The mouth of the Tamsui River has long been a strategic location, as the gateway into the Taipei Basin from the sea, and a rare natural harbor on the north coast of Taiwan. This is why, over the centuries, the strip of land on the right bank of the river, next to the river-mouth, has been visited and claimed by waves of acquisitive interlopers: the Spanish, the Dutch, the Tung-Ning Kingdom, the Qing, western merchants, and the Japanese. Many other parts of Taiwan have had the same historical succession, but few of them show it as well as Tamsui does.
On weekends, if the weather is nice, thousands of tourists flock to this town, once known as Huwei or Hobe, and enjoy visiting the very old temples, narrow winding streets, 19th century buildings, forts, and battlegrounds, along with the lovely mountain and sunset views, of course. As a long-term Tamsui expat, I have had the chance to learn a bit more about the history behind the tourist sites. One of my best sources for this has been the English-language blog called “The Battle of Fisherman’s Wharf” (a humorous title, as there was no actual battle of that name) written by a Taiwanese-American amateur historian. His full name is Hong-Ming Cheng, but he often goes by the online nickname “EyeDoc,” as he is an expert in (among other things) the field of ophthalmology. He is a true “Tamsui-lang” (Taiwanese for “Danshui-ren” or “Danshuite” as we might say in English) as he was born and grew up here as a child.
MAIN PHOTO FROM THE BLOG
EyeDoc’s blog is highly regarded by local history buffs as a cornucopia of fascinating nuggets of information and hard-to-find maps, documents, and photos from the past. From 2009 to 2019, he made 351 posts, garnering more than 100,000 visits. The meticulously-researched articles are mostly Tamsui-focused, from a local perspective. But many also touch on issues of wider regional scope. There is a great variety of content, including, but not limited to: interactions between the Han and indigenous people; local Tamsui traditions – such as fishing and temple events – and persons of note, like famous doctors, teachers, and leaders; lesser-known features of famous buildings, such as Fort San Domingo and the Qingshui Temple; and the doings and sayings of important westerners like Canadian missionary Dr. George Leslie Mackay, British tea-merchant John Dodd, (“the father of Formosa Oolong”) and British consul Alexander Frater. Most notably, it includes detailed coverage of the Battle of Tamsui, October 2-8, 1884, in which the French attacked the town in an unsuccessful attempt to make it a bargaining chip in the Sino-French War. And also, very significantly, it contains an unusually insightful and empathetic look at the social history of Tamsui and Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period, 1895-1945. There’s also stuff about the origins and ingredients in local food and beverages, the history of the cultivation of tea and rice, and much more.
ELDERLY INDIGENOUS WOMAN IN MIAOLI, 1950s (BOFW)
It’s a huge and varied buffet of information, but here are just a few tidbits, some of my favorite interesting discoveries from the Battle of Fisherman’s Wharf. (Links to the blog provided.)
1) The Delta
There used to be an island in the Tamsui river just offshore from the main well-known riverside area, that men sometimes swam out to on a dare. It was called “the Delta,” and it had grass and even the grave of an orphan who had drowned nearby. It is gone now, with the leading theories on how it disappeared being either the rush of water following blasting work at Guandu in 1964 to widen the river channel, or aggressive commercial sand dredging in the river. In any case, now there are only exposed sandbars that appear at low tide.
WARTIME JAPANESE MAP OF TAMSUI SHOWING THE DELTA(BOFW)
This discovery tuned me in to the fact that the river is always changing, usually through human activity. Earlier maps don’t show the Delta, but the Japanese era map shown above did, corroborating old timers’ accounts. Did development of the Taipei Basin under the Qing lead to a build-up of silt, which caused the Delta to form?
2) Cheng shall not marry Shi!
To this day, members of the Cheng (older pinyin for Zheng) family in Taiwan are forbidden by custom from marrying members of the Shi family (施). This is due to historical events long ago. Shi Lang (施琅) was a 17th century Fujianese admiral of noble birth. According to EyeDoc, Shi Lang had a run-in with Zheng Cheng-gong (Koxinga), while serving in the military commanded by his father, Zheng Zhi-long. Shi Lang had refused a direct order, so Zheng Cheng-gong ordered his death, as well as that of his father, brother, and son. Shi Lang alone escaped execution, and defected to the enemy Qing. Decades later, he directly aided the Qing in their October 3rd, 1683, conquest of the Kingdom of Tung-Ning on Taiwan, ruled by Zheng Cheng-gong’s descendants. Promoted to Marquis, Shi Lang harshly governed large portions of the developed land in Taiwan for his own profit.
SHI LANG (Wikipedia)
With all this bad blood between the two families, it is no wonder that they decided to keep their distance, at least back in that historical period. What is surprising is that this prohibition is still customary for many families, to this day.
For example, In 2009, a woman surnamed Shi, in love with a man from the Zheng family, had to change her name to Lin in order for the families to allow the marriage.
I find this interesting because it reveals a kind of cultural memory process of long-ago events, like a wave, perpetuated over the centuries by tradition. What other interesting “memory waves” are propagating out there through Taiwanese culture?
3) Pedro the First
The first expat permanent resident in Tamsui was not Dr. Mackay, but rather a Spanish (some sources say Italian) sailor from the Philippines called Pedro Florentino, who fell overboard near Tamsui around 1856 and was picked up by a local fisherman. Brought to Tamsui, he eventually married the daughter of a migrant sailor from Fujian. Their descendants sill live in Tamsui today, near the Foreigner’s Cemetery, where the remains of Pedro himself were buried.
Why I love this story: Although the circumstances of my arrival to Taiwan were somewhat different than Pedro’s, I feel that he is kind of the first of “us” – the expats who decided to stay. I am happy to count him as a cultural ancestor.
The History Behind the History
Although he isn’t a formally trained historian, EyeDoc’s stuff is very solid. He’s clearly a smart guy and is very careful. He has given speeches at universities, consulted on research projects, and is widely regarded as a sort of “Yoda” of Tamsui history. His articles are based on a combination of primary sources, archival material, and contributions from a deep network of experts and community insiders on a number of topics. For example, he’s in personal contact with Dr. George Leslie Mackay’s descendants, and has family members on the management committee for the Tamsui Fuyou Matsu temple.
PONY FISH – THE “SINGNG FISH” OF THE TAMSUI RIVER (BOFW)
So how did a medical-science man end up writing about Tamsui history? Well, you could say he comes from a family background well-suited to inspire engagement with stories of the past. EyeDoc says his Zheng family lineage descends from a son of Koxinga’s father, Zheng Zhi-long (鄭芝龍), with a different woman than Koxinga’s mother. That’s kind of like an American being a distant relative of George Washington. EyeDoc’s Cheng (Zheng) ancestors came to Taiwan from Xiamen in the early 1880s. One of his grand-uncles, Cheng Mu-bi (鄭木筆), gave medical treatment to Qing General Sun Kai-hua (孫開華) for stomach problems soon after the Battle of Tamsui in October 1884. The maternal side of his family kept many commercial and family records (some in bamboo tubes) from the time of the Qianlong Emperor until the Japanese period, which have been donated to the National Taiwan Library in Zhonghe District, Taipei City.
HMS COCKCHAFER – THE FAMED BRITISH GUNBOAT TRAPPED IN TAMSUI HARBOR DURING THE BATTLE OF TAMSUI (BOFW)
JAPANESE COOLIE IN TAMSUI, 1895 (BOFW)
EyeDoc left Taiwan in the 1960s to study medicine in the USA, and ended up having a distinguished career, which included being a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. When he returned to do ophthalmic research in Taiwan in 2009, his interest in Tamsui history was revived. But he had one problem: his “clumsy fingers” in typing Chinese after decades living abroad! So, he decided to write the Battle of Fisherman’s Wharf in English.
LOOKING WEST ON TAMSUI OLD STREET, 1940s (BOFW)
TANSUI-KAI, FORMER JAPANESE RESIDENTS OF TAMSUI, GATHERED IN HIROSHIMA IN 1988 (BOFW)
This turned out to be a boon to the expat community, as few of us have the level of reading skills necessary to wade through articles on history in Mandarin with all their nuances and linguistic variations. But even if only in Mandarin, the blog would still have been an excellent way to preserve and disseminate information about Tamsui and Taiwan history for future generations.
EyeDoc, as a real Tamsui-lang, has given us many great stories about the Taiwanese history he and his family have been part of.
LAST TRAIN TO TAMSUI: GUANDU TUNNEL WITH DIESEL ENGINE R123 EMERGING, JULY 15, 1988. (BOFW)
However, sometimes being part of history is a mixed blessing. EyeDoc’s distant ancestor, Zheng Zhi-long – the father of Koxinga – knew this first hand, as he was executed by the Manchu Qing in 1661 for his son’s continued resistance against them. In more recent times, Taiwan’s history came to a head when the Japanese took over the island, and then, decades later, dragged Taiwan into the Pacific War. That’s when EyeDoc’s family – along with millions of other people – got far too close for comfort to “the flow of history,” to say the least.
Much more about that in the next article, the Shinsei Maru story.
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Many thanks to HM Cheng for his kind cooperation. All photos above marked (BOFW) are from The Battle of Fisherman’s Wharf Blog with his permission.
