meitachi | big brother china and little sister taiwan

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big brother china and little sister taiwan

Taiwan-China relations can be a touchy subject. I'm no expert on it, but I can talk about my experiences with it - even if anecdeta is so often considered the lowest form of evidence in any argument. Aha! But I'm not presenting an argument, at least not that I'm aware of. I'll reassess this at the end of my spiel. I have a lot of thoughts, per usual, and I was promised an audience, so bear with me here!

I grew up influenced (read: happily brainwashed) by my mainland parents into believing that of course Taiwan is a part of China! I wasn't really into politics, see, and didn't really care about Chinese history, so this was an issue I never bothered engaging in. I spent more of my time fighting with my parents that I was American, goshdarnit, so just let me be! Why do I have to go to Chinese school! With time, I grew out of that phase and learned to accept - even embrace! - my Chinese heritage. Perhaps it was zealous overcompensation for the past that made me even more inclined to accept that China was great and amazing and powerful (watch out, America! I was gloating and gleeful, as if I had any hand in the rise of China). In this vein, of course Taiwan is clearly part of China! China does what it wants, yo. LOL Taiwan is foolish to think it can resist through its token protests - please, the U.S. is too afraid of China to even officially acknowledge Taiwan as a country!

Thankfully I grew out of that phase too. I still can't pretend expertise, like I said, on either China or Taiwanese history or politics, but I'm a little more conscious of China's faults. As a country that I love, it's easy to be blind to its problems, but I'd argue that you can't really love something unless you know it, and knowing it entails knowing the realities of its strengths and weaknesses, its pros and cons. I'd like to think I love China more now that I know it a little better, not because I'm ready and willing to excuse its flaws, but because at least now I know where it comes up short. I know its reality a little better. China is far from perfect and far from capable of blithely dictating Taiwan a part of itself and making it a reality. It's also far from being in the right for making that dictation to begin with.

In my experience, Taiwanese people are easy to rile up if you mention China or imply that Taiwan is somehow part of China. In my experience, mainlanders rarely bring up the topic because they don't feel as though it is an issue at all - of course Taiwan is China! It's a fact of life that brings up no more contention that saying the sky is blue. Moving on!

But I have Taiwanese friends - no, wait, hear me out! This isn't like saying I have a black friend, I promise. I don't purport to suddenly know everything or be justified in all my opinions simply because I have friends who say or believe X, Y, or Z. I have Taiwanese friends, yes, but all they've done is help me face the reality of Taiwan, not as merely a concept (a "province" of China, a controversial issue, and so on), but as a country with food and music and culture that I'm interested in. It's self-absorbed, isn't it? But true. Only through my own interest in Taiwan did I finally come to accept it as a diverse reality, rather than a theoretical political entity I could easily dismiss as just making trouble for China because it could.

So, being a little less blind, I can see that China is not the maligned motherland here (though I do like to joke about how the National Palace Museum (Gu Gong) in Taipei is full of treasure only because they 'stole' it from the National Palace (Gu Gong) in Beijing when the KMT fled) and Taiwan not some recalcitrant child. I loved Taiwan when I visited, though it was a short visit. I can't pretend I'm filled with a fire for Taiwanese independence, but at the very least I am no longer blindly resistant to the idea. I'm not really bothered either way, though I think I'd prefer if China acted less stupidly re: Taiwan mostly for the sake of my own love for China. It's painful to watching someone you love make a complete fool of themselves, convinced of their own righteousnes...

This is only my personal journey re: Taiwan-China relations. While the official relationship has improved in the past five years (owing, according to my dad, in large part to the current Taiwanese president), the present balance is still somewhat precarious: Taiwan's current policy involves refusing to acknolwedge itself as part of China but not actively refuting either, and the latter is all China particularly cares about so it can continue to maintain a facade of one glorious unified kingdom. On the plus side, tourism has picked up between the two and I'd like to think the younger generation isn't as dead-set as the older generation in enmity. It's hard to say, though, since I didn't grow up in either China or Taiwan. I'm as much an outsider as any other American, in many respects. There remain, undoubtedly, a lot of prejudices.

It's not my place to to dictate how Taiwanese people should feel about mainland Chinese people or vice versa (or how they feel about each other's government, since that is a fairly separate thing from the people). I can say this, however: Prejudice is ugly and the perpetuation of it is never a good thing. Prejudices are not well-founded concerns or thoughtful arguments; prejudice, whatever legitimate concern or fear or mistrust it once originated from, is a warped version of those things used to justify the continued refusal to engage with reality.

