A long-running Taiwan Blog is closing

Michael Turton announced closure of The View from Taiwan sixteen days ago. The blog had its drawbacks, but it will hopefully remain online, as an archive of pan-green views, information, and dogmatism – and as a rare collection of photos, showing everyday life in Taiwan.

There are too few English-language windows on Taiwan, and it is bad news that The View isn’t posting anymore.

Shijiazhuang: Falling over each other to Express their Love for the Motherland

Thirty flag communities were created in Shijiazhuang, and along with more than ten flag streets, they attracted participation by a hundred-thousand citizens, Shijiazhuang Daily, the local party newspaper, reported on September 30.

Tomorrow is national day, with the provincial capital’s big roads and small alleys, communities and schools all flying the bright-colored five-starred red flag, spreading deep patriotic feelings in every place! Organized by the Shijiazhuang Municipal Committee’s propaganda department, the flag-raising activity carried out by Yanzhao Evening Post continued from September 19 until now and earned positive responses from all parts of society, with numerous citizens raising or hanging out the national flag in a wave of enthusiasm. In less than half a month, a total of fifty-thousand national flags were given to the provincial capital’s citizens, and the creation of thirty flag communities, five national-flag schools, more than ten flag streets etc. attracted onehundred-thousand citizens’ passionate participation. It is worth mentioning that when a huge 38 meters long and 25.3 meters broad flag with a weight of two-hundred kilograms appeared at a rebuilt school in the Liangxiang disaster area, all teachers’ and students’ eyes were brimming with tears of emotion, and they loudly exlaimed: “Motherland, we love you!” These words, so plain and sincere, were an expression of all the citizens’ good wishes and ardent love for the motherland!

明天就是国庆节了，省会大街小巷、社区、学校都飘扬起鲜艳的五星红旗，处处传递着浓浓的爱国情怀！由石家庄市委宣传部主办、燕赵晚报承办的“五星红旗飘起来”活动从9月19日启动至今，得到了社会各界的积极响应，广大市民升国旗、挂国旗的热情如潮。不到半个月时间，共向省会市民赠送50000面国旗，打造了30个国旗社区、5个国旗学校、十余条国旗街道等，吸引了10万市民激情参与。值得一提的是，当长38米、宽25.3米、重200公斤的巨幅国旗亮相灾区重建学校时，全校师生激动得热泪盈眶，高呼：“祖国，我爱你！”这句最真挚、最质朴的话语也说出了全市人民对祖国的祝福与热爱！

This year’s “flying the five-starred red flag” activity, from the start, ignited the enthused participation of citizens. Day after day, this newspaper received three-hundred registrations from community neighborhood communities, properties, schools, companies, citizens, etc.. They fell over each other in their eagerness to apply for a flag, to create “flag communities”, “flag streets”, etc., in their desire for practical action to express their deep good wishes for the land, their mother. The most enthusiastic among those registering were the community neighborhood communities.

今年“五星红旗飘起来”活动一启动，就点燃了市民的参与热情，连日来，本报共接到报名电话三百来个，涉及社区居委会、物业、学校、企业、市民等。他们争相来电申领国旗，打造“国旗社区”“国旗学校”“国旗街”等，想用实际行动表达对祖国母亲的深深祝福，其中报名最踊跃的就是社区居委会。

There are tons of trivia and atmospheric fuel for the reader, before the article returns to the monster flag, which was apparently taken to several schools in a row, among them the once disaster-stricken, rebuilt school, previously mentioned within the first blockquote:

The way the huge flag was passed on was a wonderfully vivid lesson in patriotism for the children, but it also touched every teacher. […..]

巨幅国旗的传递，给孩子们上了一堂精彩生动的爱国主义课，也感动着每一名参与传递的师生。[…..]

In addition, different from past years, under the unified arrangements of the City Transportation Department, [Shijiazhuang’s] more than 6,000 cabs and buses also flew the flag, becoming the most beautiful circulating sight in the capital city’s streets.

此外，与往年不同的是，在市交通局的统一安排下，今年全市6000多辆出租车和公交车上也悬挂起国旗，成为省会街头最美的流动风景线。

[…..]

