In response to the arrogance of the Ministry of Education, which refuses to withdraw its “micro-adjustments” to the high-school curriculum guidelines, students from nearly 300 high schools as well as members of educational and social groups surrounded the ministry on Wednesday evening in a determined display of their demands. Not only was this a rare sight, it could also be seen as advance notice of a new era.
A publication entitled Taiwan Youth (台灣青年) was founded in Tokyo almost a century ago, on July 16, 1920. Funded by several landlords, such as Tsai Hui-ju (蔡惠如) and Lin Hsien-tang (林獻堂), the magazine was published by a group of Taiwanese studying in Japan, including Tsai Pei-huo (蔡培火), Lin Cheng-lu (林呈祿) and Peng Hua-ying (彭華英).
By using the word “youth” in its name, the magazine showed an affinity with earlier organizations, such as Young Italy and Young China (少年中國) and publications such as the New Youth (新青年).
Later, the magazine was transformed into the publications Taiwan (台灣), Taiwan Minpao (台灣民報) and, finally, the Taiwan New Minpao (台灣新民報), serving as the main channel for publications related to the new literature and cultural movement in Taiwan, and a battlefield for the anti-Japanese culture movement.
In this era, young Taiwanese were outstanding as they shined in both cultural and political domains. Although the governments before and after World War II had a strict and conservative attitude toward national education, “Taiwan awareness” took root and sprouted in the educational domain following Taiwan’s first change in government in 2000. Hence, the high-school curriculum “micro-adjustments” that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government has insisted on in recent years and that have caused a series of disputes, can be seen both as a transformation and continuance of the Chinese colonization of Taiwan’s educational system and as the last attack of a dying beast.
Regardless of how controversy over the “micro-adjustments” to the high-school curriculum ends, the issue has succeeded in motivating people in cultural circles, professors, writers, and high-school history and civil ethics teachers opposed to the adjustments to protest in public. Even senior-high and vocational school students are taking concrete action and joining the campaign to show their determination to safeguard educational autonomy, and that is an unexpected positive result.
What deserves people’s greater attention is that, apart from the past focus on political and economic issues, young Taiwanese have extended their focus of attention to environmental, media, educational and cultural issues. They have displayed a broader intellectual approach and vision than older generations. That being so, perhaps it is possible to optimistically conclude that a new era is undoubtedly coming; the door has already been kicked opened.
Na Su-phoh is a volunteer worker at the Northern Taiwan Society.
Translated by Eddy Chang
With each passing day, the threat of a People’s Republic of China (PRC) assault on Taiwan grows. Whatever one’s view about the history, there is essentially no question that a PRC conquest of Taiwan would mark the end of the autonomy and freedom enjoyed by the island’s 23 million people. Simply put, the PRC threat to Taiwan is genuinely existential for a free, democratic and autonomous Taiwan. Yet one might not know it from looking at Taiwan. For an island facing a threat so acute, lethal and imminent, Taiwan is showing an alarming lack of urgency in dramatically strengthening its defenses.
More than seven months into the armed conflict in Gaza, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take “immediate and effective measures” to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the risk of genocide following a case brought by South Africa regarding Israel’s breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The international community, including Amnesty International, called for an immediate ceasefire by all parties to prevent further loss of civilian lives and to ensure access to life-saving aid. Several protests have been organized around the world, including at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and many other universities in the US.
Every day since Oct. 7 last year, the world has watched an unprecedented wave of violence rain down on Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories — more than 200 days of constant suffering and death in Gaza with just a seven-day pause. Many of us in the American expatriate community in Taiwan have been watching this tragedy unfold in horror. We know we are implicated with every US-made “dumb” bomb dropped on a civilian target and by the diplomatic cover our government gives to the Israeli government, which has only gotten more extreme with such impunity. Meantime, multicultural coalitions of US
I still remember the first time I heard about the possibility of an invasion by China. I was six years old. I thought war was coming and hid in my bed, scared. After 18 years, the invasion news tastes like a sandwich I eat every morning. As a Gen Z Taiwanese student who has witnessed China’s harassment for more than 20 years, I want to share my opinion on China. Every generation goes through different events. I have seen not only the norms of China’s constant presence, but also the Sunflower movement, wars and people fighting over peace or equality,