It’s that time of the year again: Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year. But the Chinese Calendar and how it relates to both practical time-keeping and religious symbolism is extremely detailed and complex. What’s more, certain cultural aspects surrounding the holiday can be a bit hard to figure out. Hence, the following is intended to be a reasonably accurate simplification of some of the main confusing features of this global event, as seen from the point of view of a curious expat based in Taiwan.
Should it be Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year?
I think the most reasonable verdict on this one is that both are accurate. Other countries in East Asia, for example Korea and Vietnam, celebrate a Lunar New Year heavily influenced by traditional Chinese culture. However, there are a few differences. For example, Vietnam has the Year of the Cat instead of the Year of the Rabbit. As an interesting musical trivia note, Al Stewart’s eponymous song about a romantic encounter between a tourist and an exotic woman was recorded in 1975, which was in Vietnam’s Year of the Cat.
Cover art can be obtained from RCA. Pic by Janus.
Clearly, the culture around this ancient holiday did of course originate in ancient China. So why the recent push to re-brand Chinese New Year – what it has been called in English for decades in Taiwan, and what it is generally called around the world – as Lunar New Year? Probably, this is due to the politics of identity: “This is Taiwan, not China!” and that kind of thing.
Notwithstanding the above, actually, the most accurate term for the holiday is probably Traditional Chinese Lunisolar New Year. We should all be shouting: “Happy TCLSNY!” However, as that’s a mouthful to say, I doubt that it will catch on!
What the heck is a lunisolar year?
Just like it sounds, a lunisolar calendar combines elements of both lunar and solar calendars. How is this useful? Well, having months that correspond to the phases of the Moon is intuitively practical and appealing. It’s kind of cool to have the full moon around the middle of each month; it feels good to have our sense of time visibly connected to nature.
However, there’s a problem: the lunar month is about 29.5 solar days. So, if you have 12 lunar months (6 at 29 and 6 at 30) that comes to 354 solar days. This means that the end of one year and the beginning of the next will slip back by 11 days per solar year compared to any reference point in the solar calendar – such as winter solstice. If instead you decide to have 13 lunar months, you would have 383 or 384 days a year, and thus the end-beginning point of the year would move forward by 18 or 19 days each year compared to the solar time-frame. In either scenario, the important event of the New Year would migrate around the annual calendar over time, diffusing its seasonal relevance, and steamrolling over other events.
The solution to this, in the East Asian context, was to designate the lunar month with the northern hemisphere winter solstice – a solar calendar event – as the 11th lunar month. The winter solstice is usually on December 21st or 22nd, so then you add the rest of the 11th lunar month and the entire 12th lunar month to that, and you get a first day of Chinese New Year occurring on the first new moon that appears between January 21st and February 20th.
Additional lunar months – leap months – can be inserted as necessary to ensure this happens. Leap months happen approximately once every three years. This means that the date of the new lunisolar year will commonly fall back by 11 days two solar years in a row before jumping forward by 18 or 19 days.
Take a look at the table below to see historical dates for new years calculated according to the above method. The (LM) after the animal sign indicates that this year includes a leap month. (Again, please bear in mind that this is just a handy simplification of a very complex set of interacting processes.)
In any case, whenever it occurs, and whatever you call it, the most important thing is to share quality time with loved ones, get away from the weekly grind, get some rest, and have a wee bit of fun. So, my friends: “Let us be of good cheer, for tomorrow we shall dance and feast!”
Map of the action at Tamsui, 8 October 1884, by Captain Garnot
It was a great pleasure to do these two podcasts with my old friend John Grant Ross, founding member of Camphor Press, and writer of Formosan Odyssey, his first Taiwan book, Taiwan in 100 Books – his best Taiwan book, in my view – and other works. John was also an editorial consultant for my own book, Taiwanese Feet: My walk around Taiwan. It was good to get him out of his dusty town in Chiayi and up here in the bustling metropolis of Taipei for some intelligent conversation and a few beers.
John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith have been doing some fantastic podcasts on the Formosa Files. The format for the two episodes I did with them is a bit different, as they take the form of a “walking and talking tour”. The subject matter is the Battle of Tamsui, October 2nd to 8th, 1884, which was part of the Keelung Campaign of the Sino-French War, August 1884 to April 1885. I thought it would be helpful to add some visuals to augment the listening experience, if only after the fact. So please find below the links to the podcasts, and some maps and pictures of the sites mentioned in them.
A note on photos: Most are unattributed, meaning they are mine or John’s or copyright-free pics from the Internet. But a few of them, the best ones, are from KJ Dickson, an excellent photographer who I have collaborated with on another project. More about that project and a link to KJ’s site at the bottom.
NOTE: Embedded links are not working, so to listen to the podcasts, please just go to the Formosa Files website and scroll down.
S3-E19 – TwoJohns Take a “Walking Tour” in Historic Tamsui 淡水 – Part One
S3-E20 – John Groot and John Ross Walk and Talk Historic Tamsui 淡水 – Part Two
Scroll down to S3-E19 first.
Visual references
Here are a few Google Earth images. The first one is an overall look at riverside Tamsui for your reference. The second one is the main area covered in our first podcast, marked with numbers, lines and images. Below that will be some text naming and explaining the numbered locations. Following that will be another marked-up Earth image detailing the sites of the second podcast, followed again by explanatory text.
SATELLITE VIEW OF THE THE MOUTH OF THE TAMSUI RIVERMAP FOR FIRST PODCAST, EPISODE 19
INFORMATION FOR ABOVE MAP
1: Shalun Beach: Landing site for the French Marines on Oct. 8, 1884
2: Location of French ships shelling Tamsui on Oct. 2, 1884
3: Fisherman’s Wharf. Area inside dotted line is reclaimed land.
4. Mound: Used to signal retreat of French forces just before noon on Oct. 8
5. Position of Qing underwater barrier of sunken barges (brown), submerged sea-mines (red) with their detonation cables stretching back to the sea-mine engineers’ camp.
6. Fort Blanc (White Fort), Qing defensive and artillery position.
7. Sea-mine engineers’ camp
8. Fort Neuf (New Fort): Main Qing encampment and artillery position in Tamsui.
9. Wadianbi: Small bridge over a stream where the French were finally stopped and forced to retreat.
10. Danjiang Bridge, under construction
(THE ABOVE NUMBERS DONOT REFER TO THE MAP DIRECTLY BELOW)
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MAP FOR SECOND PODCAST, EPISODE 20
INFORMATION FOR MAP ABOVE
1. Tamsui customs wharf
2. Hobe Port
3. The Red Fort aka Fort San Domingo
4. Aletheia University (Zhenli Daxue) formerly Oxford College. On Zhenli Street (upper left dotted line), and next to many other historical buildings.
5. Tamsui Customs Officer’s Residence (Little White House)
6. Mackay Street (lower right dotted line) and Mackay’s first residence in Tamsui (line on right under number)
7. Tamsui Presbyterian Church, next to the Tamsui Mackay Clinic
8. The triangular park with the statue of George Leslie Mackay
9. Fuyou Mazu Temple
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A FEW CLARIFICATIONS
There are a few points as follows to add to the second podcast, S3 E20, for greater accuracy and context. The numbers are the times of the relevant sections in the podcast.
9:18 Re: HMS Cockchafer: A cockchafer is a kind of beetle.
10:34 The English name for Zhenli Daxue is Aletheia University. But most people in Tamsui call it Zhenli University.
14:02 There were no reported attacks on foreign residents in Tamsui during the battle. However, after the battle, there was a wave of wider anti-foreign sentiment, and threats made against Mackay, who felt compelled to move to Hong Kong until April 1885, when he returned to Tamsui.
NOW, HERE ARE SOME PICTURES OF THE SITES MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST
French warships bombard the Chinese coastal defences at Tamsui, 2 October 1884; from left to right the gunboat Vipère, the ironclad Triomphante, the cruiser d’Estaing and the ironclad La Galissonnière.
Myself looking historical
The Mound: Art on the Tamsui LRT. (Photo by KJ Dickson)
The Marines’ landing site on Shalun Beach(Photo by KJ Dickson)
An artist’s impression of the landing. More LRT art.(Photo by KJ Dickson)
How Shalun Beach usually looks.
Commemorative art near the site of the river mines barrier. Bridge construction visible in background.
Commemorative art at Wadianbi, where the French were forced to retreat.
Fort San Domingo: aka the Red Fort
Oxford College, on the campus of present-day Aletheia University
Tamsui Customs Officer’s Residence aka Little White House
Shell crater from October 2nd, 1884 at Little White House
Top end of Mackay Street
George Leslie Mackay’s first residence in Tamsui in 1872
Tamsui Presbyterian Church and the original Mackay Clinic(Photo by KJ Dickson)
From left to right: French Admiral Amédée Courbet, commander of the Far East Squadron; John Grant Ross, content creator; and Liu Mingchuan, Imperial Commissioner (and later governor) of Taiwan.
A SPECIAL THANKS TO KEN DICKSON
Going by the photographer’s name “KJ Dickson”, Ken is an old friend, a lovely fellow, and a great photographer. His pictures look far better than the pale renderings of them I’ve managed here. Check out his professional website by clicking on the link below:
Ken and I collaborated on an article on the Battle of Tamsui for Centered on Taipei, the magazine of the Community Services Center. The link to that article is here:
ENDING NOTE: The next blog post will be a special one about the family of Dr. Hong-Ming Cheng, who have deep historical roots in Tamsui.
