Re: The Artificial Chinaman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the eMails and other responses I got, I deduce that my little article didn't quite come across the way I had intended. Goes to show how difficult writing and communication in general is. :-)))

---

When I first moved to the small mountain community of Garden City near Taipei, I found out that a lot of famous writers, painters, film-makers and other artists lived there. One of my new neighbors was Bo Yang, who also happened to be the father-in-law of one of my best friends. Naturally I got to know him and later I taught his wife - a good poet in her own right - English and helped her in her work with Amnesty International (Taiwan) of which Bo Yang was the chairperson at that time. Soon I found out that Bo Yang had spent almost ten years in prison for his writings. Finally I picked up his book "The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis of Chinese Culture" www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1863731164/krautnet and read it right through in one go. It was amazing! But if a foreigner had mentioned even one tenth of the issues of "cultural criticism" Bo Yang has written about, he would have been labeled a racist [I had a discussion about the subject in my home country and guess what happened? Right, they found out that Holg was a fucking racist.] or at least Anti-Chinese and he would have lost many of his friends. Which is why I have always kept my trap shut on the subject, although I agree with Bo Yang in almost every single instant.

But that was then and this is now. People don't get thrown in jail any more when they don't show proper respect for the president. (Or when they go dancing, for that matter.) And after more than twenty years here, I feel I have enough understanding to finally speak up. Unfortunately, almost all of the chapters in Bo Yang's book are still as valid today as they were when the book was first published. Now back to my story.

---

Boy, am I glad that I posted here instead of following my original plan! I intended to write this piece for a big (Chinese language) newspaper here in Taiwan, in order to re-kindle the debate that Bo Yang's writings had caused such a long time ago. (The country was under martial law until 14 July 1987.) Since the audience is almost exclusively Chinese, I thought that they might see a reflection of themselves in the story. Of course my friend in the story is actually a composite of many of my friends here on the island, and some of them are not really my friends at all, but show these cultural attitudes and values very well.

Of course, some people would get upset by this parody. Some would probably get very angry and question my right to criticize them. And many more would agree with them. But some others would perhaps question their own values and maybe get a little different look at some of the problems that are plaguing them.

So, how should I change my story in order to get this across more clearly?

Any constructive criticism is most welcome.

Cheers!

Holg

groups.yahoo.com/group/PABD/message/502
boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=18618801


Edited by: KrautHolg at: 2/20/03 5:56:21 am http://pub38.ezboard.com/fpeaceandboatdrinks66759frm2.showMessage?topicID=33.topic