Taiwan failed to enter UK based Monocle's Soft Power Survey ranking lists
of 2010 till 2017~2018,
Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's "world top 20" nations , including Japan,
South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE, all of them
entered top 20 list at least once.
The Monocle's Soft Power Survey ranks nations according to their culture,
politics, business, diplomacy and education rather than their financial or
military power.
Taiwan also failed to be listed in 2017's Soft Power 30 Study, compiled by PR
company Portland Communication and University of Southern California.
The top 30 nations are 1 France 2 UK 3
USA 4 Germany 5 Canada 6 Japan 7 Swiss
8 Australia 9 Sweden 10 Holland 11 Denmark
12 Norway 13 Italy 14 Austria 15 Spain
16 Belgium 17 Finland 18 NZ 19 Ireland 20
Singapore 21 S. Korea 22 Portugal 23
Greece 24 Poland 25 China 26
Russia 27 Czech 28 Hungary 29 Brazil
30 Turkey.
The Liberty
Times of Taiwan, 4-6-2016: The
government
took the lead to plagiarize, and ignored copy-rights, Taiwan became "an
island of Plagiarism".
●
pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword
"comment Taiwan"
on US Google at 6-18-2019, 4-11-2018, 1-11-2018,
12-4-2016, 1-14-2017,
5-29-2017,11-1-2017
●
No.1 "review Taiwan"
on US Google,
1-11-2018, 9-2-2017,
10-25-2017
●
pic: This websites-group was
ranked No.1 by keyword
"Understand
Taiwan" on Google,
6-18-2019, 4-11-2018,1-11-2018, 11-1-2017,
1-6-2017, 5-29-2017
images' ranks - No.1, 2,
3
★
Taiwan's
cultural creativity : artists―shortage of creativity
& vivid imagination
! government―lacking
of forward thinking ...
☉ The China Times,
headline news
at 12-24-2017: The total value of Taiwan's cultural & creative production
was far behind of that of Korea, Korea's value in publication is about 6 times
larger than Taiwan's, Film industry 6 times, TV 3.5 times, Advertising 3
times, Pop-music 6 times bigger than Taiwan's, Taiwan lacks of updated
related laws and policy
― no
focus, no direction, no institute, original creativity is not encouraged, the
industry field is divided, without integrated marketing......
☉ The
China
Times 8-15-2017:
The output value of Taiwan's cultural & creative production in '12 - '13
declined 9.28%, in contrast, Taiwan's neighbor countries increased, China
14.27%, Malaysia, Philippines 8+%, Korea 0.65% ... Taiwan's cultural & creative
industry even failed to create a "bubble", the reason is lacking of original
creativity. / The China Times, 8-15-2017 ☉ The United Daily (1-10-2016): 3 major political parties' presidential candidates all
ignore cultural policy and direction in their election debates. ☉ The Liberty
Times 4-6-2016:
The Liberty
Times of Taiwan, 4-6-2016: The
government
took the lead to ignore copy-rights, Taiwan became "an
island of Plagiarism".
◆★
◆
◆
●
pic.
left: This
website was ranked No.1, 2, and No.4 at the same time on Yandex of
Russia
by keyword "comment Taiwan" at
4-11-2018,
1-30-2018
●
pic.
right: This
website was ranked No.1,2, 3 at
the same time
on
MetaGER of Germany
by keyword "comment Taiwan" at
4-11-2018,
1-30-2018
★
●
pic.: This
website was ranked No.1 on Baidu of China
by keyword "comment Taiwan", in English at 4-11-2018,
1-30-2018
No.1 in Chinese, at
6-18-2018,
1-30-2018,
2-20-2018, 5-7-2018
◎
◆ Taiwan's
soft power & cultural creativity .... see below:
"Formosa" means "a beautiful
island", however, some media of both Taiwan and China (新週刊New Weekly)
comment top point of interest in Taiwan is Taiwanese people itself. (an
ambassador from S. America said so too)
◎
The
Washington Post at 1-5-2018: (The
Chinese government...) "encouraging
Chinese tourism to this island" (ps:
during KMT in power ~ 2016 ).
New York Times at 2-22-2018: "The
Chinese government has discouraged
tourism to Taiwan...".
CTV news 3-9-2018 : beautiful island
turns into killing island (traffic
accidents), Taiwan's tourism might be a
long dark night. Apple
Daily, opinion, 2-12-2018: lacking of
monument elements, mature cultural
creativity, and inexpensive tour-site
hotels ... shallow, careless,
low-end quality led to an extremely low return
visitor rate to Taiwan.
Apple Daily,
Headline news 1-15-2018: Taiwan
tourism collapsed like a snow-slide,
the number of tourists to Kenting National Park(墾丁貓鼻頭)
dropped 59%, to Taroko National Gorge
(太魯閣) dropped 43%, etc, because of the
number of Chinese tourists declined a
lot and local people don't like those
sites - Apple Daily opinion
1-17-2018: expensive hotels, crowded
traffic, getting ripped-off by greedy
shops' ... UDN opinion 4-11-2018:
tourism-related business everywhere are
complaining of great hardship (齊喊苦).
◎
World Economic Forum (WEF) 2017 <Travel
and tourism competitiveness report>(released at 4-6-2017),
Taiwan's
most important indexes for
promoting tourism, like "Attractiveness
of Natural Assets" (parks, beaches,
mountains, wildlife, etc)
ranks world No.87, "Natural Resources" ranks No.55, "Environmental
Sustainability" ranks No.75 (No.69 in 2015), "Price Competitiveness" ranks No.
46, "Hotel Price Index" ranks No. 89 (82 in 2015), Taiwan got "n/a" on China's
strong indexes such as
"World
heritage natural sites" as well as "World heritage cultural sites" (world top
5).
Taiwan has excellent scores on "Mobile Network coverage", "ATM",
etc,
but those least likely are main attractiveness
to international sightseers that Taiwan
needs most. Taiwan is not be includedin top 30
countries in <Travel and tourism
competitiveness report> from 2011 till 2015, In 2015's report, Japan
No.9, Singapore 11th, HK 13th, China No.17 ; 2011 ranking - No.10 Singapore, no.12 HK, no.
13 Australia, no. 19 New Zealand, no.22 Japan, no.32 Korea, no.35 Malaysia.
United Daily, opinion,
12-30-2017 : Taiwan's
foreign exchange
earnings from tourism decreased 300 billion dollars. To promote tourism
just in number of tourists,
Taiwan's new mission “New Southbound
Policy” gave up the national principle of mutual benefit and equity, led
to illegal drug trafficking and neighbor countries' anger, and illegal
collectivized-workings by foreign "visitors". Taiwan's
advertisements only focus on "cheat eats" by using some widely-known stars.
All these remind us a Chinese tourists slang "you will regret for your entire
life if coming to Taiwan".
◎ <the China Times> 5-26-2015: "We should pay
attention to a poll on the net in Hong Kong, it says Taiwan is the most
disappointed place for the tour, because Taiwan's night market is the only place
worth to visit." (<media commentary> scholar's view "掉漆的文創")
◎ UK's
Economist Intelligence Unit ―
● "Liveability
Cities" report
(Aug. 2015)
ranks Taipei world No.60 (Taipei's
Tourism leader 簡余晏 8-20-2015 expressed
the ranking will go up in next year,
hopefully),
●
Mercer's
"Quality of Living" ranks Taipei
world No. 83,
and gives another city Tai-Chung world No.99,
●
Monocle's "Quality of
Life" top list includes no Taipei.
●
According to 2009
ECA int'l "the Best Place to Reside"，Taipei
ranks No.57, Asia top 3 are Singapore
、HK、Tokyo( both world
No.15)。● 2010 rank : Taipei No.55、
Singapore is still global No. 1.
Taiwan locates in
"Countries"
category, a lowest
area
―
having
below average
perceptions in both the
Status and Experience
dimensions.
Critera :
◎tourism
/
Value for money, Range
of attractions, Resort &
lodging options, Would
like to visit for a
vacation, Food ;
◎HERITAGE
& CULTURE / Historical
points of interest,
Heritage, art & culture,
Natural beauty;
etc.
◎“Country
brands” –
Countries that have
above average
perceptions across both
the Status and
Experience dimensions
and have measurable
competitive advantages
over their peers as a
result.
◎
“Experience countries” –
Countries whose
perception strength is
biased towards
dimensions relating to
Heritage & Culture,
Tourism and Made In.
◎
“Status countries” –
Countries whose
perception strength is
biased towards
attributes relating to
Value System, Quality Of
Life and Business
Potential.
◎
top 20 countries:
Japan, Switzerland,
Germany, Sweden, Canada,
Norway, United States,
Australia, Denmark,
Austria, New Zealand,
United Kingdom,
Finland,Singapore,
Iceland, Netherlands,
France, Italy, United
Arab Emirates, South
Korea.
◎
top 20 most influential
cities: NY,
London, Beijing,
Washington, Moscow,
Tokyo, Paris, Berlin,
Shanghai, Dubai,
HK, Singapore, New
Delhi, SaoPaulo, Rio De
Janeiro, LA, Rome,
Toronto, Seoul, Mumbai
Taiwan government logo, UN for Taiwan
logo, state-run
enterprises logo, Taiwan's
universities annual event logo ...... etc, suspiciously are
cheap-copy works. Similar visual designs're everywhere
in Taiwan. Taipei is going to hold a sort of "City of Design"
international event soon ??
