Schedium

As Xi Jinping tightens control over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), further restricts freedom of speech and revives Marxist and Maoist ideology, the judicial system, too, is undergoing a conservative counter-reformation aimed at strengthening the role of the Party and excluding possible reforms inspired by the judicial system of liberal countries.  According to China News , on February 25 the Party leadership group of the Supreme People's Court of the People's Republic of China released a statement stressing that the country must preserve "the judicial system of socialism with Chinese characteristics " (中国特色社会主义司法制度). At the same time, it strongly rejected what it described as "Western judicial independence and the separation of powers" (西方“司法独立”、“三权鼎立”). The Supreme People's Court said that the judicial system must "resolutely resist the influence of wrong Western thought and wrong Western viewpoints."

While this year the number of mainland Chinese tourists that spent their Chinese New Year holidays in Hong Kong has declined for the first time since the 1997 handover, neighbouring Japan and South Korea have become increasingly popular with Chinese travellers. Data released by Hong Kong's immigration department show that 675,155 mainlanders visited Hong Kong between February 18 and 22, a 0.16%  drop compared with last year. Many regard the rising anti-Chinese sentiment in Hong Kong as the main cause for the diminishing popularity of the former British colony among mainland visitors.  Over the last few years, the misbehaviour of some mainland tourists as well as the soaring number of Chinese shoppers have caused widespread anger in Hong Kong and prompted many citizens to take to the streets. On February 8, for example, around 800 Hong Kong residents  protested  against Chinese one-day shoppers and parallel traders that are making the city unlivable. Jap...

On February 2 Lee Teng-hui , the former leader of the Guomindang and the first democratically elected president of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan), gave a speech at the Legislative Yuan concerning the issue of constitutional reform.  Lee Teng-hui is my favourite Taiwanese president. He implemented democratic reforms, defended the ROC against Beijing's claims to Taiwan, he managed the economy well and was a politician who exercised a strong leadership but was at the same time tolerant, humane, and capable of understanding and representing Taiwan's mainstream public opinion. In this respect, I consider him a better politician than Chen Shuibian and Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu), let alone Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo (Jiang Jingguo).  Three points in his speech seem to me quite interesting, and in this post I will briefly examine them. The first two points concern Taiwan's identity and economic situation. The third point relates to Lee's assertion tha...

On February 8 around 800 protestors besieged two shopping malls and a bus stop in the district of Tuen Mun , in Northwest Hong Kong. Tuen Mun, which borders on mainland China's Guangdong Province, has become a common destination for mainland shoppers and the so-called ' parallel-traders ', i.e. improvised merchants who cross the border to buy products that they then re-sell in mainland China for a profit. The protestors first surrounded the stop of Citybus B3X, a line connecting Tuen Mun with the mainland city of Shenzhen (it takes merely 30 minutes to cover the distance between the two cities). The demonstrators complained about the flood of mainlanders that, so they argue, have made their district unlivable. "Go back to the mainland", "Give us back Tuen Mun", the Hongkongers shouted.  Afterwards the crowd moved to Tuen Mun Town Plaza , a popular department store with mainland tourists , and later occupied almost half of Trend Plaza , an adjac...

One might think that Chinese New Year  is a time of rest and joy, of warmth and love. And to a certain extent it is. Family members eat together, exchange 'red envelopes' (i.e. cash gifts), chat and relax. Yet there is more behind the apparent happiness of this event, a less bright and merry side. As the family holiday par excellence, Chinese New Year is also a period in which people face a lot of pressure, a pressure that is often quite unbearable. In Taiwan as in the rest of the Chinese-speaking world, the family was traditionally the most important thing in one's life. What a single family member did - his or her job, relationships, offspring, property and reputation - were not individual matters, but collective matters that concerned the entire family. Although in a weakened form, much of this still holds true. Read: Family in Chinese Culture The proof of this is the number of articles published in Taiwan before Chinese New Year which discuss how to deal w...

"Why should China say no to ' wrong Western values '"? asked an editorial published on the People's Daily , a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) . The editorial was written in defence of the recently announced ban on university textbooks promoting 'Western values'.  According to the paper, Western people misunderstand China. They do not realise that human rights are not universally applicable. Although China protects and values "liberty, democracy, equality and human rights",  the country's history, tradition and customs are different from the West's, and therefore China cannot simply copy the West's multi-party political system or passively adopt its understanding of human rights.  "There is no universal criteria to judge political values," writes the People's Daily . "Therefore, China must assimilate western values within its own political culture. Otherwise, it could ruin the future and fat...

