Waiting

Who are you waiting for?

At least you have to pretend it!

"Are you a racist?" I jokingly asked a friend who talked about the weird hair style of a black man we saw on bus . Without hesitation, she answered, "Yes, I am." I was not only shocked by her answer, but also astonished by her shameless atitude of saying that.

This event brought me back to three years ago when I asked the same question to a friend who said Indonesians were noisy, rude, and uncultivated. She gave the same answer without a second thought. She even justified her thoughts by questioning me how I didn't notice the stupidity of Indonesians.

Gosh! Admitting yourself as a racist means that you are superficially judging people by their colors and races, not by their behaviors and personalities. It is totally unjustified to hold one person responsible for the behavior of another person or a collective of persons.

Well, there are racists in every country. I don't expect them to disappear in this century, but at least they need to pretend that they are not racists and to feel ashamed of their superstition and bias.

Man's search for meaning

Don't ask the meaning of life; ask what life expects from you. Life has no general meaning. As Viktor E. Frankl points out, "life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."

Professor Paul Levinson once asked us about what we want--fame, power, or money--in the future. At that time, I was the only one in class who chose fame. Now, I think I have a better answer. I want to find a meaning to my life.

The challenges of Taiwan's new president

On March 22, 2008, Taiwan people officially ousted the leading Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that had dominated Taiwan since 2000.

The new president belonged to the opposite party Kuomintang (KMT), and its candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) won a landslide victory by gaining 2.1 million votes more than the candidate of DPP Frank Hsieh (謝長廷). Ma garnered 7.6 million votes, or 58.45 percent, while Frank Hsieh had only 5.4 million votes, or 41.55 percent.

Many KMT supporters have been waiting this day for eight years. Four years ago on March 19, 2004, KMT had a great chance to defeat DDP in the 2004 presidential election. Every poll of major media showed that KMT candidate can win for more than 10 percents of votes than President Chen Shui-bian, who sought for a second-term presidency. However, on the day of election, President Chen was accidentally "shot "by assassinators who had very lousy gun shooting skill (or, I should say, extraordinary skill if he want to minimize the damage to human body), and the bullet only cause a five centimeter scratch on Chen's stomach. DPP acclaimed that the President was heavily wounded and accused KMT of hiring the gunman on the Election Day. Many naïve Taiwanese believed DPP's words and went to vote for the President, resulting Chen's small-margin victory and causing all Taiwanese to suffer four more years.

One year after the Election, the police found a suicide with no guns left behind and declared him the gunman in the gun shooting on March 19. Until today, many people still believe that the 319 Shooting Incident is planned by President Chen himself. Now, back to 2008 Election again, Taiwanese afraid there might be another "incident" on presidential candidates that could change the polls' results showing Ma as the possible new president. Fortunately, there is no surprise. Ma becomes the new president of Taiwan.

On the night of March 22, 2008, fireworks lit up the sky over the headquarters of KMT, as supporters put up victory signs not only to celebrate the winning of Ma Ying-jeou, but also to commemorate this great day of disengagement from President Chen Shui-bian's eight-year rule that has been dogged by controversy, corruption allegations and tensions across the Taiwan Strait. Yes, I know many Taiwanese would love to ignite fire crackers for the inauguration of their newly elected president, but they should hold their excitement after examining the five main challenges of Ma in the next four years.

1. The deficit and inflation
As Chen and Vice President Annette Lu congratulated Ma, saying the government will do all it can to maintain political stability and assist the winners in taking over from them smoothly, they leave a rotten legacy for the new president to fix. According Taiwan Treasury Department, the government debt has increase from NT$2.4 trillion to NT$4 trillion under President Chen's eight-year mandate. If we add the NT$300 billion deficit of the Second Stage Financial Reform (二次金改), the NT$50 billion loss on Government Fund in stock market, and all the debt on state own enterprises such as Taiwan High Speed Rail, then we will find that Taiwan have at least NT$13 trillion debt.

Taiwan's inflation rate is another major economic problem. The wholesale price index (WPI) is expected to increase 2.4 percent this year, following a rise of 6.5 percent 2007 owing to soaring international oil and commodity prices. Early in this year, when Minister of Interior Su Jia-Chyuan said the 8 percent growth of rice prices was nothing serious because the number only reflected a normal increasing rate, thousands of citizens called Interior Department to complain about Su Jia-Chyuan's indifference to the hardship of people. Consumer prices in Taiwan climbed 3.89 percent from a year earlier, which was more than 3.1 percent median estimate of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Meanwhile, Food prices rose 9.76 percent, import prices increased 14.06 percent, and wholesale prices rose 8.47 percent, while the only thing that didn't rise was the personal income of Taiwanese.

Thanks to President Chen, the new president has a lot of awful financial problems to fix.

2. The implementation of the three direct links
According to the director of Hong Kong's Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, the new Taiwan's leader Ma can help spur the implementation of the "three direct links" across Taiwan Strait. The three direct links refers to direct cross-strait postal services, trade, and air and shipping services. Right now, if you want to travel from Taipei to Shanghai, you need to transfer flight at Hong Kong, which means you need to spend five hours on the flights, not including the time waiting for transfer in the airport. If you can flight from Taipei to Shanghai directly without transfer, it only takes you two hours for the flight.

President Chen's explanation for the absence of direct transportation links between Taiwan and mainland China is stupid and silly. He acclaims that China people are poor and evil, thus they cannot come to Taiwan's prosperous land. Taiwan lost its opportunity to become international financial center because of Chen's ideology. Many people have been brain-washed by DPP to believe that the completion of three direct links means China can easily control Taiwan. Now, Ma Ying-jeou not only has to establish regular direct flights between the island and mainland China, he also needs to convince Taiwanese that the national security has been well conceived.

3. The worn-out relationship with Beijing
President Chen makes Taiwan's relationship with Beijing worse in the past eight year by placing Taiwan independence as the top issue. Chen always threatens people that if they don't vote for DPP, China will take over Taiwan and jeopardize the rights they enjoy. This reminds me a question of a German student when I told her that I will like to work in China. She asked me, "Do you like China Communist Party?" It is a weird question. Why I must love Chinese government if I want to work there?

Ma Ying-Jeou must want to ask the same question: Why signing a peace treaty with Beijing and expending the China-Taiwan high-tech connection will lose Taiwan's sovereignty? Taiwan need to engage the mainland to improve the economy, for the island is too small to attract foreign investments that have been sucked out by China's booming economy. That German student who asked me a bewildering question is naïve in thinking that Taiwan can survive under the pressure of global economy without building business connection with China.

During the election, Ma has criticized Chinese government's crackdown on Tibetan protest, and supports the boycott against Beijing Olympic. Now, it's time for Ma to repair the relationship with China. Under the basic agreement that "One China Respectively Interpreted by Each Side," Ma must make sure all the negotiation on building close transportation and economic links with China will not threaten the sovereignty of the island.

4. The balance between building relationship with Washington and avoiding US arms procurement
While Washington switched formal diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, it still legally obligated to ensure Taiwan's security because Taiwan hold a very important position in American military strategy to block the diffusion of Communism. However, US always force Taiwan to buy exorbitant and obsolete American weapon. Yes, it is not that Taiwan doesn't want to buy any weapons from American; the truth is that American only sells some shitty weapons to Taiwan.

In the early 1990s, when US military refused to sell F-16 to Taiwan, Taiwan was forced spending 30 billion franc to buy French Air Force Mirages with overcharged prices. Also, when Taiwan had a contract with Boeing and Hughes for the procurement of personal portable Stinger Missile, what it got was the cumbersome Scorpion Stinger Missile that will decrease the mobility of the army. Sigh….Poor Taiwan.

Taiwan needs to build military capabilities to protect itself, but the amount it spends on arms procurement create a huge burden on its people. Now, Taiwan is the largest buyer of military weapons in the world, and even after KMT passed only one third of the military budget proposed by Defensive Department, Taiwan still need to pay $118 million to America. As I mentioned before, Taiwan already has more than NT$13 trillion debts. If Ma Ying-jeou and KMT submit under the pressure of the US government and pass the entire military budget, Taiwan's debts will increase to stratospheric NT$14 trillion, and every Taiwanese has to shoulder NT$150,000 (about $4700) for arms procurement in the next ten years. Taiwan still needs American protection, and Ma Ying-jeou needs to find a balance between building a friendly relationship with America and avoiding further robust defense spending.

5. The threat of one-party hegemony
It is clear that President Chen leaves an awful mess for Ma Ying-jeou to clean. Taiwanese should not feel relief simply because they change their president. There are still many obstacles on their way to build a strong country. KMT won 81 of 113 seats in the parliamentary election in February, and the overpowering of one political party is certainly not a good thing for the democracy of Taiwan. Lee Ao, one of the greatest human rights fighters in Taiwan, warns people that power can easily corrupt a man's soul, which is the reason why he always supports the opposite party.

My friend and classmate Brandon Hsu is a political enthusiast. He joined the Red Shirt anti-corruption movement in 2006, a campaign organized by former DPP leader Shih Ming-the (施明德) to depose President Chen, and he even designed his clothes and signboards for the movement. I don't like Chen Shui-bian, but I know the reason why I restrain myself to join the Red Shirt anti-corruption movement even the object of the protest is the person I hate. I know Lord Acton's famous proverb too well that "power tends corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." Chen's corruption is nothing new and Taiwanese need to build a more powerful mechanism to supervise government, not one more political movement to divide its people. Besides, I prefer myself as a loyal opposition, keeping track of the policies of leading political party and supervising their every single movement, which are the only ways to make sure the healthy growth of democracy.

