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Letters: Don't scorn Taiwan's culture

I've always stressed the importance of reciprocal Taiwan-US student exchange programs to my colleagues and fellow academics in Taiwan, so, no matter what, it is good news that Taoyuan County and the University of Texas at Dallas recently signed an agreement to exchange up to 50 students per year.

Yet, what annoys me about the deal is the way Taoyuan County decided to pitch their program using a familiar China-centric formula. In a newspaper report that followed the Sept. 11 signing of the agreement, Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) made the usual statement that "no matter if students [from the US] want to study Mandarin or learn about Chinese culture, Taiwan is a great place to do it."

Pardon me, Mr Commissioner, but shouldn't we be saying that Taiwan is a great place to come to learn about Taiwanese -- not Chinese -- culture?

The county's attitude is frustrating to me as an educator in Taiwan, because I often see Taiwanese people who appear to be ashamed of their own (Taiwanese) culture, yet very proud of being "Chinese" (even though most have never set foot in China). To them, Taiwanese culture doesn't exist. For instance, my students are shocked and a little embarrassed when I tell them there are actually lots of young people in other countries who are interested specifically in Taiwan, and Taiwanese culture.

In Japan, these people are called "Taiwanophiles" -- counterparts of Taiwan's own "Japanophiles" -- teenagers and adults who are interested in and crave knowledge about Taiwan and its unique local culture.

Judging from the local blogosphere and numerous Internet forums on Taiwanese culture subjects, in Singapore and Hong Kong (and even in China) there are numerous young people who adore Taiwanese popular music, television and fashion. And, of course, in the US too there are many US-Born Taiwanese who'd like to know more about life in Taiwan. Many of these young people and students might be more eager to come here to learn something about Taiwanese culture -- if, that is, our government representatives would stop promoting it as a form of culture tourism into Old China.

Perhaps Chu and other officials in charge of promoting Taiwan's international student exchanges should themselves be required to pass an "Introduction to Taiwanese Culture" course (now offered at many universities in Taiwan) -- or, at least be supplied with up-to-date, post-1987, maps of their country. They should at least be required to learn that Taiwan has not been a part of so-called Chinese culture for quite some time, and actually has a unique and fascinating culture all its own -- and it's nothing to be ashamed of!

Besides which, even if one could make the case that Taiwan "is Chinese" (because the KMT dictatorship controlled Taiwan as if it were China), why on earth would today's foreign students want to come to Taiwan to learn about it? At best, it would be a watered down, twice removed Chinese culture. In fact, it would be a "Chinese culture" that had long since been absorbed into the fabric of what we ordinarily call Taiwanese culture, wouldn't it?

Ron Judy

Taoyuan County

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