President Elect: Tsai Ing-wen

Tsai Ing-wen has been elected president of Taiwan.

Related tag: Tsai Ing-wen

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Updates/Related

» Victory speech full text (English), CNA, Jan 16, 2016
» Personal Memories, latest results, Foarp, Jan 16, 2016
» Tsai Ing-wens Wahlkampf, 2010 – 2016, Jan 16, 2016

Ma Ying-jeou on War Commemorations: CCP should face History Honestly

Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou said on Tuesday that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) commemorations of the Japanese War were manipulating history in an unacceptable way. Ma spoke on a Special Exhibition on the Truth about the Japanese War (對日抗戰真相特展).

According to Radio Taiwan International ‘s (RTI) Chinese service, Ma Ying-jeou said that remarks by former Chinese leader Hu Jintao during the 60th Japanese War commemorations hadn’t been correct either. According to Ma, Hu had said that the KMT army had fought the frontal battles against the Japanese, while the CCP had fought the Japanese behind enemy lines. In fact, Ma said, KMT troops had fought both kinds of war. However, Hu Jintao’s remarks had been closer to the truth than the way mainland Chinese media were now painting a picture with the CCP as the leading force in the war of resistance.

President Ma said: Mainland reports emphasize again that the war of resistance had been CCP-led. We cannot accept this, in the light of the sacrifices of so many officers and soldiers. One can’t talk to a point where inaccurate situations emerge.

馬總統說：『(原音)大陸報導又再強調抗戰是中共所領導，這是我們所不能接受的，因為這麼多官兵犧牲，不能說到後來還是出現不真實的情況。』

At another venue on Tuesday, a symposium on the Second Sino-Japanese War, Ma said that events marking the victory over the Japanese in WWII were not affecting relations between Taiwan and Japan, RTI’s English section reports.

“I think we should focus on the issues at hand. [We should] have empathy and a clear concept of what is right and wrong. That’s the basis of making friends, and a basis for enabling the Chinese-speaking community and the Japanese people to build a long-standing friendship.”

In Taiwanese CNA newsagency’s quotation:

I have learned that when outsiders address my attitude towards Japan, they often believe that I belong to an anti-Japanese camp, because I frequently attend Japanese-war commemoration events, and because of my support for comfort women, and there are others who, because of my acknowledgement of Yoichi Hatta‘s contributions for Taiwan’s farming population, think of me as belonging to a “pro-Japan camp”. I don’t think that I’m belonging to either. I’m in the Friends-of-Japan camp, because I believe that taking matters on their merits, to feel for others, and clear distinction between kindness and resentment is the way real friends interact with each other, and it is on this principle that the Chinese nation and the Japanese nation can built lasting friendship.

我發現外界討論到我對日本的態度時，常常因為我常常參加抗日的紀念活動，並且支持慰安婦，而說我是反日派；也有人因為我肯定八田與一對台灣農民的貢獻，說我是「親日派」，我相信我都不是，我是「友日派」，因為我認為「就事論事、將心比心、恩怨分明」才是真正朋友相處之道，而這樣的原則，也才能真正讓我們中華民族與大和民族，建立可大、可久的友誼。

A Beijing-leaning Hong Kong news agency, CRNTT (中國評論通訊社), writes that the exhibition was organized by Taiwan’s ministry of defense. According to the report, Ma said that while the CCP did play a role in the war of resistance against Japan, the war had been led by the government of the Republic of China and Chiang Kai-shek, and this was an irrevocable fact which needed to be honestly faced. The CCP’s involvement had been limited, and this needed to be honestly acknowledged, CRNTT quotes the Taiwanese president.

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Related

» China’s press commemorates WW2, May 11, 2015

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Presidential Elections 2016: Tsai Ing-wen is back

It’s Tsai Ing-wen again, running as the DPP’s nominee for president in Taiwan, and I think she’s a great choice. If she makes it into the presidential palace, expect no ballyhoo (she’s as lousy an actor and speaker just as the incumbent is)  – but expect social reforms that actually benefit the people.