Since Ma, one of my favorite politicians in Taiwan, becomes the president, people should use higher standard to examine his ability and decisions. Even though I don't agree most of the DPP's policies and its pro-independence stance on the issues of two straits, I might support DPP in the future for the health of democracy in Taiwan. Wang Yeh-lih, political science professor of Tunghai University, believes Ma can minimize the concerns of one-party hegemony through arranging the premiership to an ethnic Taiwanese—as opposed to a Mainlander—with a background in economics, while assigning important jobs in government to women, no-party members and individuals from other political parties. But I believe the job of improving the democracy of Taiwan lies on the hand of every Taiwanese, and the work of making sure the freedom of speech and other human rights are in progress cannot depend on any politician, including Harvard-educated Ma Ying-jeou. John Stuart Mill points out in On Liberty that the only stimulus that can keep the ability of the body itself up to a high standard is the liability to watchful criticism of equal ability outside the body. It is every Taiwanese job to watch over KMT's activities in the next four years.

Cia Guo-Qiang and Chinese ink painting

I saw Cai Guo-Qiang's I want to belive in Guggenheim in New York today. The first time I heard his name was about four years ago when my teacher of Chinese ink painting talked about the new creative Chinese artists. I know some of his works exhibit in Taiwan, but I never have the chance to see them. Now, I meet his art work in New York City. I am really proud of this guy.

Cia Guo-Qiang is one of the most creative artists trying to break the old definition of traditional Chinese ink painting. Most of his large-scale drawings are made from igniting gunpoder and fuses laid on fibrous paper, and the reasults like the diffusion of black ink. He make the process of "explosion events" more creative than the art work itself, and you can feel every piece of it contains certain unplanned remainer of explosive matters.

Cia Guo-Qinag's work reminds me the good thing about Chinese ink painting. Once you practice Chinese ink painting, you can't be a tyranny or despot, because ink is so difficult to control on fibrous paper and you have to respect every single brush stroke. Artists, especially Chinese ink artists, have to know the preciousness of unpredictable results of ink diffusion. You can't erase the ink marks that you are not satisfied. You have to live with it, and try to intergrate them into the whole painting. Chinese ink painting is about letting go your ego, and learning how to appreciate every thing that is different from you.

When everyone can bring guns to school

My classmate Mike Egnoto wrote a post about guns and politics. He thinks we can end gun shootings in school by letting everybody carry guns to classes. Here is my comment.

"I think you're definitely right that we need guns to protect ourselves. We should push this further. The American government should give tourists and foreign students from Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan the right to own guns, because they need to protect themselves in America.

We should also let every radical Muslim and Zionist student carries guns and grenades in schools. Things will not turn out like what's happened in Gaza strip in the past fifty years, becasue no one will dare to mess with teachers carrying rifles, rocket launchers and handmade atom bombs in school.

If all these become true, school will become a very safe place for our children!"

This comment is not about Americans' right to own guns, it's about whether we want our children to live in fear when they are in schools. Maybe some Americans need guns to protect themselves and I think it's fine, but I don't want my children to sit between kids who are having a arms race.

A trip to Boston

Is it true that Boston Red Sox is the symbol of Boston City, so red becomes the representative color of the city? Or, is it the reddish-brown brick buildings and lobsters that make me connect red with Boston?

In Boston, I feel that New York City is blue simply because the color of Red Socks. Living in NYC, I don't realize the impact of New York Yankee on our media environment and the mythology of the city. Only until I saw the baseball caps with big, red, capital B appeal everywhere in Boston did I realize that sports teams has dominate the sensorium of American culture.

Creating the dualism of colors is not only a way of identify the differences between two cities, it is also a way to create a difference that builds on an image without any substance. How does Boston look like? might be a stupid question I've asked my when I drew the painting above. But the answer might not be so silly if you understand we are unconsciously imitating our surroundings. Boston looks like "red."

The Beggar's Culture

If people are asking for money, what kind of people would you be willing to give? Each time I moved or traveled to a different country, it is a question that always bothers me. Most people might not notice it as a problem. My mom never thinks about it, for her principle is that we don't give any money to the poor people on the street. But for me, I just can't simply move my eyes from them.

