November 12 – Happy Birthday, Sun Yat-sen

nPostednon November 12, 2014

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PRC in pale yellow.
ROC in bright red.

nTonthe east, we have…China! And to the west, we have…China!

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nAsnlong as I have been alive, there has been tension about Taiwan andnChina. The Republic of China ruled mainland China and claimednsovereignty over Outer Mongolia from 1912 until 1949, when a civilnwar ended in defeat for the ROC. The winner of the Chinese civil warnwas the Communist Party, who set up a new nation called the People’snRepublic of China (PRC).

nThe government and many people of the ROCnfled to Taiwan and the smaller surrounding islands.

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nAndnfor decades, both the ROC and the PRC claimed to be the “real”nChina. For a while, both Chinas were forthright with intentions to,neventually, take control over the other. The enormous, populous PRCnhas always maintained that it is the only legal representation ofnChina and has always claimed Taiwan as one of its provinces. Untiln1992, the ROC maintained its goal of “taking back” thenmainland—and even China’s seat at the U.N.!

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nOfncourse, this big mess left the whole world struggling with thenquestion of who to recognize as a country, and who to set upndiplomatic relations with. Awkward is way too tame of a word for thisnmess!

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nWhatndoes all of that mess have to do with today?

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Well,ntoday’s famous birthday, Sun Yat-sen, was a Chinese revolutionary whonhelped wrest control of China away from the conservative QingnDynasty, who refused to adopt knowledge and technology from othernnations. Sun was a medical doctor, but he quit practicing medicine innorder to endure countless difficulties along the way to revolutionnagainst the Qing government. Finally, he helped found the newnRepublic of China and was elected its first president.

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nSunnYat-sen ended up dying of liver cancer in 1925—he was only 58 yearsnold! And unfortunately, there was quite the power struggle after hendied—arguably, the split between the two Chinas coming right out ofnthat power struggle. If Sun had lived to be 88, I wonder if therenwould have been such a split?

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nAtnany rate, Sun Yat-sen is one of the people that is honored, evennrevered, both in the ROC and the PRC. n

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nSomenstuff about Taiwan…

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nAccordingn to the Snarky Nomad, instead of the high school students changing classrooms in order to switch teachers and subjects – and milling around and bumping each other during changing period – the students stay put and the teachers switch classrooms. That sounds sorta kinda efficient, BUT:

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n(1) That means that the students are sitting WAY too much.n And they are sitting in the same place in the same room, next to then same kids – all day long! That’s…pretty terrible in some ways,n and I guess okay in a few ways. I guess you better hope you get an seat you like, next to students you like, on that first day! Becausen that’s it, all day, for the rest of the year!

n(2) I would hope that a biology class would have different STUFF in the room than a world history class, and that both would have different stuff than a physics class, art class, or government class. The fact that the teachers, not students, switch classrooms makes me wonder if there are any interesting subject-specific maps or posters or equipment or lab set ups or materials at all!

nAn lot of people who live in apartments live in tall, skinny apartmentsn that have three stories and just two rooms per story. So, Taiwanesen people are probably going up and down stairs all day long!

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nApparently,n there are so many 7-11s in Taiwan, you can easily take a picture ofn a 7-11 from inside another 7-11! (Like this photo, right, taken byn Lord Koxinga.)

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nGarbagen trucks play music, like ice cream trucks in the U.S., so thatn business and home owners can hear them coming and run outside ton dispose of their trash!

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Notice, there is a 7-11 in the photo!

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nTheren are quite a few “night markets” in Taiwan. Some of the favoriten street foods purchased at these markets include oyster omelets andn “stinky tofu.”

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nOK,n this one is just upsetting: More than one restaurant in Taiwan has an toilet theme. Not only do customers sit on toilets, they also eatn out of bowls that look like miniature toilets!

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