Cairo Communique, Potsdam Communique, San Francisco Treaty and Taipei Treaty

Self-determination to determine Taiwan's future is the right of 23 million Taiwanese; this right does not need other 'legal argument' to justify her legitimacy of self-determination. Nevertheless, an understanding of some relevant historical documents during and after the war is helpful in case that 'pro-unification' folks try to misinterpreted the document to legitimatize their claim of Chinese annexation of Taiwan.

The 'pro-unification' folks like to mention the Cairo Press Communique (開羅宣言) published on November 27, 1943 which stated 'returning Taiwan to Republic of China' . Later, the Allies published another press on July 26, 1945, called the Potsdam Communique 「波茨坦宣言」, stating that the essential points of the Cairo Press Communique must be carried through. A month later, Japan surrendered to the Allies saying that Japan accepted Potsdam Communique.

'Pro-unification' folks usually use both the Cairo Press Communique and the Potsdam Communique to legitimize Chinese claim on Taiwan. However, both Communiques are presses only, not legal treaties; they do not have binding power on the nations affected in the Communique.

The real treaty that affects Taiwan's fate is the San Francisco treaty signed on September 8, 1951 which stated that Japan to give up the sovereignty of Taiwan. The article did not mention which country should inherit Taiwan from Japan. San Francisco Treaty went to effect on April 28, 1952.

The Republic of China, however, enacted a separate Treaty of Taipei with Japan on April 28,1952 just hours before the Treaty of San Francisco went into effect, which acknowledged the terms of the San Francisco Treaty but added that all residents of Taiwan were nationals of the Republic of China. Treaty of Taipei went to effect on August 5, 1952 almost 3 months after the San Francisco Treaty went to effect.

Here is the point. Since both the Republic of China and Japan recognized the term of the San Fracisco Treaty, Japan no longer owned Taiwan when signing the treaty with ROC. If Japan did not owned Taiwan to begin with, how can she have the right to transfer the sovereignty of Taiwan? The legality of the Taipei Treaty to claim ROC sovereignty over Taiwan is invalid.

Overall, Taiwan's future must be determined by the 23 million of Taiwanese.

San Francisco Treaty in 1951 Declares that Future of Taiwan Is Determined by 23 Million Taiwanese

As Ma and his KMT party are blatantly accelerating the pace of their so-called "re-unification with China" agenda, it is essential to remind Taiwanese that their right of self-determination is guaranteed by the San Francisco treaty signed by 49 nations on September 8, 1951.

Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945. Yet, the peace treaty with the Allies and other colonized nations such as Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, etc was not signed until 1951. The most emphasized spirit in signing this peace treaty was that not only Japan has to give up the colonized lands before and during the war but all the Allies such as USA, England, Netherlands, and France have to give up Philippine, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam etc. This is the spirit of the United Nation which declares that only the residents of the colonized land can determine the future of the lands.

Neither People's Republic of China (PRC) nor Republic of China (ROC) was invited in the meeting of signing the San Francisco treaty. ROC has retreated to Taiwan, the former colony of Japan. PRC has started the Korean War and was named the aggressor of the time. Since self-determination is the spirit of the United Nation, no one wanted to see Taiwan becoming a colony again by another nation such as PRC.

The San Francisco Treaty said clearly that Japan to give up the sovereignty of Taiwan but did not say who would be the successor of the new colonizing nation. It says clearly that the future of Taiwan should be determined by the 23 million Taiwanese. Such spirit of self-determination is shared by people of other nations such as Philippine, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

A Joke: "It is too bad; such a pretty woman is a mute."

I heard this joke a few month ago from our church choir director, Ms. Chang. She told me a story when she was in the seminary school studying music.

One day, after a long-day of music class, she was hungry but dead-tired. She drove a car to a night market. She ordered the food, asked for the food price and paid the bill from an eatery shop, all in sign language.

Responding to Ms. Chang's sign language, the attendant of the eatery served the food, telling Ms. Chang the cost of the food and accepting the bill, also all in sign language.

After the meal, Ms. Chang went to the car, saying to herself.

"It is shameful. Such a pretty girl (the attendant) is a mute."

As soon as Ms. Chang was about to drive away, she heard a voice from the attendant.

"Wow, can a mute be allowed to drive a car ?"

A Joke, "Sometimes" or "Three Units Will Cost..."

This joke requires triple translations; first from Taiwanese spoken phrase to Taiwanese written phrase; second, from Taiwanese written phrase to Mandarin spoken phrase ; third, twist two characters such that these two characters have the same sounds but different meaning . The results are the original meaning has a completely different meaning from the final one.

Here we go. Taiwanese spoke phrase "San-Pu-Go-Shi" literally means "not 3 times nor 5 times". Its derived meaning is "sometimes". The written phrase is 三不五時. The first and the third characters, 三 and 五, meaning 3 and 5. The second character, 不, means 'no'. Put these first three characters together, they mean neither 3 nor 5. The last character, 時, means 'times'. The results, "San-Pu-Go-Shi" or 三不五時 means "not 3 times nor 5 times"., or 'sometimes.'

"San-Pu-Go-Shi"三不五時 when read with Mandarin pronunciation, they read as "San-Pu-Wu-Shu" .This joke requires twists on the second character and the third character with the same Mandarin pronunciations but different meanings. First, the character, Pu or 不, is changed to 部 which is also pronounced as 'Pu' but means 'units'. Second, the character, Shi or 時, is changed to 十 which is pronounced as Shu, which means 10. The result is "San-Pu-Wu-Shu", or 三部五十, or it says that "It costs $50 for 3 units. " Note, the character 五 (five) is read as "go" in Taiwanese, but is read as 'wu' in Mandarin.

How do we tell this joke ? You can tell this joke in the form of a riddle. Here is an example:

" If one bicycle costs $100, how much would it cost for 3 units?"

If someone answers "$300", you then say "got you. It costs "50", because it is "San-Pu-Wu-Shu", or 三部五十.

I learned this joke from one of the organizers of NCHU Organic Farm Field Trip on 5/24.

A Joke, How Expensive is The Tea?

May 28 is a holiday in Taiwan. (It is a May Dragon Boat Festival). I went to NCHU Experimental Forset with three other NCHU faculty families. I took a ride with Professor and Mrs. Dai. During the trip, Mrs. Dai told a very funny story which I capture here.

But, wait. Before you get this joke, you need to appreciate some Mandarin language. The following phrases " Chung-Shu-Ti-Kau_Su-Ni" can be spoken with two different Mandarin phrases with very different meaning. One is 誠実地告訴你 which means "Let me tell you honestly..." The other is 乘十地告訴你 which means "Let me tell you that if the orininal number is multiplied by 10 then,....

One day, Prof. and Mrs. Dai were in a friend's house. The host treated them with a very fine tea.

"This tea must be very expensive. May I ask how much it is?" asked, Mr. Dai.

"Chung-Shu-Ti-Kau-Su-Ni, it is NT$20000 per Taiwanese Jin (600gm)." the host replied.

" Oh, that is really expensive; probably the most expensive one I have ever seen in Taiwan. NT $20000 per Taiwanese Jin." said Mr. Dai.

" No. Listen carefully. Chung-Shu-Ti-Kau-Su-Ni, it is NT$20000 per Taiwanese Jing ". the host repeated.

" Oh, I got it. After multiplying 10, it is NT $20000 per Taiwanese Jing. So, the real price is only NT $2000 per Taiwanese Jing. Ha! That is a good joke." said Mr. Dai.

Photo shows Prof. and Mrs. Dai.

Blanching (殺菁) and Nitrogen Blanket Treatment are Essential for Tea's Nutrition Contents

This is a continuing story on the 5/24 Ming-Jeng 名間 trip and I am trying to do my best to capture what have learned from tea farmers' presentation. The following notes concerns about the effects of tea processing on the nutrition value of a red tea.

Nutrition values of tea originate from its catechin and theanine. Catechins are types of antioxidant. Green tea has substantially higher catechin contents than the red tea or black tea because green tea has lower level of fermentation (oxidation). Catechin contents in the red tea are controlled by a process called blanching (殺菁). This process involves heating the tea leaves either by frying or by steaming. The heating process can effectively kill the enzyme to stop subsequent fermentation.

Theanine is an amino acid (Its structure is shown on top) that is known to reduce mental stress. A Japanese tea technician, Mr. Yokogoshi, accidentally discovered in 1998 that theanine could be abundantly produced when tea leaves was nitrogen-blanketed overnight.

Photo on the left shows the equipment for nitrogen blanket in the organic tea farm at Ming-Jeng 名間.

The tea products produced at Ming-Jeng went through both the blanching (殺菁) and the nitrogen-blanketed technique. They are high-quality red tea.

Stories of Orient-Beauty-Tea 東方美人茶 Have at Least Three Versions

Among all the Taiwanese green tea products, the Orient Beauty Tea 東方美人茶 is probably the most expensive one. While an expensive Alisan's High Mountain Tea 阿里山高山茶 is sold at a price of approximately NT $2000 per Taiwanese Jin (台斤; 1 Taiwanese Jin 台斤 = 600 grams), it is common to sell Orient Beauty Tea 東方美人茶 at a price of NT $3000-4000 per Taiwanese Jin (per 600 grams). Yet, Orient Beauty Tea 東方美人茶 has the highest degree of fermentation (or oxidation) which implies it has the lowest antioxidant level. The published record from Taiwan Tea Development-and-Improvement Experimental Farm ( 台灣茶葉改良場) is 60% for the extent of fermentation of the Orient Beauty Tea 東方美人茶; however the fermentation extent in the Hsing-Ju and Miao-Li areas (新竹苗栗地區) can reach a level as high as 75%-85%. One special characteristic of the Orient Beauty Tea is that it is free from the pesticides. During the growth period, it is essential for the tea plant to be symbiotic (共生) with an insect called Jacobiasca formosana (小綠葉蟬) and no insect can grow if the pesticide are present. Another characteristic of the Orient Beauty Tea is that because of its high degree of oxidation or fermentation, it is very smooth and does not have bitter note in the taste. It is for this reason that becomes a favor tea for the Europeans and the tea can be sold at a good price.

Sometimes, the Orient Beauty Tea is also called the 'Greatly Exaggerated Tea' (膨風茶). During the May 24 Tea presentation, the speaker asked the audience about the stories behind the names of this special kind of tea. There were two versions from the audience, and one final one from the speaker. Overall, there are three versions.

Version 1, from Edwin Chan. Edwin is from Pei-Pu 北埔 Village of Hsing-Ju, the place which produces the Orient Beauty Tea. This is his story version.

The story happened during the Japanese occupation time. One day, the emperor-appointed governor of Taiwan went back to Japan to see the emperor. Because the governor was in a hurry, he hastily took some tea products from the Pei-Pu 北埔 village and presented to the emperor, saying this is the best tea in Taiwan and the tea is called the Orient Beauty. Because the governor had presented his story in a greatly exaggerated way, this tea is later called the 'Greatly Exaggerated Tea 膨風茶).

Version 2, from Ms. Wang of the audience. This is her story.

One day, an English merchant bought the tea from the tea market at Pei-Pu 北埔 Village of Hsing-Ju. The tea was then presented to the Queen of England. The Queen loved it and name the tea the Orient Beauty Tea 東方美人茶.

Version 3, from the presenter. He added the following story to the Version 2 story.

A Pei-Pu 北埔 tea farmer had noticed that a special kind of insect was growing on the tea leaves. The farmer harvested the tea anyway because it would be wasteful to throw the tea away. However, because the farmer thought this tea had less quality, he was less diligent in working on the routines of processing the tea. When it was finished, surprisingly, the tea had a special flavor. The farmer eventually brought the tea to the market. An English merchant came to the market and tasted the tea. He liked it and bought the tea with 10 times more of the regular tea price. The farmer ran back hoping not to be 'caught' by the English merchant to ask the money back. When he told the story on how he sold the tea to the Englishman, the neighbor said that the tea is a 'Greatly Exaggerated Tea 膨風茶.

The Face-Painting-Decorated Persons in The Photo Are god's Body Guards

In the attached photo in this post, who are the face-painting-decorated persons? Why Dr.Chen was posting a photo with them?

This is a continuing story of the May 24 hike from the Two-River 二 水 town of the Chang-Hua county to the Ming-Jeng 名間 Village of the Nan-Tou county. After climbing almost 300 steps of very steep stairs called the Heaven Ladders 天梯, we arrived at a temple called 'Accepting Heavenly Divine' temple or 受天宫. There was a big festivity on May 24 because it is also the May 1 on the Lunar calendar. Aside from the drumming and firework display, there was a ritual of passing gods (in idol forms) over an incense furnace香爐 . Legend says that only after this ritual, idol gods then become real gods with divine power. There were also 7-8 tattooed man standing on the plaza. They said they were not the so-called 'Eight Private Generals' 八家將, but they were 'body guards' of some god. Later in the festivity, they said they would display their martial art skills on the plaza.

Getting curious, I did the google search on the so-called 'Eight Private Generals', or 八家將. These generals serve the 'god and Great Emperor of Five Happiness' 五福大帝. Two of the generals called Fan and Hsieh generals 范、謝將軍 are responsible for capturing (the prisoners or sinners); general Kan and general Liu 甘、柳 將軍 are responsible for torturing (the prisoners or sinners); the rest of the generals are responsible for interrogation of the prisoners or sinners.

About 6 months ago, I have posted a story describing hierarchy of gods in Taiwanese folk religion and I stated that the hierarchy of gods is parallel to that in the old authoritarian political system. It is not surprising that these temples look like old government reception and torturing places 衙門in the old Ching dynasty.

A 'Square-Look-Little Sister' 正妹 Means A Beautiful Lady in Taiwanese

I had posted a story on August 28, 2008 describing new Taiwanese vocabularies on how wife and husband call each other. I said that a wife will call her husband, an old man 老公, while a husband will call his wife, an old woman 老婆.


Here is a new vocabulary that I learned on May 24, 2009. This was the day when we had a hike from the Two-River二 水 town to the Ming-Jeng 名間 Village. Before the hike, participants were given 1-2 minutes to introduce himself or herself. There, I heard a new Taiwanese word from a person describing a beautiful lady.



Some one said that he came to hike because some 'square-look-little-sister' 正妹, Ms. X, had introduced to him about this wonderful opportunity. All other people understood what 'square-look-little Sister' 正妹 means except me. After explainations from other people, I now have a new Taiwanese vocabulary. The 'square-look-little-Sister' 正妹 means the beautiful lady.

Dr. Chen Failed Miserably in Tea-Tasting-Contest

May 24, 2009 was simmering hot. However, there were about 30 people went hiking from Two-River 二 水 town of Chang-Hua County to Ming-Jeng 名間 village of Nan-Tou County, approximately 5 Km. This hike was sponsored by NCHU Organic Farm Market Organization. Mr. Jau-Fu Ou was also hiking with us.

The purpose of the hike was to visit an organic tea farm at Ming-Jeng 名間. At the end of the hike, we were warmly greeted with the host and were treated with a feast plus presentation on tea farming and process. A highlight of the gathering was a tea-tasting contest. All of us were presented with six teas labeled with A, B, C, D, E, and F. We were asked to identify which one was the Vietnamese tea, and which one was the adulterated tea. Seven people including Jau-Fu identified those tea correctly; I am not. Actually, I identified wrong tea two out of two. It means I failed the contest miserably.

You may ask if I am given another chance to try again, do I have a chance. You may have a hope; but not me. My nose and my tasting bud just cannot tell the difference. It is hopeless.

'Little Sister' 阿妹 Tea Room Attracts Many Japanese Tourists at Jiao-Fung九份

Jiao-Fung 九份 Mountain City of the Taipei county is my favor place in Taiwan. I have been there three times while I am in Taiwan. I also have written many stories in my blog about Jiao-Fung Mountain City 5 months ago.

May 16, 2009, just one day before the 5-17 march and rally, the boy friend A-Hen 阿賢 of Jau-Fu's daughter took us there by car. He parked a car on a curve near the Jiao-Fung Old Street. We then walked upstairs to the Old Street from the parking place.