And finally, a shameless plug for my book:Taiwanese Feet: My walk around Taiwan. You can find it on Amazon. Or email me at taiwanese DOT feet AT gmail DOT com.
It was a great pleasure to work with Ken Dickson, photographer, and the entire editorial team of Centered On Taipei, the magazine of the Community Services Center in Taipei. Please follow the link below to read the article on pages 16-20.
Taiwan residents consider the best response to the threat of invasion from China
Part 2 of a 2-part series
By John Groot(You may share this article in whole or part if you link to this post and mention me as author by name. TIA for respect to makers.)
AFTERMATH OF A MISSILE STRIKE IN UKRAINE
“If China invaded Taiwan, would you fight? Or would you be on the first plane out?” That’s a popular question among expats in Taiwan. I suppose some hot-heads imagine themselves taking out People’s Liberation Army (PLA) tanks with Molotov cocktails, or stealthily emerging from the shadows like Rambo to cut a throat, grab a gun, and disappear again in the wink of an eye.
“More guts than brains” is an expression that comes to my mind. Expats here have no access to firearms, most have little or no military training, and the few that do have probably never trained with the Republic of China (ROC) military. Taiwan does not have a foreign legion or a territorial defense force like Ukraine that long-term foreign residents could join. So, any ragtag expat vigilantes would be short work for any properly trained and equipped PLA unit, with access to communications, intelligence, air support, and back up.
Despite that fact, a lot of expats here love Taiwan so much that they would want to stay and assist their adopted country in some capacity. And while participating in combat is not a realistic option, the best way to be useful is probably to have already prepared for the emergency, so you could keep your loved ones safe and help maintain order and sanity in your community. Many strongly believe that China will never attack, but this seems like wishful thinking. For those who do take the risk seriously, there are many differing theories out there, ranging from an attack between 2023 and 2027 before Taiwan gets too strong, all the way to an attack by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, by which time the PLA is expected to be able to take Taiwan at low cost.
Needless to say, war is a messy business, and any strong military action by China would badly disrupt daily life in Taiwan. However, an amphibious Normandy-style invasion is not the most likely scenario. If and when war comes to Taiwan, it will probably be in the form of fighter and naval battles, air and missile strikes, a blockade, and a massive cyberattack to disrupt all communications and infrastructure. These could be accompanied by an airborne “decapitation strike” by special forces aimed at taking over Taipei, abducting top leaders, and installing the PRC’s own interim government.
2015 PIC FROM PLA WEBSITE SHOWING SIMULATED ATTACK ON TAIWAN PRESIDENTIAL BUILDING
Taiwan would fight back of course, and allies like the US and Japan would most likely try to assist without starting World War III in the process. But whatever the eventual outcome, normal life would come screeching to a halt. Imagine that you have no internet, no phone service, and the power and water in your apartment goes off. ATMs cease to function, food quickly runs out at the stores, as does gas at the pumps. Restaurants are closed, police stations crowded and chaotic, fire and medical services strained and limited. You sit in your dark apartment at night, looking out the window at fires and explosions in the distance, clueless as to what is happening, wondering what the hell to do now.
It’s a horrible prospect, so maybe getting ready for it might not be so paranoid after all, especially given that emergency preparedness is also useful for things like devastating earthquakes and typhoons.
TAIWAN FIRES NEW CRUISE MISSILE CAPABLE OF REACHING CENTRAL CHINA
Brace for impact
Taiwan’s government has been getting ready, for sure. Since Xi Jinping upped his rhetoric about Taiwan, and the US increased its level of support, the ROC military has been busily acquiring new forms of weaponry. It has also dramatically increased its production of high-tech missiles. According to an August 14 article in the Central News Agency’s Focus Taiwan: “The National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology has completed several new facilities that are expected to more than double Taiwan’s annual missile output to 500, according to a recent Ministry of National Defense (MND) report.” Taiwan’s military also allegedly wants to get advanced hypersonic missiles from the US.
What’s more, after years of criticism and advice from experts worldwide, Taiwan’s military has begun to implement – or at least talk about implementing – “asymmetric” and “porcupine” tactics, such as having small, fast missile boats hidden in fishing ports, acquiring more drones, sea mines, and man-portable anti-aircraft missiles, as well as the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that Ukraine recently received from NATO. The effectiveness of all this (combined with Russia’s lackluster performance in Ukraine, which must have increased the caution level of Chinese invasion planners) is one reason military experts doubt that the amphibious invasion scenario is something China would risk.
Taiwan has also upgraded its civil defense structure and reserve mobilization structure, to some extent at least. Civil defense means helping protect citizens and civilian infrastructure from the worst forms of damage in the event of disaster. In Taiwan, this is under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior, primarily through municipalities, counties, the National Police Agency, and the National Fire Agency. It’s not clear what kinds of new training or preparation are happening in these organizations at the moment, but some new online resources are now available, such as maps of bomb shelters and evacuation centers. Reserve mobilization is for military – not civil – defense, although in practice these two areas do need some joint coordination. January 2022 saw the establishment of the “All Out Defense Mobilization Agency” (AODMA) under the control of the ROC Armed Forces Reserves Command, to offer policy and coordination of mobilizing Taiwan’s approximately 1.65 million reservists – many with very limited training – in case of military emergency. AODMA has released a National Defense Handbook, a 28-page PDF document with a fair amount of useful information in it about dealing with air raids, power and water outages, etc. An unofficial English translation is also available. However, emergency preparedness experts have criticized the book as inadequate, and the government is working on an improved version. It is worth noting that neither online maps nor PDF books would be terribly useful if you have no power or internet.
SCREENSHOT OF UNOFFICIAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Crisis, what crisis?
One interesting question in all of this is: How are average Taiwanese people responding to the perception of a growing military threat?
Well, after Nancy Pelosi’s recent dragon-poking Taiwan visit, the world was treated to the spectacle of China’s daunting 4-day show of force by the PLA in six maritime and aerial “exclusion zones” encircling Taiwan. Many dubbed this a rehearsal for a blockade – or worse. But as the waters and skies around the self-ruled democratic island crawled with military aircraft, ships, submarines and ballistic missiles, most Taiwanese stoically went about their business. Night markets and department stores were packed, and the mood was light and summery. Many even continued regular coastal activities, like taking beach selfies or free-diving with sea turtles in Xiao Liuqiu Island, less than 10 kilometers away from one of the exclusion zones in the Taiwan Strait.
PLA NAVY LIVE FIRE DRILLS IN THE TAIWAN STRAITIT’S JUST ANOTHER RELAXING DAY AT THE BEACH ON XIAO LIUQIU
How can they remain so placid when the rest of the world believes the sky is falling for Taiwan? One woman interviewed said: “After a long time of this, everyone becomes numb to it. People think it’s just words, that they won’t take real action.” Others say that they are used to decades of threatening Chinese rhetoric, and believe that if China were going to invade Taiwan, they would have done it a long time ago.
This ho-hum attitude is a concern to some, including Leo Lin, a colonel in the National Police Agency who works in the field of civil defense and national security. “Forewarned is forearmed” is a saying he likes to use a lot. “Look at the shooting of the former Japanese prime-minister Shinzo Abe. If someone told you a few days before the event that it might happen, you would think they were crazy.” Lin agrees that if there is the possibility of a threat, then that is a threat. “If there is a chance that something might happen, we should be ready for it,” he says.
Lin spent seven years working in Washington DC, liaising with agencies like the FBI and Homeland Security on Taiwan-related security issues. Since returning last year, he has noticed that many expats are more worried about war than are local Taiwanese.
OPENSHAW WITH BUG OUT BAG, RADIO, AND 4WD AT THE READY (PHOTO BY BRETT BARRUS)
Be prepared!
One expat who is ready for anything is South African documentary filmmaker Tobie Openshaw. “When I first got to Taiwan, I was told not to worry, that China wouldn’t be able to invade Taiwan for another 10 or 20 years. That was 24 years ago.” Openshaw is technically proficient, having been an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialist in the army, was a trained firearms instructor, and has emergency first aid and rescue training. He has leveraged this eclectic skillset to create a series of “bug-out bags” – backpacks of various size with survival related equipment, such as food, solar chargers, batteries, tools, etc., that he can use in different scenarios. He also has two-way radios and a satellite text-phone.
He says that, depending on the emergency, he would choose to either shelter in place, “bug out”, or “bugger off”.
Shelter in place means to just stay at home with family members and stay safe. He’s prepared for that with water, food, flashlights, batteries, an advanced medical kit, and a long list of other supplies and equipment.
However, if fires, explosions, or social chaos threaten, it would be time for him to “bug out” i.e., get out of Dodge. His bug-out bag – a portable survive-and-thrive kit – is already packed, and his all-wheel-drive Land Rover parked downstairs. “I have a cabin in the mountains which belongs to an indigenous friend, and we have an agreement that my family and I can stay there and wait things out. It’s a secluded cabin with an independent water and electrical supply,” Openshaw said.
For those without such careful plans in place, there is always the option of going to your local evacuation center.
“Bugger off” means evacuate out of the country, which he might do if ordered to do, or if he felt the situation was becoming untenable. “This would of course be dependent on evacuation flights being made available”, he says.
