Last night I attended a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) campaign rally in Taichung. The rally for legislative candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was held in a primary school hall in the West District of Taichung.

As people entered the gates there were tables for collecting donations and registering support for the campaigns. Flags were also handed out and people holding minor positions in the party were introduced by name as they entered the hall.

In the hall there was lots of handshaking and greeting among the various local politicians and their supporters.

Chen Shu-hua (陳淑華) and Huang Guo-shu (黃國書), both city councillors, were the MCs for the evening. Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a professor at Soochow University and regular on the Talking Show (大話新聞), and Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), a legislator-at-large candidate for the DPP, came on stage to warm to warm up the crowd. Hsu spoke about Lin Chia-lung’s leadership of the student movement in the early years of Taiwan’s democratisation.

Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) was the next to enter the hall and speak to the crowd. He narrowly missed out on being elected as mayor of Taichung last year. He is now directing Tsai Ing-wen’s campaign in central Taiwan.

Lin Chia-lung was next to speak. Lin is considered one of the leading figures in the younger generation of DPP politicians. He was a leader of the Wild Lily Movement (野百合學運) and later went on to serve as Minister of the Government Information Office. He moved to Taichung in 2005 to run for mayor and has since been based in Taichung with the hope of being elected to higher office.

Tsai Ing-wen took to the stage flanked by an entourage of local politicians some of whom were candidates for the legislature. I felt her speech was a bit flat. She talked about the DPP’s achievements while it controlled the executive from 2000 to 2008 including the development of the Taichung Science Park. However, she tended to ramble on a bit and lacked a clear message for voters to take away. However, it’s still early days in the campaign and this rally was more of a warm up than the main event.

*More photos in the DPP rally in Taichung set at flickr.

• DPP rally on eve of 1025 protest
• Prediction market for the five cities election
• 830 protest in Taipei
• A new generation steps forward in the elections
• Possible DPP & KMT vice presidential candidates

My parents have just spent the past week in Taiwan. This was their second visit to Taiwan following their first visit in 2008. The week long visit was just enough time to see a few of Taiwan’s highlights.

The first day was spent relaxing and enjoying some of the good things in Taichung. We drank Taichung’s best coffee at Orsir. Then we had lunch at Hotel One with a great view of the city. In the evening we visited the Fengjia Night Market. Thankfully it wasn’t too busy and crowded on a Monday night.

The next day we travelled to Hsinchu and then into the mountains. In the afternoon we reached our destination Smangus. This was a great place to escape the summer heat. We hiked to the Yaya Qparung on the second day. Mum and Dad completed the 12 kilometre hike in good time enjoying the magnificent forest and mountain views along the way. I was really glad that I had the chance to take my parents to Smangus so they could know and understand more about this special place.

After Smangus we headed to Jiufen on Taiwan’s northeast coast. Jiufen was the ideal place to relax and ease back into urban life after the peace and isolation of Smangus. We enjoyed the beautiful views and some nice tea and snacks.

After spending a night in Jiufen we went to Taipei. Last time Mum and Dad visited they weren’t able to go up Taipei 101 because the weather was so poor. This time they had a clear view and were able to check out the view of the Taipei Basin. We travelled on the high speed train back to Taichung for the final leg of the journey. Mum and Dad flew out from Taichung Airport to Hong Kong where they caught another flight back to Australia.

• Links 9 June 2008
• It’s a boyz world
• Starting Chinese classes
• Will Ma meet the Dalai Lama?
• Travels in Zhonghe and Yonghe

Two bands featuring the erhu, a traditional Chinese two-stringed musical instrument, took to the stage of the Emerge Live House in Taichung last night. The Hsu-nami (海嘯樂團) came all the way from the USA and Sun Of Morning (晨曦光廊) are a Taiwanese band. Many music fans will already be familiar with Taiwanese metal band ChthoniC’s use of the erhu. These two bands add a new dimension to the genre of erhu rock. 

