Spring has Sprung!

What a beautiful week! The weather is finally warming up, the sky is brighter, the animals are happier, and driving around on my scooter is once again one of my favorite activities (it is far less pleasant when the air was cold).  I know I’ll want to complain before long when I find myself sweating bullets and uninspired to step outside of my apartment, but for now I get to enjoy the gentle breeze wafting through my open window. 

To celebrate the emergence of spring I spent the majority of my weekend outdoors.  Taichung is known for hosting a wide variety of fundraisers and concerts, this weekend’s event was a book exchange.  Hundreds of books, written in Chinese and English, had been donated, and were each sold for $50NT (just less that $2US).  The unfortunate thing is that most of the available books lacked love in their past lives and were in rough shape, which didn’t inspire me to purchase any, but it was still a great idea.  Visitors also came to enjoy the 10 hours of entertainment planned for the park’s stage, including musicians and clowns.  As far as I’m concerned the event was a success, and the proceeds were donated to a children’s charity, giving it all a purpose.

The charity book sale in Taichung.

My cultural thought of the week focuses on part of the “seedy underbelly” of Taiwan, specifically an aspect most appreciated by single males.  As you probably know by now, I love KTV, and could probably go to one of these karaoke establishments every week if a group were interested in it.  Since arriving in Taiwan, I had known about the ‘yellow KTVs’ as well, but I had been blessed by never encountering one, until this weekend.  What is a ‘yellow KTV’? Essentially it is a combination of singing, bar culture, and a strip club (though for enough money, that strip club quickly evolves into prostitution).  Patrons will go, order a room, receive their alcohol, then have a line of girls paraded through (so they can select the ones they wish to accompany them for the rest of the evening).  The girls are initially bartenders, there to keep your drinks topped up, then they begin drinking, singing, dancing, chatting with, and making out with the male patrons.  For the right amount of money, these harmless interactions can progress to any level of indecency the patron is searching for as well.  My experience in one of these KTVs was short-lived to say the least.  Unaware of what we had gotten ourselves into, when four different staff members came into our room to explain the ‘club rules’ and set our price at $8,000NT (just over $250US) regardless of if we wanted girls or not, we politely excused ourselves and laughed about the situation for quite a while afterwards. 

It would be impossible not to acknowledge Taiwan’s presence in international news this week, as hundreds of students are still occupying the main chamber of parliament in Taipei.  On Monday, a pact, known as the “Cross-Straight Services Trade Agreement”, intended to open trades in service between China and Taiwan after a 65-year break, passed its first stage in parliament.  Outraged by the unconstitutional means by which the pact was passed (bypassing a committee review and sending it straight to legislative vote), and consumed with the fear that it will result not only in an increase of Beijing’s economic power but the production of an unnecessary reliance on China, students of the capital took action.  They stormed the parliament building on Tuesday and barricaded themselves inside with chairs so they could not be removed.  Despite the initial illegality associated with the seizure of the main chamber, the protesters have conducted themselves in a non-violent fashion and have called themselves the Sunflower Movement.  Outside the building, the streets are filled with thousands more protesters, as well as their supporters who have been supplying food, drink, blankets, and encouragement.  Requests of the president to allow regular operation of parliament to resume were met with the students’ vow to continue their occupation, however no direct dialogue has taken place between the president and the protesting party.   Escalating the movement, this evening the executive offices were seized as well, but they have been met with police orders for eviction and only time will tell the success of this movement. International responses to the controversy primarily support the continued implementation of the trade agreement, which is a disappointing display of how Taiwan and China are perceived by the rest of the world.