Next time, we will make that final mile, she said in January 2012. Chances are that she and her supporters will make it indeed.

Nanjing Massacre MemorialDay: an Enorth account of a War Veteran’s Memories

The following is a translation of an article published by Enorth, an official online news portal for Tianjin municipality. Explanatory notes put into [square brackets]. Links within blockquotes inserted during translation. Mistakes during translation likely.

Main Link: National Memorial Day: Tianjin’s only Chinese Expeditionary Force Veteran tells Story of Japanese War

Enorth — He was fifteen at the time of the Nanjing massacre, and witnessed the panic and helplessness of the refugees who had escaped from there, and the bloody images of Japanese soldiers hunting the common people of Nanjing. He gave up the pen for the sword, and as a member of the Whampoa / Huangpu Branch Seventeen, joined the Chinese Expeditionary Force and fought in the battle of Taungoo, the fiercest in the defense war of Myanmar, he’s the only Tianjiner still living and in good health who was part of the Chinese Expeditionary Force – the War of resistance against Japan veteran Yang Cenfeng. On December 13, 2014, the first day of commemoration [of the Nanjing massacre] held in China, 93-year-old Yang Cenfeng told us this dark period in history 77 years ago, which no Chinese people can ever forget.

天津北方网讯：南京大屠杀发生之时，他15岁，目睹了南京城逃出难民的惊恐无助，目睹了日本军人追杀南京百姓的血腥画面。他投笔从戎，以黄埔十七期的身份，加入了中国远征军，参加了缅甸防御战最惨烈的同古战役，他就是天津现今唯一健在的中国远征军军官、抗日老兵杨岑峰。在2014年12月13日，中国首个国家公祭日之时，93岁的杨岑峰向我们讲述了77年前，那段黑暗、但每个中国人绝不能忘却的历史。

Nanjing falls, Blood colors the Yangtze River

南京失守 血染长江

Seventy-seven years ago, Yang Cenfeng was in senior high school and living in a family of seven, in Wuhu, next to the Yangtze River. This was a gateway to Nanjing, with only some ninety kilometers between there and Nanjing. After the Japanese had occupied Nanjing, the burning, killing and looting started, and some lucky Nanjingers fled in panic to Wuhu, which, although peaceful, saw the Japanese soldiers coming nearer with each passing day.

77年前，杨岑峰正在读高三，一家7口住在长江边的芜湖，那里是南京的门户，距离南京仅有90多公里，日本人占领南京后，烧杀抢掠，有些幸存的南京人惊恐地向芜湖逃难，而芜湖也非太平之所，日渐被日本兵逼近。

At the time, everyone had heard about the disaster of Nanjing, and hated and feared the Japanese. And in fear, the people of Wuhu spent the Spring Festival days of 1938.

那个时候，人们都听说了南京城的惨剧，对日本人又恨又怕。而在恐惧中，芜湖迎来了1938年的春节。

“I remember the day of Spring Festival, we were just having a somewhat gloomy family reunion dinner. Just when the meal came onto the table, the air-raid sirens went off, and Japanese airplanes passed through, dropping bombs. At the time, the planes flew at particularly low heights, and I could clearly see the Japanese flag underneath the wings. They bombed unscrupulously, strafing here and there, and whereever they went, they left ruins, and seas of fire”, Yang Cenfeng said.

“我记得春节那天，马马虎虎地吃着团圆饭。刚把饭端上桌的时间，放空警报响了，日本的飞机过来轰炸了。当时飞机飞得特别低，我可以清楚地看见机翼之下的日本国旗。他们素无忌惮地投炸弹、扫射，所到之处一片废墟、一片火海。”杨岑峰说。

When the Japanese army approached Wuhu, many common people of Wuhu also fled into all directions, placing their hopes on the New Fourth Army on the northern side of the Yangtze River.