Maybe I do have an argument. If I do, that's it. I'm not an expert on Taiwan-China relations, but I am more enlightened than I was in the past. (It's not hard, considering how little I knew then.) My enlightenment tells me only that the relations are complex and complicated because of history and politics (both past and current) - and also because of prejudice. Taiwanese people will say and believe terrible things about mainlanders. Mainland Chinese people will say and believe terrible things about the Taiwanese. Even if history and politics somehow resolved to unify Taiwan and China or to grant full recognition of an independent Taiwan, the prejudice would continue.

I hate that.

I wish we, as humans, weren't so willing to perpetuate that.

Feelings are valid, be they rational or irrational. Of course they are! I'm the last one to argue against that, being so constantly ~full of feelings~ myself. But if our feelings are rooted in prejudice, maybe we should reexamine those feelings and that prejudice and ask ourselves if that is what we want to perpetuate. Feelings may be valid, but they are not the sole guiding factor to our actions, nor do they trump the rest in importance.

Hey Taiwan, I love you! Maybe not the way I love China (or even Singapore, and with far less complexity than the way I love the U.S.) but you ain't bad. And fuck, I miss your food.

No matter how tempted, I promise I won't wish you off the map. Seriously, I'd miss your food too much. D: And your variety shows, when SJM is on them...

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re: not wishing taiwan off the map, xf: my comment about china's ruling elite not moving on from the collective headspace of a monarchy: sometimes I do wish that sort of empire state still existed. all this china/taiwan nonsense might be resolved if taiwan were an independent state kind of falling under the cultural/economic hegemony of china. not in terms of paying tribute or whatever (though, actually, since my mind's going mesoamerican/andean south america state-level polities (which almost inevitably ended up as empires) here...) but special trade relations or something. plus internal cultural diversity, seeing as that's pretty much an archaeological fact. insofar as one can have facts in something so speculative as archaeology. I feel that would sort of maintain the status quo, but within a political framework flexible enough to allow for that nebulous sort of relationship.

... possibly my head is just stuck way too much in antiquity. IDK, not reading a degree in politics.

Edited 2012-01-19 00:26 (UTC)

alas but the only context we have is the current global one, and the rest of the world can't leave well enough alone; it's not our mode of international relations anymore either! We inevitably must care about other countries' relations to each other. Blah blah something about politics (I did major in politics, lol, and international relations besides - you see how eloquent I am at discussing it, or perhaps you see my overwhelming laziness overcoming whatever eloquence I might've had) and the fact that sometimes people are happy with their prejudices and don't want to be open-minded or reexamine them. They're comforting and familiar. :/ They often have a long history of being comforting and familiar, which almost makes them true! Because it's existed for so long, see.

aaaaah, yeahhh. it was but a ~dream, and I was theorising from a top-down perspective, and the fact is that empires were pretty isolated in the past. I mean, the Incas thought they ruled the whole world, because ... that was the whole world as they knew it. LOLOLOL AND THEN THEY WERE EPICALLY TROLLED BY THE SPANISH.

prejudices have got that horrible tendency to be entrenched because, like you say, they're comforting and familiar and no one wants to wander outside of their comfort zone. :/ though, like others below have mentioned, the unfortunate case with prejudices against the mainlanders is that ... quite often reality does confirm the stereotypes. I mean, when I got back from travelling China with my parents over the summer (& it was the more "civilised" bits too) I was like ... right I'll wait ten years to go back, shall I.

I'm not arguing the difficulty in overcoming prejudices! I'm only saying that at the bottom line they're ever a good thing and should be reexamined where possible. I'm not even saying we should suddenly love everyone - god knows I've had my fair share of uncharitable thoughts - but it really bugs me when people refuse to even consider they might be prejudiced. It's like people who will hotly deny their favorite tv show or whatever might not be perfect, as I'd it somehow suddenly negates all the good things about it. Nothing is perfect! It's ok to acknowledge our flaws and prejudice and try to overcome them

*never

Can't edit on my phone augh

I only began to understand Taiwan when I visited it! And then also only when I watched 那些年我们追的女孩 - which is also a really ace movie btw, you should watch it if and when you can. Though maybe not with your parents around.