According to the Economist Safe City Index 2015 , Taipei confirms its position as one of the world's safest cities. The index is based on four categories: digital security, health security, infrastructure safety and personal safety. Here is the list: 1 Tokyo 2 Singapore 3 Osaka 4 Stockholm 5 Amsterdam 6 Sydney 7 Zurich 8 Toronto 9 Melbourne 10 New York 11 Hong Kong 12 San Francisco 13 Taipei 14 Montreal 15 Barcelona 16 Chicago 17 Los Angeles 18 London 19 Washington DC 20 Frankfurt Taipei performs best in terms of personal safety: it is the world's 5th city in this category. However, in the index of the top 25 cities, that is, the cities where it is best to live, Taipei ranks 21st. The top cities index is based on the data of 6 other indexes  (Safe Cities, Liveability Rankings, Cost of Living, Business Environment Rankings, Democracy Index, Global Food Security Index). 

A total of 29 provinces of the People's Republic of China (PRC) have revised their growth targets downwards.  On February 9 the provincial-level National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) of Guangdong, Jilin and Hainan provinces announced that they have lowered their growth target for 2015. Similar announcements had been made by other 26 provinces in January.  Guangdong’s growth target has been adjusted to 7.5%, down from 8.5% last year; Hainan has set a target of 8%, compared to 10% last year; and Jilin is expected to grow 6.5%, down from 8% in 2014. 

"It is important to mould the image of our country," wrote Xi Jinping in his best-seller, ' The Governance Of China '. "We should create the image of a great civilised country with a long history; of a united multiethnic state, in which different cultures live side by side in harmony; of a great Asian power with an upright and honest policy, a relatively developed economy, a thriving culture, a stable society, a people living in harmony, and beautiful landscapes; of a great responsible country that defends international justice and fairness and gives its contribution to the development of humanity; and of a great socialist country full of charm, hopes and vitality, which continues to open itself up to the world." Papa Xi (习大大) , as he is now called by the subservient state media that glorify him like no other Communist leader after Mao Zedong, describes this strategy as "raising China's cultural soft power". Upon taking over from his pred...

After two lazy months I am trying to update my blog again more regularly. There was a time when I used to write one post each day, but it's a really hard pace to keep for a long time.  There's also something that's bothering me. A week ago I was in Beijing and I got scammed. I'm kind of ashamed of admitting that, since apparently everyone knows that Beijing is famous for its scams. So was I the only one who didn't know? Obviously not, since these scammers find new victims each day among the naive and trusting foreign visitors.  The funny thing about that is that I always felt totally safe in Beijing, especially in Wangfujing, Dongdan, Tiananmen Square, Jianguo Road and in the hutongs. Even in Dongzhimen in the evening I never had any problem.  Beijing is one of the most militarised places I've ever visited. In Tiananmen, Wangfujing and the whole of Jianguo Road there are policemen and soldiers everywhere. Who could have imagined that in this country...

The Chinese internet company NetEase  has been accused by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) of "illegally republishing news and information, spreading pornography, rumour-mongering and other issues". According to a law against online rumours which was adopted in September 2013, internet users who spread "false information" will be charged with defamation if the posts carrying the alleged rumours are visited by at least 5,000 people or are shared more than 500 times. The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate declared in a judicial interpretation that an internet user found guilty of spreading online rumours faces up to three years in jail. Rumour-mongering is considered a "serious breach" of Criminal Law. The CAC has not provided details about NetEase's alleged misbehaviour. The internet company is headquartered in Guangdong, one of the first provinces that benefited from China's "opening u...

Recently I read an interesting blog post entitled “3 reasons why Taiwanese and German people think differently” (the original post is in German). The author is   Klaus Bardenhagen , a German journalist who has been living in and reporting from Taiwan for a few years. His blog and Facebook page have become major sources of information about Taiwan for German people as well as cultural bridges between Taiwan and Germany.  In his post Klaus Bardenhagen argues that Germany is a country of perfectionists in which everything has to be done according to a well-thought plan, with accuracy and exactness. On the contrary, he argues, Taiwanese seem to overlook even some of the most evident flaws and blunders. He demonstrates this point with the help of three pictures: the first picture shows a bus stop built right in the middle of a bicycle path; the second, too, shows a U-bike station that was built on a bicycle path; the third shows the shabby façade of a building.  Aft...

