Tainan at center of battle over authenticity

By Huang Tai-lin
STAFF REPORTER
Sunday, Dec 07, 2003, Page 3

Chinese Nationalist Party Chairman Lien Chan visits the Yitsai Fortress in Tainan in this photo from Oct. 5. TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

Tainan is to Taiwan what Kyoto is to Japan.

The first capital of Taiwan, Tainan was the political, cultural and economic center on the island from 1663 to 1885 under Koxinga (鄭成功) after the pirate-turned-patriot, of Chinese-Japanese descent, drove out the Dutch colonialist forces who had taken Tainan as their local headquarters from 1624 to 1662.

Although much of its glory and luster has faded since the capital was moved to Taipei in 1885, Tainan, which is still packed with a variety of historic sites, has nonetheless earned a reputation as the "Cultural city" (文化古都) of Taiwan.

A close look at the profiles of the two men that are locked in a two-cornered race to win the upcoming presidential election indicates that Tainan, whose multi-faceted history and rich cultural heritage has been closely intertwined with the development of the country, will again be inextricably linked to the nation's future.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), seeking re-election as the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate, was born in Tainan County. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), the pan-blue camp's presidential candidate, is registered as a resident of Tainan City. Given that Tainan County and Tainan City constitute one region, the upcoming election has seemingly become a competition between two people with a Tainan connection (台南人) vying for the nation's top job to lead Taiwan's 23 million people beyond March.

President Chen Shui-bian happily points at his picture in the junior high school graduation yearbook during a visit to an old classmate. TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO

Although the Greater Tainan area, with its approximate 1.3 million eligible voters, is not considered to be the decisive region that will determine the final outcome of the election, it remains an important strategic point for both the pan-green and the pan-blue camps.

Chen Shui-bian Born in Tainan County, Taiwan. Irregularities in a local election for a village mayor prompted Chen to make his first anti-KMT speech at a temple fair. Scored highest among all students in Taiwan on the Joint College Entrance Exam; moved to Taipei and attended National Taiwan University (NTU). Graduated from NTU with an outstanding performance award. Married Wu Shu-jen, daughter of a wealthy medical family, against her family's wishes.

As both Chen and Lien are publicizing it as their hometown, Tainan is the one place the two camps are fighting hard not to lose.

To the pan-green camp, the Greater Tainan area is its stronghold, which it must retain; to the pan-blue camp, Tainan's electoral outcome signifies the Taiwanese pro-localization ideology, which is a concept the blue camp strives to be identified with.

Lien Chan Born in Xian, Shanxi Province, China. Came back to Taiwan; attended the Jih-hsing Elementary School in Taipei. Entered National Taiwan University (NTU) to study political science. Received a masters degree from the University of Chicago. Received a PhD from the University of Chicago; married Fang Yu, Miss ROC for 1962.

"Tainan could be considered the birth place of Taiwan," said Lin Juei-ming (林瑞明), professor in the history department at the National Cheng Kung University.

Lin attributes much of Tainan's vivid pro-localization image to its rich history and the number of key events that have taken place there.

"Historical events experienced by Tainan have collectively and accumulatively formed a strong sense of democracy which has become profoundly rooted in the consciousness of Tainan's people," Lin said, citing events such as the Hsilaian Incident (西來庵事件) and the 228 Incident.

The Hsilaian Incident of 1915 marked the last big stand against Japanese colonization, with enormous casualties on the Taiwanese side.

The 228 Incident refers to a brutal military crackdown in 1947 on dissents protesting the corrupt administration of Chen Yi (陳儀), a governor that had been appointed by Chiang-Kai-shek (蔣介石) to help rebuild Taiwan after World War II.

Lin, who has also served as director of the National Museum of Taiwanese Literature (國 立 台 灣 文 學館) in Tainan, said it is not surprising that talents nurtured by Tainan have been strong in their "Taiwanese consciousness."

Prominent figures in Taiwanese literature, such as Yang Kui (楊逵) and Yeh Di (葉笛) are all residents of Tainan, as is Yeh Shih-tao (葉石濤), who was the first author to declare that all serious Taiwanese writers should have a "Taiwanese consciousness."

But Tainan has nurtured more than literary talents, Lin said.

On the political front, several well-known figures advocating Taiwanese independence also hail from Tainan.

Among their number are Wang Yu-te (王育德), scholar and political commentator; George Chang (張燦鍙), former mayor of Tainan as well as former chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence (台獨聯盟); and Hsu Jua-fon (許瑞峰), former chairman of the Formosan Association for Human Rights (全美人權協會).

Chen won the 2000 presidential election with 39 percent of the votes nationwide, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) -- who then ran as an independent -- took 36 percent, while Lien, the KMT's candidate, was a distant third with 23 percent.

