The Daily Cow

I know this topic will offend many Taiwanese people, but the Taiwanese live a cultural and political wet dream.

Pardon me, for I have not lost my milk, but I think that the Taiwanese people hate the Chinese for all the wrong reasons. Their attempt at leaving China is not only pathetic, it is a loss on something that they could retain and complement. Even more so, their attempt at siding with the United States only tricks them more into becoming a nation that belongs to no one and lacks no identity. It is because of this that if Taiwan continues to go down the road that it has selected, that eventually it will become a nation just like the United States -- a conglomeration of other nations cultures that are fused together. When that happens, they will no longer be Chinese. I am a mainlander myself, and it is understood that I may feel biased, but when I argue this on a cultural basis rather than a political bias, things change.

I write this with an air of regret and a bigger tinge of anger towards the "Chinese" Students Association here at my school. Note that the word Chinese is in quotes only because the club here at Santa Clara University satisfies all the requirements, but fails to be Chinese. I deduce that this is the reason because the club is run by Taiwanese individuals (and a Japanese PR girl), who believe that Pearl Milk Tea satisfies such a requirement. Whether it is true or not, I think that they have forgotten what it means to be Chinese, because they think that Pearl Milk Tea and night markets satisfy the premise of being Chinese, as great as they may be. They will never encounter this website, and they will never see what I have to say, but that's fine. If they self destruct as a club, that's fine by me, because as the quote on Megan Bergantz's wall at Leland High says, "When a nation [rises and falls], one thing is for certain: They forgot where they came from". Sure, the Taiwanese may claim to be Chinese, but they simply aren't. They live in a wet dream run by the thought of being American, yet try to create their own through such frivolous things such as the Taipei 101 and Night Markets, while forgetting about the true cultural entities that allowed them to take on that identity, such as the Chinese language system, Great Wall, art among other things. In a sense, the Taiwanese ought to feel lucky that they are wanted back by China. It's only a tragedy that they do not want to complete the desire.

The average Taiwanese will argue back that the United States and Britain will once together, and broke up long ago, and the same can be done with the United States. This argument is flawed on more levels than any because if you look at the US and Britain, they have no shared culture anyway to begin with -- the United States is a smorgashboard of multiple ethnicities, attended by all countries of the world. No one even bothers to immigrate from the country that is Taiwan. Thus that argument fails. Taiwanese will also argue that the Chinese government is communist and that democracy is superior. I ask -- what has the Taiwanese government done for you lately besides give you Chen Shui-Bian, who is utterly incompetent and stupid, all in the same sentence.

Am I disappointed? You can say that. Am I saddened? You can say that too. The status quo dictates that Taiwan and China will remain apart for years to come, and the wet dream for Taiwan will continue. The younger Taiwanese will continue to forget their past, butcher the language and act like their Chinese ancestry means nothing to them. They will badmouth China and learn from the American education system that China owes them nothing, and will never owe them anything because of communism (and now lead toys). But I ask, why leave the country that literally made you? You wouldn't leave your own mother or father, would you?

I just hope this wet dream ends, soon.