Is Openshaw pessimistic about the future? Not really. He’s a realist who has seen a lot of often-violent history happen before his eyes, or those of his friends. He lived through the 9 21 Jiji earthquake, and remembers peeing in the sink and humping buckets of water up 10 flights of stairs for two weeks until the water came back on. “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst” is his motto. It’s a good one.
CIVIL GUARD MEMBERS PARTICIPATE IN MOUNTAIN NAVIGATION TRAININGWITH OTHER GROUPS
Serving the public interest
On the other hand, someone who is extremely concerned about the near future is Kameron Johnson, a young and idealistic Australian entrepreneur living in Hsinchu. Convinced an attack on Taiwan is imminent, he has formed an organization called the “Civil Guard”. Kameron says that ‘’If Taiwan falls, it will become the blueprint and gateway to end all democracies and free nations around the world.” The Civil Guard is a group with a quasi-military feel to it: they have a training platoon and a guardsman platoon; they use military-style radio SOP, and have a uniform. Despite the trappings, it is not combat oriented. The purpose of the organization is to protect people in case of a natural – or man-made – disaster. Kameron hopes to build up well-trained mixed groups of local and foreign members to help deal with sick and wounded people, evacuate civilians from combat zones, and get food, water, and medical supplies to those who need them. They have worked with different local organizations to conduct training, such as mountain navigation and firefighting, and hope to start a program to produce civilian MREs – meals ready to eat, high nutrition non-perishable meal units – that people can keep at home for emergencies.
Kameron hasn’t had a lot of expats signing up to his group yet, but he is soldiering on. ‘’The people of Taiwan have proven themselves as a positive asset to our world and the Civil Guard aim to help them continue that trend,’’ his organization said.
Of all the entities out there, the one doing the most to promote civil defense awareness is Open Knowledge Taiwan. The original Open Knowledge group was started in Cambridge, England by British economist, activist, and social entrepreneur Rufus Pollock in 2004. The group is dedicated to the idea of an open society, where citizens can access and share important information.
JUST ONE OF THE INFOGRAPHICS PRODUCED BY OPEN KNOWLEDGE TAIWAN
T.H. Schee, one of the founders of Open Knowledge Taiwan in 2013, said that after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the group decided to focus their non-profit work for 2022 on disaster preparedness and civil defense in Taiwan.
Schee is not your average Taiwanese guy: he drove a motorcycle across Australia at the age of 15 (without a license!) and later dropped out of university to join the navy as a radio communications technician. Now he’s a self-made computer consultant with clients around the world, and a long-time blogger and defense activist, with deep knowledge of Taiwan. He has friends in the citizen’s band (CB) and amateur “ham” radio community in Taiwan, some of whom hear the chatter of PLA air force pilots as they fly into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone. Schee is a big fan of ham radio as an effective form of emergency communications – both within Taiwan and to the outside world – as it’s hard to jam because there are so many frequencies.
This year he’s been busy, holding dozens of seminars and meetings to spread the word about civil defense.
Does he think Taiwan will have to deal with a Chinese attack? “I think it will happen some time in my lifetime,” Schee says, adding that most Taiwanese have relatives in the countryside somewhere that they can shelter with if need be. Of course, most of the men would be called up as reservists. They might have to fight, or more likely play a support role. “For every one soldier in the field, there are about 5 or 10 people supporting him” with food, logistics, etc.
What will most expats do? That really depends. Many I know personally have said that they’d leave the country as soon as possible. Some have left already. Openshaw said there’s a real chance of evacuation flights like those that took off from Afghanistan as the Taliban army approached Kabul. “There’s a military reason for that. The occupying force tells the foreign passport holders to go and lets them fly out. Then they know that those remaining behind are the enemy.” This is a sobering thought to those who might want to stay. Openshaw is a documentary filmmaker whose work has appeared on National Geographic and Al Jazeera. He said that he would support Taiwan by documenting events and sharing them with the world.
We all hope that we will never have to face the terrors of war: the death and destruction, of people, property, and maybe even the whole democratic Taiwan dream we love so much. But geopolitics doesn’t care about our feelings. The decision of what to do in case of war does is something every individual and family living here has to decide for themselves. There is no advantage to not being prepared.
Thanks to Dean Karalekas and Wendell Minnick for their advice on military matters.
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Many people might want to prepare but don’t know how. Openshaw and his partners are working on a detailed Emergency Guide that will be available within a few months. Until then, here are a few pointers:
Have extra water, non-perishable food, a flashlight and extra batteries at home.
A crank-charged radio that also charges your cellphone is a very good investment.
Have a good first aid kit, and get training on how to use it properly. There’s a lot of information available online.
Access all online government information on civil defense and familiarize yourself with it, especially air raid shelters and evacuation centers. Print it out and make a few copies.
Make an emergency plan with friends and family members for what to do in various scenarios.
Ask questions. Tell us what information you want to know, and we will address it in the guide.
TAIWAN PRESIDENT TSAI ING-WEN ADDRESSES THE TROOPS
It’s what we’ve all been dreading for years, a massive military attack by an aggressive, repressive, authoritarian China. One minute, we’re peacefully going about our business in this free, democratic, and basically humane country, Taiwan. The next, life is turned upside down. Bombs are dropped and missiles launched, causing death and destruction to people, property – and maybe the entire Taiwan dream. It’s a nightmare scenario both for native-born Taiwanese and for expats who love their adopted home, like waking up to find that the monster has finally crawled out from under your bed.
Terrifying, yes. And also damned inconvenient. If China did attack, the internet would almost certainly be cut off, as well as much of the infrastructure we take for granted. Phone service, electricity, and even water services might be problematic. Food could soon run out, and access to medical services, fire fighters, the justice system, and banking all severely curtailed. Life as we had known it would be over, perhaps even literally over for people living too near a military target. Even those far from the battle zones would be seriously impacted.
But could an attack possibly happen? Will it actually happen? And if so, when and how?
XI JINPING, CHINA’S MOST AGGRESSIVE LEADER SINCE MAO
Could it happen? Yes, it definitely could. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have consistently vowed to “re”-unify with Taiwan, by hook or by crook. China’s military build-up over the last few decades has been the largest peacetime military expansion in human history. And much of that enhanced capacity – such as the development of “carrier killer” hypersonic missiles – is based on being able to exclude the US and its regional allies from getting anywhere near Taiwan if the PLA decides to apply serious military pressure. PRC Chairman Xi Jinping – who is 69 years old – has said on several occasions that he wants to accomplish the “re”-unification with Taiwan within his lifetime. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine serves as a grim reminder that superpower politics can be very brutal indeed. Oh, yes it certainly could happen. Have no doubts on that score.
PEOPLE’S LIBERATON ARMY NAVY CARRIER GROUPHYPERSONIC “CARRIER KILLER” MISSILE FIRED FROM A PLAN SHIP
But will it? No one knows. It depends on a host of factors, including who’s running the show in Beijing, Washington DC, and Taipei. Will Xi get his 3rd term and thus likely be leader for life? Likely but not certain. Who will be the next US president? Will China hawks continue to prevail in the US State Department? Unknown. Will Taiwan finally harden its own defenses? Will the CCP accept some sort of compromise in talks with Taiwan? There are many opinions about all these things. But no clarity.
OK, so let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that it does happen. When is the most likely time? And what is the most likely scenario for the attack? This is again unclear, but there are a few points most experts agree on.
Firstly, for an amphibious invasion, there are two main windows, October and April. In the winter, the winds in the Taiwan Strait are too rough for large-scale naval action. In the summer, there is the risk of typhoons. However, for missile and bombing attacks, there are no such limited time windows.
Secondly, there would most likely be a noticeable movement and buildup of forces and materiel in PLA bases near Taiwan in the months before any actual amphibious attack. US and allied satellites and other intelligence sources would notice this and probably publicize it in an attempt to pressure China into backing off.
Finally, given China’s political culture, there would need to be some sort of political pretext, a legitimization. It seems very unlikely that they would launch a surprise attack without a formal process being announced, such as a law passed in China, and the opportunity presented to Taiwan to enter formal negotiations (negotiated surrender) by a certain deadline.
Taken all together, these factors could amount to something like a six-month timeline from first clear warning sign to an actual amphibious invasion.
MISSILE FIRED FROM REPUBLIC OF CHINA NAVY SHIP DURING DRILL
But let’s consider the full range of possibilities. Here are some hypothetical but (hopefully) realistic scenarios of Chinese military aggression against Taiwan:
Scenario 1: The minimalist approach. The PLA occupies Jinmen or Matsu islands, as well as Taiwan’s islands in the South China Sea, and maybe even the Penghu Islands. They also declare part or all of the Taiwan Strait a “no go” zone to foreign military shipping. This would probably be fairly easy for the PLA, and Taiwan would probably not want to overcommit to naval action against the huge PLA Navy (PLAN) if it didn’t directly approach the main island.
Scenario 2: Hybrid warfare. Some sort of partial naval and aerial blockade of Taiwan intended to interfere with the economy, combined with stepped-up harassment, such as direct flyovers of Taiwan’s territory by PLA Air Force (PLAAF) jets, or incursions into Taiwan’s maritime space by China’s naval militia, protected by PLAN warships. This might also be accompanied by cyberattacks designed to shut down the internet and other infrastructure for days at a time. Taiwan would have no choice to assert a stiff defensive posture, resulting in real engagements between Taiwanese and Chinese forces, posing a serious risk of escalation.
