Because blandness is the book's central weakness, the criticisms of Taipei represent its strongest suit. One of the sharpest of these comes from Indonesian Tony Thamsir. His job is to help contract workers solve their problems, and he states "It seems to be an Asian tradition to exploit workers ... Foreign workers," he continues, "are invited guests and are not the enemy." These forthright remarks are worth the book's price in themselves.
A comment that I suspect goes to the heart of why so many Western expats are happy in Asia comes from lawyer Brian Kennedy. Here he's special, he writes, whereas at home in California he's no one in particular. Another telling remark comes from Canadian environmentalist Pierre Loisel when he honestly confesses, to his delight, the fact that "the streets of Taipei are filled with female works of art."
For the rest, writers Kondo Tomoko and Marie Feliciano both like stinky tofu, Dutch puppet-master Robin Ruizendaal (who describes himself as a "conservative hippy") approves of the increasing funkiness of the young, translator Johannes Twellmann appreciates the National Library, and editor Angela Peterson even enjoys the rain.
Because many readers will know some of them personally, here's a list of the contributors: Marie Feliciano, Jerome F. Keating, Brian Kennedy, Father Jean Lefeuvre, Ted Lipman, Pierre Loisel, Angela Peterson, Robin Ruizendaal, Ruan Yan-Juan, Tony Thamsir, Kondo Tomoko, Johannes Twellmann, John Van Deursen, Earl Wieman and Jeffrey R. Williams.
Far and away the most memorable of the contributions is from the Jesuit priest and scholar Father Jean Lefeuvre. He's been in Taiwan for 50 years and speaks of the depth of Taiwanese friendship ("If you are a friend of a local person you are friends forever. Friendship continues until death"), of the local style of reaching consensus and then working together, and of how the strength of the family, and especially that of the mother, pervades local life.
Another contributor attests to the generosity of the Taiwanese. It's impossible to out-give them, he states. They'll always give you more than anything you manage to give to them.
In view of recent events, Father Lefeuvre provides a fittingly up-beat note to end on. He praises the people for Taipei's political development, and adds "You have become free men in a new world."
All things considered, it's impossible to disagree, and it's enormously uplifting to see the normal good-nature of Taipei people reasserting itself after the difficult post-election days.
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