The Choushui River is generally regarded as the dividing line between northern and southern Taiwan, with the latter considered to be a DPP stronghold.

Chen won the 2000 presidential election thanks to the support he garnered from the absolute majority of ballots cast in southern Taiwan. In Tainan City, Chen took 46.6 percent of the votes, while Lien had 25.9 percent and Soong 27.5 percent.

In Tainan County, Chen garnered 53.7 percent of the votes, leaving Lien (24.7 percent) and Soong (21.1 percent) far behind.

This time around, Lien is joining forces with his former foe, Soong, on a single ticket in an attempt to unseat Chen in the upcoming election, which is slated to take place on March 20.

In a bid to chip away at the pan-green camp's support in the Greater Tainan area, Lien's camp purposefully selected Tainan as the spot to kick off Lien's presidential campaign.

To strike a chord with fellow residents of Tainan and seek their support, Lien staged his first campaign rally in Tainan last month, saying "I am truly a Tainan person."

In addition to staging his first big campaign rally in Tainan, Lien, in a bid to bring home to local voters the message that he is bound to Tainan, also chose the Eternal Fortress as the background for his first campaign TV spot.

The fortress, built in 1876, is a popular historic site located in the Anping district of Tainan. Ching dynasty Fujian maritime commissioner Shen Bao-zhen (沈葆禎) ordered its construction to bolster Tainan's coastal defenses against Japanese aggression.

The TV spot, which features Lien strolling along a path at the fortress while showing images of old photos, was aimed at emphasizing the close connection between the people and the land. Its goal was also to show that Lien was setting out from his hometown and vying for the support and recognition of his fellow townsfolk.

Some locals argue otherwise, disputing Lien's claim of being a "Tainan person."

"Lien is not a Tainan person," said former DPP legislator Hsieh Chin-chun (謝錦川), who represents a constituency in Tainan County.

Although Lien's grandfather Lien Heng (連橫) was born in Tainan in 1878, Lien himself was born in Xian in China's Shanxi province in 1936. Lien Heng had moved to Xiamen in 1905 while Taiwan was under Japanese rule.

Lien was in China until 1946, when he returned to Taiwan with his family after Japan's defeat in World War II. Lien, then aged 10, was schooled in Taipei's Zu-hsin elementary school as a transferred sixth grader and pursued his subsequent education in Taipei. Lien's connections with Tainan, his ancestral home, seem slight to current Tainan residents.

"Not only is Lien not in Tainan personally, but his heart is not with Tainan either," Hsieh said.

"He has served in several high-ranking government positions, as Minister of Transportation, Premier and Vice President, but what significant effort or infrastructure improvements has he contributed to Tainan during all this time?" Hsieh asked.

Lien studied in the US for 10 years, obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Chicago and taught political science at the universities of Wisconsin and Connecticut.

Lien returned to Taiwan and his subsequent rise through the party and government ranks has seemed remarkable and smooth.

"He does not have the common touch like Chen," Hsieh said, adding that the common impression people in Tainan have of Lien is that he is "a rich kid" who does not know much about the plight of the poor.

"Chen, on the other hand, is the true Tainan person who was born in Tainan, grew up in Tainan and received his [secondary school] education in Tainan," Hsieh said.

Born in 1951 to a poverty-stricken family in Tainan County, Chen worked his way through and graduated from the Law School of National Taiwan University in 1974.

He formally launched his political career when he was elected to the Taipei City Council in 1981.

"Unlike places such as Taipei, which has a constant influx of people pouring in from other cities and counties, Tainan is a region in which the residents emigrate to other places," Hsieh said. "People in Tainan therefore share a strong sense of togetherness and identification with fellow townsfolk."

Saying that people in Tainan are susceptible to suggestion, as opposed to Taipei residents, who are in general more rational, Hsieh believes interpersonal relations thus plays a heavy role in the Tainan electorate's voting preferences.

DPP Legislator Lai Ching-te (賴清德), who received the second highest number of votes in Tainan in the 2001 legislative election, said that it was hard to shake the strong sense of identification shared by Tainan's people with publicity and campaign stunts.

"The very fact that Lien sees the need to stress that he is `a true Tainan person' suggested that he harbors a guilty conscience about his ties with Tainan," Lai said.

DPP Legislator Wang Sing-nan (王幸男), who received the highest number of votes in Tainan in the 2001 election, said "Lien only pretends to be a Tainan person when election time comes around."

Lin, speaking from a historical perspective, said "a person is only fit to be recognized as a Tainan person when she or he spends extensive time in Tainan and harbors a great sense of attachment with the place and the people here."

Given that Chen actually grew up and attended school in Tainan, Lin stated that Tainan residents would be more drawn to identify with Chen.

"Besides, Chen speaks Mandarin with a distinct Tainan accent, which is another element that tends to draw the people here to identify with him," Lin added.

