Potpourri: 20th Party Congress, Oslo Freedom Forum, Pride, Bird Divination
Hello dear friends,
We’ve been so thankful for your kind and supportive messages responding to our life update. The past year has been overwhelming, and it means a lot to us that you read our little missives.
This week’s also the two year anniversary of Michelle’s grandma’s death. Re-reading our eulogy, we were awakened with emotions—among them, guilt that the memory of her has faded. If you have ideas of how to keep alive the memory of loved ones, we’d like to know.
We’ve also been mourning the tragic deaths in Itaewon and the unnecessary loss of life.
The big news here in Taiwan has been China’s 20th Party Congress. We reported in the summer that the Taiwanese were fairly blithe throughout the entire Pelosi visit. But the mood in the circles that we run in has definitely shifted. Although nobody was surprised that Xi Jinping was confirmed for his precedent-breaking third term, everyone was shocked and disturbed at the way Hu Jintao, Xi’s predecessor, was ushered out of the party congress.
Access to the Chinese Communist Party has become so restricted that the only reporting Western journalists can do now is to engage in lip-reading, body-language interpretation, and other forms of tasseography. But most disconcerting of all was the unveiling of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee: all are Xi loyalists. He has completely bulldozed any roadblocks to authoritarian control. In a worrying signal for Taiwan, He Weidong—a general who previously led the Eastern Theater Command and conducted military drills surrounding Taiwan after Pelosi’s visit—was promoted to help oversee the armed forces.
In short, our friends and colleagues who follow Chinese politics have felt dejected. There is very little optimism that China’s slide into further authoritarianism can be prevented. This means that the potential threat towards Taiwan has intensified.
There’s been a spate of articles and commentary on the 20th Party Congress; perhaps the best thing we read was this interview with Wu Jieh-min at The Reporter. The article is in Chinese, but there is a good Twitter thread that sums up the article here:
Meanwhile, election season is in full swing here in Taiwan. On November 26, voters go to the polls for midterm elections. Most media coverage focuses on the mayoral races for the six “special municipalities,” or cities with enough of a population to be directly administered by the central government: Taipei, Taoyuan, New Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Tainan. The most high-profile race, projected to be the closest, is in Taipei, where we live. Yesterday saw the first televised debate between the three mayoral candidates; a good rundown of the stakes is in The Diplomat by Brian Hioe and Lev Nachman.
The midterms here are dubbed the “9-in-1” elections—meaning nine different types of elected posts are up for grabs, all the way down to the smallest local unit that you can vote for. These include the village or neighborhood representative (里長), as well as county and township magistrates, city council members, and borough heads and representatives. At almost every moment of the day, and at every street corner, you’ll run across somebody campaigning, offering you branded masks, trash bags, tissue, or some promotional material. On a bike ride with baby P. yesterday, we came across several rallies.
In spite of—or perhaps because of—the pressure from China, civic life in Taiwan has been particularly active these past couple of weeks. Here are some photos from the scenes of vibrant life in the past week or so, plus a bonus of our baby’s Halloween costume.
Oslo Freedom Forum
The half-day event combined interactive exhibits with speeches and live interviews with human rights activists from countries such as Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Ukraine, and the Gambia. Wu'erkaixi, an outspoken student leader in the Tiananmen Square protests, described the mass illusion of the 1990s that economic engagement with China would lead to democratization. The heavy-metal-turned-legislator Freddy Lim, the pride of a generation in Taiwan, spoke about creativity and freedom. Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, a Burmese activist, explained how global actors can work to defund and de-arm the Burmese military. Her father, also a pro-democracy activist, is currently in prison; he’s been in and out ever since she was a child. “I’m very proud of him,” she said.
We especially appreciated William Yang’s interview with exiled Chinese artist Badiucao, who lives in Australia. For most of his career Baiducao published anonymously, but three years ago decided to reveal his identity. (You can listen to the interview, which starts at 2:44.)
Yang asked Baiducao why his artwork features so many variations on Tank Man, the iconic image of the unidentified Chinese man who stood in front of the tanks in Tiananmen Square. Baiducao replied that Tank Man is not a superhero with magic, not the stuff of comic books, but an ordinary man holding a briefcase. In a battle where the odds are completely unrealistic, any person can find the courage to fight. Perhaps, Baiducao added, it’s easier to have a hero who has no name or face, because we can better imagine ourselves in his position.
Bravo to Jenny Wang, who oversees Asia-related campaigns & projects at Human Rights Foundation and helped to organize this year’s Oslo Freedom Forum.
Fortunetelling Festival
We share an abiding interest in popular religion and so-called “superstitious” practices, so we visited a festival at Longshan Temple and learned about bird divination.
A songbird hopped out of its cage and selected five Asian-style tarot cards that the fortuneteller interpreted:
Pride!
120,000 people showed up to Taiwan’s 20th Pride festival, even though it was pouring rain and everyone got soaked. Baby P. loves rainbows, so the event was very exciting for her.
Afghan Family Refugee Campaign
We’re so touched by readers who donated to a campaign to help relocate an Afghan family with two young daughters. Thank you so much for your generosity. The campaign is still going, and it is been organized by friend-readers Aaron Peck and Eng Sengsavang. They’re in a refugee center now and desperately want a chance to restart their lives.
Yarr, garrr!
And finally, guess who was a pirate for Halloween? Here she is. Ahoy me hearties! Where’s me pieces of eight! Yarr, gaarrrr!