Sun, Nov 30, 2014 page8

• Lien’s Ming analogy a portent of dark future

  • By Bob Kuo 郭峰淵
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  Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) was right. At least, he was right last year, when he compared the government to the Ming Dynasty. He would have shown even greater scholarship had he compared the government specifically with the late phase of the Ming Dynasty, directly before its collapse.

  Near the end of the Ming Dynasty, officials at all levels often fought against each other for power. Students would sell out their teachers, friends would stab each other in the back, parents would sell their daughters for money and relatives would betray each other.

  Let’s take a look at the example of Zhang Juzheng (張居正), a premier during the Ming Dynasty. Zhang reformed China’s tax system by implementing a unified “one-lash law” and almost doubled the country’s tax revenue and land. After significantly improving the country’s financial situation, he was promoted to the supreme post of “grand master” by the emperor.

  At first this enabled the Ming Dynasty to grow and stand strong against foreign enemies. After Zhang died, however, all his family members suffered in the ensuing power struggles. His eldest son, Zhang Jingxiu (張敬修), was cruelly tortured in prison and committed suicide, and his second son, Zhang Sixiu (張嗣修), was exiled and later died of illness. Even more tragically, the Zhang family’s women and children were locked in their home — and starved to death.

  Another relevant example from the Ming era is general Qi Jiguang (戚繼光), who was famous for his glorious defeat of Japanese pirates. Qi was a military leader in charge of protecting the country. However, because he was promoted by the elder Zhang, he was squeezed out and transferred to Guangdong Province after the grand master died. The general lived out his life in poverty as he had no money to seek medical assistance, and eventually even his wife deserted him. In 1644, nearly 60 years after Qi’s death in 1588, the Ming Dynasty collapsed.

  Looking at the situation in Taiwan in the run-up to the nine-in-one elections, it seems everyone has gone mad.

  During the televised debate between Lien and independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) earlier this month, an associate professor of political science at National Taiwan University (NTU) volunteered to act as a “hitman” and allegedly revealed the question he was going to put to Lien at the event. Politicians accused members of Ko’s family — average Taiwanese people — of having been imperial officials serving the Japanese emperor during the Japanese colonial era, calling them “traitors” (漢奸) to Taiwan. Some young people pursuing freedom and fairness were defamed and smeared by the rich and powerful with vested interests. A physician-turned-legislator claimed that Ko had removed donors’ organs at NTU Hospital before they were pronounced dead. The list goes on.

  It seems that the elections are undermining the foundation of Taiwan’s educational and healthcare systems — not to mention society at large — and the nation now looks just like the Ming Dynasty did — just before it fell into entropy.

  Is Lien a prophet who foresaw how Taiwan would follow in the footsteps of the Ming Dynasty, or does he just continue to follow the Ming Dynasty script although he knows full well that it led to the dynasty’s fall from power and its destruction? Is there a future for Taiwan if he gains power?

  The Taipei mayoral election is not only a test of the intelligence of all Taipei residents — the results will also be an indication of whether Taiwan will have a brighter future.

  Bob Kuo is a professor in the Department of Information Management at National Sun Yat-sen University.

  Translated by Eddy Chang
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