Located in the heart of Taipei , the Office of the President of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) is not only one of the centres of political power of the island-state, but also one of Taiwan’s most important historic buildings. Surrounded by some of Taipei’s major landmarks such as the Bank of Taiwan, Dongmen (East Gate), Taipei Guest House ,   228 Peace Park , and the High Court , the Office of the President is one of the most characteristic symbols of Taiwan.  Constructed during the Japanese colonial era , the Office has witnessed more than a century of momentous political, social and economic changes that have transformed the small island. Built as the headquarters of the Governor-Generals sent by Tokyo, it became the Office of the President of the ROC when Chiang Kai-shek retreated to Taiwan in 1949. Since 1996 the building is the seat of elected presidents of a new, democratic Taiwan.  Overview The Office of the President of the Republic of China ...

The youth of Hong Kong lack national identity and should be taught to feel Chinese, declared Chen Zuo'er, former deputy director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and current president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies. "Hong Kong’s young students are intelligent and hard working. However, they lack a sense of national identity and of Chinese history," said Chen at a seminar held in Beijing on January 6. He argued that the participation of thousands of young students of Hong Kong in the recent Umbrella Revolution was a result of their lack of "national democratic [sic!] and civic awareness, life goals, and knowledge in geography, history and culture". He pointed out that Hong Kong's secretary for education is “under the supervision of the central government and Hong Kong society at all times”, according to articles 48 and 104 of the Basic Law . He urged Hong Kong's educators to take into ...

I'm writing this post in my home in Sicily. I have no running water, and electricity comes and goes. An unusual way to end an unusual year.  Sicily is often associated with sunny, warm weather. But this winter is different. There was a snowstorm yesterday, and now all streets of my small hometown are covered in white. Unfortunately, this island is not accustomed to snow. Even in countries like Germany, snow can cause disruptions, but here it's a real disaster. Yesterday evening there was suddenly no running water. We thought a pipe was broken. But then we realised all our neighbours had no water, either. This morning we called a technician, and he explained to us that the water in the pipe had frozen. That's because the pipes are built outside and not inside the walls. Anyway, now I have to write quickly, I must go and see if there are candles (!) in case electricity fails again ...  2014 was a strange year. My father got sick and I spent six months in Italy. It wa...

As the Umbrella Revolution unfolded and thousands of Hong Kong students and activists occupied various streets of the city demanding genuine universal suffrage , the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing and their allies in Hong Kong looked in dismay and astonishment, unable to understand what was happening. They condemned the democracy movement, which they considered an illegal act of subversion aided by foreign forces . Yet they didn't seem to take the true motives behind this popular protest seriously. If they had analysed these motives, they would have soon discovered that there are plenty of reasons why the people of Hong Kong might be dissatisfied with the status quo created by the ' one country, two systems ' model. One of them and, in my opinion, the most important one, lies in the ideologisation of society which the Communist state considers an integral part of its 'socialist' system, and which it is trying to extend to Hong Kong in ...

In the heart of Taipei , in the middle of the sea of anonymous apartment blocks built in the decades following World War II, there lies a former industrial area that has remained virtually unchanged since its construction in the first half of the 20th century. This is the former 'Taipei Wine Factory' (台北酒廠), a complex of buildings that belonged to Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Monopoly. By the 1980s. when Taiwan's economy was booming and its capital, Taipei, was growing fast, the presence of this factory in what had become the city centre (but was periphery in the Japanese era ) raised environmental concerns. Therefore, in 1987 wine production was moved to Linkou Industrial Area , in the suburbs of Taipei County (present-day New Taipei City ). However, this 'museum-like' neighbourhood has not been saved by wise and history-conscious city planners, but - paradoxically - by neglect and indifference. Politicians were simply too idle and uninterested in order to make s...