The Sun of Morning were first on stage. Their brand of post rock has a distinct groove and is supplemented by samples and the erhu.

Xiao Ye (小曄) is the erhu player of Sun of Morning. She also plays keyboard in the band.

Jack Hsu was born in Taiwan and moved to the USA at the age of 12. He is a great front man and extracts a wide range of sounds from the erhu ranging from haunting to music you can dance to. The Hsu-nami are currently on their first tour of Taiwan with shows at Spring Scream and in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. With six band members on the stage The Hsu-nami have a full and dynamic sound. There was also plenty of great guitar work by guitarists Brent Bergholm and Tony Aichele to complement the erhu.

At the end of the show Xiao Ye of Sun of Morning joined The Hsu-nami on stage for a jam. It was a fitting finale to the show by two bands pioneering the erhu rock genre.

While many people in Taichung might be disappointed by the demise of 89k Taichung’s live music scene is still alive and well. Emerge Live House, Sound Live House and IGOO all host regular gigs featuring an array of bands from Taiwan and abroad. Retro Cafe and Forro Cafe also have occasional shows. I have compiled a list of live music venues in Taichung at Taiwanderful with more details.

*More photos in the erhu rock set at flickr.

Update: The Hsunami have posted a video from the evening on YouTube: First Ever Erhu Rock Epic Battle.

• Raining and rocking in Taichung
• Xiao Wulai waterfall
• Get ready for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
• Hiking the historic trail
• Links 10 September 2007

I have just spent ten days accompanying John Seed on a trip around Taiwan. John is an environmentalist from Australia well known for his efforts protecting rainforests around the world and also as a philosopher of Deep Ecology. I met John at the Taoyuan Airport on the morning of 28 March. We then took the high speed train to Kaohsiung where we met Dr Lin Yih-ren who arranged John’s visit to Taiwan.

After lunch in Kaohsiung we went to visit the Qimei Community University and then went on a tour around the Meinong area. By the time night fell we were high in the mountains of Pingtung County staying at the Rukai village of Wutai. The photo at the top of this post shows Paiwan artist E-tan presenting one of his works to John. We met E-tan at the Autumn Moon Cafe (秋月e店) just above the town of Sandimen. The cafe is an amazing spot and is filled with great artworks. 

The next morning we went on a tour of Wutai village. The beautifully decorated stone buildings that fill the village are quite amazing. The church is also a very impressive building. Although many aboriginal communities go outside to raise funds to build a church, this church was built only using the resources of the community.

Driving out of Wutai we were able to see the deep scars that Typhoon Morakot had left on the landscape. There were still major roadworks going on in some places along the road. During this part of the trip we spent time in Gaoshu learning about the post-typhoon reconstruction and rehabilitation projects. John also gave a talk at the community university in Qimei (旗美社區大學). John has written an account of the first three days of the trip (pdf file) with photos by me.

On 31 March there was an eco-cultural night at Providence University. The evening featured performances by members of Rukai, Bunun, Seediq and Atayal communities that have close links with Providence University. The Xiao Rukai Band (小魯凱樂團 Drekai) put on an entertaining performance. They are very talented performers who combine music with stories about their experience of being aboriginal and the impacts of Typhoon Morakot on their communities.

The next day we travelled to the Bunun community of Kalibuan in Nantou County which I had also visited a few weeks earlier. In the evening we drove up to Dongpu to enjoy a bath in the hot springs. I had visited this town eleven years ago when it was still recovering from the effects of the 921 earthquake. This time the local businesses also appeared to be struggling in the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot. After dinner we saw some local Bunun people put on a show for the tourists in the foyer of the hotel.

The next part of John’s visit was to the Jianshi Township in Hsinchu County. John spoke at an Anti-Dam Concert in Jianshi and we then travelled to Smangus and Marqwang. I will write more details about this in a separate post.

