Symbols of selling oneself
There is a scene in the TV series My Fair Princess (還珠格格) where a woman places a piece of grass in her hair to signify selling herself to obtain the money needed to bury her father. The act has meaning in the context of the culture; there is nothing random about it.
In ancient times, when education was accessible to a limited few, the majority were illiterate, and the various dialects people spoke added to the communication difficulties. When verbal language fails in the act of communication, visual language steps in. Therefore, the practice of placing a piece of grass next to something became a customary symbol indicating that it was for sale.
We can see this in many Chinese classical texts, such as Yang Chih (楊志) in the 14th-century novel Water Margin (水滸傳) selling an heirloom sword to get by; Fan Chin (范進) in the 18th-century novel The Scholars (儒林外史) selling a hen, the only thing of value in his household, to feed his family, and Chin Chiung (秦瓊) in the 17th-century Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties (隋唐演義) selling his beloved horse to survive. They all put a “grass sign” on the goods to indicate that they were for sale.
In ancient China, people sold more than just objects. Poor families might even have to resort to selling their children in exchange for food and clothing. To do so, they put a grass sign on their children’s heads to indicate that they were selling their children, and then rich families would buy them as servants or slaves.
Back then, there was also the phenomenon of “selling oneself to bury one’s father” — often by kneeling next to their father’s body and praying to kindhearted people to buy them into bondage so that they could obtain the money for funeral expenses.
Both “selling one’s children” and “selling oneself to bury one’s father” were only seen in ancient China and are not allowed under modern law.
In the Jan. 1 rallies initiated by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) across Taiwan in support of TPP presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), young Ko supporters, called “little grass,” not only held signs and props, but wore hairbands with plastic slivers of grass on their heads.
I found that to be a disconcerting sight. I am no stodgy conservative, sticking rigidly to old doctrines, but being aware of the cultural context described in the aforementioned stories, putting a grass sign on the head of a young person is best avoided.
Chuang Yu-sen
Taipei
A poll worker’s perspective
I was engaged in election work for more than 30 years before retirement. During my career at a local district office after passing the national civil service examination, I served as a borough secretary and chief of the civil affairs section.
Since the 1980s, I often served as the “administrator” and “chief administrator” of polling stations, responsible for the district’s election work as well as the city’s election center. Administrators and chief administrators of polling stations are selected from the civil servants of a district office, and the “chief supervisors” are selected from the civil servants of other grassroots government organizations and public elementary school and high-school teachers, while the “security guards” are police officers dispatched by police stations.
Unlike chief supervisors, regular supervisors are mostly recommended by candidates and parties, and they are considered civil servants when they work at polling stations. All poll workers are required to be trained on election affairs.
Thus, all poll workers are civil servants on election day. In addition to the supervisors monitoring the voting, supervisors recommended by candidates and parties also monitor each other to see if there is any legal contravention.
Before polling stations open at 8am, the chief administrator and chief supervisor must open the ballot boxes to show voters that they are empty.
During voting, the voters must present their ID cards to receive and cast their ballots before the 4pm voting deadline. From sealing, opening, picking, reading, recording and counting the ballots to filling out the polling report and posting the announcement at polling stations, the process must be completed in a fair, just, open and transparent manner.
Any civil servant who serves as a poll worker that breaks the law and is convicted by a court not only forgoes their credit and pension, they also serve a prison sentence, bringing disgrace and ruin upon themselves. Who would be willing to violate the law by engaging in vote-rigging?
Chiang Wei-chen
Taipei
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