One question that I'm most frequently asked abroad is: "Are you Chinese?" and whoever that question comes from, I always respond with, "No, I'm Taiwanese." Though, to some extent, this is the answer that some Taiwanese might say otherwise, and this has always been controversial.
The "official" country name of where I came from is actually Republic of China (ROC), whilst the China that the world knows of would be People's Republic of China (PRC). Hence, theoretically speaking, and according to our constitution, Taiwan is an island that's within the territory of ROC. That is to say, in theory, Taiwanese to Chinese is like New Yorkers to Americans, if that makes sense. Though you do not see any New Yorkers out there claiming that they're not Americans, do you?
We call ourselves Taiwanese and we say that we are from Taiwan to set us apart from China, a "country" that constantly claims that we are their own. And hell, if you walk down the street and ask people if they know what Republic of China is, I'm almost certain that no one will get it right, while most people have an idea or two about Taiwan. Other than that, you also wouldn't see ROC listed under "country" when you have to sign up for something, when there would be Taiwan.
According to one China policy, there's only one legal government of China in the world. PRC claims they're the one and vise versa. To be honest, I just find that ridiculous.
To some degree, we call ourselves Taiwan to bypass the one China policy. That's why you may have heard of the slogan "UN for Taiwan." Personally, I just don't like the term "China." No offense to all the Chinese out there, and I will always refer myself as Taiwanese, even though all of our IDs have Republic of China on it. Yes. This is very complicated.
Politics aside, calling myself Taiwanese is also part of my pride. We are a democratic country, we elected our first ever female president, we are about to be the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, our food is some of the best (and cheap), we are probably one of the most friendly nations toward foreigners, our metro system is most likely the cleanest one in the world, and everything in Taiwan is just so convenient that you'll be able to just "walk" out of your place at three in the morning to find food to eat if you're hungry and buy another pack of beers if you ran out (You can actually survive without owning a car).
However, I still acknowledge that we have our flaws. We claim that we are so welcoming toward others, but racism still lies within. In this case, that's toward the so called "new immigrants," or workers from southeast Asia. We are divided, in some way. Politics made us this way. And you may have seen it on the news that our legislators turned the legislative convention into a bullfight—literally.
We have our flaws, like most countries do. However, the thing here is, no matter how messed up other countries may be, their citizens all have a privilege that us Taiwanese don't —to proudly say where they come from without possibility being challenged and having the conversation turned into a political debate. And sometimes, it's absolutely amazing to find how ignorant people are.
About the Creator
Keep reading
More stories from writers in The Swamp and other communities.
Iran and Israel: Still Playing A Dangerous Game.
Hezbollah started out as a resistance movement to Israel. Since then the militia has grown steadily backed, supported, and supplied by Iran. Hezbollah and Israel fought a war in 2006, that ended in a stalemate. However, some historians believe that Hezbollah won that war. A UN- brokered ceasefire brought this conflict to an end.
By Nicholas Bishopa day ago in The Swamp
Rivers of Death
Rivers bring water the element essential to all life on Earth but wherever rivers flow they also bring death surprise attacks Savage kills and brutal fights every day is a battle for survival on these rivers of [Applause] death I'm under the African Sun Staying Alive is hot thirsty work and among the ranks of animals jostling to get a drink lurk Killers waiting to strike but while Lions may be fearsome and the huge Nile crocodiles ruthless Predators one of the continent's deadliest River Killers is mostly vegetarian renowned wallowers spending up to 16 hours a day lounging in the water hippos could be mistaken for relaxed creatures and yet the river horse as their name translates from ancient Greek can be a very angry pony indeed with tusks up to a foot and a half long hippos are literally armed to the teeth and a charging bull Hipp can impact with the weight force of a pickup truck what's more hippos May brutally defend their territory an Impala has been chased into a muddy Watering Hole by a lion it's stuck but for fortunately for the stricken analou the lion is reluctant to follow it into the Meer unfortunately it finds itself in the domain of a hippo ill disposed to uninvited guests the hippo's not stealing the watching Lion's meal she's most likely just aggressively defending her calf and the Impala pays the ultimate price for crossing a doting mother hippos are thought to kill more people each year than the rest of Africa's most dangerous animals combined and during mating season their ruthless aggression is directed at other hippos two bulls square up the pod's dominant male and a Challenger at stake the Riverbanks Prime mating territory and a Herm of females the dominant male puts on an aggressive display posturing to show he will not yield but the interloper Demands a fight finally the dominant male is Victorious the Conqueror celebrates with a dung shower marking the border of the territory he has successfully defended while the vanquished suffers more than just the agony of defeat his back is carved open and by Sunset the crocodiles are watching closely they'd be unlikely to take on a bull in rude Health but now they Circle an expectation the hippo breathes his last the price of insurrection is life his Hulk will not go to waste the crocodiles move in swiftly to Feast on the corpse for these voracious Predators it's a considerable meal but one dead hippo is a mere snack compared with the annual Feast provided by a particular African river each year the serengetti vast grass Plains filled to the Horizon with grazing animals taking part in one of Nature's greatest spectacles around 1 and2 million wilder beast join 700,000 other herbivores on the Great Migration around 1 in six of these migrants will die before completing the 500 M circuit many are outrun and taken down down by Africa's formidable array of Savannah carnivores their Journey coming to a Grizzly end but one of the deadliest single obstacles the vast herds must Traverse is the mara River after 3 months on the move the wilderbeast are exhausted and emaciated all that separates them from the Fresh pastures of the msai mara is the width of the river and a whole bunch of huge ravit Nile crocodiles despite the chilling threat posed by these powerful Predators some of the herd are either oblivious to the danger or so thirsty they dare to take a drink anyway for an unlucky few it will be their last and these witless victims merely wet the Croc's appetite the true Feast begins when the first of the herd Braves the river in the crush and Chaos of the crossing the 16t Crocs grabs scores of victims when 1,600 lb of musc futile the marus Crocs survive on meager rations for most of the year so take full advantage of the great migrations time of Plenty they Gorge themselves eating up to half their body weight in one sitting and with so many different species crossing the river the banquet is as varied as it is Bountiful but not all Africa's Crocs have such an easy meal ticket on the banks of this Kenyon River a Croc has got too close to a pack of feeding Lions a move it's about to regret it's a fierce attack but the Crocs skin is covered in bony armor plating eventually the Lion's Uninvited Guest Retreats having taught the Crocs and dinner manners the big cats return to the carcass the Amazon is a giant of a river and and conceal some monstrous Predators which kill with a crush and in a bloody frenzy draining a lowland Basin of close to 3 million square miles around 1/5 of the water that runs off the earth's surface is carried by the Amazon this giant of a river is renowned for its oversized residence both prey and Predator around 4 ft long and and weighing as much as an adult human capibara are the world's largest rodent they're
By cacloaidongvata day ago in The Swamp
Winner's Circle: Prompted #3
INTRODUCTION Prompted: #3 is over and done with. There were a total of 7 entries for this challenge, just like with Prompted #2. That was a bit surprising, considering this was a poetry challenge. The first poetry challenge garnered much more attention. Of course, one way to look at the drop in participation is that Vocal writers are not fans of the rondel.
By Randy Baker2 days ago in Writers
Comments
There are no comments for this story
Be the first to respond and start the conversation.