随着日军逼近芜湖，大批的芜湖百姓也是四散逃窜，在他们的心里，江北的新四军是希望所在。因此，大批的百姓都聚集在长江边，等着轮渡，过江逃命。

Yang Cenfeng’s recollections continue with a description of how people fleeing Wuhu and waiting for the ferry to the northern banks of the Yangtze – the place densely crowded – were bombed by Japanese warplanes, with countless numbers of people dying on the riverside, or dying in the river. How many people actually died, Yang Cenfeng doesn’t know, but he remembers how the water of the river turned red from the blood, from people who had come there to seek survival.

Yang Cenfeng’s family leapt from death back into life, finding survival in a small village in Jiangbei [here, geographically and literally: north of the Yangze River] under the protection of the New Fourth Army. At the time, a political instructor named Huang left an unforgettable impression on Yang Cenfeng.

死里逃生的杨岑峰一家来到了江北新四军保护下的一个小村子避难。当时，一位姓黄的指导员，给杨岑峰留下了难忘的印象。

“He put us into groups of, say, forty to fifty students, he told us that ‘young students should protect and defend China’, put us into a few groups so that we would stand guard, and taught us many songs to boost our morale.

“他把我们青年学生召集在一起，大约四五十人吧，告诉我们‘青年学生应该保家卫国’，把我们分成几组，站岗放哨，还教了我们很多歌，鼓舞我们的士气。”

Instructor Huang’s lessons turned Yang Cenfeng to the idea of giving up the pen for the sword, and after a stay of four or five months in the village, he enrolled at the Huangpu Military Academy’s Southern Anhui [皖南 stands for Anhui-south]. Together with fourteen classmates, all eye witnesses of the Japanese invaders’ atrocities, walked more than 150 kilometers in four days, and reached the administrative office in Tunxi in southern Anhui, and joined the army to join the resistance against Japan.

黄指导的教诲，让杨岑峰萌生了投笔从戎的念头，在小村子呆了四五个月之后，黄埔军校在皖南招生。目睹了日本侵略者暴行的杨岑峰和14个同学步行4天150多公里路，来到了当时皖南行署所在屯溪市，投笔从戎，参加抗日。

“My family wouldn’t let me go, so I secretly took three silver dollars from home and went to Tunxi with my classmates.”

“当时家里人也担心不让去，我就偷偷地拿了家里的3块大洋，和同学们走到了屯溪。”

But an application for [entrance] exams required graduation from senior high school. Lacking qualification, Yang Cenfeng and his classmates, with their own determination and willpower to resist Japan, impressed the school and were finally admitted to the exams. Going through layers of selection with subjects of literature, math, English, politics etc., Yang Cenfeng and ten of the classmates who had traveled with him entered Huangpu Military Academy.

但是，按照报考要求高中毕业，杨岑峰和同学们不够资格，他们就用自己抗日的决心和毅力打动着校方，最后终于感动了校方参加了考试。在经历了文学、数学、英语、政治等五六门功课的层层选拔，杨岑峰和其他同来的10位同学，加入了黄埔军校。

Having become a student of the Huangpu Branch Seventeen, and because of the Japanese closing in, southern Anhui became into imminent danger, and to protect the young seed of resistance against Japan and national salvation, the Branch Seventeen had to be transferred to Chengdu in Sichuan. After a four-months walk, Yang Cenfeng and his classmates arrived in Chengdu, and began their life of learning there.

成为了黄埔17期学员之后，由于日本人的步步紧逼，皖南岌岌可危，为了保住这些抗日救国的种子，黄埔17期学员需要转移到四川成都，杨岑峰和同学们步行4个多月，来到了成都，在那里开始了黄埔军校的学习生活。

The article / its rendition of Yang Cenfeng’s memories describes the year of 1941 as the peak of the Japanese war, with Academy students becoming replaces for soldiers who lost their lives or their fitness to fight. After two years at the academy, Huang joined the 96th Division of the Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force as a platoon leader and a second lieutenant (少尉排长).
The Chinese Expeditionary Force is described as a model of China cooperating directly with military allies, and also claims that this had been the first time ever that Chinese troops had left the country to fight in a war (这是中国与盟国直接进行军事合作的典范，也是甲午战争以来中国军队首次出国作战 …). In the three years and three months of Chinese involvement in the China Burma India Theater, China deployed some 400,000 soldiers, 200,000 of who became casualties, the article says, and describes the battles in which Yang Cenfeng took part as the fiercest in the defense of Burma / Myanmar. The battle of Taungoo is described as Yang Cenfeng’s most agonizing and most deeply-felt experience of Japanese troops’ brutality (他一生中最惨痛的经历，也是最深刻感受到日本军队残忍的一幕).