Some examples are listed as
below:
(1)
(2)
(3)
logo of
Taiwan's government
world logo appeared earlier
world logo appeared earlier
logo of
Taiwan's government
Asian (Korea) metro's logo
(appeared earlier)
design by Taiwan's best university
◎
(4)
Taiwan's cultural landmark
left : Silk Cut ad. in UK, appeared earlier right:
poster for Taiwan's cultural government and Eslite Bookstore (ps)
ps: Both use same ideas
―
"sharp knife tree, dangerous gear-wheel lawn"
Pic. at right side is an ad. for <Creative Ideas Exhibition of Taiwan Cultural Industry,
Taiwan>, Eslite bookstore ( Taiwan's pride, a cultural landmark of Taiwan)
weird Taiwan tourism advertisement :
Dining
X Taipei
according
to
Cambridge
dictionary,
"X"
represents
negative
meanings
(1)
unknown
/ a
number,
or name
or thing
that is
not
known or
stated
(2)
mistake
/ the
answer
is not
correct
(3)
delete / to
remove
something
(4)
kisses
pic.:
Travel advertisement in Taipei Taiwan, summer 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwyuCsmMqTM
ps: Taiwan suffered food safety
problem for years : ref to
The China Times, 5-21-2018, TVBS 9-12-2017,
details
◎
pic.:
TVBS (Taiwan) 2-10-2018: experts
expressed their concern or scares of eating Basa
fish imported from Vietnam.
Some international experts like
Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise doesn't
recommend consumers buy Basa,
some states of the US even
banned Basa, for using illegal
antibiotics, questioning polluted Mekong
river and the practices used to
farm Basa, those factors.
Some 5 star hotels in Taiwan
seemed love to serve
cheap-price Basa ―
however, they used English name Bassa or Balsa ( not fish
name ), instead of Basa, but, the
Chinese name used is Basa for
sure, 2
chefs answered me those were
imported from Vietnam.
pic. left is a
hot dish served by a
Taipei's 5 star hotel buffet
restaurant, "Thailand
steamed Bassa fish"
(photo at 4-24-2018); Pic. right
is another top hotel
Sheraton Taipei's buffet food -
"Balsa" fish
( photo in Nov. 2017 ).
○
pic.:
Formosa TV , 2-19-2018: Many
hotel buffets had bad records of
using
bad
food materials or ingredients before, even
now, some kind of official
certified marks may not be a
food-safety assurance in the
near future.
◎
◆
World famous
5 star hotel hides fish
name, and which is sea fish or
fresh-water fish ?
quora (2015) had
some discussions about "why don't
westerners eat river fish?".
Independent UK
1-11-2015:
Chemicals in fresh water fish
put health at risk
- according to a new
report, they may be putting
their health at risk...
Singapore's
foodie TV program < Cook Eat
China > likes to ask chef
the fish name before they try.
Medical
book <you can conquer cancer>
(target readers include patients
and healthy people)advised to
know what-about
before eating fish or seafood
......
◆
pic. left:
World famous hotel Shangri La's
in Taipei at 5-18-2018: upon my
question, the
kitchen man answered it's
Dory fish ("多利魚")，but
had no idea about sea fish or
fresh water fish
(rivers, lakes, etc).
Taiwan's CTS TV news (華視新聞)
at 4-27-2017 reported (news.cts.com.tw/cts/life/201704/201704271863633.html#.Wv6-Rjoh2Uk):
all Dory
fishes in Taiwan were fake,
foodie
gourmets have been fooling for a
long times !
Dory
then were renamed
as Basa
―
a fresh-water fish farmed in Vietnam, S.E. Asia
。
Real John Dory is
also named as
Cat Fish,
the author had many in Florida's
buffet restaurant (even "none
star" restaurant marked fish
name ),
however, in Taiwan's "5 star"
hotel can only eat fake Dory ???
◆
pic. right: Another world famous 5 star hotel
(headqtr in USA) in
Taiwan also
hide the fish name
(5-17-2018)。Westerners
tourists may like to know
they're eating sea fish or
fresh-water fish ?
◎
◆
pic:
Grand Hotel Taipei has the most
number of famous customers among all
Taiwan's hotels. However,
according
to the photo 6-8-2018, they used
genetically modified soybean
(基因改造黃豆)
◆
pic.:
American
Sherwood Hotel in Taipei, photo
5-28-2018
Braised Bean Curd with
Crab Powder tasted good,
but the chef did
not answer my question if those bean-curds were made from
G.M.(genetic
modified) beans - which were called "national scandal"
(國家醜聞) at
The China Times, 3-29-2013.
◆
best restaurants
◎
1.
Luc Besson's movie "Lucy" shooting
in Taiwan particularly includesDin Tai Fung ― which is not only
the most famous Taiwanese restaurant but
also even a landmark of Taiwan, however,
● (1)
Din Tai Fung admitted at 5-9-2012 having
used Monosodium Glutamate
/ sodium glutamate (M.S.G.) as
addictive in some foods there -
and they won't change this policy so as
to keep major cuisine (e.g., steamed
bun/bao (小籠包), chicken soup) delicious (according
to United Daily News 5.9.2013).
According to
National
Health Research Institutes
and United Daily News
(8-15-2015) "Horrible foods for
dining out": Taiwan's food (in
restaurants, cafeteria, etc)
problems include using MSG. Taiwan's
5 star restaurants like Sherwood
Hotel announced any chefs using
MSG will be fired.
According to int'l medical
studies, using Monosodium
Glutamate (MSG) is
controversial. (ref to "The
Dangers of MSG"
:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/facts/the-dangers-of-monosodium-glutamate.htm)
Some claimed it
may causes asthma, headache, even brain
damage. )
● (2)
Din Tai Fung was suspicious
of being involved in
Taiwanese food scandal, Apple Daily (蘋果日報)10-10-2014
reported that one Taiwanese Dept. of
Health found out Din Tai Fung imported some oil
products from King's Cook which bought lard oil (mixing animal
feed with cooking oil) from Ting Hsin Int'l. (
http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20141010/485241/
台中市衛生局調查發現，鼎泰豐曾向購買頂新正義油品的台中金品調理(KingsCook)
公司進貨，恐中鏢。)
●
(3)
Din Tai Fung admitted having used G.M.(genetic
modified)
soy material(豆類)
for a long time (until July 2015).
The China Times,
(3.29.2013)
reported professor Kuo H. J.
(National Taiwan University, Department of Agronomy)
comments - Taiwan using G.M.(genetic
modified) is "national scandal" (「國家級醜聞」),
French scholar Seralini found G.M. foods
may cause cancer with higher
probability,
BBC
(6.6.2013)<Taiwan
diet danger everywhere>:
Taiwan is the only country
eating cured products made by
animal-feed,
G.M.(genetic
modified) soya beans. (主妇联盟说台湾是世界上唯一直接食用饲料级基改黄豆加工
的豆制品国家。)
But Din Tai Fung still used the
"scandalous" G.M. stuff for 2+ years after the
news being spread island-wide.
Recently,
CNN (7-24-2015) dropped Din Tai Fung
down to No.20 position in Taiwanese
foods list.
The
Brand Personality ?
Din Tai
Fung's Hong Kong branches were
just eliminated their Michelin
star
title at Oct. 31, 2014, (lost again in Dec. 2015)
Taiwan's Din Tai Fung never won
any Michelin star title, but it
is advertising itself a Michelin
star restaurant by posters
at front of largest
Japanese mall, Mitsukoshi Dpt.
Store in Taipei.
(photo Aug. 22 2015)
Din Tai Fung USA website
(http://DinTaiFungusa.com)
has also been advertising a similar one in its front-page.
(tests till present at
9-17-2015)
ps: the China Times analyzed
losing Michelin most likely it's
because of inconsistent quality
problem. (http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20141031001358-260405)
◎
2.
Michelin Guide
Taipei was released at
3-14-2018,
Taiwanese cuisine was not valued high, The number of stars Taiwan obtained is
much less than those of Shanghai, HK, Macao, and Singapore.
Furthermore, unlike those in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok,
Taiwan's night-market,
street food failed to won any Michelin star.
3.
According to
"Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" (2018) ,
Thailand Bangkok's Gaggan
consecutively got in the first place, the number of Japanese restaurants
selected is 11,
Hong
Kong & Macao 10,
Thailand
9、Singapore
7,
Korea and Taiwan both are 3, but Korea
won the 11th grade, the best ever position
that Taiwan got in this year is the 15th (RAW, 18th MUME, 47th Shoun Ryugin),
China got the 8th position.
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/asia-50-best-restaurants-2018/index.html
4.
According
to
The World's Best Restaurants (2017)
, Taiwan is not included in the list, Thailand got No.7, Singapore No.14, Japan
18th, HK 24th, Shanghai 41th. In total, 5 Japanese , 4 Chinese, 3
Singapore, 2 Thailand, 1 Korean, 1 India restaurant(s) entered top 100.
http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners#t51-100.
5. Miele Guide (2012) : No any
Taiwanese restaurant is included in top
20 Asian restaurants list.
◎
◆
Food - night markets
Best night-market-food in Taiwan : oyster omelet (introduced by
Discovery channel of USA) ― it is most typical Taiwanese food( street snack
everywhere in night markets), but not exquisite & elaborated food. a
TV program expressed many oyster omelets use peanut (fatal
aflatoxin was usually found in this kind of food) powder and some unknown ingredients/addictives.
intro. to Taiwan cuisines
◆
Food - scandals
●
5
star hotel restaurants scandals
- A
book (Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su
Memorial Hospital,
Taiwan Veterans General Hospital's physician Jiang So-San M.D.
