A small shop located in Taipei's Gongguan area, Taiouan Shop (
Its floor and shelves are stocked with books and bric-a-brac that reflect a strong Taiwanese consciousness; books in Hakka and Hoklo, tomes on local folk music, maps of Taiwan, diction-aries and objects considered
important to local culture.
PHOTO: GINGER YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
For the unacquainted, a quick peek is all that's needed to figure out where the store owner's
sympathies lie.
Its shelves are replete with books rarely found in other stores, including publications from county cultural centers and books that were saved from
PHOTO: GINGER YANG, TAIPEI TIMES
martial law period censors.
Taiouan Shop has a strong selection of books by ben tu (本土) authors, a literary tradition that arose from the Japanese occu-pation period and focuses on parochial issues of Taiwan life and on the nation's unique history and identity. It is clear that this is not a market-driven operation, but a realization of one person's dream.
"Some scholars from China criticized us by saying Taiwan has no culture. I wanted to prove them wrong. So even though I lose money, I sell these books by (ben tu) authors," said the owner Goo Seng-sam, 64.
In Mandarin, Goo's name is Wu Cheng-san (吳成三), but he prefers the Hoklo version. He founded the Taiouan Shop in 1993 with his wife Huang Miao-ling (黃妙齡). The Romanized name of the store is Taiouan, which uses the Siraya Aboriginal language. His choice reflects his belief in the need to preserve Taiwan's ethnic minority cultures.
"I create a `small land' that allows people to purchase stuff about Taiwan conveniently -- sometimes, people thank me for selling books that cannot be found elsewhere," Goo said with a smile, "I take their money, but they still thank me."
Sitting in his "small land" in an alley off Xinsheng South Road, Goo appears no different from other storekeepers, and it is hard to believe that he received his doctorate in computer
science from Columbia University in New York 40 years ago (at a time when there were only four or five such degree holders in Taiwan, he says) and has been a professor at National Cheng Kung University (
Why did he leave academia? "When I was abroad, seeing Taiwanese culture constantly being denigrated by external forces, I was unable to concentrate on my scientific research anymore," he said.
Then there was his experience of the anti-war movement while he was attending Columbia Uni-versity. This taught him that demo-cratic movements could have a positive impact on his homeland.
When Goo came back to Taiwan in 1980, he became a political activist, and took an active part in the demonstrations and street protests that were instrumental in bringing about the repeal of martial law in 1988.
"I joined virtually every
demonstration, such as the 520 protest parade, the Wild Lily Student Movement (
"During the Wild Lily Student Movement, when students demonstrated at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, I protected my students there," Goo recalled.
Unlike many of his comrades, he was not seeking political
success, but instead decided to dedicate himself to preserving local culture by opening this Taiwan-themed bookstore,
selling things that were ignored by the mainstream market.
When his friend Sakinu, a Paiwan Aborigine, was trying to find a publisher for Mountain Pig, Flying Fox, Sakinu (山豬.飛鼠.撒可努), it was repeatedly rejected. Goo used his contacts in the media to promote the book. It has since been published and chapters of the book have been incorporated into Taiwan's junior high textbook and the Chinese-language course book for Harvard University's Chinese language-program.
Sakinu drew scenes of aboriginal life and mythology to thank Goo, which the activist bookstore owner printed on
T-shirts, which have since become very popular. The T-shirts produced by Taiouan Shop can be purchased at CKS Airport souvenir shops, the National Center for Traditional Arts (國立傳統傳藝中心), and other major tourist spots.
Other items that Goo has developed are post cards featuring an ancient image of Taiwan designed by Chin Cheng-te (秦政德), who also created the wild lily symbol for the student movement, and a series of T-shirts designed by Ou Hsiu-hsiung (歐秀雄), who designed the Democratic Progressive Party's official flag (黨旗), with the shape of Taiwan island on the front.
The revenue from these T-shirts makes up for the loss he makes on book sales. Sometimes a big deal comes through. "I made 1.4 million head bands and 25,000 T-shirts for the hand-in-hand parade in 2004. More than 1 million Taiwanese formed a 500km-long human chain to protest China's deployment of missiles along the coast," Goo added, "I think what I do meets the needs of this society, so when I have trouble making ends meet, something shows up to help me."
Just last month, while attending the International Conference on History and Culture of Taiwan (台灣歷史與文化國際會議), Goo garnered an order to make caps for the United Nations for Taiwan
Champaign (台灣加入聯和國促進會).
Goo attends many such seminars to gather information about newly released books. When he discovers something that is
significant to Taiwan's history or culture, he calls the publisher so he can stock the book.
This desire for completeness extends to preserving images of major Taiwan-related activities. He has a large-format printer at the back of his shop which he uses to print poster-sized images of photos taken at the hand-in-hand rally on Feb. 28, 2004. "Large pictures are more powerful than small ones," he said.
Ultimately, it's Goo's dreams that sustain him. "I live a simple life, using most of my time to
realize my little dream." For Goo, his shop, with its books, knick-knacks and big posters of demon-strations, is a wonderland for an idealistic activist.
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