October 8, 2012 | by Jan Cao

Well-Known Author: Why Taiwanese Don’t Want Unity With China

Lung Ying-Tai is known throughout China for her political writing. Via aisixiang.com

Democracy isn’t just an ideological choice–it’s a lifestyle. And that, in so many words, is why Lung Ying-Tai (龙应台) believes that Taiwanese do not want to unify with China. Ms. Lung, a Taiwanese author well known within mainland China, argued in a recent opinion piece published on Chinese news sites (full text here) that democracy confers tangible lifestyle benefits that Taiwanese are loathe to forfeit. Her essay, written to describe the lifestyle of an unnamed Taiwanese man, was widely circulated on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter on Friday, October 5. Tea Leaf Nation translates selected portions.

“The Taiwanese people are used to living in a democratic system, which is reflected in their everyday life. Which means: His government building is open to everyone; no guard will check his ID at the door. He enters the building as if he’s going into a shopping mall. He does some paperwork, applies for a document, has it stamped, all without obstacles. He waits to be called his number, nobody cuts in line. When it’s his turn, the government officer won’t give him attitude or trouble.  

…

“If it takes too long to get his things done in the government institution, or the officer is ill-mannered, he can choose to vote for another candidate in four years.  

“It’s super easy for him to travel or study abroad. He doesn’t need approval from his institution, work unit or the government. If he wants to publish a book, no prior censorship is required. His book can go straight into the printing house, and will be published in a month.  

…

“He is used to see government officers be impeached or bow and leave the stage for mistakes in policy-making. He is used to seeing newspaper assailing the government, questioning its officers and revealing unlawful practices. He is used to expressing his distain of political figures and making fun of them.

…

“He’s not afraid of the police, because the law protects his rights. He dares to buy a house, because his private property is protected by the law. He doesn’t need to bribe someone for a bed in the hospital. He can criticize someone in public without worrying of being paid back. …

“He pays his tax on time, and the money goes to poor children in need and elderly people who live alone. He’s not against this. He is used to living in a society where fortune is distributed rather fairly; he doesn’t see beggars in extreme poverty on the street, nor luxurious cars. He’s used to seeing many civil charity organizations and volunteer workers helping out when disasters happen. …”

“Of course, I can find a basket of examples to prove that the Taiwanese are not yet fully ‘developed’: Their politicians manipulate the people, their political leaders lie to their voters, their government officers are arrogant, their people’s representatives are vulgar, the wealth gap is expanding… 

“Is the confrontation across the strait a debate between unification and independence? Or is it between capitalism and socialism, between separatism and nationalism? It’s none of those. For most Taiwanese people, it’s a choice of lifestyle, very concrete and specific, not abstract at all.”

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Author:Jan Cao

Jan Cao is a senior and a comparative literature concentrator at Brown. She loves watching Japanese TV dramas and cooking.
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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=519588682 Robert Moore

    I would like to read some of the well written Chinese netizens responses to this piece. How many people have seen it in China? What do they think? This is what I’m most interested in. I’m surprised it was even allowed to be up on the internet at all in China. Chinese people tend to not have intelligent defenses to their current system and why its better.

    • whisperhaps

      In China, most of the people are willing to see that oneday Taiwan be back into mainland. At the same time, most of the people can not find a benefit that Taiwan’s coming back could bring. What we really care about, actually,is that whether our benefit could be protected wholly, whether the price of a house is low enough for us to afford. If we have to select one between Taiwan and our own benefit, we could surely select the latter

      • Chris Zheng

        A very accurate reflection of what the average Chinese citizen thinks on the issue (I think). Thank you whisperhaps!

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  • Charlie

    Fantastic article, thank you for translating. I somehow missed this on Weibo.

  • Chinese Netizen

    I don’t think “socialism” as it is meant to be fits into the essay in any way. Actually, TW is more Socialist than the Mainland!!

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  • http://twitter.com/taiwanreporter Klaus Bardenhagen

    Lung Ying-Tai is not just some author, she is Taiwan’s current Minister of Culture in the China-friendly Kuomintang government.

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  • dc

    KMT or DPP have they ever paid all your taxes to the poor children or to their pockets?Get real Taiwan just offers a version of Chinese corruption.

  • SayIt Different

    @whisperhaps. i assume you are Taiwanese. Well, there can be no benefit for Taiwan to join with the mainland. None. Ever. The mainland is simply too different–extremely authoritarian, conditioned, nationalistic, brainwashed, ignorant–as in they believe more lies than they question–wont question, cant question, don’t care to question–apathetic and apolitical. They hate history and politics, and hate or fear or loathe or mistrust or look down upon anyone not HAn–it cant be a democracy and wont be. They have a long history of obedience and conformity and that’s just ok with them. They have no regard for the earth, or the people in it most of the time. When a person is dying in the street–they let him and walk away.

    people say you can judge a people by its prisons, or how they treat the weakest among them–in the mainland–they treat people, especially the weakest with disdain. But my theory is this–you can see how a people think and measure a society by the way they drive, how they treat people–traffic–when put in a car. On the mainland, once a man gets into a car he is a bully and the rules are meaningless and pedestrians are worthless scum that get in his way and sidewalks are highways and anyone walking there better move the hell out of the way– and incessant honking–because you are in MY way. Its very self-centered, bullying behavior without any regard for the cars or people around them–none. That’s a society that lacks empathy or compassion–lacks feeling because feelings have been conditioned out of them–so it lacks love–and so it lacks art and expression and literature–because these things require empathy. it has literature and art but it ‘lacks’–its minuscule in comparison to their population and the rest of the world–in all of Chinese history.

    For TW to join the mainland would be a reversal of time and space, of humanity–it makes no sense, now or ever. its too late for that–especially because the mainland would insist on being your authority. When it should probably be the other way around. Any other summation is naive. One race does not mean one nation. look at england, America, Canada, Australia, South Africa, germany, Norway, france….look at China, tiawan, Japan, Korea. These are not separate races. They are the same. As an American, i know America is messed up and hope,wish, desire for it to break up into small regional nation-states. The United States is not united nor should it be. The South is destroying the welfare, humanity, and prosperity of the North–two very different peoples with very different views of the world that should not be united. its okay. Separation is good. Local culture, local economies are healthy and good–the only way forward in this self-destructing fascist world.