When we went to Taiwan in December we brought like 5 Mainland students with us, and it was notable that none of them would confess to being 大陆 until they were asked, or were sure they wouldn't be castigated for it. Sometimes it was simply easier to just pretend to be Singaporeans or Malaysians with really good Mandarin. That was an interesting dynamic to observe, and it was also interesting to note that the Chinese students who'd been in Singapore for a long time behaved really differently from the girl who'd only been away from China from a year. Sad to say she was rather offensive and obnoxious, but obviously that says less about her nationality than her personality. Yet the other Mainlanders corroborated that even they sometimes distance themselves from the Chinese who had just left China, because they tended to fulfill the stereotypes of being rude and inconsiderate. I've gone a little bit off-topic now, but it's terrible how reality also makes all this really messy as well.

That is interesting! I know there's a big cultural divide between Chinese-Americans and what we call FOBs - not flattering, no, but even here there a sense of separation and possibly condescension? It's not a fair one, since obviously international students from the mainland (or even Taiwan) in the US are going to be less comfortable/familiar than people who were born or grew up here. But that's probably a different issue...

I'd agree there are probably different norms in mainland versus Taiwan? (Though mainland is also huge with a lot of different regions and they're not all homogeneous either...) Rude people exist everywhere, polite people exist everywhere, but the definition of "rude" and "polite" I suppose will vary slightly from place to place?

I feel like I"m entirely off topic now too! But it's interesting to think about. Still, none of that makes a decent justification or explanation for prejudice though.

Yes, now that you mention it, you're probably right. What I might call 'rude' is probably acceptable in the Mainland, because everybody else does it as well. And there's no reason why that kind of social norm is any better or worse than any other - it is what it is, which is why it is a norm. But it's also kind of to be expected that when that is carried over to another country with different norms, there's bound to be conflict. And then the question is - should the guest change, or should the host accommodate? Should either even mutate? Will either?

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I think so! You've sent me to wiki today at least lol. Reading! Learning! I still don't know as much as I'd like of the history and politics, though I'm trying to pay more attention. My post mainly stemmed from my personal experience with the bias influence and it's made me more aware of how unaware we can be if our own prejudice. So essentially this post is more of a call to ask people to examine their own prejudices re: Taiwan and China. It doesn't invalidate how we feel, but sometimes we should know where those feelings came from...

I'd like to see China democratic/more free for sure. Really not happy with a lot of the decisions the CCP is making, because honestly some of those decisions are more rooted in their own fear of losing power rather than for the good of the country in the big picture/long term.

Ahhhh, 兩岸關係. Interesting topic, isn't it? During my foreign service internship, my boss assigned me to write a diplomatic cable on how cross-strait relations had affected the tourism industry in Southern Taiwan, so I wound up interviewing a whole bunch of locals, from college kids to the deputy mayor of Kaohsiung. They all had something different to say -- the local government folks and the business executives tended to sidestep questions about their opinion of mainland people, and just talk about what an important market they are economically, and how important it is, financially speaking, to reach out to them, blah blah blah.

On the other hand, a lot of the college kids were all, "Ewwwww, gross, Chinese tourists, they're so loud and uncouth and disruptive!" But some were like, "No, it's important that they gain an understanding of Taiwanese culture so that we can have more peaceful relations with them!" One boy in particular told me something along the lines of, "It's not that I don't like Chinese tourists; it's that I don't think Taiwan's at a point where we can impress them enough as a tourist destination for them to take us seriously, so we should wait and develop more before we reach out to them" -- which I thought was interesting, and ties into all sorts of complicated questions about soft power and public diplomacy and why people in Taiwan want or need to impress their mainland neighbors in the first place. But I digress!

Ultimately, I don't think I came to any real conclusion in my research except, "Cross-strait relations, they are a complicated business! Forming a hardline opinion is difficult!" But it would be nice for them to not hate each other quite so much, yes. :3

Ahaha seriously these are just my ~personal feelings~ and I really can't break down all the very complex issues in the relationships, not just between governments but between people and how it all sort of influences each other. My only point I think is that the prejudice doesn't help. I don't mean they can't or shouldn't dislike each other or resent each other or god knows what else, only that prejudice tends to warp reality and IMO will only make any relationship more difficult. Or...impossible. I suppose I also see a lot of ripple effect in these attitudes spreading to people like me, who's really an outsider in this situation, and that just makes me think about perpetuation of prejudice and stereotype and how if I can't do anything about the actual situation (and I cant!), to at least be wary of the influences on my own opinion and what I say it do or perpetuate myself, whether deliberately it accidentally. And I guess I hope that others can also think about their influences, because none of us are free from them. If we can't overcome our own prejudice, it seems difficult to expect it of others.