We were surprised to see the Jiao-Fung Mountain City from a quite different perspective. Neither Jau-Fu and I had been in this part of the Jiao-Fung Mountain City. We were very delighted. There, we saw an old cinema, a tea house called the 'Little Sister阿妹 Tea House' . The 'Little Sister' Tea House have many tourists, most of them are from Japan. We also stopped at a coffee place. There we were served with the most expensive coffee in Taiwan with NT$200 per cup, approximately US $6.00 per cup which is more expensive than what a Starbucks would charge to the customers in the U.S.

Photos: The Tea House and the old cinema. Lower photo, I posted at a stair of the Jiao-Fung.

Lemongrass 香茅草 Extract Distiller in the Miao-Li County

Thai restaurants in the U.S. uses lemongrass in many dishes. Lemongrass has a special flavor that makes the dish specially delicious. Actually, both Meeilei and I had learned Thai's cuisine that used lemongrass as an ingredient. In Taiwan, I really miss that special dish with the lemongrass.

Miao-Li county produces 80% of total lemongrass production in Taiwan. It was brought by a Japanese agricultural chemist 岩元 in 1911. The Hakka in Miao-Li even set up distillers to get the extract of the lemongrass.

The biology name of Lemongarss 香茅草 is Cymbopogon nardus . It is a tall perennial grass.

Photo shows a distiller unit of lemongrass extract in the Miao-Li county.

Our Ancestors Made a Living by Making Coal and by Transporting Coal at Miao-Li County

Miao-Li county is a mountain county; forest is abundant. The Cyprus 檜木 forest was harvested for construction. Camphor lurel forest was harvested for distilling camphor. The less-valued Acacia (confusa Merr) 相思樹 was harvested for carbonization to make coal. Yes, the Hakka knew how to make coal from the Acacia tree through the carbonization technique. The Hakka built kilns to initially burn the tree. Using the heat released through the initial burning and the subsequent reaction, they sealed off oxygen to make sure the organic matters went through pyrolisis (or carbonization) without converting them into carbon dioxide. The burning took 7 nights and 8 days. Hakka's men (men only, women were excluded from this type of work) initially burned paper money and asked for blessing from the Earth god (Tu-Ti-Kon) 土地公 and went on 7-night 8-days burning, watching, and testing ritual. When the carbonization was complete, they would carry them (approximately 200 kg) over their shoulder and walked approximately 10 km mountain trail to the nearby train station to sell the coal.

That was hard work that our ancestors were working everyday to make a living on this land.

I visited a kiln at the San-Yi 三義village in late April while the shuttle buses at the San Yi 三義villages were still running. Photos show the Kiln as well as the man carrying coal to the train station.

The Old Mountain Rail 「舊山線」 Is No Longer in Service, but Its Romance Lingers

The old mountain North-South train rail 舊山線 runs from San-Yi station 三義站, passing through tunnels as long as 230 meter, climbing slopes with angles as high as 25.5/1000 degrees, going through Sun-Shing train station 勝興車站 402 meters above the sea level, and ending the journey at the Ho-Li station in Taichung county. This rail has not been in service since 1988. Despite that, places along the old mountain rail attract tourists like magnets. Tourists are mesmerized with the romance and stories of the old Mountain rail.

This part of the rail was very difficult to build because of its terrain of mountains and canyons. Japanese engineers and Taiwanese laborers completed this part of the rail in 1903. As the train goes out of the tunnel in the mountain, it presents itself as a post-card-like magnificient picture.

Photo on the top shows the map of the old and new mountain rail. The lower photo shows the picture when the train just goes out of the tunnel.

Sun-Shing Train Station 勝興 Reminds us Taiwan's Best

Sun-Shing Train Station 勝興 in the Miao-Li 苗栗 county is at the location 402 meters above the sea level. This is the highest point along the North-South Taiwan Rail. This station used to be call '16 Fun'( 十六份). Hakka's 'Fun' 份 is a counting unit. 16 'Fun' means that there are 16 units of something. At this place, there were 16 distillers of camphor which was a precious 'prize' products of Formosa in good old time. Englishmen even invaded An-Ping Port of Tainan for the so-called 'camphor incidence' 樟腦事件in 1868. Here in the Sun-Shing village, there were 16 not 1 or 2 camphor distillers.

