Dos and Don'ts in Taiwan

Finally! My second book has appeared. Dos and Don'ts in Taiwan (iGroup Press Co., Ltd, Bangkok) is a 200-page guide to the culture of Taiwan and the habits and thinking of the Taiwanese. It's aimed at Westerners who plan to visit or live in the Republic of China, and has sections devoted to national identity, family, working, health, travelling, eating, drinking, religion, superstitions, and the sort of behaviour foreign visitors should avoid if they don't want to be seen as rude or unhinged.

I'm not sure where it'll be available in Taiwan. If you want a copy, email me at sccrook [at] yahoo [dot] com, or post a comment below.

In general, I'm extremely pleased with the way the book has worked out. Save for one detail, which I'll write about when I have more time and some answers from the publisher. However, the editor did a good job polishing my text, and the illustrator and designer excelled themselves. It's a book I'm proud of.

Urban jungle (Arbitare China)

Taiwan was the first territory in Asia and the fourth in the world to formally adopt sustainable building standards. The island's architects, engineers and government officials are promoting everything from the utilization of solar energy to the use of construction materials produced from recycled matter.

Taiwan's best-known green building is the Beitou Branch of Taipei Public Library, designed by a team at Taipei's Bioarchitecture Formosana led by Kuo Ying-chao. The two-story, 1,990-square meter structure is mostly timber. This alone makes it remarkable...

This article appears in the May edition of Arbitare China, a bilingual English-Chinese magazine published in Beijing. Owned by an Italian company, it focuses on architecture and design. The photos accompanying the article (such as the one here, of Beitou Library) were taken by Richard Matheson.

Lessons Learned from the World Games and Deaflympics (Taiwan Business Topics)

Last year, Taiwan hosted the first large-scale, multi-sports events in its history. The Eighth Edition of the World Games, held in Kaohsiung from June 16 to June 26, was considered an unqualified success. Some 4,421 athletes, judges, and officials from 103 countries took part, and with the possible exception of a few female athletes from Brazil sunbathing topless on a city beach, local media could find no fault with the extravaganza.

Just 10 weeks after the World Games closed, the 21st Deaflympics opened in Taipei. The event certainly bolstered civic pride and raised awareness of deaf issues, but was marred by transportation grumbles and allegations that the needs and opinions of the hearing-impaired were sometimes ignored.

Given the time and resources poured into organizing these two major international events, government officials and members of the tourism industry undoubtedly hope that they represent just the beginning of a long string of such activities to be held in Taiwan. What can be learned from the World Games and Deaflympics experience to help smooth the way for similar future events?

Ron Froehlich, president of the International World Games Association, expresses both the uneasiness he felt in the run-up to the Kaohsiung event and his satisfaction at the Games' conclusion. “Prior to the games we of course weren't sure what to expect, as we were dealing with so many different stakeholders, from the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee to the Sports Affairs Council (SAC), the Ministry of Education, and Kaohsiung City Government. Being an unknown, this was indeed a weakness,” he said by email. But he quickly added that “there is very little that could have been done better and Mayor Chen Chu is to be complimented on the way the city participated and made it such a big event for the citizens of Kaohsiung.”

Froehlich especially praised the sports plaza, where athletes and spectators could try local foods and enjoy cultural performances, as an “enormous success, not only for all the visitors but also for the citizens of Kaohsiung.” He was also complimentary regarding the training and quantity of the volunteers, and noted that “transportation from the airport to the accreditation centers to the hotels to the meal centers as well as the venues was very well organized.”

In the days before the Games began, slow ticket sales were a concern. Eventually 283,151 tickets (72.9% of those available for sports events and the opening and closing ceremonies) were sold, and of the 37 different sports, 29 sold out...

The complete article appears in the April issue of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei's monthly magazine, and is also on their website.

Interviewing Cabinet ministers

I've been writing feature articles for 14 years, but recently I enjoyed a career first - interviewing a Cabinet-level central government official. In fact, I interviewed two by email, and their answers arrived in my mailbox within a few hours of each other.

The two are Emile Sheng, minister of the Council of Cultural Affairs, and Chou Kung-shin, director of the National Palace Museum. Yes, that's right - the chief of Taiwan's most famous museum is a member of the Cabinet. I'm assuming this is because, back in the 1960s and 1970s, Chiang Kai-shek and his son regarded their possession of the collection as central to their claim that the ROC was the legitimate government of China.

I interviewed Dr. Sheng about his previous job, CEO of the 2009 Taipei Deaflympics Organizing Committee, for Taiwan Business Topics. The questions I sent to Dr. Chou are for an article about Asia's leading museums for Silkroad, Dragonair's inflight magazine. The former is due out very soon; the latter will appear in June or July.

Books no. 2 and no. 3

Encouraging news from Thailand and the UK. It seems my second book, Taiwan: Dos and Don'ts, is finally going to press. Also, the cover design of Taiwan: The Bradt Travel Guide has been confirmed and the book is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Petal power (Silkroad)

First came camphor in the late 18th century, then sugar and bananas gained popularity in the middle of the 20th century. Now Taiwan is exploiting its geographical position to become a leading supplier of orchids. To the surprise of many who had written off Taiwan's agricultural sector, the island has emerged in the past decade as the world's biggest grower of mature and seedling orchids...

The full article is in the March edition of Silkroad, Dragonair's inflight magazine.

Citizenship reform is a win-win proposition (Taiwan Today)

In the ROC, as in many other countries, reforming the rules that govern how foreigners can acquire nationality is not a priority for the citizenry. However, Taiwan’s government should consider dropping one of its naturalization requirements that requires applicants to renounce their original nationality.

This would encourage thousands of Antipodeans, Europeans and North Americans already settled in Taiwan to apply for ROC citizenship. Given the nation’s economic difficulties and rapidly aging population, this is something the government surely desires.

Most of these potential citizens, some of whom describe themselves as Taiwanese in their hearts, have called the island home for more than a decade. Many have local spouses and children; more than a few run businesses which employ Taiwanese people.

Not everyone in this category is interested in becoming an ROC citizen, but those who have looked into it describe most of the naturalization requirements as reasonable. Applicants must meet certain residential and financial criteria; there is a Chinese language test, a health examination and a background check. However, one complaint surfaces again and again: that candidates renounce their original nationality. This, they claim, is unfair, illogical and pointless.

It is unfair because the ROC allows those who are already citizens to hold dual nationality. There is no legal obstacle, from the ROC side at least, if a Taiwanese who has become a citizen of another country wishes to retain his or her ROC nationality and travel on an ROC passport. The U.K., U.S. and some other countries allow their citizens to hold two or more nationalities. South Korea and Japan are among those who expressly forbid it. Taiwan’s nationality law is almost unique in being asymmetrical.

If the requirement that those seeking to be naturalized give up their old citizenship was designed to ensure the loyalty of new citizens to the ROC, it is illogical. Those who drafted the rule seem not to have considered that some people already have more than one nationality...

The complete article can be read here.Taiwan's peculiar naturalization rules have been discussed in many parts of the web, notably forumosa.com.