The Taiwan-China problem and the mutual distrust/dislike between the Chinese and Taiwanese has been something I've been grappling with all my life, in large part because I am half Chinese and half Taiwanese, and there are places where simply saying that will get me scolded for my ignorance at best and called an uneducated, worthless 腦殘 at worst.

Just as PRC education teaches that Taiwan is and always has been part of China, ROC education in my parents' generation was: we must retake/return to the mainland/rescue it from those commies. This has changed, I think, since the few years the DPP spent in power meant the Taiwanese independence movement made its way into education too. I'm not sure what exactly is taught now but frankly I have yet to meet a single Taiwanese person my age who likes the idea of reunification. In fact, the One China people in Taiwan are mostly old KMT/pan-blue. Pan-greeners and young people will generally respond to you with a snippy "gwa shee dai wan lang" (我是台灣人).

One problem is that the influx of Chinese tourists onto Taiwan has actually done more to sour perceptions of the mainland than strengthen ties, at least on the Taiwanese end. The few Chinese tourists we've spoken to generally come away with positive impressions of the island, particularly the vastly superior hygiene and friendlier people (and obviously this generalization is problematic, but the fact remains that China only recently came out of poverty, so attitudes there are on the whole more cutthroat than Taiwan). Taiwanese, on the other hand, are generally horrified by what they perceive as an invasion of uncouth, uncivilized people onto the island. The most common complaint you hear over there is that mainland tourist groups have turned the National Palace Museum and other historical/cultural/beautiful spots into 菜市場. And it is really, really difficult to shake these perceptions when reality keeps affirming them, because yeah.

The news that comes out of China isn't too promising, either. The food/health safety problems alone give the impression, rightly or wrongly, that China is a society that lacks basic morality.

Obviously there are good Chinese people and terrible Taiwanese people, but one thing I think a lot of people tend to forget is how fundamentally different China and Taiwan are. China is a one-party state. Taiwan is a democracy, and not only that, it's the only country in Asia other than Japan to have a fully free press. And Taiwan's history is weird. It is nothing like China, and growing up there is nothing like growing up in any part of mainland China simply because there is a level of freedom and mobility you can't have in a tightly-controlled single-party state just coming out of a long period of overwhelming poverty and social chaos. And what comes of that is a group of people who observe this huge, massive, comparatively (socially and politically) backwards country full of these strange people who talk like they own us, and worse, are friggin' pointing missiles at us. This is not a situation where positive, happy feelings are easy to conjure.

Prejudice is never the best way to go about anything but this is a case where simply saying that the Taiwanese should let go of their prejudices, distrust, and fear is not only unhelpful but... I don't know, presumptuous (?). China still has five hundred missiles pointed at Taiwan, something the Taiwanese do not readily forget. Historically -- the first forty or so years the KMT was in power on the island, Taiwanese were treated as second-class citizens (second to mainlanders) and there is a ton of bad blood because of that, too. It doesn't really stop at "mainlanders are dirty and crude," and to be fair, standards of hygiene on the mainland are lower than in Taiwan.

It's such a difficult situation from both a political and ideological standpoint. And honestly, prejudice against mainlanders isn't so much a Taiwanese thing as it is an everywhere with 華人 thing.

Adding to that last statement -- I haven't been able to pinpoint why exactly it is, but I've observed pretty much everywhere that as soon as you volunteer that you're mainland Chinese, people make really terrible assumptions about you. (My HK friend actually advised me to speak English instead of Mandarin in Hong Kong to avoid being horribly mistreated; in Japan we were told to speak Taiwanese amongst ourselves whenever possible to avoid being side-eyed; in Korea, speak English ETC ETC ETC.) I don't recall this being the case when I was growing up, but in the past few years it's gotten really bad. It is not at all unique to Taiwanese people, but it is exacerbated because of the political/historical issues.

I wonder if this is similar to how Americans abroad are viewed/treated. Maybe not in the East but elsewhere, there's always been that idea of God! Americans are so loud and uncouth and rude and annoying! If you go anywhere, just say you're Canadian. They don't tend to offend people in principle. Maybe it's the political/cultural influence. Maybe it's the entitled/oblivious attitude that becomes the subconscious norm when from a country with so much clout? (if not actual, perceived clout at least) Maybe it's resentment from other countries re: China or the US because they both come from positions of privilege and like to make it all about them. Or maybe there's just more of them do it's easier to run into the loud and ride ones and firm unflattering opinions of the whole.

welp there is weirdness, though, and that is -- for a lot of ethnically chinese people, mainlanders are kinda outsiders but also by virtue of being 華人 considered... often reluctantly... 同胞. idk i think mainlander prejudice within the chinese community is a combination of 'embarrassment for our weird cousins', among other things. it isn't always us vs. them, it's like us vs. them but they're kinda us, whyyy? and some taiwanese feel a more desperate and pressing need to make that divide more clear.

hmmm, i don't think about this enough. but it's interesting.

