Whitney Houston sang all her songs in English, but you do not need to understand a word of English to appreciate her heavenly voice. Who could help smiling Charlie Chaplin’s antics, or at Pink Panther cartoons, even when there is no dialogue? Indeed, entertainment reaches its pinnacle when it transcends borders.
If they are talented enough, Taiwanese entertainers can perform anywhere in Southeast and Northeast Asia, and some, such as rock band Chthonic, get to perform still farther afield in Europe and the US. Probably the only country where Taiwanese people might face prejudice and be denied entry or be banned from performing is China.
Many Taiwanese entertainers have been boycotted by China on political grounds. Some of the better-known cases are pop diva Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹) — better known as A-mei — who upset China by singing the Republic of China (ROC) national anthem at Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) presidential inauguration in 2000; singer-songwriter Deserts Chang (張懸), after she displayed the ROC national flag when singing in the UK in 2013; indie icon Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), after he went to the Legislative Yuan to support the 2014 Sunflower movement protesters, who were occupying the legislature in protest of backroom negotiations over the cross-strait service trade agreement; and K-pop star Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), after she held the ROC flag while appearing in a South Korean variety show in 2015.
The most recent case involves singer and actress Ruby Lin (林心如), who produces and plays the leading role in the GTV drama series My Dear Boy (我的男孩) and has accepted received a subsidy of NT$20 million (US$679,579) from the Ministry of Culture, which was seen in China as an action in support of Taiwanese independence.
Sadly for Taiwanese entertainers, it is difficult or impossible for them to draw a clear line between politics and entertainment. When China decides to boycott or suppress a particular entertainer, there is little point in asking why. What is more interesting is to observe how the targeted person in each case reacts to China’s boycott or suppression.
Chou, who was 16 years old at the time of her “national flag incident,” had only just started out in life. How much could she understand about politics? She was obviously shocked when Chinese suddenly decided to turn against her. Her company released a video in which she read an apology from a script that she was holding.
“I have always felt proud of being Chinese,” Chou said
Many heavily pregnant “proud Chinese” travel to give birth in Californian maternity centers, so that their babies can automatically become US citizens. All members of the family of Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), holds a Canadian passport.
Members of China’s “high-end population” probably did not know whether to laugh or cry when they heard Chou naively saying, “I have always felt proud of being Chinese.”
Although A-mei disassociated herself from politics by saying “I am just a singer, but I have been painted with political colors” and “I am not a political person,” she did not say anything to betray or sell out Taiwan.
Apparently, China was not satisfied with that and still boycotted her for four years.
Lu’s record company, Team Ear Music, issued a statement stressing that Lu had never taken part in any political discussions, expressed strong political opinions or said that he was not afraid of being boycotted.
Compared with what A-mei said, this statement had a more pleading air about it, but it could not erase the video footage of Lu expressing his support for the Sunflower movement. For China to let the matter drop, Lu would have had to act even more contrary to his artistic conscience by going back on what he had said at the time of the protests.
Lin’s anxious statement that she never has and never will support Taiwanese independence marks a new step in the evolution of placatory techniques, but it remains to be seen whether the statement can satisfy both sides, or whether she will end up being snubbed by Taiwan as well as China.
By contrast, you have to take your hat off to Chang for the firm stance she has taken in similar circumstances. Instead of bowing down and begging for forgiveness in the face of China’s repression, she became even bolder in voicing support for the Sunflower movement and Hong Kong’s “Umbrella movement.”
By her practical actions, Chang tells us that it is more important for entertainers to support causes and stick to their ideals than to blindly pursue wealth. She shows that although entertainment knows no national borders, that does not mean that entertainers have no motherland.
Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired associate professor of National Hsinchu University of Education and a former deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Association of University Professors.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Developing nations around the world are grappling with a choice of allegiance to the US or China on matters of trade, financing and security. Nowhere is that tougher than in Argentina. The South American country’s 276 percent inflation, history of sovereign bond defaults and six recessions over the past decade have made it more financially dependent on Beijing than any of its neighbors in Latin America, where the US has lost ground to China. Eight months ago, Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei vowed he would curb ties with China if he became Argentina’s leader. “Would you trade with an assassin?” he asked.
For fans of the aesthetic, Taiwan is hailed as a pilgrimage destination for all things cute. Not just Hello Kitty, but cutesy characters of all kinds are just as common in the alleys of Taipei’s trendy Ximending (西門町) area as on the desk of a bank employee. Visitors are sometimes taken aback by its ubiquity, especially in the hallowed halls of business or government, but the cognitive dissonance resonant in the minds of many Westerners appears to be absent in Taiwan. The aesthetic of cuteness seems entwined into the nation’s very fabric. The trend is by no means exclusive to Taiwan. Neighbor
An earthquake that measured 7.2 on the Richter scale struck the east coast of Taiwan on Wednesday morning and was felt across the nation. Thirteen deaths had been confirmed as of Saturday, with more than 1,000 people injured and hundreds stranded or trapped, mainly in the remote and mountainous areas of Hualien County. It was the strongest earthquake since the 921 Earthquake, which measured 7.3 on the Richter scale and struck central Taiwan on Sept. 11, 1999, resulting in more than 2,400 deaths and destroying tens of thousands of buildings. While most local media have focused on updates on the details
Ursula K. le Guin in The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas proposed a thought experiment of a utopian city whose existence depended on one child held captive in a dungeon. When taken to extremes, Le Guin suggests, utilitarian logic violates some of our deepest moral intuitions. Even the greatest social goods — peace, harmony and prosperity — are not worth the sacrifice of an innocent person. Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), since leaving office, has lived an odyssey that has brought him to lows like Le Guin’s dungeon. From late 2008 to 2015 he was imprisoned, much of this