江守山
"食在安心" (10-2014))
said many 5 star hotel restaurants don't wash vegetables ... some 5 star
hotels made sashimi raw fish slices by using fresh-water fishes, this may
increase the probability to get cancer
(for details
台灣餐廳
or
台灣美食Taiwan
Night Markets ) ;
Epoch Times (大紀元, 3-14-2017):Okura Prestige Tpe
(大倉久和, a 5 star hotel) sold expired frozen shrimps, molded taro (vegetable 芋)
etc;
SETN news ( 三立新聞 5-16-2016): Some 5 star hotels in northern Taiwan sold
black-hearted expired seafoods ; LTN (5-17-2016): 5 star hotels Ambassador
and Howard (國賓、福華)
clarified this news;
Apple Daily (蘋果日報 6-7-2016):
Sheraton (喜來登) 's
white shrimps contained bleaching agent
(漂白劑)，4
times higher than the legal standard，Ranina
(Spanner crabs
旭蟹) contained heavy medal Cadmium poisoning (重金屬镉) 14%
higher than the standard...;
Apple Daily (蘋果日報 7-2-'13): Taiwan's tourist hotels' food ingredients expired 2 years,
only 3 out of 21 hotels passed the security check and sanitary examination etc
conducting by Taiwan Administration, e.g., Shangri-La's (tnn) did not separate
their cutting tools for cooked foods and raw foods;
FTV news, 5-18-2017: 13
ingredients / materials expired in a 5 star hotel in Taiwan; CTI
TV news (5-17-2017, 19:33): What can we eat in Taiwan? people are uneasy for
food here...
○
● Taiwan
administration's Dioxin ("poison of the century") control system crashed
completely / FTV news, 4-22-2017.
Major world media like
The Economist
(11.29.2014)
comment a series of food safety scandals is one of few main factors causing the
KMT, Taiwan's ruling party, has suffered one of its worst electoral defeats
since Chiang Kai-shek and his forces fled to the island at the end of Chinese
civil war in 1949.
●
Chang
Gung Mem. Hospital professor Yin M.D.
(殷宗海, Doctor, Univ. of London ): Minimize the times of dining out to protect
your health ! (
ref. to book
<食品不安全的年代如何自保>("how
to survive in this bad food-security
time", April 2016))
●
Dean of National Taiwan
Normal University - graduate school of Chemistry,
Dr. Gaston J. C. Wu (化學所長吳家誠教授)'s book <Those black-heart products
toxin-experts never buy
("毒物專家絕不買的黑心商品")>
(Nov. 2013): Most of the time I eat at home, and has never dined out in
street-side shops / small-eat markets (路邊攤),
because those small-eat shops usually/always
do not
meet the minimum standards of
cleanliness.
●
Shin Kong
Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital,
Taiwan Veterans General Hospital's physician Jiang So-San M.D.
:
Most 5 star
hotel restaurants in Taiwan don't wash the vegetables
...
ref. to the book "食在安心"
.
●
MicroPlastics were found in 44% tap
water samples, medical circle believes it's a very serious environmental
pollution, since something bad, e.g., Dioxin, Bisphenol A (BPA), PAHs, heavy
metal elements, may be brought into food chain, and then are/were accumulated in
human body...... we better use purified water by RO machine for safety.
Furthermore, mussels, oysters, clams
(扇貝與蛤)
were also found some microplastics...... brief - headlines of Apple
Daily, United Daily, 9-26-2018.
● Taiwan's
food safety scandals :
poisonous, black
hearted food in Taiwan for 20-30 years, click
for details
Major world media like
The New York Times and The Economist
(11.29.2014)
comment a series of food safety scandals is one of few main factors causing the
KMT, Taiwan's ruling party, has suffered one of its worst electoral defeats
since Chiang Kai-shek and his forces fled to the island at the end of Chinese
civil war in 1949.
◎
Taiwan's Food
safety scandals
TW food
◎ 2015 : Since its
worst ever electoral defeats, Taiwanese government never does
some soul searching and corrects the wrong, "It's weirdo !!, Taiwanese government only focuses on 3 dried
products - dried daylily, dried radish, and preserved fruits (snacks)", NTU
professor Wu K.Y. stated "Completely evading the crucial point", "those 3 items
are very low risky products".
●
Apple Daily 8-28-2015: The incidence rate of Taiwanese
people suffering colon/rectal cancer was ranked world No.1 (2nd is Korea, 3rd
Slovakia) ,
Taipei Medical University Hospital's director of surgeons expressed Taiwan's
food scandals constantly happened in recent years, many black-heart tainted
foods containing
Carcinogen
(cancer producer) is a factor causing high
incidence rate.
◎2014 Taiwan food scandals
●
The New York times
(9.8.2014): The authorities in Taiwan are scrambling to
control a tainted-cooking-oil scandal that has affected hundreds of
manufacturers and raised fears about health risks posed in many commonly
consumed food items... the new scandal shows that there is still not enough
being done to eliminate lawbreaking production lines,” The Taipei Times said ...
●
TIME (9.8.2014):
Gutter Oil'
Scandal Raises Food-Safety Fears Once Again in Greater China.
A Taiwanese food-safety scare has spread to Hong Kong...
● Bloomberg BusinessWeek (9.8.2014): Tainted Lard: China's Latest Food-Safety Scare Comes From Taiwan
The case is the second major food-safety scandal by a Taiwan-based company in
the past year,...The new gutter-oil scandal has “shocked
local consumers” in Taiwan who expect more from their government, ...“I hope
the law could be revised to impose tougher punishment on those who breach food
safety regulations,”...
● The China Times
(9.5.2014, head-page headline news): Disgusting ... Even pigs don't eat those
tainted
oil we Taiwanese ate !
ps: For full text pls. ref. to
Taiwan food scandals.
My article in <the United Daily News> (Oct. 2007) mentions Taiwan's
ad. creativity has been lousy for a long time, In the past 10 years,
Taiwan is about in the last place in Cannes Ad. festival, world best ad.
contest (Even Vietnam, Philippines, red China are bit better than
Taiwan). Till early of 2017, Taiwan still only has small number of
winnings in int'l ads & creativity contests.
Taiwan's most important ad.
Take Taiwan's national ads : "UN for Taiwan" (Taiwan
to join the UN ) , as
an example :
using puns in UN series is
" very creative and witty idea"
◎
Taiwan's int'l winning ads.
As for Taiwan's business ads. or TV commercials
obtaining winning records in int'l ad. festivals, are not
all so original,..... or/and not very sharp-witty, e.g.,
making love with an insect symbolizes insecure sex, or stick out (very out) the
tongue to make a funny face, ...... are student-level ideas.
◎
5
Animation (comment Taiwan's
best awards in
world's best contests)
Taiwan's Top Institution(ps)
animation
World's top contest, prize & honors, and
university's opinions
This site's comments
National Taiwan University
of Science & Tech.
Cubic Tragedy
ACM SIGGRAPH
People' Choice Award
Experts won't feel the idea, girl face-lifting resulting in Picasso's
cubism a <weeping woman>, unexpected.
National Yuan-lin University
of Science & Tech.
Cubic Tragedy
NYLU's graduate school paper
concluded this animation as "Picasso-inspired
idea ..... contrary to our expectation".
experts
suppose won't feel this idea "un-expected"
National Taiwan Univ. of arts
A fish with a smile
Berlin international Film Festival, children's section,
Special Prize of jury committee
(1) it's just a story for children.
(2) elegant drawing style, but those pictures don't look like any city in Taiwan.
National Tainan Univ. of arts
After the rainy day
winning in UK
Just like most Taiwan's films, boring
obscure-meaning codes, hence most people
are hard to understand or may make over-interpretation.
National Palace Museum
Adventures of NPM
(1) grand prize, 2008 Tokyo International Anim. Fair.
(2) anim. goal : " bridging
the gap between ancient artworks and modern audiences.
(1) it's a story for children, not for modern adults.
(2) the film is showing in children's center of National Palace
Museum, Taipei Taiwan.
Tamkang Univ.'s paper concludes Taiwan animation's 1st problem
is "short of creativity". Very few Taiwan's researches 're working on this subject
- Creativity. (Taiwan animation currently
is only expertise at
drawing tech.)
An essay <China Tames Rebellious Side of Rock "n" Roll>
in <New York Times>,likened today's
Red Chinese pop music culture to the politically enforced conformity of the
Cultural Revolution, the core of songs is "have fun", culture has become an empty vessel, there are few hints of angst, alienation
, or any but the mildest
expression of teenage rebellion.
Taiwan's pop music was tamed by political pressure in the past,
the "opposition culture" in Taiwan's music field was almost eliminated.
Today's music is in a money-oriented environment.
Very few people notes an usual case : two most
popular singers, Wu-bai and S.H.E. (hottest in China too) sing 2 same-name songs,
namely all the same as Chinese translation of "Brave New World" - a
classic literature regarding man-handled white-terror tyranny. S.H.E. seems so happy and exciting while singing this song.
In contrast, Apple Computer's famous
commercial <1984> comes from another white-terror literature "1984"
written by Orwellian.
Ad. research papers
mention one reason it succeeds ( the most remarkable US ad campaign, although
aired only once ) is that people are curious about the mystery/puzzle - a tyranny in a free
country.
Certainly, the <1984> despises human-controlled tyranny.
Apple <1984> TV commercial
<Brave New World>
<Brave New World> Chinese
translation book
everybody in a blue-smog (mock IBM CIS color) "jail" are under control by
big-brother in a big screen . try http://Youtube.com !
Apple Daily, opinion, 7-20-2018 : Taiwan ( Taiwanese everywhere) lacks
of aesthetics accomplishments, particularly those in power can allocate
resources have "really turn me off" taste (倒盡胃口), Taiwan's public art
works are too vulgar to be endured (俗不可耐), and some are sort of cheap-copy works
(仿冒竊).
Dec. 8, 2012 : To everyone's surprise, 2 out of 3 artists in Taiwan
government's selection for participating Italia Venice Biennale are foreigners !
This means Taiwan does not have talented artists??
Many Asian countries have great ambition to do
city-marketing by arts expo., there're 8 arts
biennales will be taken place in Sept. 2008.
Taiwan is one of them - <Asia Arts Biennale >
was held till Feb. 2008.
