Tag Archives: Taiwan

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berkeley china initiative

I’m not sure how much I’ll be blogging in the next week as things get mental with crush. In the meantime I’m trying to make myself a better person by reading a lot, and as usual it’s mostly about China.

“The concept of the Berkeley China Initiative is China writ large,” Gold says. “It’s an effort to raise the profile of China studies on campus in all departments, disciplines, and professional schools. Some people might think, well, this is just a social-science project, but it’s not. The arts, the humanities, and history are as deeply integrated as the social sciences and the professional schools. We’re as interested in ancient history and oracle bones as we are in the People’s Liberation Army and contemporary popular culture, and inequality and environmental issues.”

— UC Berkeley News

professor tom gold professor tom gold

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savage formosa

National Geographic is one of those magazines like good chocolate I get breathless over when each new issue arrives in the mail, but secretly suspect of being the vanguard of right-wing colonialist loons reminiscing into afternoon gins about the innate superiority of the British East India Company, and so have a kernel of guilt every time I sniff its glossy pages, a post-modern resentment for its educating me.

The View From Taiwan is one of currently 160 blogs I subscribe to, and has similarly educated me as well as making me homesick for Taipei, 18 months since I left. A week ago, he scanned the March 1920 issue article, Formosa the Beautiful

national geographic - formosa national geographic – formosa

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taipei art-punk squats

One of my favourite blogs from Taiwan is Anarchy in Taiwan or gotmahmojo who recently wrote a big piece on a new squat in Ximen, and the artists, musicians and others who are turning an abandoned building into something beautiful in The Taiwan DIY Ethic. I have a real soft spot for artist squats, having spent a particularly memorable time of my life living in warehouses across Wellington and Auckland, and especially going through an anarchist phase again now.

I was really excited to see something positive and creative going on in the city, since its been years since the “renaissance” of underground music and art that took hold in Taipei during the post-martial law 90s. I’ve often heard kids lament that they hadn’t come of age during that time when the local art scene was young and exciting (now it’s still young and about as exciting as a turnip). It was during the 90′s that the first livehouses opened (and were shortly shut-down) and art bands like LTK and Clippers first started playing wild shows filled with lovely displays of destructive performance art. One show which has become a sort of legend in the indie scene was the “Broken Life” festival held out at a condemned Taiwan Beer brewery in Banchiao back in 1995. As the story goes, LTK set fire to the stage during their set before tossing their instruments on the blaze. The noise band, Zero and the Sound Liberty Organization, ended their set with a spectacular finale – throwing a vial concoction of what was reported to be vomit, spit and piss, on the audience. The appalled crowd promptly attacked the band with chairs

— gotmahmojo

cleaning up cleaning up

film night film night

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濁水溪公社 ltk commune is gonna rock you

During my months in Taipei, hanging out at The Wall, and pretty much constantly amazed at what a cool arts and music scene the city had, there was one band I kept hearing about that sounded like they offended people in the way Whitehouse, and made me think, “yay! fun!”. Anyway, I never got to see them, but 濁水溪公社 Loh Tsui Kweh Commune have a new album out.

THIS APRIL at Spring Scream, a strange effigy was brought on stage by Loh Tsui Kweh Commune (濁水溪公社) as part of their set. The life-sized doll, which seemed to be made homemade, of stuffed, stitched canvas and old clothes, was tied or duct-taped to a chair with fireworks taped all over it, almost like a hostage and a suicide bomber had been merged into one. And there was no question that by the end of the show, this figure would be totally destroyed, exploded, torn limb from limb, FUBAR, there was no doubt. It’s just because LTK shows, especially big ones, always end like that – in a binge of symbolic violence, a mobbed stage, lots of random destruction. The thing I couldn’t figure out this time was: who was the effigy supposed to represent anyway?

Hsiao-ko (小柯), LTK’s lead singer of 16 years and founding member, told me earlier this week, when I was interviewing him about the band’s new album: “That figure? That was the Pope!”

The Pope?

“You know, the leader of the Catholic church in Rome.”

— POTS

濁水溪公社ltk commune √

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scraping tai-gu off the wheel

It must be the time for old things to be revisited, and as always through whatever is going on around here now. So, an entire chain of stuff like buried multiple hyperlinks means I’m mentioning Jerry Snell, formerly of Carbone 14, who’s in Taiwan for the 台北藝術節 Taipei Arts Festival. I dunno who 太古踏舞團 is, I don’t think I heard of them when I was over there (almost a year ago now), but that’s what the internet is for … right here.

