As an expatriate living in Taiwan, a nation seen by some as a heart of Asia, I have experienced many amazing experiences that have bridged cultures, languages, education, politics, attitudes, behavior, identity, and the views and chronicles of varied peoples. Looking across Taiwan’s history, with its mostly unknown origins, to the 1600s when the colonial eras began, to control under the Chinese Qing dynasty in the nineteenth century, to the short-lived Republic of Formosa in 1895, to the Japanese colonial dominion from 1895 to 1945, to the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) authoritarian era from 1949 to 1987, and to the nation’s breakthrough into a free, democratic republic after the 1980s—Taiwan, a “light in the East,” is an amazing multicultural country, a rich and varied polity, which has much to offer in terms of politics, culture, history, aesthetics, esprit de corps, learning, literacy, identity, and being.
As a foreigner, I have unique roles to play in Taiwan, and my life has been steeped in culture shock, linguistic challenges, and cultural wonders, for many years. To make a long story short, I arrived in Taiwan in 2000, with few prospects in front of me, but things picked up fast. I found a job working as a teacher at a prominent national university, and after a short stint at a (notorious) “cram school,” I began working full-time as an English consultant in a major international organization. From there I taught as a full-time instructor at another well-known university. Not long after this I married a Taiwanese woman, and my life in Taiwan began in earnest, taking exciting and enjoyable new turns (our daughter was born in 2016, a wondrous experience, but I will not convey these details here). I entered a doctoral program in 2004, and from that time worked part-time at various teaching and tutoring jobs until 2010, when I received my PhD. From there I obtained full-time positions as a professor in universities, culminating in my current position as an associate professor at National Taipei University of Business (NTUB). During all of this time I have studied Chinese and other subjects assiduously; spent a lot of time playing my favorite game, tennis; practiced my long-time love of guitar and music; spent many enjoyable vacations and trips traveling everywhere in Taiwan (as well as a number of vacations to France, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, and the United States); and enjoyed life in many other marvelous ways.
The above is a brief introduction to my life in Taiwan. I have told my story in my memoir, Something Super: Living, Learning and Teaching
in Taiwan (Lynx Publishing, 2013). I refer readers to this work for a complete and detailed account of the life of a foreigner in Taiwan. I will refer to this work in this book, but not often, for as noted this book is not a personal story and is instead an analytical and diagnostic view of Taiwan’s politics, culture, life, history, education, aesthetics, and individuality (the principal section from my memoir that I will relate is an adapted examination of independence in Taiwan).
This work is in many ways a “political” and/or analytical examination, and to be sure the politics and civic life of Taiwan are looked at broadly and critically. In a word, although I have some personal views, this is not a personal story. On this note, I add that as a long-term resident of Taiwan, I have interacted in any number of personal ways with dozens and dozens of people, and I have in turn developed a personal attachment here. Thus, even when I am writing analytical essays for publication in local newspapers, I have a bit of personal connection in the background. I do not think this can be avoided, but most importantly I do not think it results in any sort of bias, and my essays and other remarks remain just that: impartial, fair-minded, wholly analytical, non-partisan commentary.
Rather than the private and individual, this book takes up the more public interests I have had for many years. I was always a “political animal” in my life in the United States, and as far back as Richard Nixon I have closely studied and scrutinized political life and figures. I never missed a vote in the United States from the time I was 18, all the way up to my life in Taiwan, where I have submitted absentee ballot votes in presidential elections. I was always up for a political discussion about current issues, from my youngest years. My study of International Relations at San Francisco State University was something of the culmination of these interests. To be perfectly frank I was always seen as a firm liberal, in opposition to what I saw as stark, uncompromising, hard-nosed, essentially ungenerous Republican/conservative views (and oh my opposition was firm). I cannot take such a stance in Taiwan, as here there is not the same glaring difference in terms of opinions of the two main political parties, the “Blue” KMT and the ostensibly more “liberal” Democratic Progressive Party (the “Green” DPP). I will examine this conception and my views of the two political parties in Taiwan below.
I relate my diagnostic studies of Taiwan life in this book principally by way of editorials I have written for the largest English-language newspaper in Taiwan, the Taipei Times, as well as in other works (including letters to this newspaper). Each chapter in Taiwan: A Light in
the East will include an introductions and additional analyses of the seven main chapters, leading to the inclusion of these published works. All of this is followed with a conclusion. This work may take part in a “golden age of Taiwan studies,” as has been said by others, examining Taiwan’s social, political, and cultural transformation and identification within and without its borders. To be sure there are Taiwan studies groups and institutes at universities and other institutions worldwide, and if this is true, I look forward to participating in such examinations. Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) proposed establishing a Taiwan Academy educational system around the world in order to apprise the international community of Taiwan’s culture and development and promote Mandarin learning (using traditional Chinese characters, as opposed to the simplified system used in China), Sinology studies, and the study of Taiwan’s diverse cultures. I always liked this idea (I am not objecting to China’s Confucius Institutes, but feel that such an approach on this side of the Taiwan Strait makes perfect sense). Planning and implementation has been handled by the Ministry of Culture and other groups in Taiwan, but it has not been launched yet.
I should say however that some would see my stances and opinions as restricted, because my Chinese skills are not advanced enough that I can read political news in every newspaper and understand every statement that politicians make. This is no doubt true, but the local English newspaper, the Taipei Times, and many other international newspapers and wire services cover Taiwan news and politics very attentively. So, I can in effect keep up on the news effectively.
Overall in this work, I hope to create a systematic, relevant, and in essence scholarly (if somewhat easygoing and personal) study of important issues and topics in Taiwan, which I think many readers will be interested in, including academic professionals interested in international affairs in general and Taiwan studies particularly; those interested in the nation’s relationship with China, the United States, and other nations and entities; and students of Taiwan studies proper—the nation’s politics, culture, history, life, education, peoples, aesthetics, and identity. As well, I think many tourists and visitors in Taiwan will enjoy the book, as will English-speaking citizens and long-term foreign residents in Taiwan and other Asian countries. Let us begin our study of this fascinating “island in the stream.”