Taiwan's largest news introduced (with a large-sized picture)
an expo. artwork - world brand's logos are spread on human bodies,
this workseems
to symbolize "Globalizing" phenomenon.
However, the idea "logo body"
already appeared a
number of times in, i.e., <Your Logo Here, photos from S. Cal. 2004-2006>, and some
logo tattoo works .......
More sharp-witty and more difficult ideas appeared in cartooning field at least 13
years ago, i.e.,
Japanese Yomiuri international cartoon contest.
pic. left: "number" logos on
athletes, pic. right: similar idea intro. by Taiwan's major
newspaper
◎
◎★
★
8
Architecture
no aesthetical & creative astonishment
◆ Taiwanese architects
were forced to be "construction supervisors" instead of "designers" by the
government's policy, this finally rouse architects' angers after
enduring 10 + years, most major public architecture projects went to international
architects for "unjust treaties" made by the administration. / head-line news of
The United Daily, 7-17-2017
pic. United Daily : Taiwanese architects protest "unequal treaty"
which benefits foreigners
below are Taiwan's "shop-front" or "Face-valued" buildings :
1st Hall : copied U.S. airport.
2nd Hall : shortage of spirit breadth and arts atmosphere.
An article by VIP professor in Taiwan major newspaper (2002) asserted :
" Copy is humanism spirits"
、 " How can we enjoy & bear those original designed architecture
by Taiwanese
!? "
Can you tell which is US Washington Dulles
int'l airport,
or Taiwan Taoyuan int'l airport ?
ps: Taiwan eventually was ashamed of this stealing
and modified its look
recently ... already after many many years
◎ps3: It's a big joke and shame again that Taiwan government used
the photo of Washington Dulles int'l
airport (old Taiwan airport is a cheap-copy, very similar to Dulles) on Taiwan's
new passport, and refused to admit mistake until night time.
◎Apple
daily, Head-line news, "Lose nation's face !! Taiwan government tried to
get rid of its responsibility", 12-27-2017.
● Taiwan
film industry lacks good scripts and talented directors
(till present 2017) ―
in details, 3
major troubles :
(1) Taiwan likes to 'create' some abstract/obscure symbols attracting
very very few people. Using Eastern exotic flavor was another very useful strategy
for attending world film contest. Shortage of
witty & creative idea led to Taiwan film industry's death.
☉
Taiwan's movies fail to create better humour like "Lost in Beijing"
( red Chinese film banned by CHN gov.) .
☉ Taiwan's all-time
grossing film, <Cape No.7>, is not a stylish witty comedy (some
world best media positioned this film as comedy), but attracts lots of Taiwanese
(particularly southern Taiwanese) by
some simple ideas( i.e., sort of slapstick) and Taiwanese grass-roots culture elements.
☉ Taiwan's <You are the
Apple of My Eye> of 2011 is very popular in TW, HK and Chn, but most of it's
boyish humors are not witty & stylish, this film attracts audiences by stoking collective memory of their youngsters age.
PS: In 2012, Taiwan's films only won 2 awards in Taiwan's Golden Horse film festival
(China and HK won most awards), which is the worst in latest 20 years.
In 2014, Taiwan was bit better, won 3 out of 23 awards in total.
(2) Taiwan government used to do political propaganda/comm. by
using movies,
till now days Taiwan's government still
thinks highly of things helpful to win political elections, besides, Taiwan government's movie policy
already gave up to WTO, U.S., Hollywood.
(3) Taiwanese spent little on arts, and
taste not too good - many people prefer real things, like money.
per person per year (200X)
movie
NT470 (about US 15)
drama
NT91 (US 3)
dancing show
NT65 (US 2)
●
TV soap opera series : Taiwan's TV opera series focus on "charming
leading-actors/actress" (not giving importance to the content) to attract audiences, so Korean, Japanese,
red Chinese TV series
are better & more popular. United Daily
(12-28-2014): Taiwan's TV opera are not original.
UDN (critique C2, 6-21-2015):
Taiwan's drama crisis/ lacking of budge, passion, actor/actress. ●
Variety show/program of assorted
entertainment: this sort of shows were very
popular and was
the reason or excuse that Taiwanese people don't like going to theater watching
movies, but till 2013, those stuffs were not fresh enough
and already
behind China's, some paper even questioned Taiwan's variety show/program of
assorted entertainment : "Are they incurable?" (4/7/'13 UND).
United Daily (12-26-2014): Taiwan needs creativity. Apple Daily
(8-31-2015) : Taiwan's entertainment show from bad to worse, the gap
between Taiwan and China becomes bigger, Taiwan's TV field in risk !
Once ROC on Taiwan government
together with <The
United News> system organized a Taiwanese team to participate in Euro's largest
humour contest,
＜Kokke
Heist Humour & Cartoon Festival
＞，only 3 artists (including Zola Zu) were selected.
Recently Taiwanese cartoon artists have shown little talents on Taiwan International Cartoon Contest sponsored by Taiwanese
government,
Almost all juries withdrawn from <Courage
World Cartoon Contest> (ranking world No. 1 for some years) , due to "seems
political"
reasons .
Both animation and cartooning need creativity,
but at present Taiwan doesn't have that environment.
Taiwan youngsters like "Kuso" stuffs,
however, formula/routine mind is not good enough
for cartoon creativity.
◎
pic. left: Knokke Heist winner's artwork, appeared earlier
(by Japanese artist).
pic. right: Taiwan's 1st prize cartoon was sent to Knokke Heist, and
lost.
ps: Taiwan has (only a few) world class cartoonists.
Recently, Taiwan's best-selling & widely
known product , "Chinese Fortune(or Rich) God figure toy", is based on Taiwanese superstition
(Apple Daily: 88%of college students believe ghost - ps2 ), and eagerness for
money,
Taiwan's figure-toy design just simplified Chinese Gods' complicated appearance to
little cute mascot, in contrast, int'l designs for gods are more witty,
i.e.,
☉ Europe,
Belgium rug Co.
installed a special compass in each product, its needle points to Islam's holy land
instead of pointing South/North － this created a lot of business.
☉ Japan
made a watch converting 114 world major cities'
time to Islam holy land's time, with time-alarm function for Muslims' prayer.
◎
( 2 ) best-selling cultural products for int'l tourists
A major design periodical comments:
<National Palace Museum>'s rich treasures is the key to success of
Taiwan's Cultural & Creative Industry.
However, <NPM> seems to look down upon
the talent of Taiwanese
designers.
<NPM> product
short comments
Alessi "the Chin Family"
(1) <NPM>
cooperates with Japan, Italy, hence, NPM's products are not purely
Taiwanese or Chinese flavor.
(2) Mr. Chin got slant eye (or "raising eyebrows"), it's western view-point, the Oriental usually
don't draw that way.
How about
"Chinese Creativity" in today's Taiwan ??
"Jadeite
Cabbage" tray-pillow for
chop-sticks to rest on
(1) most
products directly use antique-art shape.
(2) At least 20 years ago, various assorted dedicated vegetables and fruits glass chopsticks tray-pillow already
were made-in-Japan (best-sellers too) .
Don Dynasty ladies
picture slippers
just directly applied antique
pictures on products.
<NPM>
should designs Chinese treasures, and makes witty, humorous artworks to represent
Taiwan's modern arts. Western tourists suppose like to buy souvenir
with Chinese culture & flavor created by ourselves. "Mercenaries" cannot represent
Taiwan to Olympics.
◎
◎
<NPM>merchandises： slippers, mugs, etc with Don
Dynasty Ladies Picture
Zola Zu's design ： (1) expo. in Europe like Holland,
Turkey, and was printed in best-collection albums.
(2) printed in <the China Times>.
directly use antique pictures（or simplify a little bit）
I choose the theme : When the East encounters the West, Fine arts meets
Cartooning, to integrate 2
major cultures.
ps: "tech. oriented"
product design like
<idea> contest, <if> contest is not discussed in here
●
Apple Daily 6-30-2018 pointed out
Taiwan's medical service has no good preventive health care and health
promotion, and will worsen within next 10 years for political factors.
●
Taiwan only ranks world 45th position in Lancet's Healthcare Access and Quality
Index released in 2017
(based on mortality from causes amenable to personal
health care in 195 countries and territories, 1990–2015:
a novel analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study
2015),
some
chronic disease
items got very low or failure scores,
e.g., Leukemia score 49, Kidney
disease 50, Gallbladder & biliary 57,
Hypertensive Heart Disease 60,
diabetes mellitus
58, etc.http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)30818-8.pdf
●
according to
WEF<Travel
and tourism competitiveness report>(released at 4-6-2017),
Taiwan's "Physician density" ranks world
No. 65 (No. 57 in 2015's report).
●
Apple Daily 6-30-2018 pointed out Taiwan's only pride left, health insurance,
includes no preventive health care and health promotion, and will worsen within
next 10 years for political factors.
● United Daily News (5-30-2017):
The biggest problem of Taiwan's medical care is too short diagnostic time,
without a completed examination in most cases, usually, patients are already in
serious condition when symptom became clear. /
Dr. Huang D.F., president of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center
● FTV (4-16-2017,
民視) comments medical
Doctors' social status is lower than before.
Taiwan's current social value system is rapidly
changing the culture in medical circle. Dean of NTU medical school (張上淳) advised that
physicians
always keep in mind a love-based,
"patient-centered", and humanistic-care thinking
●
The book
"Exposing the truth of modern medical circle
in Taiwan"
("誤診誤醫", published by the China Times, 2012;
by Xu Da-Fu
) criticizes :
Taiwan's hospitals focus
on profit/benefit and ignore patients' rights ,
The whole medical circle already went the wrong
route...
◎ Surgery
/ Taiwan's excellent
surgeons perform many operations
simultaneously - happened quite
often in Taiwan...