Scenario 3: A serious attack but no invasion. This would involve air and sea warfare only, no boots on the ground. A full aerial and naval blockade, a protracted set of naval and aerial battles designed to degrade Taiwan’s military, combined with ballistic missile attacks on military targets. Aggressive cyberattacks turning off the internet and shutting down critical infrastructure for days or weeks. Once air and naval superiority were established, China could pick off targets at will, ratcheting up the threat until the government breaks.
Scenario 4: The Full Monty – a proper invasion. Total air and sea blockade, massive ballistic missile attacks on military targets, massive cyberattacks to paralyze virtually all military, governmental, and civilian communication and shut down critical infrastructure. Aggressive naval and aerial engagements to degrade Taiwan’s forces and achieve battlespace superiority, followed by sustained aerial assaults by fighters and bombers on military targets. A decapitation strike at Taipei by special forces units to try to seize key leadership personnel. Well-coordinated insider treason and sabotage actions by gangsters, planted CCP agents, and other groups sympathetic to China – the so-called “5th column”. An amphibious assault with close air support from fighters, helicopters, and battle drones at one or more locations in Taiwan, and very possibly a move to seize a major port, such as Keelung, Taipei Port, Taichung, or Kaohsiung. Then hundreds of thousands of troops would start rolling in until the island was occupied. That would be the plan, anyway. PLA success in such an endeavor is very unclear. But they could do a hell of a lot of damage trying. And yes, they might actually succeed, at least partially, such as in seizing and holding the region around Taipei.
TAIWAN’S SPECIAL FORCES COMMUNITY WOULD LIKE TO OFFER A WARM WELCOME TO VISITING PLA TROOPS
Scenario 5: Worst Case (short of nuclear) scenario. Full air and sea blockade, massive ballistic missile attacks on military targets, massive cyberattack, aggressive naval and aerial attacks to degrade Taiwan’s forces and achieve battlefield superiority, followed by aerial assaults by fighters and bomber on military targets and area bombing of civilian targets. There are massive casualties, and Taiwan is crushed by brute force, surrenders, and then the occupiers enter the country and take it over.
RUSSIAN SHELL STRIKES APARTMENT BUILDING IN MARIUPOL, UKRAINEDEVASTATED APARTMENT COMPLEX IN MARIUPOL (NOT TAOYUAN)
At the current moment, as far as I have read, China could probably accomplish any of these scenarios except for scenario 4. Scenario 5 is so extreme that it is unlikely to happen. Scenario 4 is the riskiest for China, as they would have to deal with an angry populace, the ROC forces on their home turf, in addition to the aforementioned long warning window. Scenarios 1 and 2 are most likely to stiffen Taiwan’s resolve and get it even more international support, without really giving China what it wants. So, my bet is that scenario 3 is the one we have to worry about. If and when the PLA can accomplish effective area denial to allied forces, it becomes even more likely.
Of course, no one really knows. There are so many complex and unpredictable factors. But one thing is clear: tension is building and building, and no one looks ready to back down. I really hope that “scenario 0, no war at all” is what happens, as do we all.
But if and when war does come to this Fair Isle, are you ready for it? For most of us expats, it’s not like we can just go to Uncle Chen’s farm in Nantou and wait things out. The fact is that – barring the scenario of being allowed to board a plane and fly “home” – foreign residents would be at a relative disadvantage in coping with such an event. Most expats lack the benefits of family and other people networks, proper language skills, and detailed cultural knowledge, that would aid local Taiwanese in a major crisis.
So, what would YOU do if the stores ran out of food and medicine, the water stopped flowing from your taps, the electricity was shut off, your phone and Internet were cut off, and fires and explosions started occurring around you? Got a plan?
Some people do, largely thanks to the invasion of Ukraine. In my next article, I’ve interviewed four different people for their unique takes on the possibility of war and how everyday citizens can prepare for it. These include South African film-maker Tobie Openshaw speaking about his elaborate yet efficient bug-out bags and bugger-off plans; Taiwanese computer consultant T.H. Schee, a member of Open Knowledge Taiwan, a group that is focusing this year on promoting public awareness of wartime disaster preparedness; the young and idealistic Australian Kameron James who has created a quasi-military organization called the Civil Guard to help protect citizens in the event of disasters such as a war; and Taiwanese police colonel known only as Leo, who offers insight into civil defense in Taiwan. So, stay tuned for part 2.
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John Groot is the author of “Taiwanese Feet: My walk around Taiwan”
Last time, in Part 1: “The Man in the Atayal Hat”, I started by talking about the great long-distance sea voyages of the Pacific Islanders thousands of years ago and how they have always amazed me. How brave and skilled the sailors, but also how lonely and perilous the voyages: a bit of bad luck, like a rogue wave or unexpected storm, and you could be capsized, smashed up on a hidden reef, or blown off course. And when things do go seriously wrong, that’s when you need your buddies to haul you out of the water and help you get your canoe back in order. Then you take a deep breath, reset your course, and keep paddling!
When Tony Coolidge showed up in Taiwan in 2009 with his wife Shu-min and his first son Johan, he knew it was going to be a challenge to get things set in a country he had never lived in before. But he had his movie, Voices in the Clouds, made with filmmaker Aaron Hosé, under his belt. The film – in addition to the friends he had made in his two previous trips to Taiwan – opened a lot of doors. “I couldn’t ask for a better calling card to really let people know what I wanted to do in Taiwan,” Coolidge said.
After networking for a few years, he tried to set up a Taiwan-registered NGO that could do legal fund-raising. Registering an “association” is notoriously laborious and bureaucratic in Taiwan, and requires getting members with Taiwan ID cards from all over the island to agree to endorse the group. But after they had worked on it for months, misfortune struck: “One day we found that the copies of all the cards form members had been lost,” said Coolidge. Oops! Oh, well. Keep paddling!
Later that year he had some much better luck: “We were invited to show the film Voices in the Clouds in New Zealand in 2012.”
WELCOME TO AOTEAROA! (Photo credit Tobie Openshaw)
The event was the Wairoa Māori Film Festival, held annually on the east coast of North Island, in the country the Māori call Aotearoa. It is an amazing event, according to Taipei-based South African documentary filmmaker Tobie Openshaw, who made the trip along with Coolidge. Openshaw was blown away by the quality of the films, many of which were made by students from the Māori Development Department of Auckland University of Technology. The program is supervised by Māori “powerhouse” Professor Ella Henry. Māori artists “have really adopted filmmaking as part of their tradition of storytelling,” said Openshaw, something he says he would like to see promoted in Taiwan’s Indigenous community.
He was also impressed by the venue for the film festival, which was in a traditional wooden meeting house situated in a sacred communal space, known as a marae. “Entering it for the first time, there was a special ritual. The group had to wait outside and the leader would invite you in with a call-and response song.” Openshaw said. This hearkens back to days when visitors to the marae might not be friendly. Once inside, he admired the intricately-carved interior. It was only later that he realized what an honor it was to have been invited there.
PROFESSOR ELEN HENRY AND TONY COOLIDGE (Photo: Tobie Openshaw)
Coolidge had a great time too: Voices in the Clouds won Best International Film. He also made an important discovery, although possibly a bit late in the game. “When I brought the film to New Zealand it was the first time I connected with other Austronesian groups. Seeing them watch the film, hearing them say: ‘Hey, she looks like my auntie. She looks like my grandmother. He looks like my uncle!’. So, the Austronesian connection became a big part of our organization,” said Coolidge.
Naturally, Coolidge and ATAYAL invited the AUT film kids to come to Taiwan, and this was announced officially at the festival. In an interview recorded by Openshaw, Prof. Henry said the trip would be in part about the Austronesian connection, but even more so about the “cosmological connection” that Indigenous people have, their common connection to “the gods of creation.”
TAPPING THE AUSTRONESIAN ROOT
“So, in 2013 I was able to keep that promise,” said Coolidge. The event was called the Tap Root Cultural Exchange Program. “We had a delegation from the Auckland University of Technology, who were the people who I was with at the film festival. It happened. They came. It was our biggest culture exchange project ever,” said Coolidge. “Nine people from New Zealand for fourteen days. We had to fund everything. For a group of volunteers who didn’t have much of a budget, it wasn’t easy.”
As is common in many organizations relying on volunteers, people let them down, promised services failed to appear, and while some planned events went well, other things went very wrong.
“We were supposed to have a bus to pick up the delegation at the airport,” Openshaw said. “But that fell through, and instead there were 4 or 5 different cars.” There was also a van for the elders (chaperones) too, but the organizers had wanted a proper bus for everyone and their baggage. Throughout the trip, the accommodation was often at places like school dorms, and the elders weren’t very happy with that, recalls Openshaw. “The students didn’t care though,” he recalled.
Then came a “rogue wave” event. Coolidge explains: “One time we had to find emergency accommodation because they [the elders] weren’t happy with where we set them up. And those emergency accommodations turned out to be a love hotel with sex toys everywhere. That was unexpected. And it was not just any love hotel. I’ve seen some but this was definitely a special one. They had like dental chairs in the middle of the room,” lamented Tony Coolidge, with a chuckle. Oops!
