Local language activists Thursday protested against what they called the "defamatory implications" of the expression hen Tai (
Their attitude is reminiscent of that prevailing in Australia in the 1970s, a country that was finding its own sense of identity after genuflecting towards Britain during the interminable Menzies premiership. This was the era of the "colonial cringe," a feeling of self-doubt in the face of the perceived greater sophistication of the "mother" country. What happened in the 1970s and 1980s was a reorientation of priorities among Australians in which distance from the mother country became regarded as an asset. Australia was far less class-bound than Britain; a place where, as the Australian critic Clive James said, you could make a point in an argument with equal force by quoting Plato or pissing on the floor. The "colonial cringe" was the product of a bitter history of discrimination going back to Australia's days as a penal colony and being taken for granted. But Australians used the stigma that went with being a "colonial" to redefine what being an Australian was all about; to create a new criteria of authenticity.
Something of the same is happening here in Taiwan. The problem is that the 1970s Australians could see no virtue in being a "colonial" in the eyes of a mother country that had shrunk from being the world's greatest empire to an IMF basketcase. Here in Taiwan, the inculcation of pride in a distinct Taiwanese heritage has to run in the face of a rising China to which so many opportunists want to tether their own balloons.
There is also a bitter history behind the hen Tai epithet. This is not just the events of 1947, nor the White Terror (which also affected Mainlanders). Part of that history is shown by the work of the economist Luo Ming-ching (
Any time the phrase is used it should draw attention to iniquities for which no government has provided redress. Hen Tai should be a call to arms. Imagine an Englishman calling an Irishman "very Irish" with a patronizing sneer. Of course there's nothing wrong with being called Irish, but there is by a certain type of Englishman, who'd probably be punched in the mouth. If only more Taiwanese could respond so robustly.
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As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry