Hello all and welcome to my blog!
Since you are here, you probably already know of my journey to Taiwan. On March 11, I will be flying from New York to Taipei, Taiwan (with a layover in Tokyo). I'm traveling with my friend Dave, who is also an English/Creative Writing New Paltz alum. This weekend we will both be finishing up our TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) seminar, which is a teaching certificate that will allow us to teach English in Taiwan.
Anyway, I hope to keep updating so please save my blog link as a favorite so you can check out what I'm up to!
6 weeks until takeoff...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0QtdpgT41k
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
They Have Never Been One
Dear Friends,
Two miracles have happened in Taiwan in the past twenty years. First, due to vigorous economic growth, Taiwan’s GNP (Gross National Product) now surpasses those of Southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. Second, passionate political movements have made Taiwan one of the most democratic countries in the world. Progress in both economy and democracy can be attributed to not only the diligence of the highly educated Taiwanese people but also the free markets in the U.S. for the Taiwanese goods and the inspiration of the U.S. system of democracy.
As a result, the prosperity of Taiwan makes it very tempting for China to claim sovereignty. However, history reveals Taiwan has never been a part of China. Enclosed please find my discussion of Taiwanese history entitled They Have Never Been One as well as another article, The Murky Tale of Taiwan: Island With an Unruly Past written by Nicholas D. Kristof for the New York Times, which I used to support my assertions.
We must acknowledge the truth about Taiwan and China and make U.S. foreign policies accordingly. As the leader of the democratic free world, the U.S. must show the world its commitment to its allies in supporting free trade, democracy, justice, freedom, and regional stability. So, please write to your congressmen and women and ask for support for Taiwan. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Alfredo Sennhauser
THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN ONE (TAIWAN-CHINA RELATIONS)
Alfredo Sennhauser, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Taiwan and China have never been one in terms of anthropology, idealism, history, or politics. Therefore, it is absurd to say that Taiwan is a renegade province of China and talk about “reunification;” rather, Taiwan is a victim of the Chinese Civil War. We need to learn the Taiwanese history in order to understand why the Taiwanese have a legitimate reason to seek sovereignty.
Racially, the Taiwanese are not pure Chinese; rather, the Taiwanese are a mixed race made up of Chinese, native aborigine, Dutch, and Spanish. First, in 1600s, the Dutch and the Spanish military as well as the Chinese settlers in Taiwan were predominantly male and they all mixed with local aborigine females who were ethnically closer to the Filipinos and the Malays. There is nothing wrong with having more than two races or cultures in one nation, but forming a Chinese colony was not the motive some of the Taiwanese ancestors emigrated from China 400 years ago. These travelers were seeking a new shelter for their future generations in much the same way that the European immigrants came to America. Movements for the independence of Taiwan did not begin only in this century. They were born hundreds of years ago when the first Taiwanese set foot on the island.
The history of Taiwan is wrought with colonization under different colonial powers. Before 1543 when the Portuguese sailors named the islands in Portuguese, “Ilha Formosa e Pescadores” or the Beautiful Island and the Fishermen’s Islands, Taiwan was savage. For 38 years, between 1624 and 1662, the Dutch and the Spanish controlled Taiwan in the south and the north respectively. It did not fall into Chinese hands until 1662 when the exiled pirate general Koxinga (or Tei Seiko) of the waning Ming Dynasty expelled the Dutch and the Spanish and occupied Taiwan. Sitting on Taiwan, Koxinga had an eye on the Luzon Island of the Philippines and planned to expel the Spanish there. 21 years later, in 1683, the Manchurian China, allied with the vengeful Dutch naval power from Indonesia, finally defeated Koxinga’s exiled regime, and then China had the chance to rule over Taiwan accidentally and reluctantly for the first time in history. During the next 150 years of Manchurian Chinese domination, the Taiwanese sporadically rebelled against the Chinese colonial government’s overt discrimination against the Taiwanese people by arbitrary taxation and other types of exploitation. The Chinese had hated the endless Taiwanese uprisings.
It was not until 1887 that the Manchurian China officially made Taiwan a province. However, 8 years later, in 1894, after the defeat of China in the first Sino-Japanese War, China abandoned Taiwan and conceded it to Japan in exchange for the possession of Liao-dong Peninsula o
f northern China near the Korean Peninsula, which Japan had originally demanded during the armistice. It was simply too difficult to govern the rebellious Taiwanese. The Chinese officials declared with scorn that in Taiwan, “Flowers are without fragrance, birds without song, men without righteousness, women without compassion. To discard it is without regret.” The Taiwanese took the opportunity seeking independence by establishing “Formosan Republic” but was crushed by the mighty Japanese military in 150 days.