On December 20 Xi Jinping , the president of the People's Republic of China (PRC), will visit the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty of the former Portuguese colony.   But while the Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying will attend the ceremony in Macau, Hong Kong journalists have already been denied entry to the neighbouring region.  As the newspaper Apple Daily reported, yesterday  one of its journalists was denied entry into Macau.  According to the paper, on December 12 the journalist took a ferry to Macau. After his arrival at the ferry station he went to the Immigration Hall, where the police prevented him from entering Macau.  Public security officers took him to an examination room and asked for the purpose of his visit. The journalist replied he was there for an interview - without specifying whether he was the interviewer or the interviewee.  ...

The Hong Kong police have given the students that have occupied Admiralty an ultimatum: they must leave before 11 am today. Whoever stays will be arrested.  Apparently the students have decided to comply. They are dismantling their tents, saying goodbye to the ' Umbrella City ' they have created. The images of the occupation - a symbol of civil disobedience - will remain in the collective memory, just as those of the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy movement did. The power of those images and ideas is stronger than the short-term failure of the protesters' political objectives.  Rumours had been going around for weeks that the police would soon clear the sites of the protests. On the evening of December 1st I met a friend of mine. I hadn't seen her for a year. We went to a cafe' called Kubrick, in Yau Ma Tei. We talked a lot, and Occupy Central was one of our topics - it seemed impossible not to mention this issue when conversing with a Hongkonger, a proof ...

Two days ago I took for the first time the new Songshan-Xindian MRT line (松山新店線, Line 3), which opened on November 15 (I wasn't in Taiwan at the time). The new line is an extension of the former Xindian-Danshui Line , which connected Xindian, in the southern part of New Taipei City, and Danshui  (淡水), in the north. This South-North axis has now been split and two distinct MRT lines have been created: the Danshui-Xinyi Line  (淡水信義線), and the aforementioned Songshan-Xindian line. One interesting result of the completion of the MRT network is that all of the five city gates of Qing Dynasty Taipei Walled City now have stations named after them - Ximen (西門, 'West Gate'), Dongmen (東門, 'East Gate'), Beimen (北門, 'North Gate'), Nanmen (南門, 'South Gate') and Xiaonanmen (小南門, 'Little South Gate'). This highlights the infrastructural importance of the gates and of the boulevards which the Japanese constructed after the city walls' demolition...

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend of mine at a Thai restaurant in Central . After we finished our meal my friend went back to work. Since the weather was quite pleasant that day, I decided to take a walk to Tin Hau . During my walk I took a few pictures of some interesting old buildings in Wan Chai District . Surrounded by modern skyscrapers, these old structures are among the few ones that have withstood the urban development frenzy of the post-war era. Wan Chai In the morning of 26 January 1841 Sir James Bremer of the British Royal Navy, accompanied by army officers and Royal Marines, landed on the north-west part of  Hong Kong , a spot that came to be known as Possession Point  (which is now the site of the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal ). He toasted Queen Victoria and took formal possession of the small island in her name.  Hong Kong had been ceded to the British by the Qing Empire during the First Opium War . London secured the naval base through...

In two of my earlier posts I talked about the myth of Asian collectivism and Western individualism . In future articles I will examine several aspects of this myth. Here I would like to show an example of Western collectivism, in order to demonstrate that individualism is by no means a 'Western' concept, but simply one of the many values developed in the West over the course of its long history. In fact, a civilisation is never a homogeneous and coherent whole, but a combination of different cultural phenomena. The idea that East Asia is more collectivist than the West is based on the wrong assumption that family ideology , epitomized in the principle of filial piety , is the only true form of collectivism. While it is true that a Confucian-style family ideology never existed in the West, it would be a mistake to overlook the fact that the West developed its own collectivist worldviews and systems of thought. The four most important ones are: Christianity, nationalism, Co...

When I left Hong Kong back in September,  Occupy Central had just begun. I went to Admiralty and Central on the first day of the protests, which was the 28th. The following morning I flew to Taipei.  I was very sad, not only because I was leaving a city which I love more and more each time I return there, but also because I had seen history unfolding before my eyes and yet I was suddenly cut off from those events. While I was sitting on the express train to the airport, I had already made up my mind that I would go back to Hong Kong as soon as possible.  And I was right. What I have seen in Hong Kong over the past few days is amazing, and I feel glad and privileged that I could be part of this historic moment. At least I'll be able to tell my grandchildren that I was here.