In Taiwan, most poor people sell tissues, toothpicks, chewing- gum and pens on the street. Nine out of ten sit on wheelchairs peddling their wares, and I think some of them are not cripples. In Indonesia, poor people sell drinks, crackers, peanuts, and cheap toys on the road or near the tollbooths of superhighways. They stand on the traffic islands during green light. Then they rush to the cars, knocking windows to call for attention during red light. In Singapore, I never see any "poor people." Maybe they all are locked by the government. In China, I can only use the word "horrible" to describe what I've seen. I've met a child around five years old with shabby cloth in the winter asking me for the cabob in my hand. I will never forget that scene.

In America, things become more tricky. Poor people in New York make money by singing, playing instruments, or dancing on the street or in the subway. Sometimes, you can't distinguish them from artists. They give me a better excuse to donate my money, not because they are poor, but because they entertain me. Neil Postman writes in Amusing ourselves to Death that television presents all subject matter as entertaining, and we can't have any serious discussion on TV. Maybe entertainment is the essence of American culture, for even mendicity becomes a show business.

My dream--Chased by the zombies

I dream almost every night. Last time when I told my classmate that I dream of her, she said, "you've told me so many times about that." That's true. If dreaming is like directing a film, then I must be an experienced director, for I direct hundreds of films every year.

Last night, I dreamed about being attacked by the zombies in Resident Evil. I am standing in a crowded subway station with other evacuees waiting for the train to take us away from this place. The zombies are heading toward the subway station, and I can hear people near the exits start to scream. We desperately need to get out of this city. However, when the train comes, it doesn't stop, and I can see all the people in the train are killed by the zombies.

I can't go outside, because the station is surrounded by the zombies, and I don't want to take another train, for it might also full of zombies. Having no choice, I jump down the platform and run on the track. At this point, I know the zombies already intrude the station and attack everyone inside. I run into the dark tunnel with all my strength without looking back again. Then I wake up. I am still alive.

The face of an Indian woman

New York is a good place for me to observe the faces of people from different countries. Sometimes, I will stare at somebody's face, try to memorize it, go home and draw it down. For me, drawing is a leisure activity, and writing in English is more like a job. In this aspect, painting should be my first language.

My dilemma

Thanks to my classmate Mike Plugh, I can provide the voice of thousands of dissidents for people in China. Mike gives me a link to Psiphon--a software that allows people in uncensored countries (such as America) to provide unfettered access to the Net to people who live behind firewalls of states that censor (such as China).

It is very simple. First, I download Psiphon, start it up, give my server a name, wait for my server passing through all the tests, and then I can start to provide people in China to access to blocked sites. However, as a censorship circimvention provider, I must carefully choose users living in a censored country. I don't know how it works, but if my user tells China's Internet police force about my IP address, then my server will be blocked and all the other users can no longer use the Psiphon I provide to them.

Here is the dilemma. I believe one of my friend is a lover of free speech and he hates government's censorship on Web sites, but his father used to work for the Chinese government.
What if his father finds out his son is using Psiphon? Should I give this friend my Psiphon server? Also, I have very closed friend working in a local court in China. Should I provide a chance for a judge to do something that is not accepted by the law? Ahhhh.....

The illusion of young, rich Chinese

The Lives of Others remind me of two distinct articles about China in Time magazine. One is on Nov 5, 2007, about China's Me generation (rich, yound middle class) who care more about iPods than the subsequent suppression after the Cultural Revolution. The other one is on Oct 1, 2007, about China's tightening control on media and the imprisonment of journalists and writers.

It seems that Chinese people are learning two features of American culture--the mindless consumption and the devotion to human rights. Right now, the former one has much more influence on the Me generation than the latter one.

Most of these rich, young Chinese believe that their contribution to economy can help China and the protests of human rights violations are bad for society. An account executive with advertising heavyweight Ogilvy & Mother in Beijing said, "There's nothing we can do about politics, so there's no point in talking about it or getting involved." However, if he has seen The Lives of Others, he will realize that there is no way to separate ourselves from the politics.

If he can't deride the silliness of what he sees, if he can't express his own observation of the society, or worse, if he can't make his work reflect the lives of others, how can he talk about creativity--the most vital element in advertising? As Hu Shi, one of the greatest intellectuals in China, said, " A free nation can't be build by a bunch of flunkies." Without the aspiration of improving human rights, there is no use in talking about building a great nation.

For now, I think the power of the Me generation is only depending on the credit limit of their credit cards.

The Lives of Others

The Lives of Others (Leben der Anderen, Das) is a great film about the horror of living under the suppression of the secret police forces. This movie makes me think of Ao Lee, one of the human rights fighters in Taiwan. He was in jail for six years and under the surveillance of secret police for three years. He lost his girlfriend, his youth and his creativity in jail. He never got the luck that the movie's main character has and escaped the fate of imprisonment. I will write more about him next time.