◎
Medicines
/ the
quality of
prescription
medicines in Taiwan is from bad to worse...
◎ Bribery /
the institution needed to be paid bribery most is
judiciary system, second is Taiwan's
medical and health services
...
◎ full text pls. ref. to
Taiwan's Hospitals
and physicians (M.D.s)
◎
◎◎★
13
Women's rights
●
The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
, released at 4-20-2018
Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape, including spousal
rape, and domestic violence. Many victims did not report the crime for fear
of social stigmatization, and various NGO and academic studies estimated the
total number of sexual assaults was seven to 10 times the number reported to
police.
women work: Women were promoted less
frequently, occupied fewer management positions, and worked for lower pay
than men, earning on average 83 percent of their male counterparts’ income
in 2015...
a survey in 2016 showed 3.5
percent of women have been sexually harassed at work, yet 80 percent of
these cases went unreported.
●
<The United Daily 聯合報>,
3-16-2018 (prime news edition)
Taiwan president Tsai I. W. : Taiwan still have a not short way to reach gender
equality (台灣離性別平等 還有一段路要走)
<The United Daily 聯合報>, 3-16-2018
(林志潔, professor and member of
national judicial reform committee)
The judge made mistakes
again and again, Taiwan's gender equality
- A long long way to go !
●
The China Times
<中國時報> 3-8-2018:
according to investigation/survey,
80% female physicians met sexual harassment,
... a female physician of Cathy Hospital had different views and
said the percentage of harassment to nurse probably higher
because they are young and in lower status
(8成女醫曾遭性騷擾,
女醫反應兩極 ... brief)
●<Apple
Daily>, 4-3-2018:
According to a survey by Taiwanese government, 180 thousands
of career women suffered sexual harassment, only 40-50 thousands reported to
their company, others chose to keep silence...
<蘋果日報> 4-7-2018:
The number of sexual
harassment
on campus reported is up to 1400 per year.
●
The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
, released at 3-3-2017
(new
report of 4-20-2018 is about same):
Violence & discrimination against women is one of
Taiwanese
principal
human rights problems for years.
In 2015, the
number of reporting for rape or sexual assault is only 850
less than that in previous year.
(12. 25. '14)
reported that
those Taiwanese male aged
above 20
(2.33 million men per yr.
)
The annual
value of production of Taiwan's
sex industry's is at least USD
200 million.
Prostitution is violence against women
/ ref to <Prostitution : violence with no name>, "Prostitution et Societe",
2010, "Int'l Day for the Elimination of Violence against women", 11-25-2016
France.
Taiwan government is the main criminal to harm women's rights in large
scale.
● The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
, released at 3-3-2017:
spousal rape, and domestic violence. Many victims did not report the crime for
fear of social stigmatization, and various nongovernmental organization (NGO)
and academic studies estimated that the total number of sexual assaults was
seven to 10 times the number reported to police. Women were promoted less
frequently, occupied fewer management positions,...
◎
◎◎★
14
Sports/Athletics
●
In 2016 Rio Olympics medal tally statistics, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) only got 1
gold, 2 bronze, ranks world No. 50, compare to previous years, 5 medals in 2000,
2004, 4 medals in 2008, 2 medals in 2012；Other Asian nations - China ranks
No.3, Japan No.6, Korea No. 8, Australia No 10, N.Z. No.19,
Iran 25, North Korea No. 34, Thailand No. 35, Indonesia No. 46, Vietnam
No.48, Taiwan No. 50.
●
Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) got no any medal in Korea winter Olympics of 2018.
●
Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) failed to enter World Cup basketball (lost
Philippines, and Japan, Australia in Asian group then was eliminated), and
football, some major sports-games in 2018.
● Taiwanese
baseball team lost all games in 1st round and was eliminated in World Baseball
Classic 2017, the leader of Athletics
government stepped down. Expert
comments the system weakness is obvious but we just can't improve it, patriotism
is no longer working on this issue ...
●
Taiwan just held 2 world scaled athletic events that have
ever seen in Taiwan's history :
(1) Not easy to upgrade
"Made in Taiwan" to "Create in Taiwan", since
Taiwan has very few experts in creativity. (government does not think highly of
them)
(2) Most Taiwanese
professors (PhD) do theoretical studies, don't have talent (some even are not
interested ) on witty creativity/design.
(3) Ph.D usually is required
for college teacher position, it's one criterion for Taiwan government to
evaluate all schools. Un-talented teachers can't train students to be
talented.
(4) Taiwan's society and
people don't
think important of arts, culture, creativity, etc.
(5) Taiwan government
official in univ. paper said Taiwan doesn't have that kind of environment for
creativity.
Creativity needs freedom, democracy, and people's
independent personality, government officers don't like creativity, which
means extra risk.
(6) Taiwan should fight "diamond cut diamond"
with western nations in major fields , instead of going backdoor (or side-door) by exotic local culture, Eastern
mysterious flavor, obscure codes, etc.
(7) Taiwan government
used to give less budget to cultural field, and use e.g., movie as
propaganda/comm. tool. Taiwan needs int'l friends, but uncreative
films won't attract enough audiences.
(8) Taiwanese
government kicks cultural creativity to
the corner in most time, in that creativity seems no use for political
election, but requires extra efforts on social controls/adm.
(9) Taiwan's
government prefers
to use his own men.
(10) Taiwanese
youngsters love heavy slapstick 、silly
"Kuso" stuffs
("young-designers" policy is wrong).
Taiwanese adults' imaginative power is bounded,
thinking in a roundabout/evasive way, their tastes are lousy ....... pls. see 2 examples as below
:
artworks introduced by Taiwan's largest
news:
western artwork earlier
Merging Mao's photo & Tian-an-men Square
of Beijing with "Miki mouse"
(to symbolize Red China's westernization )
Morphing Mao with "Miki mouse"
(to symbolize China's westernization )
pic
left:
This websites-group was
ranked No.1 by keyword "review Taiwan"
on US Google,
5-5-2018, 1-11-2018, 9-2-2017
pic right :
This websites-group was ranked No.1 on US Bing by keyword
7-1-2018
"comment
Taiwan" , as well as "review
Taiwan", "understand Taiwan", tested at
5-5-2018, 1-11-2018,
9-29-2017, 5-19-2017
This sites-group was ranked No.1,
by "comment
Taiwan"
as well as "review Taiwan", "understand Taiwan", "introduction to
Taiwan"
on Yahoo
search,
tested at
6-6-2018, 1-11-2018,
5-19-2017
ps2:
Other
researches : finger-pointing moon results in that ear will be cut (28.3%) ,
chopstick knock bowl results in being a beggar (22.3%), swimming in July
(Lunar) results in un-luck (64.7%), whistling after sunset will encounter ghost
(37%), pregnant woman using scissors will give birth to an abnormal baby(32%)
- reported by <Apple Daily>5.29.2005 (largest and best news evaluated by
university)
2.
Taiwan's hard power
◆
The
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence “Open Hearing on
China’s Worldwide Military Expansion.”, 5-17-2018
(1)
China's “infatuation with Taiwan” ?
a visceral nationalistic design ...“if Taiwan survives as a democracy [it]
undermines the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party”
(2) USA curb China ?
the US could soon be completely driven out of the Asia-Pacific region if Beijing
is allowed to continue on its current course unopposed.
(3)
Congressional hearing
recommended
deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Asia, showing strong support for Taiwan,
and exposing human rights abuses in China as immediate steps that could curb
Beijing
◆
Annual Report to US Congress (2018):
台彎 VS 大陸 軍力對比
Military and Security Developments Involving
the People’s Republic of China 2018
https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018_China_Military_Power_Report.PDF
A new method was applied to make these tables below:
◆
USA Today
5-18-2018: Xi JinPing has signaled that China will seek to reclaim its
historical properties by 2049.
Freebeacon 5-17-2018 : 2020—the
deadline that [Chinese supreme leader] Xi Jinping has given the [People's
Liberation Army] to be ready to invade Taiwan
◆
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS,UK, www.iiss.org), the
military balance 2018 press statement - The annual assessment of global military
capability and defence economics, 2-14-2018.
In 2017 Beijing showcased more advanced military systems
... are challenging the global predominance of the United States and its allies
... https://www.iiss.org/en/publications/military-s-balance China's modernisation of its armed forces is
processing faster than many experts expected ...
◆The US
subcommittee hearing (4-17-2018) Rep. Ted Soho,
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific:
Seems likely Xi will force the issue (unification) in his life time.
◆
New York times, 11-4-2017: “(Taiwan)
needs to resist a Chinese military attack for two weeks and wait for help from
the United States or the international community,” echoing a strategy that
has been at the core of Taiwan’s defense doctrine for decades......Taiwan’s
armed forces, by contrast (Chn), have fallen way behind, struggling to recruit
enough soldiers and sailors — and to equip those they have. A major
obstacle is that countries that might sell it the most sophisticated weaponry
are increasingly reluctant to do so for fear of provoking China,...The Taiwan
Relations Act of 1979 commits the United States to defend the island’s
sovereignty, providing “such defense articles and defense services in such
quantity as may be necessary” ... US latest arms sales " short of the major
systems that could give Taiwan a real edge."
◆
The Pentagon report warned: To defend itself, Taiwan has relied on
geography — a mountainous main island 80 miles across a windswept strait —
and the support of the United States. However,
China’s military modernization has “eroded or negated many of Taiwan’s
historical advantages” in deterring a potential attack,... an
intervention (by the US) now would confront a more potent Chinese military.
◆
Eastern
Taiwan's anti-aircraft military force needs to be improved soon, but in
recent years, Taiwan has been limited to international reality and
financial difficulties, therefore focused on main forces' (F16, IDF/F-CK-1,
etc) functional improvement, instead of developing or purchasing
new-generation jet fighters, Taiwan looks forward to having F35B, but it
may take more than 10 years in the queue. / brief - The Liberty
Times, 2-5-2017.