Camphor is a substance with a strong, aromatic odor. It is found a wood of camphor lurel, a large evergreen tree in Asia, particularly in Taiwan. Camphor has applications from moth repellent to a nanti-microbial substance and to medicine. Camphor together with sugar and tea used to be Formosa's major treasures. They are Taiwan's best.

The rail from Ju-Nan to Miao-Li 竹南苗栗 was built in 1902. In 1903, this part of the rail as well as the rail from Miao-Li to San-Yi 苗栗三義 station were complete. The Japanese set a rail-train controlling station at Sun-Shing 勝興 in 1908. In 1930, this rail-train controlling station was remodeled to become goods-collecting-transferring station and the station was called the 16 'Fun' Parking Station. The place was re-named as the Sun-Shing 勝興 train station in 1958.

Taiwan Trail Company decided to stop service of the old-mountain North-South rail trail that runs from San-Yi 三義 station to Ho-Li 后里 station in 1998. Along with other location, Sun-Shing station 勝興 was designated as a historical place in the Miao-Li 苗栗 County in 1999.

Sun-Shing 勝興 train station was built completely on wood without using any metal fasteners. The station survived two huge earthquakes (including the 1999 9-21 Taiwan Earthquake). Today, the station as well as the plaza nearby becomes a vibrant and busy market place. You can enjoy fine Hakka's delicacy such as Pan-Tiao 版條 (a kind of Rice noodle) here at the plaza of the Sun-Shing 勝興 station.

Ma has lied to Taiwanese..

After the 5-17 rally, Ma delivered a message through television to Taiwanese saying that he had never compromised Taiwan sovereignty when he was negotiating treaties with China.

Ma lies. He lies not once, not twice, but at least three times.

On his inauguration speech on May 20, 2008, he declared that the relation between Taiwan and China would follow the so-called '92-common acknowledgement' 九二共識. This is referred to as the demand that China wanted Taiwan to accept the so-called "One-China" policy which says that there is only one China and PRC is the only representation of China. Neither former Presidents Lee, nor former President Chen agreed to the Chinese demand. By accepting the '92-common acknowledgement', Ma had sold out Taiwan sovereignty to China. This was his first lie to Taiwanese.

Just before the second the so-called Chiang-Chen meeting 江陳会談 on November 4, 2008, Ma received the visit from Mexican reporters. Ma said that the relationship between Taiwan and China is not a nation-to-nation relationship but a region-to-region relationship. In saying that, Ma has self-demote the 'respect-level' of Taiwan in the international arena. He betrayed Taiwan's sovereignty and lied to Taiwanese the second time.

Few days before the third the so-called Chiang-Chen meeting 江陳会談 on April 26, 2009, Ma made a televised remark saying that he praised Chinese Premier Hu's so-called six essential elements on China-Taiwan relationship. Hu's first point is to demand Taiwan to accept one-China policy (This policy says that there is only one China, and PRC is the sole representation of China.). In praising Hu's six essential elements, Ma has both lied and betrayed Taiwanese.

It is an irony. In the 70s and 80s, Ma and his elite Chinese friends 高級外省人 were strong defenders of ROC. Oversea elite Chinese often beat up Taiwanese who dared not to display ROC flags but Taiwan Independent flags during the Little League Baseball games in the U.S. Today, Ma and his elite Chinese Nationalist cannot even have a gut to stand-up to PRC to say that ROC is a separate nation from PRC.

Professionalism and Dedication like a Mormon Evangelist

Thirty-eight years ago when I was in Taiwan, my memory with the Mormon missionaries were that they were always in pair, dressed in neat white shirts with black ties, and were always in bicycles. Thirty-eight years later when I am in Taiwan, I still see those enthusiastic Mormon missionaries in pair, dressed in neat white shirts with black ties, and in bicycles. You may not agree with the message they are delivering, but you have to respect their professionalism and dedication with the missionaries.

Today, some Taiwanese have already felt the pressure of Chinese annexation of Taiwan at any moment. Those Taiwanese who already realize the urgency of the crisis have important messages to deliver to the rest of Taiwanese population. But, how?