Following the Chinese concession to Japan, the Taiwanese continued their struggle, actively opposing their treatment under Japan’s brutal colonial policies. However, after a half-century of Japanese assimilation, the Taiwanese, who now spoke only Japanese, were drafted to serve in the Japanese Imperial Military fighting against, ironically, China and the Allied forces in the battlegrounds in Mainland China, Indochina, the Philippines, and Okinawa during the second Sino-Japanese War, or World War II. The Taiwanese-Japanese fought and died loyally for their “imperial country” – Japan and the ultimate head of the Empire, Showa Emperor, Hirohito. At the end of the war in 1945, Japan ended its 51 years of ruling and also “renounced” Taiwan in the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
In 1949, 4 years after the Japanese left and after he was defeated by the Communist leader Mao Ze-dong in the Chinese Civil War, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) fled to Taiwan with his notorious, illiterate, and barbaric soldiers and followers and established an extremely corrupt exiled regime called “The Republic of China” which opposed Mao’s “People’s Republic of China” in the mainland. Many Taiwanese, then Japanese-speaking, and those who survived and returned from World War II were labeled Japanese collaborators and slaughtered at home. The younger Taiwanese generations, who now were forced to give up speaking Japanese, start to learn Mandarin, and pledge their loyalty to the ultimate dictator, Chiang Kai-shek, were drafted to serve in the military to fight for their new “country,” this time, “The Republic of China.” This was the second time that the minority exiled Chinese oppressed and ruled over the Taiwanese majority, thus inciting a new round of rebellions by the Taiwanese. Every time a new foreign regime attempted to control the island, scores of native Taiwanese were killed. Now, Communist China is taking its turn intimidating Taiwan and claiming, “You are mine!”
The concept that Taiwan is a part of China is a deception. Taiwan is the only nation in Asia that is made up of all kinds of immigrants. The Taiwanese do not support separatism, because Taiwan and China have never been one. The Taiwanese do not carry hatred and animosity toward the Chinese. A Chinese proverb says, “Under one heave, we are family, and all races are brothers within four Seas.” “Reunification” is contrary to the Taiwanese ancestor’s choice. The motive of the so-called “reunification” is disrespectful and unethical and an insult to the efforts of the Taiwanese founding fathers. The Chinese should understand the Taiwanese history and accept the fact that Taiwan and China have never been one in history. The Chinese should uphold the fact that Taiwan is a state with sovereignty. Furthermore, the Chinese should support Taiwan’s entry into the United Nations as well as other international organizations. Taiwan and China should be true brother states because the Taiwanese also cherish and practice Confucianism on the island. The democratic Taiwan is, in fact, an independent state that does not antagonize China, which is beneficial for both the Chinese and the Taiwanese. An independent Taiwan needs the best wishes of China.
Two miracles have happened in Taiwan in the past twenty years. First, due to vigorous economic growth, Taiwan’s GNP (Gross National Product) now surpasses those of Southern European countries such as Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. Second, passionate political movements have made Taiwan one of the most democratic countries in the world. Progress in both economy and democracy can be attributed to not only the diligence of the highly educated Taiwanese people but also the free markets in the U.S. for the Taiwanese goods and the inspiration of the U.S. system of democracy.
As a result, the prosperity of Taiwan makes it very tempting for China to claim sovereignty. However, history reveals Taiwan has never been a part of China. Enclosed please find my discussion of Taiwanese history entitled They Have Never Been One as well as another article, The Murky Tale of Taiwan: Island With an Unruly Past written by Nicholas D. Kristof for the New York Times, which I used to support my assertions.
We must acknowledge the truth about Taiwan and China and make U.S. foreign policies accordingly. As the leader of the democratic free world, the U.S. must show the world its commitment to its allies in supporting free trade, democracy, justice, freedom, and regional stability. So, please write to your congressmen and women and ask for support for Taiwan. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Alfredo Sennhauser
THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN ONE (TAIWAN-CHINA RELATIONS)
Alfredo Sennhauser, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Taiwan and China have never been one in terms of anthropology, idealism, history, or politics. Therefore, it is absurd to say that Taiwan is a renegade province of China and talk about “reunification;” rather, Taiwan is a victim of the Chinese Civil War. We need to learn the Taiwanese history in order to understand why the Taiwanese have a legitimate reason to seek sovereignty.
Racially, the Taiwanese are not pure Chinese; rather, the Taiwanese are a mixed race made up of Chinese, native aborigine, Dutch, and Spanish. First, in 1600s, the Dutch and the Spanish military as well as the Chinese settlers in Taiwan were predominantly male and they all mixed with local aborigine females who were ethnically closer to the Filipinos and the Malays. There is nothing wrong with having more than two races or cultures in one nation, but forming a Chinese colony was not the motive some of the Taiwanese ancestors emigrated from China 400 years ago. These travelers were seeking a new shelter for their future generations in much the same way that the European immigrants came to America. Movements for the independence of Taiwan did not begin only in this century. They were born hundreds of years ago when the first Taiwanese set foot on the island.