○
◆
New York times, 5-18-2017:
Beijing’s
belligerence
presents
an
existential
threat
to
Taiwan, Chinese
leaders
have
long
vowed to
take
Taiwan
by force
if they
deem
necessary
... For years, the political establishment in Taipei has delegated
responsibility for responding to Beijing to the United States.
Taiwan's
leaders
have
gutted
the
military
and
continued
to base
defense
planning
on the
assumption
that the
United
States
would
always
come to
the
rescue. Policies
put
forward
by the
Kuomintang
and the
independence-leaning
Democratic
Progressive
Party
have
left the
military
understaffed
and in a
state of
low
morale...
Taiwan's
active
force
down to
under
200,000
(the
exact
number
is
classified).
The
nearly
two
million
reservists
exist in
name
only...
Taiwan’s defense policies are largely a result of deep distrust between the
military and politicians. The military has struggled with wide-range scandals/
Annual Report to US Congress (2017):
Military and Security Developments Involving
the People’s Republic of China 2017
https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2017_China_Military_Power_Report.PDF
○
○
○
◆
◆喵US
Annual Report to Congress,
2016
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Annual Report to Congress:
Military and Security Developments Involving the People𠏋 Republic of China
Taiwan Strait Military Balance in 2015, Naval Forces
China
China
Taiwan
Total
East and South Sea Fleets
Total
Aircraft Carriers
1
0
0
Destroyers
23
16
4
Frigates
52
40
22
Corvettes
23
14
1
Tank Landing Ships/ Amphibious Transport Dock
30
28
14
Medium Landing Ships
22
16
0
Diesel Attack Submarines
57
38
4
Nuclear Attack Submarines
5
2
0
Ballistic Missile Submarines
4
4
0
Coastal Patrol (Missile)
86
68
45
★
Taiwan Strait Military Balance in 2015, Air Forces
China
China
Taiwan
Total
Within range of Taiwan
Total
Fighters
1,700
130
384
Bombers/Attack
400
200
0
Transport
475
150
19
Special Mission Aircraft
115
75
25
★
Taiwan Strait Military
Balance in 2015, Ground Forces
China
China
Taiwan
Total
Taiwan Strait Area
Total
Personnel
(Active)
1.25
million
400,000
130,000
Group
Armies/Army Corps
18
8
3
Infantry Divisions
12
4
0
Infantry Brigades
23
7
5
Mechanized Infantry Divisions
7
4
0
Amphibious
Mechanized Infantry Divisions
2
2
0
Mechanized Infantry Brigades
25
8
3
Armor Divisions
1
0
0
Armor Brigades
17
7
4
Amphibious Armor Brigades
1
1
0
Army
Aviation Brigades and Regiments
11
6
3
Artillery Brigades
22
9
5
Airborne
Divisions
3
3
0
Marine
Brigades
2
2
2
Tanks
7,000
2,800
1,100
Artillery
Pieces
8,000
3,900
1,600
★
●
Economist (special edition
2017): Taiwan will turn into a tiger again. ●Taiwan declared no other air
forces are allowed to show their muscle in Taiwan air space/ Apple Daily,
5-30-2016,...
CTV evening news11-27-2016, United Daily News 11-30-2016: China's
military aircraft-fighters
(much stronger than TW
air force) flied past around Taiwan and passed through 1st Island Chain, Taiwan
air force did not intercept them.
●
Taiwan lacks key-tech to make a large bus / the China Times, 3-29-2017
●
Taiwan president beset by low approval
rate because of weakness against foreign countries, even including
Philippines, a backward country dared to hurt Taiwan, not to mention
military strong ones, China, Japan, etc.
ref. to Forbes, 5-21-2013.
●
Taiwan politics belongs to
corporations (not the people) and is controlled by the political parties.
<Foerign Policy> 2015.
3.
Other Soft Power
As for other items of Taiwan's soft power, according to
Reporters without Borders (RSF),
Taiwan's press freedom (speech freedom) ranks No. 45 (always behind No. 45 since 2008),
Taiwan's human rights, judicial system, high-ranking officials' corruption,
women's rights, abuses of international/foreign workers, death penalty ( capital
punishment ) etc need to be improved.
Washington Post,
8-20-2018: Taiwan's precarious role in the China-US spat (Trump adm.'s
Taiwan policy is unpredictable);
Annual Report to US Congress (
Military and Security Developments Involving the PRC ),
8-17-2018:
Much of Beijing’s defense budget is
focused on developing the capability to unify Taiwan by force;
New York Times at 6-12-2018: US unveils an office (AIT) in Taiwan,
but sends no top officials ... to avoid bigger clash with China; USA Today
5-18-2018: Xi JinPing has signaled that China will seek to reclaim its
historical properties by 2049. Freebeacon 5-17-2018 :
2020 — the deadline that [Chinese supreme leader] Xi Jinping has given the
[People's Liberation Army] to be ready to invade Taiwan.The
US subcommittee hearing (4-17-2018) Rep. Ted Soho,
Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on
Asia and the Pacific:
Seems likely Xi will force the issue (unification) in his life time.
Bloomberg news 3-14-2018: Trump's "Taiwan card"
(to annoy
China when needed)
is China's real worry.
Deutsche Welle 3-17-2018: China has reacted
angrily to the bill (Trump signed <Taiwan Travel Act> which paves way for
official exchanges with Taiwan, and identifies
indirectly
(?)
Taiwan as a country
― "visits to a country by United States cabinet members
...".)
Bloomberg news 3-14-2018: Taiwan will suffer even more,
as it
gets caught in the middle between a stronger China and a
inward-looking US... New York Times at
11-4-2017, the
Pentagon report, May 2017: China’s military modernization has “eroded or
negated many of Taiwan’s historical advantages (geography
and the US support) ” in deterring a potential attack.
Washington Post at 10-18-2017: "Mr. Xi’s biggest applause line was a vow to
'never allow anyone. . . at any time or in any form, to separate any part of
Chinese territory from China.' That would include...Taiwan." (in
19th CPC Speech).
Spiegel
Germany, 1-9-2017, Global
Times of China:
"There is no room for negotiations" ("Es
gibt keinen Raum für Verhandlungen").
Brief of Taiwan:
The
People's Republic of China (PRC)
has identified
that
Taiwan (the Republic of China )
as part of its territory
and its
most important core interest, since the Kuomintang (Nationalists)
government retreated to the island in 1949 following defeat in the Chinese
civil war. China
has vowed to
reunite this "breakaway province" by force if necessary,
and
has steadily increased pressure on Taiwan.
Under China's political development and strengthening its trade ties to our
allies,
Taiwan is diplomatically isolated, has only 17 formal relation allies till
Aug. 2018,
most of them are little, unknown countries, more may be in trouble any time. On the other hand,
China
took the strategy
" Allowance
of economic benefits to Taiwan"("讓利",
such as encouraging tourists to Taiwan) so that Taiwanese people may have higher
tendency toward unification with China, in recent years, China became
Taiwan's leading trading partner. Taiwanese understood this
interdependence is unavoidable, but over-dependence is risky. Le
Monde diplomatic of France,
Mai '16,
reported
the
economies of both sides were complementary, now compete each other. (Mais les économies des deux rives, qui étaient complémentaires,
entrent désormais en concurrence.
Les entreprises taïwanaises
sont progressivement exclues de la mise en place d’une chaîne de production
et d’approvisionnement chinoise ... )
Taiwan's
the 7th largest economy in Asia. Latest Global Wealth Report
(Credit
Suisse,
Nov.,
2017) shows Taiwan's mean wealth per adult, at USD
188,081, is
close
to
that
of
W.
Euro., (UK
USD
278,038, France USD
263,399).
Taiwan was one of the world's top producers of computer technology,
relying upon importation of key components and
advanced technology from the US and Japan,
Taiwan's high-tech sector is falling behind
for lacking of key tech. and its low pay to attract university-educated talent.
(Taiwan lacks
key tech. to make a large bus
/ CTN , 3-29-2017) Taiwan's
GDP per capita retreated successively in recent years. In
contrast,
China's GDP in 2016 is about 23 times the number of Taiwan's.
Taiwan's economic experts warned that Taiwan
will fall into
“middle-income” limbo (15-30 countries will catch up with it)
in the next 10 years if it fails to deal with “three evil hands”, the law,
environmental assessments, and Taiwan-China relations.
The United Daily, 11-12-2017, mentioned
the routine pattern "USA and China jointly control Taiwan"('美中共管')
is running.
The
United States, Taiwan's most important protector, takes the policy
"strategic
ambiguity"
――
“acknowledges” there is one China and Taiwan is part of China,
but has never officially “recognized” Taiwan as part of China. The US
Congress passed a law
("Taiwan Relations Act") to
commit
the US to defend Taiwan's sovereignty, and provide necessary 'defensive'
services. Many countries
seem welcome this ambiguity. Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, Opinion,
6-22-2017 stated the US is the key to keep the peace and stability across
the Taiwan Strait ("米国は台湾の防衛力強化を担っており、台湾海峡の平和と安定のカギを握る"。).
Taiwan's leaders made an assumption that
American will always come to protect
this island, and
a core policy to
resist Chinese PLA for 2 weeks.
But, the New York Times at 11-4-2017 pointed out that
Taiwan’s
historical advantages (geography and the US support) in deterring a
potential attack” has been “eroded or negated”
in that Chinese military is "more potent".
Washington Post at 1-5-2018 reported many senior officials regarded Taiwan as
a "roadblock to
Washington’s
smooth relations
with
China" or "the turd in the
punchbowl".
