Taiwan

All,

Not that it really matters, but for some reason, it felt pretty cool being in Taiwan (Republic of China) the very same day President Trump was meeting in Beijing (People’s Republic of China) and largely discussing the issue of Taiwan. Hopefully, that all works out well.

Luckily for us, our tour guide today, Alumi (he said to call him Lu), was a former college professor and gave us a pretty good history of Taiwan—as well as a few laughs. Funny guy 😊

Being a political junkie, I knew a fair bit about Taiwan’s history from 1949 forward, when Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek fled mainland China after Mao Tse Tung and the communist revolution took over. But I did not know much of the earlier history, which Lu explained to us.

Before the Chinese settlement, Taiwan was populated by Austronesian indigenous peoples related linguistically and ancestrally to peoples across:

• The Philippines
• Polynesia
• Hawaii
• Madagascar
• and many Pacific islands

In fact, many scholars believe Taiwan may have been one of the launching points for the Austronesian expansion across the Pacific.

The Chinese, though close by, did not heavily settle the island at first. It was considered distant, rugged, and partially outside civilization.

Later the Europeans—primarily the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish—established colonies there for trade and military projection. The Portuguese called it Formosa, meaning “beautiful island.” The Dutch built Fort Zeelandia, named after the Dutch province of Zeeland. And when Dutch explorers later discovered islands far to the south, they called them New Zeeland—today’s New Zealand. Interesting how intertwined history and cultures really are.

Japan took over Taiwan after the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and ruled it until the end of World War II in 1945. Then in 1949 it became the refuge of Chiang Kai-shek and the Republic of China government after the communist victory on the mainland.

Today, Taiwan is a very modern and prosperous country, home to much of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing. (No, duh—not Lay’s potato chips, computer chips 😊)

The main religion, as in Hong Kong, is Taoism, which Lu jokingly described using Bob Dylan’s lyric: “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind.”

Taiwan is densely populated. Its land mass is close to Switzerland’s size, but Taiwan has about 23 million people compared with Switzerland’s 9 million. Taipei alone has 14 subway lines.

Lu also claimed there are still kamikazes in Taiwan—except now they drive scooters instead of flying Zeroes 🤣

Twenty-three million people and fifteen million scooters.

These bus tours can sometimes get pretty boring, so we were lucky to get a knowledgeable and funny guide. Being a guide is actually a tough job—herding 30 tourists through museums, palaces, hikes, buses, and bathrooms while constantly counting heads so nobody gets left behind.

So it cracked me up today when Lu walked around counting everyone before leaving a museum, paused, and finally announced:

“Close enough.” Maybe you had to be there, but it was funny as hell to me.

And while driving through the city, he pointed to one building and said:

“That is the best place to work. You get paid really well, and all you do is drink coffee all day.” It was the government office 😉

Anyway, a very fun day in Taiwan. Lots of pics below.

Thanks, Lu.

Onward to Japan! -JB