The history of Taiwan is wrought with colonization under different colonial powers. Before 1543 when the Portuguese sailors named the islands in Portuguese, “Ilha Formosa e Pescadores” or the Beautiful Island and the Fishermen’s Islands, Taiwan was savage. For 38 years, between 1624 and 1662, the Dutch and the Spanish controlled Taiwan in the south and the north respectively. It did not fall into Chinese hands until 1662 when the exiled pirate general Koxinga (or Tei Seiko) of the waning Ming Dynasty expelled the Dutch and the Spanish and occupied Taiwan. Sitting on Taiwan, Koxinga had an eye on the Luzon Island of the Philippines and planned to expel the Spanish there. 21 years later, in 1683, the Manchurian China, allied with the vengeful Dutch naval power from Indonesia, finally defeated Koxinga’s exiled regime, and then China had the chance to rule over Taiwan accidentally and reluctantly for the first time in history. During the next 150 years of Manchurian Chinese domination, the Taiwanese sporadically rebelled against the Chinese colonial government’s overt discrimination against the Taiwanese people by arbitrary taxation and other types of exploitation. The Chinese had hated the endless Taiwanese uprisings.
It was not until 1887 that the Manchurian China officially made Taiwan a province. However, 8 years later, in 1894, after the defeat of China in the first Sino-Japanese War, China abandoned Taiwan and conceded it to Japan in exchange for the possession of Liao-dong Peninsula o
f northern China near the Korean Peninsula, which Japan had originally demanded during the armistice. It was simply too difficult to govern the rebellious Taiwanese. The Chinese officials declared with scorn that in Taiwan, “Flowers are without fragrance, birds without song, men without righteousness, women without compassion. To discard it is without regret.” The Taiwanese took the opportunity seeking independence by establishing “Formosan Republic” but was crushed by the mighty Japanese military in 150 days.Following the Chinese concession to Japan, the Taiwanese continued their struggle, actively opposing their treatment under Japan’s brutal colonial policies. However, after a half-century of Japanese assimilation, the Taiwanese, who now spoke only Japanese, were drafted to serve in the Japanese Imperial Military fighting against, ironically, China and the Allied forces in the battlegrounds in Mainland China, Indochina, the Philippines, and Okinawa during the second Sino-Japanese War, or World War II. The Taiwanese-Japanese fought and died loyally for their “imperial country” – Japan and the ultimate head of the Empire, Showa Emperor, Hirohito. At the end of the war in 1945, Japan ended its 51 years of ruling and also “renounced” Taiwan in the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
In 1949, 4 years after the Japanese left and after he was defeated by the Communist leader Mao Ze-dong in the Chinese Civil War, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of Chinese Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT) fled to Taiwan with his notorious, illiterate, and barbaric soldiers and followers and established an extremely corrupt exiled regime called “The Republic of China” which opposed Mao’s “People’s Republic of China” in the mainland. Many Taiwanese, then Japanese-speaking, and those who survived and returned from World War II were labeled Japanese collaborators and slaughtered at home. The younger Taiwanese generations, who now were forced to give up speaking Japanese, start to learn Mandarin, and pledge their loyalty to the ultimate dictator, Chiang Kai-shek, were drafted to serve in the military to fight for their new “country,” this time, “The Republic of China.” This was the second time that the minority exiled Chinese oppressed and ruled over the Taiwanese majority, thus inciting a new round of rebellions by the Taiwanese. Every time a new foreign regime attempted to control the island, scores of native Taiwanese were killed. Now, Communist China is taking its turn intimidating Taiwan and claiming, “You are mine!”
The concept that Taiwan is a part of China is a deception. Taiwan is the only nation in Asia that is made up of all kinds of immigrants. The Taiwanese do not support separatism, because Taiwan and China have never been one. The Taiwanese do not carry hatred and animosity toward the Chinese. A Chinese proverb says, “Under one heave, we are family, and all races are brothers within four Seas.” “Reunification” is contrary to the Taiwanese ancestor’s choice. The motive of the so-called “reunification” is disrespectful and unethical and an insult to the efforts of the Taiwanese founding fathers. The Chinese should understand the Taiwanese history and accept the fact that Taiwan and China have never been one in history. The Chinese should uphold the fact that Taiwan is a state with sovereignty. Furthermore, the Chinese should support Taiwan’s entry into the United Nations as well as other international organizations. Taiwan and China should be true brother states because the Taiwanese also cherish and practice Confucianism on the island. The democratic Taiwan is, in fact, an independent state that does not antagonize China, which is beneficial for both the Chinese and the Taiwanese. An independent Taiwan needs the best wishes of China.
