According to social anthropology, different peoples carry different "cultural baggage." Regardless of where we are, this cultural baggage follows us like a shadow, influencing the way we think and shaping our behavior. Cultural baggage particular to Chinese society includes such things as a "differential social order" (the first consideration for handling problems is the relationship, reason and then law), the emphasis on the father-son relationship (a source of misogyny) and feng shui.
Let's take the use of feng shui as an example. Over thousands of years, feng shui has become the main component of Chinese cultural baggage. Historically speaking, the feng shui principles behind the founding of many cities have been meant to provide airflow, sunlight, temperature and water in order to create a smooth flow of the earth's "chi." But the application of feng shui has now become a matter merely of choosing the location for graveyards and housing.
In other words, feng shui for the many has become feng shui for the few. In economic terms, the application of feng shui has been transferred from the public wealth sphere to the private wealth sphere. Because places with good feng shui often are ecologically sensitive, graveyard and housing feng shui for the few -- no matter how good -- ignores the more important feng shui for the many and therefore causes manmade natural disasters.
Observations over recent years suggest that "shortsightedness" is a new component in Taiwan's cultural baggage, characterized by attempts to make the most personal profit in the shortest time. It ignores public welfare and justice and renders the public sphere dysfunctional. For example, the stock exchange has the world's highest turnover rate. This means that the time between buying and selling a stock is very short and that opportunism is rampant. Already during its first year, Taiwan's public welfare lottery became one of the world's 10 largest lotteries. Which is more important in the mind of the lottery gambler, overnight wealth or public welfare? Small wonder that the ROC is once again being called the Republic of Casino.
Next, in their attempts to gain viewer ratings, short-term media hype has turned the Hsu Chun-mei (許純美) phenomenon into a "channel changer." In addition, Taiwan holds the world record for the shortest distance between cars traveling on highways, which often leads to deadly rear-end crashes. And look at the situation at highway toll booths, where drivers are trying to jump the queue or to change queues. This is yet another Taiwan miracle. Civilizational savagery has already begun to appear, and Taiwan's civilizational capital is shrinking. These examples show short-term behavior and the pursuit of profit to be key to shortsightedness.
Long-term reasons for shortsightedness include the national character of an island nation, and the fight for survival of those migrating to Taiwan. Mid-term reasons are related to martial law, because care for public affairs was often a euphemism for "White Terror." Short-term reasons are the cross-strait relationship and the promotion of a "hotel syndrome," since hotel guests don't keep their environment clean. This cultural baggage has produced shortsightedness and the attitude that "there is no tomorrow," which runs counter to the values central to sustainable development.
This is also why the shadow of shortsightedness looms over both large issues, such as government policy implementation, and small issues, such as driving. Not very strange, then, that sociologists hold that Taiwan only has a people, but no citizens. Let us therefore together reject a "shortsighted Taiwan" and jointly create a positive cultural heritage.
Juju Wang is deputy president of National United University and convener of Grassroots Taiwan for Sustainable Development.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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