the unconventional life: across the Taiwan straight

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I don't normally discuss politics much with friends. I believe that despite our differences in political views, that we can all still get along fine. Since living in China, many many people have asked me what I think about the situation between Taiwan and China, and whether I think an 'unification' of the two would be in the horizon. Most of them have never been to Taiwan due to visa requirements, and a lot of Taiwanese are also not interested in learning more about China.

Before I visited the 'motherland,' I was not particularly for or against the possibility of unification of the two places. After all, they are like sisters that fought and haven't talked to each other for decades. The 'unification' of Hong Kong and China didn't seem to harm HK much, I thought, so why not.

Then I lived here and learned much more about this place and their culture. I watched their TV hows and news, and I listened to what the people have to say about politics. It was an eye-widening experience.

And what do I think today? No f*@king way would I ever want to be controlled by the government here. Or have anything to do with them. My belief is confirmed by others from Taiwan.

Now when my Chinese friends ask me whether I think there is a chance for 'unification' of the two places, I think they are implying, "come back so that you can save us!"

The other day I met up with some people that taught at the university, and listened to the intellectuals' views about this country's growth. Even though the country appears to be modeled on capitalism and consumerism in a similar Western fashion, the rest is actually turning inward. What changed is their behavior and outlook on money, but that doesn't mean that old cultural habits that has been ingrained in their genes will be westernized. I am talking about they way they structure their organizations, and the way they do business. One of the intellectuals I was with pointed out the university's magazine to me. It's their centennial celebration, a very big deal for any university, and especially such an influential one. On the cover, is a pyramid of photos with the most influential person at the top and so on. One would think that the founding deans or other influential intellectuals would be at the top of the pyramid. Unfortunately, the most influential professors were in a row at the bottom of the pyramid, while the top was dominated by political figures.

It was very disturbing, he said.
He fears that the country is turning backward, instead of heading forward.
I have to agree with him on that.

A country originally based on idealistic communism has turned into a system of class dominated by the political elite. All final decisions that matter are made by the political party, including most of the largest and influential government-funded start-ups. All local news are filtered and censored, including their Twitter-like site called Weibo. I am not claiming that the Taiwan or US governments are THAT much better, but a least we can vote for who we want to lead the country. Sure, we have representatives that are not really representing the right Americans, but at least we had some. This is what it looks like when China allows its citizens to run for elections for anything.

Like an upside-down poporcelain china, the country is insulated from outside influences. Ms. Berrol used to tell us in our middle school geography class. She was right. China runs on its own course. If you want to work with China, you follow their rules.

There are plenty of people that come and try to work with (in) China and fail. The few that succeed always tell you how difficult it was when they started, and how many times they have been cheated, etc. So far, the one person that really stood out from my observations, is William from Taiwan. William owns a very successful company in the city of Xiamen called TechAudio. They are the supplier for CSM, a sister company of ours that sells sound masking systems. Last week I flew down to Xiamen and visited his company, and toured the city.

William has been in Xiamen for about 15 years, and has made his business grow into a very successful one. They are capable of making low-end audio parts, as well as some higher-end speakers and subs. Most of his employees have worked there for many years, which is usually a good sign about how well the company is managed. He is a very jolly man of 58-years old - married to a Taiwanese woman about 20 years his junior who also works at the company. He is young at heart and knows how to live. William called in his technical sales guy and told him to give me an introduction about the CSM product, as if I was considering purchasing the product. What he didn't tell this poor fella is that I am basically from CSM! The guy was really embarrassed and promised to give a better sales pitch next time.

After the business talks and tours, William had his favorite staff Lilly take me around Xiamen. Lilly is a 27-year old rising star, and William asked me to talk to her and give her some guidance on life. He wants her to become a more confident woman, who can take charge. William and his wife have no kids, and I can tell that he treats his staff like his own. He hosts monthly 'book clubs' for his staff of about 20 (not including the factory workers that actually assemble the products), where they read various books ranging from personal development to business.

Xiamen is a historic port city southeast of China, the place closest to Taiwan's Kinmen island. It has a little bit of resemblance to other port cities like Qingdao and Lugang. The one good thing is that unlike Qingdao which is a peninsula, Xiamen is actually an island. This prevents the city from over-expanding to the point of being unlivable. The weather in Xiamen is similar to Taiwan, very tropical, relatively breezy and and nice blue skies. A lot of Chinese immigrants that went to the rest of southeast Asia (including Taiwan) came from the Fujian province and specifically Xiamen, making it a very historic place. It did, somewhat feel like home, I guess. A lot of Filipino-Chinese and Singaporean-Chinese are from here generations ago, and plenty of them come back and visit. They speak the same dialect as Taiwan called Hokkien, making it a somewhat familiar place. The old part of Xiamen looks similar to the streets of Lugang in Taiwan, which has a lot of European architecture influences. After all, it was the main port for exporting tea in the 19th century, and plenty of culture mixing happend right here.

Gulangyu coast

One of the must-sees of Xiamen is a small island called Gulangyu, which is where the westerners resided in Xiamen when they were here in the early 1900s. It is also called the musical island, kind of like the Chinese Juliard. It has it's own music school, a concert hall, and a piano museum with about 80 old European and US made old pianos, clavichords, and harpsichords. It was such a treat for me! Not so much for Lilly - she was probably wondering why I would spend so many hours in a museum.