China's
Global Times at 1-10-2018 stated "many forces" in the US are still supporting
Taiwan as a "leverage against China". Taiwan's Apple Daily, opinion, at 12-22-2017 warned Taiwan should give up the
illusion (or dream) that the US military would come to rescue once needed.
Tsai
declined to endorse the so-called "1992
Consensus" that both side are part of “one China,” allowing each side its
own interpretation of what that means.
Till
May 2018,
the Chinese military has conducted a series of
provocative,
aggressive
operations, e.g., "patrol circling"
passing through 1st island chain and an aircraft carrier traversed
Taiwanese 'territory' (Taiwan Strait median line), to test the waters, or
prepare for an eventual future attack against Taiwan.
Taiwan National Security Survey conducted by
Duke University and NCCU of Taiwan found that once China-Taiwan war happens,
more than 60% Taiwanese yield or give up & run away
(The China Times, 4-21-2018, Opinion).
The ROC on Taiwan,
has its own constitution, independently
elected president and military forces, However, Taiwan's image
was tarnished
for having
benefits by any means, and
having principal human rights problems, including:
●
Exploitation
of foreign workers, official corruption, some media
self-censorship with regard to China, vote buying, etc (USA
Country Reports on Human Rights practices, March 3, 2017, 4-20-2018).
●
Taiwan's
Intelligence and secret-agent systems keep on governing the country ... they're
true Prime Minister
(行政院長), ...So many suspected
political murder cases remain unsolved
(ref to
2018.7.26【政經看民視】 FTV,
"政經看民視", 7-26-2018;
SET(三立電視),
9-24-2013
"Secret agents govern the nation (特務治國)" www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBdZCdYrwF4;
Era TV, 年代電視,
9-22-2013;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1b4R2m6K3g;
"Secret
agent
systems
resurgence
to
control
the
nation
(特務復辟治國)"
● The
United
Daily
News,
editorial opinion (9-19-2018)
:
"secret police"(「東廠們」)
have been active around us ...
●
Taiwan was already reduced to be a 'kingdom' of producing narcotic drugs.
(United Daily, headline news, 11-2-2017) Philippine
President Duterte
...
blaming Taiwan-based
organised crime behind all this drug traffic... for using his country as a
shipping hub.
(Reuters,
9-27-2017, The Straits Times, 9-29-2017) Duterte: Triad
supplying illegal drugs to PH is based in Taiwan, not China (inquirer.net, 9-26-2017).
Taiwan is scandalous for
being a major drug
transit center & a major drug exporting country, part of Taiwanese
government including Judicial sys. refused to improve this issue.
(UDN Opinion, 11-6-2017, The China Times,
head-page & focus, 4-4-2017, The Liberty
Times, 5-12-2017)
●
Taiwan politics belongs to corporations (not the people) and is
controlled by the political parties (Foreign
Policy, 2015).
Now it seems hard to keep Taiwan's
skin-deep
democracy ...
the people's "livelihood" was
sacrificed for politics ... (United Daily News,
Opinion,
3-7-2017
)
●
Taiwan is
notorious for its fraud crimes all over the world (CTV
evening news, 12-14-2017, EBC TV, 4-9-2017, UDN opinion,
12-24-2017).
Taiwan largely sees these telecom
frauds/phone scammers as an asset rather
than liability... (quora,
4-16-2016).
It's not easy for Taiwan to clean its bad name of 'fraud-crime empire'
because "Rome is not built in one day". (Asia
Association of Police Studies, secretary general,
China Times, 11-7-2017)
●
<The
Diplomat> (4-14-2016) :
Taiwan's illegal fishing is 'out of
control', GreenPeace criticized Taiwan gov. for knowing this issue but
does little
- EU warned
since 2015 Taiwan with a yellow card for illegal fishing, Taiwan has not
improved this good enough, some small countries in Southern Asia did better
than Taiwan.
●
Taiwan's prosecutors admit usually
following
order to conclude legal cases. (
The
United Daily,
06-18-2016,
head page news)
Taiwan's justice ministry was
insufficiently independent,
public trust on Taiwan's judiciary system keeps falling down
(USA
Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2016-2018,
all media of Taiwan, 2015 ~ 2017). Taiwan's public voice
with a heavy heart :
The prosecutors should abide by the law too... don't be a political tool.
(United Daily, opinion column, 12-16-2017) Taiwan's Minister of Judiciary and secretary of Justice Ministry issued
progress report of judicial reform ―
Public trust in judges is always low, the protection mechanism of lawsuit
right is still not good enough
(UDN 2-13-2018).
●
Taiwan is far behind to
legislate against torture and other
cruel. (ref. to Apple Daily, headline, 12-9-2017)
Taiwan's
opposition party
vice
presidential candidate, NTU professor Lin
Ruey-Shiung,
was subject to electromagnetic wave attacks (French AFP
,Dec. 1, 2011 ,
Thailand's Bangkok Post, Dec. 3, 2011, Yahoo UK & Ireland,
etc. ),
Taiwan gov. denied this.
●
State violence and
white terror
(product of state
violence)
return in Taiwan (United Daily, opinion, 12-21-2017, 12-27-2017). Taiwan's Facebook
"Green terror" suppressed free expression...... (Wikipedia 2017, The China
Times, public opinion, 11-18-2017)
●
Taiwan is dishonest and 'cruel'
―
trying to hide, block, delay public-health news, e.g., poisoned eggs, PCV virus
vaccine, and Bird-flu more than one time (1-2-2018 UDN
udn.com/news/story/7266/2908720, 2012
BBC news :
www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese_news/2012/03/120304_taiwan_birdflu_investigate)
,
not to
mention big issues.
The China Times 5-26-2018
column : The government likes to conceal bad news, put paper over the
cracks, e.g., air pollution, rupture of diplomatic relationships, ...
●
EU
General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR was given to effect at 5-25-2018,
Taiwan is far behind, even is going in an opposite way
/ Apple
Daily
蘋果日報, 5-28-2018,
National Taiwan University
Law School professor
林鈺雄
●
Taiwan failed to solve food-safety issue, professors and MDs advised eating
at home.
(The China Times. 8-6-2016,
<食品不安全的年代如何自保>,
2016, etc.)
●
The government
has not well taken
its fundamental responsibility of protecting the safety of people's life and property
-
why are there so
many tall buildings located on the fault-zone? why are poor
architectures everywhere on bad geologic grounds ? why are those
shit-hole politicians doing nothing and ignoring urban renewal so as to
risk millions of old houses and human beings?
(ps: may face death in 6
magnitude quake)
(full text:
https://udn.com/news/story/11321/2974813
聯合報社論／斷層帶上何以建了那麼多高樓？ 2-8-2018, https://udn.com/news/story/7338/2977079
勿讓軟腳樓成坑殺人命陷阱 2-9-2018,
https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20180209/37928659花蓮 都更 爛政客
2-9-2018) <CTS
HD>,
5-23-2016 1:25pm,
"華視新聞雜誌":
17 million
Taiwanese people ( totally 23 million population in Taiwan) live in "potential
danger"
(潛在危險)
houses,
according to
<遠見>
study,
Taiwanese people gave a "failure" score (53.5) on "living safety".
●
Taiwan
administration's policy led to air pollution, toxic pollution in the land
and sea
...
(The
China Times,
1-7-2018 台灣海陸空污染毒害，山海變色
http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180107000465-260114。Daily
Mail (UK) 7-14-2017 : Shocking
underwater video from Taiwan
shows ocean floor littered with plastic
(bottles) garbage)
●
The government
has not well taken
its fundamental responsibility of protecting the safety of people's life and property
-
why are there so
many tall buildings located on the fault-zone? why are poor
architectures everywhere on bad geologic grounds ? why are those
shit-hole politicians doing nothing and ignoring urban renewal so as to
risk millions of old houses and human beings?
(ps: may face death in 6
magnitude quake)
(full text:
https://udn.com/news/story/11321/2974813
聯合報社論／斷層帶上何以建了那麼多高樓？ 2-8-2018, https://udn.com/news/story/7338/2977079
勿讓軟腳樓成坑殺人命陷阱 2-9-2018,
https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20180209/37928659花蓮 都更 爛政客
2-9-2018)
●
Taiwan declared crackdown on prostitution,
only to turn into a country with world No.1 percentage of sex-related business
consumers of all the adults.
(Apple Daily, 12-25-2014 )
Harvard professor
Dr. Joseph Nye advised in 2010 that hard and soft power enable Taiwan to
deal with China and
expand its international space. However,
Taiwan's soft power was behind China and Asian's
Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, India, UAE.
Taiwan's
military power was recently cut down by half
and is in a state of low morale,
Taiwan's administration made a core
defense strategy to
resist Chinese PLA for 2 weeks, and
made assumption that
then American sons and daughters will always risk
their lives to protect our home.
○
4.
Taiwan's
economy & judiciary
◆
Washington
Post, 1-5-2018 : China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner and China is
Taiwan’s main destination for outbound investment; 40 percent of Taiwan’s
exports flow to China and a fifth of Taiwan’s gross domestic product derives
from its economic ties to the mainland.
○
◆
BBC, UK,
6-14-2017:
Taiwan
has
become
one of
Asia's
big
traders.
It is
considered
to have
achieved
an
economic
miracle,
becoming
one of
the
world's
top
producers
of
computer
technology.
/
Taiwan
country
profile
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16164639
○
◆
Wikipedia
Economy of Taiwan
Taiwan
is
the
22nd-largest
economy
in
the
world,
and
its
high-tech
industry
plays
a
key
role
in
the
global
economy.