Withdrawal to Savage Mountain, Supporting the Flying Tigers

撤退野人山 支援飞虎队

But because of a Japanese breakthrough at the British flank, the 200th and 96th divisions of the Chinese Expeditionary Force were surrounded, and after defending to the last for eight days and eight nights, Tonggu could still not be held. In the end, after breaking through the encirclement into the endless virgin forests of Savage Mountain, the 96th Division went through Putao in northernmost Myanmar and entered Yunnan province, returning home.

然而，由于英军侧翼被突破，中国远征军200师和96师被包围，在死守了8天8夜之后，同古最终还是没有守住。最终，96师从茫茫的原始森林野人山突围后，从缅甸北端的葡萄进入云南福贡回国。

Looking back at the breakthrough at Savage Mountain, Yang Cenfeng says that rather than a way out, it was another dead end. Behind them, the enemy forces pursuing them, in front of them, the virgin forests as a no man’s land with all kinds of venomous serpents, wild animals, and disease awaiting them.

回忆起野人山突围，杨岑峰说，那与其说是生路，其实也是另一条死路。后面有敌军追，前面原始森林无人区又有各种毒蛇猛兽、瘟疫疾病等着他们。

“You won’t believe it, but there were ants as long as your fingers,” Yang Cenfeng says. “Diseases claimed many lives, and it was even worse for the few women soldiers. They became unable to walk and had to lie on the naked ground to wait for death to come.”

“说起来你们不信，蚂蚁都有手指那么长。”杨岑峰说，“瘟疫疾病夺走了很多人的生命，那些女兵们更惨，走不动了，最后只能在原地等死。”

There are people who have recorded this kind of miserable story: 1,500 wounded and ill soldiers were unable to go with the troops’ withdrawal, but didn’t want to be captured and humiliated. They set themselves on fire and became martyrs …..

曾经有人记录过这样一个极为悲惨的故事：1500名伤病员无法跟随部队徒步撤退，又不愿意被俘受辱，最后点火自焚，壮烈殉国……

In the end, with astonishing willpower, the 96th Division completed its roundabout route in 35 days, through the northern Myanmar Savage Mountain, across more than 300 kilometers, with less than half of them making their way home.

最终96师以惊人的毅力，用了35天，跨越了整个缅北野人山，绕道300多公里，人员损失大半终于撤回了国内。

After returning to Kunming, Yang Cenfeng’s troops were deployed to protect Kunming airport, working with the famous “Flying Tigers”. Finally, after completing the northern Burma counter attack, thus reopening the international traffic line, safeguarding a stream of international support into China and driving the Japanese army out of southwestern China, after clamping down on and inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese troops in northern Myanmar and Yunnan province, creating favorable conditions for the allied forces, to open the battleground for the counter-attack on Japan.

撤回昆明之后，杨岑峰所在的部队被安排守卫昆明机场，配合大名鼎鼎的“飞虎队”作战。最终，完成了缅北反攻，重新打通了国际交通线，保障了国际援华物资源源不断地运入中国，并把日军赶出了中国西南大门，钳制和重创了缅北、滇西日军，为盟军收复全缅甸创造了有利条件，揭开了正面战场对日反攻的序幕。

In remarks at the end of the article, the Enorth reporter describes Yang Cenfeng as looking younger than his age (92 or 93), as saying that the party and the state were showing great concern and care for him, and that he was very satisfied. His hobbies are also mentioned, as shown in the pictures within the article. But he would never forget his painful war experiences, the brothers in arms he lost, and he would always utterly detest the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders.

He says that his survival was luck. He therefore cherishes the era of peace, and he can’t forgive people who distort history.