He was first forced to tame his fiery cynicism of authority in 2002, when he was invited to compose the score for the Beijing Modern Dance Company’s first joint Canadian-Chinese co-production, BONE. And in recent months he’s been busy in Taipei collaborating with Lin Shiu-wei (林秀偉) and her critically acclaimed Tai-Gu Tales Dance Theatre group (太古踏舞團) on a new show entitled Upanishads, which will premier at the Taipei Arts Festival next week.

— Taipei Times

太古踏舞團 太古踏舞團

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a jew in china is not a parsimonious monkey

Some uppity group called with a bad name, Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan have decided the world would be a better place if the characters for ‘Jew’ were not 猶太, you tai, which they’ve taken the liberty of extracting the radicals from and coming up with something like ‘parsimonious monkey’.

The whole thing blew up in the Taipei Times almost a month ago (still keeping to my strict regime of blogging long after anything is old news), and got covered in The Jerusalem Post also. It got really interesting though when Language Hat, a blog for linguistic geeks got hold of it, and the comments are still going strong.

Absolutely worth an hour reading if you get all wet and slippery over etymology and sinology, and enjoy laughing your arse off at the kind of people like Peacetime (sounds like decaffeinated coffee substitute) who don’t quite get that tearing a character back to its roots doesn’t necessarily tell you anything about it. The same kind of people who bludgeon 危机 crisis into its components and get “crisis = danger + opportunity’. Which Language Hat also have fun with.

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同志 tongzhi studies at fudan university

Here’s another piece on the new queer studies class at Fudan University. Besides thinking this is really cool and China is so ready this, the remarkable thing is the way most progressive gay issues are presented as another round of patronisingly applauding backwards old China as it finally tries to catch up to progressive and been-there-forever English-speaking utopia.

I’d be surprised if there was any country that could claim to have a nation-wide group of universities which have had an established queer studies department of more than 15 years. Even Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble, which is pretty much a pivotal text in the whole identity politics field was only published in the early 90s. And as I think I’ve said before (wow!, I actually did), there’s an attitude to sex in China that is wholly and intrinsically different to that of the Christian English-speaking enclave of countries, which would be much more interesting to see evolve than to have Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, coloured handkerchiefs, and pissy queens calling each other ‘sister’ transplanted onto a hundred million Chinese queers.

A class like this would be unremarkable in the US, where many students are quite open about their homosexuality and the curriculum has long included offerings reflecting their interests. But among China’s gay and lesbian population, which may be as large as 48 million by some estimates, the new course is being portrayed as a major advance.

Less than a decade ago, homosexuality was still included under the heading of hooliganism in China’s criminal code, and it was only four years ago that the Chinese Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.

“This is definitely a big breakthrough in contemporary society, because for so many years, homosexuals have lived at the edge of society and have been treated like dissidents,” said Zhou Shengjian, director of a gay advocacy group in Chongqing. “For such a university to have a course like this, with so many participants and experts involved, will have a very positive impact on the social situation of gay people, and on the fight against AIDS.”

— Taipei Times

questions before class questions before class

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2005 Asia Young Choreography Projects

The World Dance Alliance is currently seeking is currently seeking choreographers from across the Asian region for the annual choreographic workshop in Taiwan in July. Information can be found at 2005 Asia Young Choreography Projects. Last year’s Australian choreographer was Amanda Phillips who is currently in China touring a work produced by Barry Plews of Creative Futures and Reckless Moments.

Four choreographers recommended by WDA–AP will be selected to attend a Young Choreographer project in Taipei, Taiwan in 2005. Four other young Taiwanese choreographers will also be selected. The funding are supported by the Culture Bureau of the Kaohsiung city and Jih Sun Foundation for Education in Taiwan. The location will be in the city of Kaohsiung, which is in the south of Taiwan, and will be held from July (exact dates and location to be confirmed in May), with a performance in the end of the project.