(Taiwan
has
a
developed
capitalist
economy
that
ranks
as
the
22th-largest
in
the
world
by
purchasing
power
parity
(PPP)
)
It
is
ranked
highly
in
terms
of
...
economic
freedom,
and
human
development...These
SMEs
usually
produce
products
on
an
original
equipment
manufacturer
(OEM)
or
original
design
manufacturer
(ODM)
basis,
resulting
in
less
resources
spent
on
research
and
development.
Due
to
the
emphasis
of
the
OEM/ODM
model,
companies
are
usually
unable
to
make
in-depth
assessments
for
investment,
production,
and
marketing
of
new
products,
instead
relying
upon
importation
of
key
components
and
advanced
technology
from
the
United
States
and
Japan.
/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan
◆
Credit
Suisse,
Nov.
15,
2017
:
Global Wealth report 2017, Country summary
Country
Mean wealth per Adult (USD)
Median wealth per Adult (USD)
Taiwan
188,081
87,257
Japan
225,057
123,724
Singapore
268,776
108,850
France
263,399
119,720
UK
278,038
102,641
Compared to the world as a whole, Taiwan has high average
wealth and only moderate wealth inequality.
http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=A6E9E182-E39B-0353-6751EB076EF35159
◆
Global Wealth Report 2016 by
credit-suisse Research Institute, Nov. 2016
Taiwan,
Asia
Tiger
-
Taiwan's
average
level
of
wealth,
at
USD
172,847,
is
well
above
that
of
most
countries
in
the
Asia-Pacific
region,
and
similar
to
that
of
Western Europe.
(
Taiwan's mean wealth per adult, at USD
172,847, is
about
same as
that
of
France USD244,400
or
Germany
USD185,175, Taiwan's median wealth per adult USD 63,134, is about in the same
level with France USD 99,923, Canada 96,664.)
http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=AD783798-ED07-E8C2-4405996B5B02A32E
The gross domestic product (GDP) measures of national income and output for a
given country's economy. The gross domestic product (GDP) is equal to the total
expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a
stipulated period of time. This page provides - Taiwan GDP - actual values,
historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. Taiwan
GDP - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated
on August of 2017.
◆ ●
USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, March 3,
2017
(report
of 4-20-2018 is about the same) :
the justice ministry was
insufficiently independent and conducted politically motivated
investigations of politicians.
●
The
United Daily, 06-18-2016 head page:
Taiwan's
prosecutors admitted they usually follow their commanding officer's orderd to access legal cases
... " He is bigger than I am, what can I say??"
(
檢察，，「」)
●
FTV (Formosa Television) News, 7-26-2018
pic.:
FTV (Formosa Television) News,
7-26-2018: By expertise and team work, core members of
former president Ma's Faction (clique) did 'dig' money in
the amount more than ten times, or even more than 100 times
that of another former president Chen
Shui-bian
got, Chen was sentenced to 20 years.
Ma himself did not touch the money-digging matter.
Establishing lots of foundations for donations is the
culture of KMT (Nationalist Party). Major people
of DPP (political party in power since 2016) already knew
about this,
the intel. systems
can but don't (till
present) stop the cash flow making a detour through many
places including Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia.
In other words, the gov. intentionally opened a
'gap'
for their "convenience"......
For further
details:
2018.7.26【政經看民視】
PS: Taiwan Animation, int'l contest winners
anim
★
<Adventures of National Palace
Museum>
NPM web-site (English version)
This site comments
the winner of the prize "animation of the year"
Tokyo
Int'ernational Anim. Fair of 2008.
(1) The NPM Chinese version web-page mentions: the film obtains "grand prize
exhibition", a weird grammar sentence.
(2) Japan's web-pages: "Animation of the Year" award goes to <1.0: You
are (not) Alone>
I have no idea which is right ...
describes this animation as "an
exciting story of their (the leading actor, "ceramic child pillow")
search for a katydid that has flown away from another of the NPM's
treasure, Jadeite Cabbage".
(1) Not an exciting story.
(2) The NPM is in Chaos after night, it can be an exciting story, why
was the child only interested in that insect?
(3) Suggest readers to compare with some other films like <Night at the Museum>,
or classic
animation ＜Statues
Que＞.
This film "bridges the gap between modern audiences
and ancient artworks".
(1) It's for kids, not for modern audiences.
The film is showing in children's centre of NPM.
Almost all audiences are children when I was there at July 4, 2008.
(2) Children usually love vivid colorful film, not like this film
.
(1) About 10 years ago <TIME>'s article stated Japanese
comic strips show a sense of inferiority about their Eastern face ( many
Japanese hero-characters look like western person's feature & body structure ),
Cubic Tragedy's Oriental face-lifting story may interests Western audiences.
(2) Attendees might feel "proud" when
recognizing (or figure out) it's a Picasso's painting, so as to vote this film as
People's Choice award winner.
(3) The author's strategy is smart, however, the
Picasso-inspired idea won't surprise creativity experts, because lots of
fine-arts inspired and Picasso inspired ideas have already been developed long
long time ago, in both West and Asia. ( see pic. below)
(4) The author tried to "design" the girl's
face (to avoid "yellow skin") and the Asian
eyes (described in the book "Survival of the Prettiest" , or any look like
soap
"Ugly Betty" ), <Cubic Tragedy> gives the girl a
polygonian (square,cubic), pink face just same as certain background.
(5) Americans invest more money in their looks (beauty) than
in education, around 1/2 the number of global M.D.s in plastic surgery are
living in USA, the surgery may be treated as just a make-up or hair-coloring in
the near future. Hence, the pink color may be sarcastic on that girl
and many females, however, changing
background-color may broaden the theme.
(6) In 1990, there's a widely-known concept arts
: a French artist did a plastic surgery on face, and live show to world arts
museums, people can buy this DVD or some skins cut ...... is it an art, a
stunt, or a tragedy with various hidden meaning ?
Lots of fine-arts and
Picasso inspired ideas're already published long time ago
★ <After
the rainy days> winning in UK
(1) A western saying : "Chinese are inscrutable", and
many western juries, audiences favor stereotyped image of Eastern world -
so, many Taiwan's films are on purpose full of exotic flavor, mysterious atmosphere, etc,
or go even further : obscure/abstract codes, philosophical arts,
poetry like a dream .........
(2) The "arts" are usually decoded to various meanings,
depending upon audiences' knowledge and life
experience ....... Picasso and a kid both can create same
"art-work" i.e., displaying a M. Duchamp toilet, but the kid doesn't mean too
much. An empty museum is a concept art, randomly shooting in the
street is
a Surrealism art. (quoted by John Carey, Oxford U. professor, to comment arts)
(3) Famous Ad book <Visual Persuasion> (U. Penn. USA)
mentions Surrealism is sometimes thought of as a representation of dream (lack
of logic) imagery
and a source of various hidden meanings. However, attempt to read these
hidden meaning may run into a problem of over-interpretation.
It's mainly an art of eye-grabbing visual paradoxes.
(4) Most audiences only want entertainment,
instead of spending efforts in taking a boring philosophy class, or in escaping from a maze.
(5) Great arts can be understandable and popular, i.e., Polish <fallen art>, Canadian <Special
delivery>, Korean <Birthday Boy>, are easily understood, and
may touch many people's hearts.
(6) Some symbolic tokens seem not so fresh, i.e., a
flying graffiti, or fish soaring to the sky. Many times it seems to be
easy : for instance, "graffiti" symbolizes rebellion, "flying" symbolizes set to
free (or release from tyranny), so, combine both to get a flying graffiti.
(7) Sometimes lyric stuffs may needs obscure
(but not too obscure) codes, but, why does mocking-politics kind of film need camouflage?
(8) <After the rainy day> is sort of "arts"
animation.
(9) For so many years, Taiwan government loves to do some
political propaganda/comm. by attending int'l film festivals with this kind of
obscure-meaning films, so that Taiwan fails to communicate with million times of world
audiences, this style
of movie already led to Taiwan film industry's death.
★ <A
Fish with a Smile> (10 min. short film) Jury Committee
Special prize, Children's Jury Short Film, Berlinale int'l film Festival 2005
(1) director : C Jay Shih, Alan Tuan, Poliang Lin
(2) brief - "I once had a fish that was as loyal as a dog, as
amicable as a cat, as attentive as a lover". This animation is
kind of surrealism languages - deconstructed, inconsistent,
hallucinatory, etc.
(3) If you like this anim., also try "EEL", a
Japanese made Cannes award winner.
(4) The drawing style is elegant, however, this city
looks like Euro's more than Taiwan's.
(5) The nature of animation is closely related to
poetry, poetry is related to thinking in nature. I feel university
should produce great themed art-works.
(6) I guess "fish is crying" is a more witty phrase
than "fish is smiling". (because fish is in water)
ps: a few other winning anim. can't be found
in Youtube, or their school sites
Summary:
Taiwan is struggling from
OEM to OBM
(for Pixar 3D films and China's cheap labor), Taiwan's
animation is skilled in drawing tech., but is short of creativity.
1. Taiwan's society
:
Taiwanese people don't
think important of arts, culture, creativity, etc.
2. Taiwan
government :
Taiwan doesn't have that kind of environment for
creativity.
Creativity needs freedom, democracy, and people's
independent personality. Government officers don't like creativity, which
means extra risk.
3. Taiwan's universities
:
They
made very few research on creativity, produced very very few sharp-witty or entertaining
animations.
Wikipedia encyclopedia
concluded that Taiwan government has not worked a lot on cultivating college
potential ones in animation field, currently is far behind Japan, S. Korea, and
even Red China.
part of my article
commenting Taiwanese creativity was printed
in <The United Daily News>
world
issues :
◆
US /
US
cartoonsUS
Designs;
◆
China / Shanghai
EXPO ,
GuangZhouWorld Games ,
China Creativity
- Beijing Olympics ;
◆ Japan /
Japan Comics -
comment most popular books (Chinese version)
◆
1.
Taiwan Soft Power