There was also a controversy over the central purpose of the trip. Although Prof. Henry had acknowledged the Austronesian connection and had even shown a positive attitude toward the “Out of Taiwan” theory, which says that Taiwan was the beginning-place of the Austronesian Expansion, the idea that indigenous Taiwanese are the ancestors of the Māori is not something accepted by all Māori. Their own origin story is that they came from a Polynesian island or group of islands called Hawaiki, and that Aotearoa (New Zealand)wasdiscovered by Tupe, the master navigator. Later, the seven Māori iwis (tribal groups) voyaged to the islands, and thus the lands were populated by humans for the first time.
However, in his pure enthusiasm, Coolidge had touted the “Out of Taiwan” hypothesis as the central context for the trip. Although there is still some debate, the leading scientific theory is that Austronesian-speaking people first began their great migrations from pre-Han Taiwan about 3000 to 1500 BCE, spreading outward from there as far as Madagascar and Polynesia. Not only is it highly plausible, based on the evidence, it is also very popular with those who have some emotional connection with indigenous Taiwan. But perhaps it was not diplomatic to brand the trip accordingly, without okaying this with the visitors? Feathers were ruffled.
According to a December, 2013 Taipei Times article: “In bold lettering, the [Tap Root] Web site introduces the exchange program with a rhetorical question: ‘What if the great diaspora of 400 million Austronesian peoples from 38 countries strengthened their cultural bonds by uniting at the source of their cultural roots?’” The article also reports that one of the elders “said she had never heard of the theory that the Māori ancestral roots are in Taiwan. ‘It has been quite an experience meeting people from Taiwan but certainly we didn’t come here to look for where we came from,’ she added.’”
TRADITIONAL FACIAL EXPRESSION FOR DISDAIN IN THE MAORI HAKA DANCE (Photo Tobie Openshaw)
MAORI HAKA DANCE IN TAIWAN (Video by Tobie Openshaw)
The article’s author fails to point out that it is a bit odd that the elder hadn’t heard of the “Out of Taiwan” theory, given that it had been first proposed in 1983, and has become steadily established thereafter. The elder in question was highly educated and taught classes about Māori culture at AUT. The article goes on to say: “Indeed, the Māori group gave a performance [Haka dance – probably the first ever occurrence of this at an indigenous wedding in Taiwan, according to Openshaw] at every stop throughout the trip, though not completely voluntarily, said the elder. “In New Zealand, we don’t expect our guests to entertain; whereas we have been required to entertain,” she said.
So that’s probably the crux of the grievance, a combination of faulty planning made worse by a cross-cultural communication error. In 2012, the AUT group had shown great hospitality to the Taiwan delegation, indicating proper respect, letting them stay in the marae. No doubt the hosts also felt that giving them the best international film award was also a sign of respect. However, when the AUT delegation came over, the returned hospitality was underwhelming, causing the elders to be offended, and thus inciting one elder in particular to complain to the press.
Openshaw, however, believes that this was an overreaction, because the most important people on the trip, the students, had “a fantastic time.” He also maintains that when Coolidge subsequently apologized for the problems with Tap Root, publicly taking full personal responsibility for everything that went wrong with the trip, that this was excessive. But the damage had been done. When Openshaw contacted AUT years later to discuss further projects, AUT declined any future cooperation. That bridge has been burnt.
What’s more, Coolidge had covered a lot of the costs out of his family funds, and had also spent many hundreds of hours preparing for Tap Root, instead of earning cash for his family. This strained his relationship with his wife to near the breaking point. Through a mix of bad luck and navigator error, the good canoe ATAYAL had been capsized. But as luck would have it, a buddy was there to help him out. “I couldn’t focus and I sort of gave the reins to Gary Smoke.”
FIRE IN THE SKY, SMOKE ON THE WATER
American Gary Smoke has spent 31 years in Taiwan, making him quite the expat old-timer. The tall, aging man-boy with an actor’s face and voice lives in a rooftop pad in Tianmu filled with books and bedecked with beer signs. He’s friendly and laid-back, but there’s a note of sadness and tension to his voice when he talks about Vietnam.
SMOKE (farthest right) AND BUDDIES IN THAILAND DURING THE VIETNAM WAR
“In 1971, I was in the US Air Force in the Vietnam War,” says Smoke. “I was in Ubon Airbase in Thailand. I worked on a computer system that was responsible for air navigation and weapons delivery for the AC-130 Spectre gunship.” These refitted Hercules transport planes are famous for delivering massive fire power from above that can take out enemy positions and vehicles, and often provide close air support for troops on the ground. Their fearsome array of cannons – abetted by sophisticated sensors and control systems – are mounted to fire from the port (left) side. The plane does a continuous circular “pylon” turn over the target, pounding the hell out of it for far longer than a conventional strafing run.
DEATH FROM ABOVE – AC 130 SPECTRE GUNSHIP
That sounds cool if you’re a gung-ho military type, but Smoke wasn’t.
“They flew around at night at around 1100 feet (335 meters) and shot up trucks and troops on the Ho Chi Minh Trail,” said Smoke, referring to the nickname the US military gave to the shifting system of roads and trails that ran from North to South Vietnam, often through Laos, used by North Vietnamese forces to move men and materiel to support the Viet Cong.
“But the US government denied they did any missions in Laos, which shows you a lot about how they lie about what’s going on,” said Smoke.
And although Smoke never fired a shot at the enemy, figuratively, he had helped load the gun.
Does that still bother him, so many decades ago? “Yes of course,” he said, sharply. “258,000 people died and it was really for no reason whatsoever. Other than the fact that the people who made my weapon system needed some way to practice using it and developing it to its best capabilities in a real-world setting.”
“When I went back to the USA after my deployment, I thought I’d never come back to Asia,” Smoke said. Then his life followed a progression that will sound familiar to many expats. He met a Taiwanese woman in Washington State, fell in love, and sometime later ended up back in Taiwan, married to her and with a kid.
The marriage didn’t last, unfortunately, but he stayed in Taiwan while his son went through the Taipei American School. He did various jobs, working at a bar – the Wild Cherry – teaching English, TV acting, and started his own business, the English Library.
One day a guy from the US emailed him and asked if he was interested in getting some more books for his library. It was Tony Coolidge, preparing for his move to Taiwan. The deal with the books never actually happened, but Coolidge eventually came by just to meet Smoke, and the two became friends. Smoke then started to work with Coolidge at the ATAYAL Organization. “Because of my time in the military I had some remorse for some of the things that we did and I figured that this would be a good way to give back by joining up with Tony,” Smoke said.
One of his roles was being Santa Claus at ATAYAL’s annual “Christmas in Wulai” events, where they brought presents and a musical show to kids in Wulai, the Atayal community turned mixed-ethnicity tourist town where Coolidge’s mother had been born.
CHRISTMAS IN WULAI WITH THE ATAYAL ORGANIZATION (Photo Tony Coolidge)
Later, when Coolidge hit the wall after the Tap Root Cultural Exchange visit from New Zealand, Smoke got the group involved in the Tribal Canoe Journeys, a big event for the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest coast. Coming from Washington State, he had some friends in the indigenous community, and was able to make the connection.
These journeys are a big deal, with up to 30,000 people from communities from Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State, and Oregon paddling canoes to and converging on one community. Said Smoke: “It’s an opportunity for elders in the tribe to show the young people, to pass on that tradition of the ways of traveling over the water. People come from as far as Alaska and they’ll come to Vancouver Island and they’ll paddle down. If you’re from the south they’ll start on the Washington Coast. They’ll paddle around the coast, down the Straits of Juan de Fuca and then into Puget Sound. Everyone eventually ends up where the host canoe family is. You’ll go to wherever your canoe family starts from and you’ll paddle to the next destination on your way to the final powwow. At each stop you ask for permission to come ashore. They go through this ritual to show non-aggression. Then they take you to the campgrounds where you pitch your tent. They provide food for you: you don’t have to stay in a hotel. You don’t have to buy food.” He said that these coastal indigenous people are expert harvesters from the sea. “They bring out the crabs, the clams, mussels, salmon. Good food!” says Smoke. “And then you go on to the next destination and it’s the same thing over again.” At the end there’s a big gathering.
SMOKE (Second left) AND FELLOW EVENT PARTICIPANTS AT THE 2019 TRIBAL CANOE JOURNEY
A delegation from Taiwan joined the Tribal Canoe Journeys in 2017, 2018, and 2019. They were hosted by the canoe family skippered by Hanford McCloud, a Nisqually Tribal Council Member, of the Coastal Salish people. In 2019, the destination was the Lummi Nation, (also known as Lhaq’temish or People of the Sea) a Native American tribe of the Coast Salish ethnolinguistic group near Bellingham, Washington State.
Although most of the participants were Native Americans and First Nations from the Pacific coast, McCloud said in an interview with Coolidge that he liked “this vision of bringing indigenous Taiwanese into the canoe family and paddling with them. We always have a seat in our canoe.” This is because another family had offered McCloud’s group a seat in a canoe back when they were just starting out in the journeys, and he likes to pass on the generosity.
Reaching out is a family tradition, he said. “My grandma did it for us, our grandchildren. She took in delegations from other countries”. Regarding indigenous people: “We are all the same. But we all need to work together.” McCloud has been working on this for almost 15 years, and he loves it: “It’s that feeling you get. You want everybody to experience this. I want that story to continue. So, my grandmother, myself, my son my kids. That’s what I’m looking at.”