他说，自己能侥幸活下来，是幸运的，因此，他也更珍惜和平年代的生活，对于歪曲历史的人绝对不能原谅。

As a veteran of the war of resistance against Japan, he feels encouraged by the establishment of a national day of commemoration and warns coming generations that history must not be forgotten, to be vigilant about the stirring between the dry bones of Japanese militarism, to use history as a guide, to strengthen our motherland, and to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

作为抗日老兵，他很欣慰国家从今年开始设立了公祭日，他告诫后人们，绝对不能忘记历史，警惕日本军国主义死灰复燃，以史为鉴、强大我们的祖国，实现中华民族的伟大复兴。

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Related

» Wartime childhood, Sept 7, 2009

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Tibetan New Year, and The Role of the Exiles

I’ve known many of you for a long time and now we’re all showing signs of age. I was 24 years old when our exile began and I’m nearly 79 now. Meanwhile the spirit of our people in Tibet is still strong; they have a strength that has been passed down generation to generation. Wherever we are, we shouldn’t forget that we are Tibetans. Those of us in exile number about 150,000, but what is most important is that the spirit of those in Tibet remains alive, they are the bosses. And it’s because of the hope they have placed in us that we have to keep our cause alive.

The Dalai Lama, addressing Tibetans in Los Angeles on Thursday. He is scheduled to celebrate Tibetan New Year on March 2, with the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota.

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Related

» Zhu Weiqun: keep calm, Feb 23, 2013

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Chinese Press and Blog Review: funerals and self-immolations

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1. Reforming Cadres’ and Party Members’ Funerals

One of the most-read domestic news in China’s online media on Friday appears to be a state-council opinion on reform of cadres‘ and party members‘ funerals. Cremation should be the regular way, thriftily and in an ecological way, the opinion is quoted. The opinion encourages organ donations, regulated land use (and no waste of land) for graveyards, no “superstitious” or “feudal” rites (no fengshui either), etc.. However, party members who belong to national minorities should be buried with respect to customs and in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations, according to reports.

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2. Self-Immolation in Gansu Province

A Tibetan monk reportedly killed himself by self-immolation in Amchok town, Sangchu County, within the “autonomous” Tibetan prefecture of Gannan, in Gansu Province, on Thursday. His name is said to be Tsuiltrim Gyatso, a man in his early fourties. According to Phayul, he is the 125th Tibetan since 2009 to set himself on fire to protest the Chinese government.

Tsering Woeser quotes from what is said to be Tsuiltrim Gyatso’s suicide note:

Dear brothers, did you hear? Did you see? To whom can the distress of six million Tibetans be told? Black Han Chinese brutal prison, taking our golden and silver treasures, leaving the ordinary people in poverty, thinking of it, it brings still more tears to my eyes.
亲爱的兄弟，你听到了吗？你看见了吗？六百万藏人的苦难向谁诉说？黑汉人暴虐的监狱，夺走了我们黄金白银般的宝库，使百姓们处于苦难中，想起这，不禁流泪不止。

I will burn my precious body, for the venerable Dalai Lama to return to the native land, for the Panchen Lama to be released, for the happiness and benefit of six million Tibetans, I will offer my body to the fire.
将我宝贵的身体燃烧，为了尊者达赖喇嘛返回故土，为了班禅喇嘛获得释放，为了六百万藏人的福祉，我将身体献供于烈火。以此祈愿消除三界众生的苦难，走上菩提之路。

Three treasures, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha: please bless and protect those who are helpless, compatriots from the snowland, be united [unreadable] Snowland fighter Tsuiltrim Gyatso.
佛、法、僧三宝啊，请护佑无助的人们，雪域同胞们，要团结xxxxx (此处字迹不清 )……
———雪域斗士次成嘉措

According to Tsering Woeser’s blog, Tsuiltrim Gyatso’s remains was taken to his monastery by fellow monks, and more than 400 monks held prayers for him, but the current situation wasn’t known, writes Woeser.

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Related

» Inevitable Humiliations, Sept 17, 2011

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