The final place on the itinerary was Hongshi Buddhist College (佛教弘誓學院) in Taoyuan. John gave a talk about Deep Ecology and also spoke about some of his personal experiences practicing Buddhism. During several of his talks in Taiwan John mentioned that Arne Naess, the founder of Deep Ecology, defined Deep Ecology as “asking deeper questions.” There were some great questions at Hongshi College. Many thanks to Venerable Chao Hwei for hosting John’s talk.

John is still in Taiwan with the next part of his visit hosted by the Society of Wilderness (荒野保護協會). He is conducting a “Council of All Beings” workshop and then giving the keynote speech at the Environment NGOs Conference in Taipei on Sunday.

*More photos can be found in the John Seed in Taiwan set at flickr.

• John Seed in Jianshi and Smangus
• Hagay community protests against impacts of Baling Dam
• Tour de Taiwan in Taipei County
• Tour de Taiwan final stage
• Links 26 November 2007

The fifth stage of the Tour de Taiwan raced through Taichung today. The 111 kilometre stage began at Taichung Park in the morning. It then made a clockwise loop through Shalu, Dajia and Dongshi followed by a mountain hill top finish at the Taichung Metropolitan Park. Shinichi Fukushima of Japan won the stage. Park Sung Baek of Korea won the bunch sprint for second place.

Japanese rider Shinichi Fukushima broke away at the 30 kilometre mark of the stage and maintained the lead to finish one minute and 26 seconds ahead of the main bunch. It was an impressive effort to win the stage after a long solo break away. During the presentation Fukushima said that he wanted to do something special for the people of Japan after the tsunami and earthquake.

There were no major changes in the general classification with Markus Eibegger of Austria holding on to the yellow jersey. Mart Ojavee of Estonia was awarded the green jersey for best sprinter. Mehdi Sohrabi of Iraq was awarded the King of the Mountains jersey and also the blue jersey for best Asian rider. Adam Phelan of Australia was awarded the white jersey for best young rider.

The Tour de Taiwan continues with a stage in Changhua County tomorrow. The race will then head to the south and east of Taiwan before concluding on 28 March in Taipei. Detailed race results are available at Cyclingnews.com.

*More photos in the Tour de Taiwan 2011 set at flickr and at Demotix.

• Tour de Taiwan in Taipei County
• Merida team dominates Tour de Taiwan
• Tour de Taiwan final stage
• Tour de Taiwan at Nangang
• Cycling events in March

Several dozen members of Falun Gong (aka Falun Dafa) protested the arrival of Chen Zhenggao (陳政高), the governor of Liaoning Province, in Taichung this afternoon. The protesters shouted, “Chen Zhenggao, you’ve been accused, stop persecuting Falun Gong” (陳政高，你被告了，停止迫害法輪功). According to a Falun Gong website 409 Falun Gong practitioners have died as a result of persecution in Liaoning Province.

The protest was peaceful as police stood between the protesters and Chen’s entourage as he arrived at the Howard Prince Hotel.

Chen’s entourage was able to enter the hotel without incident. Chen is on the list of 11,000 ‘CCP villians’ compiled by the No CCP Villain International Alliance. The alliance says that those on the list should be barred from entering Taiwan for their role in human rights abuses. An article published in the Taipei Times on Thursday has more details about the alliance and its demands. The article reports:

The legislature passed a resolution in early December barring known CCP human rights abusers entry into Taiwan. The resolution, co-introduced by [DPP Legislator] Chen [Ting-fei] and adopted by parties on both sides of the aisle, requires government authorities — including the MAC and the NIA — to deny Chinese officials who are known to have been involved in human rights abuses entry into Taiwan.

Greater Kaohsiung and Chiayi, as well as Changhua, Hualien, Miaoli and Yunlin counties, have adopted similar, albeit separate, resolutions.

However, it seems that the efforts of city councils, the legislature and NGOs have not swayed the current KMT government to reconsider or reject the visits of Chinese officials to Taiwan.