He said that a lot of indigenous youth don’t focus on tradition because they get so caught up in mainstream society. But that when you get indigenous youth together from all over the world, “the atmosphere changes. Over time the kids have become more open, relaxed, and connect better.” They also identify more with their indigenous identify, while getting to know about the songs, games, and food from other indigenous groups, says McCloud. “They are also growing together, so they do have that connection, when they get older and bigger. They’ll thank you for it.”
JOURNEYING TOGETHER
McCloud wanted to bring a delegation over to Taiwan, and Coolidge and Smoke were ready to welcome them. It seems like a lot of these indigenous connections are about returning the hospitality. But then along came Covid-19. Not only did it prevent the Nisqually delegation from coming over, it even caused the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 Tribal Canoe Journey events in the USA. Sadly, it also took the life of Tony Alton, the well-liked British musician who handled the music at the Christmas in Wulai events.
But regardless of setbacks, you’ve got to keep paddling! The ATAYAL Organization has. They’ve learned from past mistakes and have become much more professional in their planning and execution. Their current Indigenous Bridges Youth Ambassador program is pretty slick, incorporating local partnerships with Dong Hwa University in Hualien, the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung County, the Tao Foundation from Orchid Island, and also the Council of Indigenous Peoples – the Taiwanese government organization responsible for supporting and coordinating policy about Taiwan’s indigenous groups. Their main international partners are the Nisqually Indian Tribe, their host family for the Tribal Canoe Journeys, and the Lummi Nation, both of Washington State.
And while face-to-face has been put on hold by Covid-19, like everyone else they’ve migrated online.
“Our next step will be doing the virtual online conference,” said. This will include guest speakers on reviving indigenous tourism in post-pandemic times. But the real stars of the conference will be the students themselves. “We need more students in the USA and Taiwan,” said Coolidge. “Every tribe that participates will have some candidates who will write an essay and a video to introduce their culture. If chosen, they’ll get a scholarship and an opportunity to represent their tribe during these online conferences.” They will also be invited to participate in the Tribal Canoe Journeys in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, having participated or intending to participate is a requirement of the program. This program will bring new people to the canoe events and keep the cultural exchanges happening for Taiwanese indigenous youth as well.
Their vision statement for the Indigenous Bridges Youth Ambassador program is: “The future of the Indigenous peoples is one where tribes of the world are connected and cooperating to develop sustainable solutions from their inherent knowledge and wisdom. It will take a future generation of empowered leaders to realize this vision.”
(LINK TO INDIGENOUS BRIDGES YOUTH AMBASSADOR PROGRAM)
There’s still a long way to go, for all of us, so let’s keep paddling! There are so many different journeys in different “life canoes”: long journeys of healing for indigenous communities, dealing with multiple serious problems; a movement away from the War Machine and toward life and positivity for Gary Smoke; and the ongoing quest to promote awareness of indigenous culture for Tony Coolidge. These are all part of the new age of great indigenous journeys. And in a global society that seems increasingly divorced from nature, these voyages are important to all of us.
“Indigenous cultures are very important right now,” says Coolidge. “Because we’re in danger of losing a lot of what makes us human.”
TONY COOLIDGE AND YAKI VINAI (Photo credit for right photo Aaron Hosé)
Sometimes I like to contemplate great voyages, like those of the Pacific Islanders in legendary times as they spread across vast expanses of ocean. I imagine their thousands of journeys: maybe 20 people on large, outrigger canoes, the navigators way-finding by reading the signs of nature: the birds, the stars, the swell of the water, and even the color of the sky. Then, if they don’t get hit by a rogue wave or a fierce storm, everyone arriving grateful and stiff-legged at their destination, a pristine gem of an island where they could live as their own masters.
Fast forward to the present day: With very few exceptions, the Pacific Islanders – like indigenous people worldwide – have been colonized and subjugated. Navigation is done by GPS, and you can fly from Hawaii to Taipei in 13 hours, including the stopover in Tokyo. In places like Tahiti, rich Western and Asian guests stay in luxury hotels with indigenous art decorations, served by a staff of friendly brown locals. When many Pacific Islanders make long journeys now, it is often to the USA or New Zealand, where they live as a minority under a dominant culture, in a world rediscovered and reimagined by someone else.
But the age of great indigenous journeys isn’t over. In fact, a new phase has just begun. These are voyages of the heart, of discovery of heritage, of uncovering lost links to the past, and of friendship and family that are both very personal and also global in scale.
One interesting modern journey is that of Tony Coolidge, founder of the non-profit indigenous awareness group ATAYAL.
TONY AND HIS MOTHER BEFORE THEY LEFT TAIWAN
I spoke with Tony on a video call a few weeks ago to hear his story. A guy who is very comfortable with media, he was sitting in front of a neutral green back drop, wearing a somewhat formal black hat. I guess he does a lot of calls for various professional reasons, so I had to remind him that this was an interview about ATAYAL. “Oh!” he said. “Then I’ll have to put on my indigenous hat.” He disappeared for a second, and came back with literally a Taiwan Indigenous style hat. Interesting, I thought.
Then he told me his story, which explained the different hats.
“My biological father was an American soldier who left my mother before I was born. When I was three years old, my mother met and married my adopted father, David Coolidge, a military intelligence officer in Taiwan. We moved around a lot, Japan, Germany, and the United States.” Then they settled in the USA. Being a bi-racial child wasn’t easy. “I probably resented being Taiwanese at the time, so I had no interest in knowing more about it or embracing it. Because that’s what made me different from everyone else. It made it hard for me to fit in.” Tony remembers. “They didn’t know what I was.”
But neither did Tony. Even though he was always close to his mom (his adopted dad and she had separated by this time) she had never celebrated her Taiwanese cultural identity, or encouraged it in him or his brother and two sisters. Then, just after Tony graduated from college, tragedy struck: His mother found out that she had cancer, and had only had a few months left to live.
“Her life wish was to see her family that she hadn’t seen in 20 plus years. The only thing holding us back was a few hundred bucks.” So instead, Tony took her to a theme park called “Splendid China” for Mother’s Day. It was a lovely day together, but soon after that, she passed away. The next year, he decided that he had to visit Taiwan himself, for her, and to see where she came from.
“And that’s what changed my life.”
Arriving in Taiwan, his first thought was: “Whoa! What is this place?” There were tall buildings, signs in Mandarin, and thousands of motor scooters. Then the taxi took them into the mountains of Wulai, with its green hills, waterfalls, and butterflies.
He recalls nervously approaching the door where his mother’s side of the family was waiting for him. The door burst open and there were dozens of friendly people who had come to welcome back the returning son. There was food, drink, children, and laughter. Their love for his mother poured over him in a big friendly wave.
Later, as he walked around Wulai, he noticed not only that it was a tourist place, but also the tribal motifs in the decoration in the village, which reminded him of Native American culture. His Taiwan family told him that his mother was from a tribe called “Atayal,” an indigenous group. Because of the language barrier, they couldn’t tell him much about it. But it was the first time he realized that his mother was from this background.
Back in the US, he started to do research about the Atayal people and the other indigenous groups in Taiwan, and in 1997 he wrote an article called “Village in the Clouds” (link below) about his experiences and discoveries. And he kept going from there.
“I never realized how much people are interested in indigenous culture. We founded the ATAYAL organization in 2001,” said Tony, who had by this time met and married a Taiwanese woman named Shu-min who had been visiting Florida on a work exchange program. She helped him with the organization. “We started humbly, with no money, lots of volunteers, sharing information in any capacity. At schools or international culture fairs, we’d do our best to represent,” Tony said. “There was a gradual evolution. Then we got the opportunity to make some documentary films. We wanted to go to film in Taiwan, but lacked the budget.”
So instead, they found a group from Taiwan and invited them to come to Florida to join their first Indigenous Heritage Festival in 2004. Luckily, Tony also got a chance to go to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May 2004, shortly before his group’s planned festival.
“It’s a big forum of all indigenous nations that happens every year – so I was there with world leaders and tribal leaders, my mind was blown, and I had the chance to tell people there about this festival.” This helped promote his Indigenous Heritage Festival. What’s more, the Taiwanese group showed up too, among groups from all over the world.
“That experience was of reaching out, of touching and connecting. The way they accepted me into their group was like being part of their family.” Tony said. “Before that, I was all about the sharing information about culture. But when I saw the interactions between all these indigenous peoples, it changed my thinking. I saw these people who were separated by thousands of miles and who had never met but they were hugging each other as if they were long lost relatives. That showed me that bringing them together would create magic. And I wanted more opportunities to see what could be created from that magic. So, our organization changed from information sharing to culture exchange.”
The head of the Taiwanese delegation to his festival, Alice Takewatan, took a shine to Tony; she liked the fact that he wanted to discover his indigenous roots and share his discoveries with the world. She invited him to come to Taiwan, and promised to help facilitate the trip. She would arrange everything.
INDIGENOUS HERITIAGE FESTIVAL 2004, ALICE TAKEWATAN FAR LEFT, TONY COOLIDGE SECOND FROM RIGHT
So, Tony, along with his brother Steve and filmmaker Aaron Hosé, flew to Taiwan the following year.
It turned out that Alice Takewatan was the best possible guide. “She gave me access to people, places, and experiences most westerners would never get to see, and wouldn’t even know how to look for,” Tony said. He saw artists and craftspeople, working hard to keep the legacy of indigenous culture alive, and attended events with song and dance, traveling down the east coast of the island.
