Three decades ago, I could not even finish a 600m run and was mocked by my classmates for being effeminate because I did not like sports. To my utter shock, I was drafted into the Marine Corps, and for a three-year term, while others were only required to serve two. I stood there speechless as the conscripts around me erupted into thunderous applause, celebrating that there was one fewer Marine Corps slot left in the draw.
I was sent to a military academy for training, but I graduated top of my class. I also participated in the last formal military parade held on Double Ten National Day in 1991, marching in perfect step. I endured grueling training for six months. Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was in office at the time. Later, with the shortening of compulsory military service, I only ended up serving for two years and 45 days. I left the military with eight-pack abs and the rank of sergeant, and often went jogging near my home. My former classmates could hardly believe how much I had changed.
Military training taught me to calmly face many challenges in a highly competitive environment, and it was that experience that gave me the ability to repay my family’s debts after returning to civilian life.
Today, mandatory military service is significantly shorter and alternative service options are available. Many celebrities, such as singer-songwriter Chang Yu-sheng (張雨生), actors Ming Dao (明道) and Leon Dai (戴立忍), TV entertainer He Yi-hang (賀一航), TV show host Hu Gua (胡瓜) and actor and singer Greg Hsu (許光漢) all served in the military and maintained their fame after doing so.
Male celebrities who dodge their military duty should acknowledge their wrongdoing, apologize to society and complete their service to erase the dishonor of draft dodging.
Serving in the military is a duty one must fulfill. Rather than burying your head in the sand, it is better to face it head-on. At the very least, you do not have to worry about one day being exposed, ruining years of hard-earned success in the entertainment industry in a single instant. Nor would someone be able to hold such a thing over you later to blackmail you after you have earned your fame. A single act of foolishness can create endless trouble down the line — the wise avoid such behavior.
Jimmy Hsu is a farmer.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
On March 22, 2023, at the close of their meeting in Moscow, media microphones were allowed to record Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) telling Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin, “Right now there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Widely read as Xi’s oath to create a China-Russia-dominated world order, it can be considered a high point for the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea (CRINK) informal alliance, which also included the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba. China enables and assists Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s
After thousands of Taiwanese fans poured into the Tokyo Dome to cheer for Taiwan’s national team in the World Baseball Classic’s (WBC) Pool C games, an image of food and drink waste left at the stadium said to have been left by Taiwanese fans began spreading on social media. The image sparked wide debate, only later to be revealed as an artificially generated image. The image caption claimed that “Taiwanese left trash everywhere after watching the game in Tokyo Dome,” and said that one of the “three bad habits” of Taiwanese is littering. However, a reporter from a Japanese media outlet
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That is why there was huge applause in Taiwan when Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei” during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. What is standard protocol for most nations — calling a national team by the name their country is commonly known by — is impossible for
India is not China, and many of its residents fear it never will be. It is hard to imagine a future in which the subcontinent’s manufacturing dominates the world, its foreign investment shapes nations’ destinies, and the challenge of its economic system forces the West to reshape its own policies and principles. However, that is, apparently, what the US administration fears. Speaking in New Delhi last week, US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau warned that “we will not make the same mistakes with India that we did with China 20 years ago.” Although he claimed the recently agreed framework
RSS