(not really addressing non-chinese vs. chinese because at that point it's just plain racism and not excusable/...discussionable or particularly interesting to me)

re:the last: DEFINITELY, ask any cab driver in HK and they will go on a very long rant about the complete and utter insufferability of mainlanders.

Edited 2012-01-19 12:42 (UTC)

I never said its just a matter of Taiwanese people letting go of prejudice? I specifically said it's not my place to tell Taiwanese people or mainlanders how to feel. They can dislike each other all they want and I'm sure there are plenty if valid reasons for the resentment or dislike. My only point is that we (here I mostly meant people like me, who've been influenced by these ripple effects but are not necessarily involved in the situation, though I suppose I also include any Taiwanese or mainlanders who identify as such and might read this) should examine where our opinions have been influenced and if prejudice is the root of some of them. Because I stand by what I said: prejudice is a harmful warping of reality to fit our preconceived notions. Like you pointed out, there are many other factors that influence why people feel the way they do, including rude tourists, the education, the media, and the fundamental differences in structure and belief. But those things aren't necessarily free from prejudice either. That doesn't mean their validity is automatically negated, only that people are human and as such inform our decisions and beliefs with biased. That's natural. Those biases can be harmful, though, and I think it's important to be aware of that and be thoughtful of whether or not we're perpetuating those harmful prejudices. Obviously nothing is that simple and these things are easier said than done, but there's a big difference between someone thinking those mainlanders are really rude and obnoxious and going around stating like it's fact that all mainlanders are rude and obnoxious and therefore their dislike of all mainlanders is justified.

Taiwanese people will say and believe terrible things about mainlanders. Mainland Chinese people will say and believe terrible things about the Taiwanese. Even if history and politics somehow resolved to unify Taiwan and China or to grant full recognition of an independent Taiwan, the prejudice would continue.

This part made me think that this was about more than just outsiders? Because if we're just talking about people at large, and people discussing the situation who are not involved, of course prejudice is a terrible thing and we should reexamine. The widespread hatred of mainlanders is unhelpful and problematic and I don't disagree with you at all on that point.

I just didn't get the feeling that that was the group of people this post was addressing, and I think this type of discussion is really difficult to have in regards to the China-Taiwan problem specifically. Like we can sit here and talk about ideology, but in the context of Taiwan toward China in particular, I just. Eh. When you have this situation where Taiwanese are feeling oppressed and backed into a corner and seeing the example of Hong Kong and fearing that they might possibly be forced to become a similar political clusterfuck, it's difficult - in my opinion - to talk about how important it is that the people in this situation check their prejudices and biases, because really, they're thinking about other things.

This was a very interesting post, and I too feel a certain sort of glee whenever I think about China's rapid growth, even if I don't consider myself to be Chinese Chinese. I don't have much to add on the topic of China-Taiwan relations. I once asked my Chinese friend about it (who, incidentally, works for the Chinese government lol) but he was very reluctant to say much about what he called a very "sensitive" topic.

This, though, really resonated with me:

Prejudice is ugly and the perpetuation of it is never a good thing. Prejudices are not well-founded concerns or thoughtful arguments; prejudice, whatever legitimate concern or fear or mistrust it once originated from, is a warped version of those things used to justify the continued refusal to engage with reality.

This. I know of many Singaporeans who complain endlessly about the Chinese in Singapore (especially Chinese students) who are apparently loud and uncouth etc etc. It annoyed me before I actually met Chinese people for myself and it just appalls me now. I wish there was an easier way, but some people will just continue to remain assholes, I guess.

Re: your first sentence, me too! Ahaha. I think we should have a convo sometime of what it's like to be hyphenated Chinese, rather than Chinese Chinese. I'm just curious where our experiences might overlap and where they'd differ (though obviously my living in the US and you in Singapore is a pretty big difference...).