BUNUN GIRLS PREPARING FOR A CULTURAL EXCHANGE TRIP TO SOUTH AFRICA (Photo credit Aaron Hosé)
Then he did a long difficult hike in Pingtung to an abandoned village, which was a sad experience. The people who had once lived there were compelled to come down and live in lowland settlements. This made Tony want to meet people who had one lived in similar villages. So, through his contacts, Tony was introduced to an Atayal woman called “Yaki Vinai” (Grandmother Vinai) who was more than 100-year-old, in the indigenous village of Wufeng in Hsinchu County. She was tiny and wrinkled, and still had her traditional face tattoos – given as a sign of respect and maturity for adult women – one of very few surviving women who did. She lived alone in a tiny house by the road. Somewhat frail but still feisty, she became quite animated and cheerful when she met Tony, touched at this man’s journey to find his roots, the journey back to being Atayal. “You are Dayan!” she said happily, using the group’s own word to describe itself.
The good old days were long gone for her. No one else around her had a face tattoo, and most of her family were long gone – the curse of living to a great age, perhaps. Although born and raised Atayal (Dayan), she had been ordered down from her carefree mountain home to an urban settlement by the Japanese.
“During her long life she had to adopt different identities,” said Tony. “First tribal, and then Japanese, language and name. And then Chinese and then Taiwanese. That’s really what her life was about. Not really knowing who she was.”
After meeting some other very elderly indigenous women who had been through a similar process of forced assimilation, he came to new understandings. Even later generations like his mother’s were stigmatized and had to deal with discrimination, on top of the social problems like hopelessness and alcoholism caused by being subjugated under a dominant, colonizing culture.
“I can really understand my mother wanting to fit it, wanting to get ahead, wanting to have a life without struggle, without harassment,” Tony said. “I could see her wanting to hide from it. I could see her running away from it. And that’s what led her to the United States. And how it led to her hiding it from her children.”
Back in the USA, Tony and his team, including producer and director Aaron Hosé, gradually edited the video footage from Taiwan with other stuff they had been shooting for years. Eventually, in 2008, they came out with the documentary film, “Voices in the Clouds”, which won many international awards. It is a beautiful story, and a must-see.
TONY AND AARON AT A SCREENING OF ‘VOICES IN THE CLOUDS”
Inspired and captivated by his experiences in Taiwan, and with a Taiwanese wife and child, Tony decided to move back there and continue his work as an Indigenous culture advocate. In 2009, his journey would continue. He moved back to Taiwan, where his mother had come from, the great-granddaughter of someone like Yaki Vinai perhaps, who had started life high in the mountains, and had a facial tattoo she had earned as a sign of respect.
For many indigenous voyagers, the journey back is also the journey forward into a world where their identity is reclaimed. But how to define the journey of someone like Tony? According to a DNA test he did, he’s part White, part Han, and part Austronesian. He was raised around the world and educated in America. So, is he really Atayal, or is that just a hat he puts on for public events?
I asked Tony about his identity and the answer was complicated, naturally.
“The Taiwan identity is not clear. Some people say they’re Taiwanese and some people say they’re Chinese. It’s just a matter of how you feel about yourself. And it’s about what people in other countries recognize. So, say you’re Taiwanese: a lot of people don’t know what that means in America. So, I used to call myself Asian-American, but as a mixed-race person with a White father and an Asian mother. But the Asian part is also a little cloudy because of the indigenous heritage.”
Tony said: “When you’re a mixed-race person, I used to think that it put me at a disadvantage. A lot of mixed-race people have to go through a stigma of not being accepted from one race or the other because they are different. But as you get older and more mature, it’s either a disadvantage or an advantage depending on how you choose to see it for yourself. It can be a great opportunity itself. I’ve taken on the opportunity of being a bridge between two cultures.”
Some of these new indigenous voyages are voyages of the heart, so they should be measured in terms of the heart. Tony’s quest was to find the source of his mother’s life, in order to deepen and preserve his connection to her love. In that voyage, he found her Atayal origins, and received the love of her family. He is the returning son.
Then he met a tribal elder – passed away now, sadly – a real remnant of the ancient times. She had seen him as a member of her extended family, coming from a great distance, to connect with his Atayal roots, roots that she had never forgotten in all her long life despite all the efforts of society to convince her otherwise. I guess that tattoo on her face never let her forget. This was a deep and happy meeting of two hearts connected by one line of identity that has not yet been broken. If Yaki Vinai could accept Tony as a member of her Atayal family, that has to stand for something – whatever other hats he may wear.
THIS IS PART 1 OF OF INDIGENOUS JOURNEYS. STAY TUNED FOR PART 2.
Established in 2004, the mission of the Taiwan Legal Aid Foundation (LAF) is to offer a comprehensive range of legal aid services for the financially disadvantaged in Taiwan. Mainly funded by an endowment from the Judicial Yuan worth just over 1.5 billion NTD (about 55 million USD), as of 2021, the LAF has 22 branch offices around Taiwan employing 300 staff members, and with 3,000 private lawyers actively connected to the foundation’s operations.
Here are the top ten takeaways for those who wish to use or recommend the use of this organization:
1. The Taiwan Legal Aid Foundation (LAF) mainly offers services in Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, and English. It is sometimes possible to access services in other languages, such as Vietnamese, Thai, or Bahasa Indonesia, but provisions for this are limited.
2.The LAF offers a range of services, including initial legal advice through online Google Meet video-conference at no cost for English-speaking foreigners currently living in Taiwan. This service will be a one-off advice session for your case and it must be arranged by appointment beforehand. The session is up to 40 minutes maximum and a free translator will be provided throughout the video-conference. If you would like to use this service, fill in the form ( https://forms.gle/22YM9TvAQW4pREen6 ) and LAF will arrange a time for you. This advice is for actual legal situations, not for general public information. Don’t use this service if you are just curious or doing general research.
3. You can call the LAF from police or judicial custody to request assistance if you are being interrogated or interviewed by police or prosecutors, or will be soon, or just have been. Please note that in Taiwan you can legally refuse to answer questions until you have obtained legal advice. It is always better to have legal representation or advice during these procedures.
4. If you are a non-native Mandarin speaker, you have a legal right in Taiwan to a court-certified legal translator. This may be provided privately, by LAF or by the judicial system itself. So, if you don’t have one, arrange for one or politely insist on having one. Needless to say, don’t sign anything that is in Mandarin unless it has been translated for you by a court-certified legal translator.
5. After the initial advice, you can apply for a legal aid grant for full or partial legal representation for any criminal, civil, family, or administrative legal issue. This includes launching a criminal complaint, lawsuit, or other legal action as well as responding to one. You may visit the LAF website for more information about applying for legal aid.
6. However, whether you are granted aid or not depends on a means test. For example, if you are a single-person household living in Taipei City, you may be granted full aid if your monthly income is less than 32,027 NTD. For a two-person household, the cut-off is a combined monthly income of 53,378 NTD. For partial assistance, in which the LAF services consumer would pay for a portion of their own legal costs, household income would need to be between 32,027 NTD and 38, 432 NTD for a single-person household, and between 53,378 and 64,054 NTD for a two-person household. For larger households (three-person, four-person, and so on) the cut-off level for household goes up. The cut-off level is highest in Taipei City and lower in other areas. The total amount of aid granted will not exceed 500,000 NTD for full aid and 600,000 NTD for partial aid for both one-person or two-person households, and 800,000 NTD and 960,000 NTD respectively for a four-person household, and so on, up to a family size of ten persons. The fact that some money or other assets may be unavailable due to the actual cause of your legal predicament, i.e., spousal control of a bank account, or non-payment of wages owed, etc., will be taken in to consideration by the LAF.
7. If the committee accepts your application for aid, you will be connected with either a staff lawyer or an associated private lawyer. If you are rejected, you have the right to appeal the decision. If the appeal does not rule in your favor, the LAF may not officially recommend any lawyer for you. You need to reach out to friends and other support groups or individuals who can offer you a confidential recommendation of a competent, reliable, and effective lawyer.
8. The financial means test for legal assistance may be waived in some situations. The organization is limited in resources and scope, and must follow the law, as well its own policies, and regulations. However, there is sometimes room for discretion in making decisions, so don’t give up on advance because you think they might reject your case.
9. When dealing with the police, always have a smart and mature local Taiwanese friend or relative come with you. Make sure you get correct documentation from the police for any complaint or report. Your attitude and behavior with the police may influence their treatment of your case. For example, wearing office attire such as a tie or suit, speaking whatever Mandarin you can to show cultural respect, adopting a polite and formal style of behavior, etc., may influence them to treat you and your case more seriously.
10. Last but not least, be smart with the law in Taiwan, as it is a foreign country for you. The rules and how the game is played may be very different than your home country. Become aware of the law for driving accidents, defamation, divorce, public insult, etc. Work legally, pay your taxes, and avoid all illegal activities. But don’t forget that you have rights, so become aware of any relevant labor, accident, or family laws that might protect your legitimate interests. For general information, do some online research. But if you are in a real legal situation, or think you might be, get legal counsel. DO NOT substitute posting on Facebook for getting actual legal advice. And if you are of limited means at the moment, reach out to the LAF by phone, walk in to make an appointment, or get a friend to assist you. The LAF is there to help.
The Culture Shack 