228 is a big number in Taiwan, or should I say Formosa, as it commemorates the fateful day when the KMT sent troops to squash the ancestry of what is now the Green Camp from the South, with Kaohsiung its epic center today. 'Incident' is a choice word that is loved by both sides of the Taiwan Strait. 228 is an incident here and June 4th in Beijing is, of course, another incident. The only difference is 228 is officially described as an 'epochal tragedy' while June 4th remains a mere incident. The building in the picture is the Kaohsiung City Museum on Formosa Boulevard, a beautiful structure built in the colonial days with a Japanese slant. Does it not remind you of Government House in Hong Kong? Among other exhibits it is where the 228 Incident is enshrined, in part because the massacare (a more appropriate word perhaps) took place between this location, and the Kaohsiung Train Station down the road. 'Mei Li Tao' is at the hearts of Taiwanese here, especially indigenous inhabitants who speak 'Min Nan Hwa', the predominant local dialect of souther Fukien origin. Speaking of which on the mass transit every broadcast is repeated 4 times; in Mandarin, in Min Nan Hwa, in a 3rd dialect that I am clueless, and lastly in American style English. The politics here intrigues me, the million dollar question is economic success aside, when will the Green & Blue Camps become one and even more so, how will they handle the Motherland in future. I think my only option is to watch from my position on a wall, in a picture frame.
228 is a big number in Taiwan, or should I say Formosa, as it commemorates the fateful day when the KMT sent troops to squash the ancestry of what is now the Green Camp from the South, with Kaohsiung its epic center today. 'Incident' is a choice word that is loved by both sides of the Taiwan Strait. 228 is an incident here and June 4th in Beijing is, of course, another incident. The only difference is 228 is officially described as an 'epochal tragedy' while June 4th remains a mere incident. The building in the picture is the Kaohsiung City Museum on Formosa Boulevard, a beautiful structure built in the colonial days with a Japanese slant. Does it not remind you of Government House in Hong Kong? Among other exhibits it is where the 228 Incident is enshrined, in part because the massacare (a more appropriate word perhaps) took place between this location, and the Kaohsiung Train Station down the road. 'Mei Li Tao' is at the hearts of Taiwanese here, especially indigenous inhabitants who speak 'Min Nan Hwa', the predominant local dialect of souther Fukien origin. Speaking of which on the mass transit every broadcast is repeated 4 times; in Mandarin, in Min Nan Hwa, in a 3rd dialect that I am clueless, and lastly in American style English. The politics here intrigues me, the million dollar question is economic success aside, when will the Green & Blue Camps become one and even more so, how will they handle the Motherland in future. I think my only option is to watch from my position on a wall, in a picture frame.
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