Ugh, prejudice. It really is everywhere and none of us can be totally free from it, but it frustrates me the most when people blindly try to deny it. It's okay that it exists! (Well it's a shitty thing, but you know what I mean.) That's natural. What matters is how we choose to acknowledge it and act - hopefully in ways that elevate us above our prejudice.

because of my studies I have actually spent wuite some time thinking about this problem.
I can understand both sides, I kind of see where there demands come from and why they have problems to simply let go of them.
Still, I believe that it would be best for all if China would be willing to let Taiwan go.
I really like China, I enjoyed my time there, and I don't see it as the big evil country that will come and distroy all other countries. But they have been seperated for so long, they have really different ways, but they're both not doing that bad (like if you compare them to North and South Korea, it is pretty clear that North Korea isn't doing to good, and that the people there suffer a lot. Not that they aren't people suffering in China/Taiwan as well, but in the big picture both China and Taiwan are doing just fine).
And I believe both sides see the difficulties they would face, which is one of the main reasons I think - besides the protection of the US - that China hasn't really use force to get to Taiwan, but sticks to the "as is" situation.

I agree with you! I wish China would be willing to let Taiwan go. Unfortunately, the ruling party doesn't agree with me. :( And I'm not sure how much my opinion counts as technically an American, though I was born in China. Then again, it's up for debate how much the CCP cares at all about opinions aside from their own. They are (or can be) a very myopic party, concerned primarily with their own status and glorifying China with often a skewed perception of reality...

But nothing is simple! So, I guess we'll see where the future leads us.

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Well, it doesn't come up much in discussion unless you happen to be Chinese or Taiwanese with political leanings, I suppose. :) It's really not an issue of contention for the rest of the world, who sort of just carefully walk around the subject most times and treat Taiwan mostly like it's its own country except rarely crossing that line to say so explicitly, lest it raise China's ire.

This post <3.

I don't have much else to say, because your story so much mirrors my own. I'm not terribly familiar with Taiwan-Chinese relations, having never been to Taiwan, and not having grown up in a particularly politically inclined family (I don't remember ever hearing my mainland Chinese parents discuss Taiwan). but still, I did grow up with this sense that of course the motherland is right, and that Taiwan returning to China was just an inevitable conclusion one day. I'm glad I no longer think like that, and you're right -- it's complicated.

These days I don't think much about the issue at all, tbh. It's not an issue I have any real expertise in, so I can't speak for it either which way.

Yeah, it's not something I think of much either unless I come across an article or comment or something that calls it to mind. If I pay attention to politics, it's mostly China I'm concerned with, its growth and its obstacles and so on, and Taiwan only emerges in my mind as associated with AMAZING FOOD and sometimes GREAT MUSIC and HILARIOUS SHOWS. It's not a very political entity to me even now and this is an issue I still only care about because of China's involvement. I...think that says a lot about where my interests lie and how they're engaged.

lasjkdflasj

sorry, the livejournal captcha confused me and i hit "comment" when i didn't... actually mean to. ANYWAY. as someone who has really enjoyed a lot of your fic and commentary about law school (but doesn't have a livejournal) i just wanted to add my two cents, because this post really resonates with me as a taiwanese person. it is really easy for chinese people to think that we should all just get along and let go of prejudices, but the thing is that the china-taiwan relationship is already really heavily skewed (china obviously has much more power) and if we were to cooperate completely, it would mean a loss of our identity and possibly even our democracy. i get (probably unjustifiably) really angry when chinese people belittle the taiwan issue with words like "prejudice" because that is really not what this is about, unless you are in a situation where you don't know enough about what's going on and need to be informed. obviously prejudice is bad, but this is not really breaking any new ground here.

i don't know. i am trying really hard to restrain myself from saying something offensive, but i have been raised really intensely taiwanese by parents whose parents of parents have been in taiwan for over 400 years. do chinese people really think about the fact that china has over a thousand missiles pointed at taiwan right now when they say things like they want china-taiwan relations to improve? really? taiwan is like, one square foot in area. (i think

evaporate makes some really, really good points about this, and she does it in a much more eloquent and less indignant way than how i'm arguing right now.)

i am obviously biased, not making any pretensions otherwise. i do think it's important to hear these things, though, instead of just talking about it with other chinese-americans who just wish everyone could get along. it is not going to happen for a long time, and for that to happen i think both countries need to undergo some major changes.

#gettingoffmysoapboxnow sorry for using your livejournal as a platform. :\ for everything i've said above, though, i do appreciate the fact that you are thinking about this issue, because it is definitely an important one!

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big brother china and little sister taiwan

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