• The day Chen Yunlin came to Taiwan
• Understanding Taiwanese religion
• Raining and rocking in Taichung
• HSR from Taichung to Taipei
• Election campaign posters in Taichung

I took the opportunity to do a bit of local tourism today heading out to Dajia (大甲) in Taichung County.  The first place I stopped was the Wenchang Shrine (文昌祠), a beautiful little temple with neatly kept grounds.

Next stop was the Dajia Matsu Temple (大甲鎮瀾宮). The temple is one of the busiest and most important religious centres in Taiwan. It is the starting point of the annual Matsu pilgrimage held in March or April.

The temple was busy with people making offerings and burning incense.

The gods in the temple were bright and colorful.

Outside the temple several new cars were lined up to be blessed. The man in the white vest busily performed a ritual around the cars.

A parade visiting the temple created a noisy scene. I captured some video of the action.

After visiting the temple I headed out to the coast at Da’an (大安). The coastline is dotted with wind turbines, but otherwise quite desolate. I explored the ruins of an abandoned seaside resort. The beach was bleak and windswept.

*More photos in the Day Trip to Dajia set at flickr.

• Links 1 May 2007
• Yuandao Temple
• Links 7 April 2008
• Longshan Temple
• Hongludi trail in Zhonghe

Jason Hu (胡志強), Taichung Mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate for Mayor of Greater Taichung, is using the slogan “Taichung goes global.” I’m not sure which train he’s riding. It’s definitely not the Taichung MRT!

Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate for Mayor of Greater Taichung, is putting out the message that he can do things that Jason Hu has failed to do.

This man is not running in the election. It is actually an ad for a private language school in Taichung. It contains the words “English-language mayoral election” (英文市長選舉). At the bottom of the ad it says there is an online vote where people can win a trip to Shanghai.

Chang Yao-chung (張耀中) is a DPP candidate for Taichung City Council. In this poster he is appealing to Christian voters. There is a cross in the background and a quote from the Bible. The quote is from the Book of Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation” (公義使邦國高舉).

Yang Cheng-chung (楊正中) is KMT candidate for city councillor in Taichung. This poster doesn’t contain much information, but leaves no doubt about where his loyalties lie.

This poster shows the DPP’s five candidates for the mayoral positions. It was in Changhua County which is not participating in this round of elections. The poster encourages people to call their friends and relatives to remind them to vote on 27 November. Migration to urban centres in Taiwan has weakened a lot of the networks that are used to mobilise voters. This poster shows the DPP trying to appeal to people to use their own personal connections to encourage people to vote.

This poster with a cartoon illustration of the Incredible Hulk is promoting Lin Shui-shan (林水山), a DPP candidate for the city council in Xinbei City. Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is in the foreground.

Lee Da-hua (李大華) is a People First Party (PFP; 親民黨) candidate for Taipei City Council. Both the PFP and the New Party (新黨), which are offshoots of the KMT, have candidates in the elections.

Francis Wu (吳武明) is an independent candidate for mayor of Taipei City. His campaign slogan is “Taipei New Hope” (台北新希望). The banner notes that he beat KMT candidate Hau Lung-bin and DPP candidate Su Tseng-chang in a poll on the China Times website. This result certainly won’t be repeated on election day.

• Election campaign posters in Taichung
• Prediction market for the five cities election
• New photo gallery
• On the campaign trail
• Green Party bike ride

Saturday was something of a washout in Taichung. Heavy rains for most of the afternoon limited my attendance at the first day of Rock in Taichung (搖滾台中樂團節) to just one performance. Although the rain kept the crowds down there were still plenty of young people out enjoying the free festival in Taichung’s Wenxin Park.

I saw Panai and her husband Nabu, two indigenous musicians from Taitung, perform a great set on one of the festival’s smaller stages. During the set Panai spoke out against the plans for a nuclear waste dump in Taitung County. Many music festivals shy away from musicians with a political message. It was good that people like Panai had a chance to speak out about important issues.