Choreographers will be selected from names recommended by World Dance Alliance-Asia Pacific delegates. The deadline for the applicants is April 15, as recommendations have to be forwarded to Taiwan by May 1. Depending on funding available, housing, local transportation, dancers, studios and office assistance are offered and a total of NT$30,000 (about US$800) for the honorarium will be provided. Airfares will not be covered.

The selected choreographers will have to set the dance on the Taiwanese dancers who will have been selected in Taiwan. It is recommended that only young choreographers who feel they can meet the challenges and stresses of producing a work in unfamiliar circumstances (and with unfamiliar dancers) should apply. The panel in each country and in Taiwan will also be making their selections based on potential to be a significant contributor to the field in the future.

— 2005 Asia Young Choreography Projects

Amanda Philips Amanda Philips

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天邊一朵雲 – The Wayward Cloud

Taiwan film-maker 蔡明亮 Tsai Ming-liang’s porn musical 天邊一朵雲 – The Wayward Cloud opened un-cut though with an adult rating in Taiwan a couple of weeks ago, pulling a hot weekend total of NT$7 million. The film earlier had won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for outstanding artistic contribution. But who cares, we just want to see the all-singing all-dancing blow-jobs.

“Some people say I seem to enjoy provoking my audience,”Tsai said in his cluttered studio in a suburb of Taipei.

“To me, being provoked is also a reaction. I want them to respond to my movies. Either they are provoked, moved, feel uncomfortable or relieved,”

“I don’t want them to feel just entertained or relaxed like they watch most movies and don’t even remember which one they saw yesterday,”said Tsai, sitting in front of a giant pink poster featuring the film’s controversial oral sex scene.

— Screen India

天邊一朵雲 - The Wayward Cloud 天邊一朵雲 – The Wayward Cloud

天邊一朵雲 - The Wayward Cloud 天邊一朵雲 – The Wayward Cloud

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china demonstrates small-dick syndrome

The big news since I landed in Melbourne that everyone wants an answer to is, “When do they begin bombing?” The answer everyone seems to want to hear, to quote senile American idiot and monkey-lover Ronald Reagan is, “We begin bombing in five minutes”. Sorry I can’t drop napalm on the whole mess in loving memory of Vietnam like the Australian International Airshow does. So for those of you who want answers from your local China/Taiwan expert, here’s the dirt: when the con-artist waves his hand in your face, his accomplice is lifting your cash.

Being an avid time-waster and purveyor of fine Asian smut, I’ve read about this crisis alot over the past few weeks by people far more qualified to discuss it than I’ll ever be, so in true blogging form I think you should follow the links. Failing that, here’s what Running Dog, always the clear voice of rational cynicism in a world of sugar-fuelled melodrama has to say:

China blusters and the world quakes

Rumours of an imminent cross-Strait conflict are exaggerated

WE AT Running Dog are prepared to bet our houses that the much-hyped Anti-Secession Law, which was passed by an ‘overwhelming majority’ of delegates at the National People’s Congress today (there were two abstentions – who were they?), will not lead to war with the rogue province of Taiwan. It isn’t so much the fact that the current leadership would have to be crazier than a squirrel monkey to risk conflict without any guarantee of victory, and nor is it entirely to do with the qualms the government will inevitably feel about becoming an international pariah after years of painstaking efforts to become an active member of the community of nations. In the end, our conclusions are formed on the basis of the almost hallucinogenic hysteria with which it has been greeted in certain sections of the international press.

Most of them say that the law amounts to a ‘declaration of war’. Most repeat the not entirely accurate assertion that the law was passed ‘a day after Hu Jintao told the military to prepare to war’. Most bring in experts and analysts and assorted rentaquotes to discuss what war would mean for the region, and unanimously, they conclude that it would be a Bad Thing.

For example, Associated Press hack Joseph Coleman puts forward the astonishing hypothesis that war ‘would be a severe blow to stability’. Meanwhile, despite the headline, ‘China votes for strike against Taiwan’, Reuters at least concedes that war is unlikely in the immediate term.

It seems obvious that the Anti-Secession Law is just another burst of bluster from the Chinese government, rather like the various statements implying that it would give up the Olympics in order to prevent Taiwanese independence. The perception of power is crucial, especially if it enables China to hector the Taiwanese electorate into voting Chen Shui-bian out. In any case, if China actually had the capability of attacking and defeating Taiwan, no one could seriously believe that they need a law to do so.