Taipei and Japanese China

Even more than in the rest of the country, the capital of Taiwan is a mixture of China and Japan.

Night traffic next to the Taipei 101 tower.

Already across the country, one feels the Japanese influence still present, even long after the end of the colonial period ended since the end of the Second World War. Several of the roads were built by Japan. They seem to respect the landscape, the mountains over which they pass. Maybe it's because they are from another era, but I generally didn't feel here that the concrete had been put a little bit anywhere to get from point A to point. point B.

Then there is the omnipresence of Family Mart and other convenience stores that can be found all over Japan. With sushi and other typical Japanese products (including my fantastic onigiris daily).

But unlike Japan where everything is impeccable, even the toilet, Taiwan sometimes seemed like a luxurious facade hiding a certain poverty. The toilets of these modern convenience stores sometimes transported me to another world. From the cleanliness of the shelves, I sometimes went to bacterial cultures on the walls ...

English names

Downtown Taipei as seen from Elephant Hill.

Despite my youth which is gradually fading, I find myself again in a youth hostel when I arrive in town. It's a great opportunity to meet other people, locals as well as tourists from all over. And it takes me out of my loneliness. The employees introduce themselves by giving me their English-speaking names.

Like almost all Asians who learn English, they baptize themselves with an English name to make life easier for foreigners. I still find this situation weird. Some foreigners give themselves Chinese names if they have lived here for a long time, but most of us don't make the effort. So I try to reciprocate and learn their real names. I even ask them why they don't insist more on using their Chinese names.

- If we use our Chinese names, you will forget it in 5 seconds.
- Pfff! Not me !
- Oh yes, what's my name again?
- Uh… Ohang? Oh Yang? It sounded something like this ...

Taken at my own game. I realize how awesome they are to learn our names which sound as strange to their ears as theirs to us.

View of the northern suburbs of Taipei.

The ghosts

I read a statistic recently. China is by far the country with the fewest people who say they have religious beliefs. I don't know the figure for Taiwan, but it can't be that far away.

With a few people from the hostel, mostly Taiwanese, I am going to walk in the mountains near the city. As I take pictures, the group walks away and wonders where I am. But they don't want to call out my name and therefore wait for me in silence. Ying, one of the girls, explains why.

If we shout someone's name in the forest, it will attract ghosts. And a ghost can take the person and we will never see them again.

No religious beliefs, but certainly a lot of superstitions!

Taipei, with its huge Taipei 101 tower outclassing all other skyscrapers.

Taiwan… or China?

When talking about Taiwan on this blog, I have always used the word country. However, the island is only recognized as such by a very small minority of states in the world. China has always refused Taiwan independence, and few dare to alienate the Middle Empire. Taiwan is therefore de facto a country, but without international recognition. They have their own currency, their own democratic government, their own army, and certainly immense pride in not being Chinese.

Ying, the same one who told me about ghosts, tells me with horror of a scene she saw a few weeks before.

I saw Chinese people, whom I recognized by their accents. And… they were eating in the metro station !!

"Is this the end of the anecdote? », Which I ask him. She seems outraged. “Eating in the metro, they don't know how to live on the continent! I can't help but find once again the striking resemblance to Japan and its incredible respect for others.

The story

Nancy, tourist guide in the capital, who taught me a lot about the subject during a city tour.

I told you that the island of Taiwan was a Japanese colony. From 1895 to 1945 more precisely. After the War, Japan signed a treaty to give Taiwan back to China, the previous “owners”. At the same time, mainland China was itself going through several upheavals. the Kuomintang was the ruling party from 1928 to 1949 of what was then called the Republic of China (ROC). Taiwan is handed over to them.

In 1949, Mao Zedong and its Communists seize power in the Kuomintang which is driven out. China is renamed the People's Republic of China, and the Kuomintang takes refuge in Taiwan, continuing to declare itself the official government of all of China. So we have two governments claiming the entire territory, mainland China as well as Taiwan.

The main ambiguity comes from the fact that the island has indeed been returned to China… but to which China, the ROC or the People's Republic of China?

In the book Asia's Cauldron, Robert D. Kaplan recently described Taiwan as the Berlin of the 21st century. Like the German capital at the time of the Wall and the Cold War, the island is caught between two worlds.

China is now trying to suffocate its "province" by weighing with all its power against any participation in international bodies, including the UN. On the other hand, the various governments in Taiwan know very well that they cannot directly confront the power of the mainland. Their goal is therefore to cling to the status quo without making waves.

Don't shout the word Taiwan too loudly. Lest the ghosts make them disappear.