Defending Lien's image as a Tainan person, Tsai Shu-ya (蔡淑雅), executive manager of the KMT's party office in Tainan, said that the only reason Lien does not permanently live in Tainan is because he has to work in Taipei.

"Just like any other person, when your job demands that you relocate, you have to move. It has nothing to do with you not loving your hometown," Tsai said, adding that Lien's family had contributed to Tainan's welfare by such actions as selling their property to help fend off Japanese aggression.

"To dismiss the public's misconception about Lien and his lack of ties with Tainan, we have bought space in a local daily to print a series of stories about Lien's youth, so that people can understand why he was away from Tainan so much," Tsai said.

With the presidential election less than four months away, Tsai said the blue camp's campaign strategy is to focus on garnering the support of undecided voters, which amounts to about 20 percent of the vote.

In addition to promoting Lien's policies at various spots around the city and staging of large-scale campaign rallies, Tsai said that "we will meanwhile schedule frequent visits for Lien to come back here and mingle with fellow Tainan townsmen."

Tsai said she believes that the more visits Lien makes to Tainan, the deeper the impression will be that he leaves with the city's people. It is hoped that they will eventually agree that he is indeed one of them.

Expressing optimism about Lien's overall electoral outlook in Tainan, Tsai said that KMT Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), who recently announced that he accepted the leadership of the KMT-PFP alliance's campaign team, is another plus to Lien's electoral outlook in Tainan.

Wang, a Kaohsiung County native, is regarded by many pan-blue supporters as the key representative of the KMT's pro-localization faction.

Pan-blue legislators said Wang's acceptance of the position was a big boost to the alliance's electoral outlook.

Noting that Wang enjoyed a lot of public support in central and southern Taiwan, KMT legislative leader Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) from Tainan City said "Wang's new post reflected the importance that the alliance attached to voters in central and southern Taiwan, where the pan-blues are traditionally weak."

KMT Legislator Wang Yu-ting (王昱婷) is heading the party's campaign in Tainan, with the campaign headquarters slated to open on Wednesday.

Former legislators To Cheng-jung (杜振榮), Chen Long-sheng (陳榮盛) and current Legislator Lin Nan-sheng (林南生) are among the figures slated to take up pivotal roles in the team bolstering Lien's presidential candidacy in Tainan.

Representing a constituency in Tainan County, KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) said that unemployment in Tainan County would dampen Chen's vote-drawing effect in his hometown.

Shen Jung-feng (沈榮鋒), the KMT's Tainan County chapter director, said Tainan County represents the weakest spot in the party's armor and that a hard battle will have to be fought here.

"We will try our best to promote Chen's candidacy and bolster his support in this region," Shen said.

According to its campaign office, the KMT will strengthen its organizational tactics to make up for its disadvantages in Tainan County.

The camp also is contemplating of seeking former Tainan County council speaker Chou Ching-wen (周清文) or Taipei City Bureau of Education Director Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) to head the alliance's campaign director in Tainan County. Although Wu had lost his bid running for county commissioner in 2001, the office said that he would still have a vote-pulling effect, given that he still enjoys a good reputation among the Tainan County residents and could intercept Chen's votes.

Countering Lien's strategy, Chen's camp arranged that he would visit Tainan shortly after Lien's rally.

During Chen's visit he invited his old high school classmates and teachers in Tainan to have dessert at the Lili Fruit shop (莉莉冰果店), a well-known 56 year-old shop in Tainan City.

With the scene fostering a warm and fragrant atmosphere of Chen sharing dessert with old-time friends, the Chen camp said that this would demonstrate who the real Tainan person is.

Tainan Mayor Hsu Tien-tsai (許添財), a DPP member, said he aims to get 60 percent of the votes for Chen in the election.

Apparently confident, Hsu, who is slated to serve as the party's campaign director in Tainan, said the party will vie for the undecided voters by periodically staging seminars around the city promoting Chen's ideals and policies.

Saying that fellow Tainan County residents have not been quite content with the DPP's Tainan County Commissioner Su Huan-chih (蘇煥智), Hsieh expressed concern that it might affect Chen's electoral outlook in Tainan County.

Noting that Tainan County is an agricultural region whose population consists mainly of farmers, DPP Legislator Cheng Kuo-chung (鄭國忠), representative of a constituency in Tainan County, noted that Taiwan's accession to the WTO this year has affected the region's agricultural industry, not necessarily for the better. If unemployment does not improve soon, Cheng said, these issues might impact negatively on Chen's votes.

However, Cheng said, Chen knows better than to lower his guard and treat his hometown lightly.

To both Chen and Lien, Tainan means more than just an electoral battle. It is also a personal trial for them, testing their identity as "Tainan people" in the eyes of residents of the area. How will the people of Tainan view Chen and Lien? The answer will only be truly revealed on March 20, when they go to the polls and cast their votes.