Sunday turned out to be a perfect day weather-wise and I went along in the late afternoon to see some bands playing on the big stage of the Yuanman Amphitheatre. Most bands in Taiwan just play in small venues with audiences of a few hundred people. So it must have been quite an experience for these bands to get the chance to play on a big stage in front of thousands. The festival also included a number of overseas acts from Japan and Korea.

My favorite performance of the day was My Skin Against Your Skin (MSAYS). Andrea took full advantage of the big stage, moving around energetically with some creative dance moves to accompany the rocking sounds of her band. MSAYS were recently featured in the Taipei Times. They formed out of an the band Rabbit is Rich and have plans for recording an album. I am sure they will go on to more success.

• Erhu rock battle at Emerge Live House
• Get ready for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus
• Xiao Wulai waterfall
• HSR from Taichung to Taipei
• Election campaign posters in Taichung

Although the “five cities” elections (五都選舉) are still more than three months away, billboards promoting election candidates have been in place for many months. Over the last few months I have been photographing some of the billboards around Taichung. Some of the photos with comments are included in this blog post. A larger collection can be found in the “Five Cities” Election Campaign Posters gallery at my Taiwan photo gallery site. Although the focus is on Taichung I hope I will get the chance to add some photos from other cities in Taiwan before the elections are held.

Most of the posters tend to have a pretty simple design. There is a large photo of the candidate occasionally adopting poses such as the raised fist.  There are usually only a few words describing the candidate such as their party and the position they are running for. This is also often accompanied by words such as “hard-working”, “capable” and “honest” indicating the candidate’s qualities and also the phrase “earnestly requesting your vote”. A few posters do vary from this theme and get a little bit more creative though.

This poster is for Wang Li-ren (王立任), a DPP candidate for city councillor for Shalu, Wuqi and Qingshui townships. He is promoting the idea of a free bus service from Taichung City to the towns on the coast.

Another DPP candidate Lai Chia-wei (賴佳微) proclaims that she is “the only woman” (唯一女性). This is probably because she is the only female DPP candidate nominated in the North District of Taichung. There is a quota that means a minimum of 25% of candidates elected to city councillor positions must be women.

The DPP’s candidate for Mayor of Greater Taichung, Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), has adopted a very simple clean style for his campaign posters. His key point is a “new government” (新政) for Taichung. Su also appears alongside many DPP candidates for city councillor in their campaign posters.

I haven’t seen many posters of Jason Hu (胡志強), the current Mayor of Taichung and KMT candidate for Mayor of Greater Taichung. I did find this one of him with a KMT candidate for the city council.

Liu Shih-chou (劉士州),  KMT candidate for city councillor, is proudly wearing an “I love Taichung” t-shirt while meeting some kangaroos in Australia!

Of course ads aren’t just plastered to the side of buildings. The little blue truck is promoting a KMT candidate for city councillor. Of course when it drives around it also broadcasts pleas for votes via loudspeakers.

Of course the election is not just about the DPP and KMT. There are candidates for the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), other minor parties and independents. The poster above is for a TSU candidate for city councillor in Taichung.

This candidate doesn’t state his party affiliation but he is calling for an MRT in Taichung. I have noticed several campaign posters with this theme around Taichung.

Finally an interesting Chinese character is being put to use on this poster. It combines the left hand radical of county (縣) with the character for city (市) to represent the merger of Taichung City and County. The Zhuyin Fuhao alongside the character indicates that it is pronounced dū. This is probably borrowed from the character 都 (dū) meaning city or metropolitan area.

*Don’t forget to check “Five Cities” Election Campaign Posters gallery for more photos. It will be updated regularly until the election on 27 November.

• More election campaign posters
• Prediction market for the five cities election
• New photo gallery
• A new generation steps forward in the elections
• On the campaign trail