We can learn something from Mormon Evangelist with professionalism and enthusiasm. I do see this thing is happening at the 5-17 rally. Before the march, the leaders asked the crowd to obey three rules: 1) Do not smoke during the march and rally. 2) Do not chew and spit betel nut during the rally. 3) Do not return the insults even someone do that on purpose to the rally mass. In fact, during the whole time during the rally, there were many rally volunteers who helped keep the rally messages focused on main issues and helped keep the mass marched in order.

One must say that this rally of 5-17 with 600,000 mass was a success. Yet, we must continue to deliver the message to Taiwanese with professionalism and enthusiasm like a Mormon.

My friend at Taipei--Mr.Ou Jau-Fu

You probably have heard me mentioning Jau-Fu 昭富 several times in my blog-stories. Jau-Fu 昭富 had appeared in my stories at Tou-Chung 頭城 Farm of the I-Lan 宜蘭 county in January, 2009; in my stories at Nan-Joung 南庄 trip at Miao-Li 苖粟 county in February; and most recently at Jiao-Fun 九份 and Chien-Keng 深坑 at Taipei County and at 5-17 rally in Taipei city. He was also in the group of an organic farm learning tour sponsored by NCHU in September of 2008.

If you just talk to Jau-Fu as an ordinary friend, you will find Jau-Fu is an interesting person. He is curious on almost everything. Something he knew about while other people did not know, he would patiently explain to you. On the other hand, if there are things he did not know about it he will ask around to find answers. If you talk to him with depth, you will find out he is also a chemist who is applying chemistry in his kitchen. He makes vinegar and yogurt in his kitchen. When I was in his place, he would ask me to taste his products and gave him feedback on his home-made products.

What is so special about him is that beneath the surface of cheerfulness he has 'handicap' that an ordinary person like you and I may feel powerless and depressed. What is the handicap? His eye vision is close to the level of legally blind. Several years ago, he had a retina detachment problem that he had completely lost the vision of one eye. He now relies on the vision of the other eye which is slightly better in vision but is not 'great'.

Despite his handicap, you don't see any sign of depression or loss of any joy of life in his daily life. If you interact with him, you will find him cheerful, humorous, and very up-beat. You will find him enjoying every moment of life and do not miss any opportunity to learn new things. Here is an example. Because he cannot read whatever on a computer screen, he had tried many methods so that he still can go on 'google-search' to find new information. Those methods include to use a huge computer screen as big as a TV screen, then with a magnifying glass to read on the screen. The latest method which he had demonstrated to me was a software that can read the screen to him so that he can hear the information. Except with few glitches, this method works very well for him. He even used this method to learn the exact 'free-style-swimming-method' from the web. By the way, he is swimming every day. In this way, he is more diligent than his daughter who needs to be nudged to exercise.

Who is Jau-Fu 昭富? He is Meeilei's brother. Actually, he is my brother-in-law. But he is also a good friend and a very interesting friend. I write his story here because he is an inspiration to many of us. He will come to Taichung this weekend to participate in another organic farm learning tour sponsored by NCHU.

The attached picture was taken at the water fall of Pau-Ju-Lung 炮子崙 of Chien-Keng 深坑 .

Signing ECFA requires referendum

A legal contract has a tremendous power for a person living in a modern society. Just a simple transaction of a housing ownership without paying attention to the contract details may have very serious consequences such as losing land or house ownership without compensation.

Similarly, any policy legislation of a government would have impacts on welfare of some citizens affected by the policy. Under such a condition, a democratic political system will ask the citizens to vote. Such a vote for a proposed policy legislation is called the referendum. Living in the United States for more than 30 years, I have voted many times on referendum for many local government policies. An example of such a referendum at the local government level is to see if the citizens would pay more on the property tax to improve local school quality.

Taiwan claims herself a democratic country. Such a claim should be tested if the government allows her citizens to vote on legislation policy or any international treaty that would affect interest of millions of Taiwanese.

