June 2011 on PTS channel 13 in Taiwan.

*Purchase the DVD from PTS.

• Approaching storms and millet harvest in Smangus
• Smangus and the tree stump
• High Court delivers not guilty verdict in Smangus case
• Second trip to Smangus
• Journey to Smangus

Marc has put a huge amount of working into building up the archive of photos. The website currently hosts about 4,500 images. The site had just 1,000 images when we launched it in March 2008 and 3,200 photos when it was redesigned in July 2010. Please spend some time browsing through the site at taipics.com.

• Taipics.com 3.0
• Images of old Taiwan
• Taipei then and now
• Formosa Betrayed set for February 2010 release
• Links 2 July 2007