Kansas City Islanders
They should stop serving alcohol in venues where the team hasn't won 20 games by the All-Star break.
Being a Devils fan from Long Island, I was more than inclined to go the see them play at the Coliseum last weekend. It was a short drive, and I wanted to see my Jersey boys get some confidence going into the home stretch of the season.
About midway through the 2nd period, the Devils were already down 2-0, and I was growing tired of hearing the 1 die-hard Islander fan in section 229 shout "LETS GO ISLANDERS" more often than Danis was making saves. My attention was drawn to the row behind me, about 4 seats to my right, where a group of 5 kids sat making asinine comments. There was one Devils fan, saving face for the group. I noticed there was an exchange of words between him and a man sitting 2 rows in front of me, maybe 2 seats to my right.
"You want me to come up there?" The man yelled up 3 rows to the pre-pubescent Devils fan.
"You can't do anything." "You don't think I'm gonna do anything??" "You can't do anything."
Let's face it: the kid was right. The guy can't do anything to a kid. Or so we thought.
The man jumped out of his seat and climbed over the 3 empty rows (we were at an Islanders game, after all) that separated them, now standing in my row within arms reach of me.
"You don't think I'm gonna do anything??" He yelled once more, this time inches from the child's petrified face. Scared as he may have been, the kid held his ground.
"No." After being doubted one time too many, the man did something. He spat into the kids face. A nasty, beer-filled loogey. The young boy flinched, and looked like he might cry. Instead, he returned the favor and sent a loogey right into the angered Islanders fan's face.
The man didn't like that. He swung and struck the kid. I moved to get up, but paused momentarily to see if this was for real. It was. He lifted the kid out of his seat and threw him on the ground in my row, his head was about a foot in front of me. Then there was a series of events that resembled Semin on top of Staal, minus the open hands and plus the fists of Cam Janssen and the size difference between Chara and St. Louis.
Not because he was wearing a Parise jersey, but because I'm a good person, I rushed to try to remove the grown man pummeling a small child. I tried to pull the boy out and push the man off at the same time, and I caught a punch right where my helmet should have been. Without thinking, I punched the guy in the side of the head and grabbed the kid by the armpits in an effort to yank him to safety. After only a few inches of progress, a security guard lifted me and placed me aside where he took care of the rest, taking people away.
The man hopefully is in jail for at least the night. The boy, however, being the true Devils fan that he is, made it back in time for the 3rd period.
As if the Islanders don't have enough to be ashamed about this year already...
.
Being a Devils fan from Long Island, I was more than inclined to go the see them play at the Coliseum last weekend. It was a short drive, and I wanted to see my Jersey boys get some confidence going into the home stretch of the season.
About midway through the 2nd period, the Devils were already down 2-0, and I was growing tired of hearing the 1 die-hard Islander fan in section 229 shout "LETS GO ISLANDERS" more often than Danis was making saves. My attention was drawn to the row behind me, about 4 seats to my right, where a group of 5 kids sat making asinine comments. There was one Devils fan, saving face for the group. I noticed there was an exchange of words between him and a man sitting 2 rows in front of me, maybe 2 seats to my right.
"You want me to come up there?" The man yelled up 3 rows to the pre-pubescent Devils fan.
"You can't do anything." "You don't think I'm gonna do anything??" "You can't do anything."
Let's face it: the kid was right. The guy can't do anything to a kid. Or so we thought.
The man jumped out of his seat and climbed over the 3 empty rows (we were at an Islanders game, after all) that separated them, now standing in my row within arms reach of me.
"You don't think I'm gonna do anything??" He yelled once more, this time inches from the child's petrified face. Scared as he may have been, the kid held his ground.
"No." After being doubted one time too many, the man did something. He spat into the kids face. A nasty, beer-filled loogey. The young boy flinched, and looked like he might cry. Instead, he returned the favor and sent a loogey right into the angered Islanders fan's face.
The man didn't like that. He swung and struck the kid. I moved to get up, but paused momentarily to see if this was for real. It was. He lifted the kid out of his seat and threw him on the ground in my row, his head was about a foot in front of me. Then there was a series of events that resembled Semin on top of Staal, minus the open hands and plus the fists of Cam Janssen and the size difference between Chara and St. Louis.
Not because he was wearing a Parise jersey, but because I'm a good person, I rushed to try to remove the grown man pummeling a small child. I tried to pull the boy out and push the man off at the same time, and I caught a punch right where my helmet should have been. Without thinking, I punched the guy in the side of the head and grabbed the kid by the armpits in an effort to yank him to safety. After only a few inches of progress, a security guard lifted me and placed me aside where he took care of the rest, taking people away.
The man hopefully is in jail for at least the night. The boy, however, being the true Devils fan that he is, made it back in time for the 3rd period.
As if the Islanders don't have enough to be ashamed about this year already...
.
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