In the last few month, Ma's administration has expressed the eagerness to sign the ECFA treaty with China. If you make a poll to day to see how many Taiwanese understand ECFA, you will see fewer than 20% Taiwanese understands what ECFA means. Signing any treaty when her citizens do not understand the contents and the serious consequences of the treaty is irresponsible. If Ma signs the treaty without the consent of the majority of Taiwanese, you can call the act of signing treaty treason.

Ma coined the phrase ECFA (Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement) after original treaty proposals, CEPA （Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement）and CECA Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement）received stiff opposition from the populace. Although the name is changed now, however, the contents are not. What is ECFA? It is basically a Hong-Kong's style of free-trade-agreement with China.

There are three major concerns for signing this treaty with China. First, in signing this treaty, Taiwan is forever locked into Chinese economic system. Taiwan can no longer have free trades with her northern neighbors such as Japan, Korea; her southern neighbors such as Philippine, Singapore; her former ally the U.S. etc. All Taiwanese products will now have a mark, instead of 'made in Taiwan'; it will be 'made in China.' which represents poor product quality when we are trying to sell our products in the international market. Second, Chinese cheap products will sell without resistance in Taiwanese market. Many industry will accordingly collapse. This has already happened in our textile industry. After signing the treaty, it is expected that Taiwanese agriculture industry will also collapse. Third, Chinese labor market will also compete with Taiwanese labor market. Taiwanese wages are higher than those of Chinese, yet Chinese jobless population is approximately 5 times of the total Taiwanese population. One can immediately see the impact when ECFA is signed.

Of course, Ma would argue that all the big multinational cooperation's such as Formosa Plastics will benefit from signing the treaty. Yes, they may be benefited from the treaty. However, just like any policy, some people will be benefited, others will be hurt. A responsible government should open up discussions, debates, and finally resolved by the referendum.

'ECFA-Determined by Referendum', this is the slogan that DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) is demanding on this 5-17 demonstration of 2009. This is a modest demand on our government. If you love Taiwan, I urge you to support for it. "Signing ECFA Requires Referendum".

Historical Witness

About 5 years ago, my (deceased) church friend in Appleton, Robert(a white American), had said to me once that one of the most significant moment of his life was his participation side-by-side with the struggling black American in Washington DC and listened to Martin Luther King, Jr's 'I have a Dream' speech in 1963. He said that he had participated in American historical witness in the history of American struggling for social and racial justice.


Yesterday on May 17, 2009 I participated in a 9 km march with a group of approximately 10,000 Taiwanese from Pan-Chiao City to Taipei. The leaders of this group had been walking in the last 25 days from Hen-Chun City of Ping-Tong county. After this last march, this group will complete a total of 505 km walk for Taiwan sovereignty, and social justice. Never had a moment before that Taiwanese feel so powerless when Chinese annexation of Taiwan could become a reality because Ma Ying-Jiao and his administration are willing to become Chinese molds working on Chinese behalf in Taiwan.


I had reported briefly about this group on May 7, 2009 when this group walked past Taichung City. I was there to take a photo with Teacher Su-Ming. At that time, there were only approximately 20 walkers. Walking from Ping-Tung to Taipei, this group had received both cheerful welcome on some occasions and cold or even insulting receptions on other occasions. Yet the goal of this group is very clear; Taiwanese does not allow the molds like Ma to sell-out, and Taiwan must be a sovereign nation standing tall with dignity among all nations.


There were big rallies and four other marches in Taipei on the same day on May 17. Most people went to Taipei joining other marches (It is estimated that approximately 600,000 people participating in marches. I will report the event separately.) I chose to participated in this less-known, or the so-called 'The Fifth March'. Initially, I did not expect the participants of this march would exceed few hundred people. Well, I was wrong. The march stretched over 3 kilometers, and an official estimate was 10,000 people.


The moment when we walked across the Damsui River that divides Panchio and Taipei, was a great feeling. We had said to ourselves, "I had witnessed a historical moment in Taiwan's history."

Loving Jade 愛玉 Lemonade

Summer is here in Taiwan. My memory of summer time in U.S. is when kids in the neighborhood will put lemonade stands on the curves to sell to the neighbors who happen to pass by the curve. The lemonade usually sells at twenty-five cents a cup. The money earned are the 'pocket spending money' for the kid.

Well, there are also lemonade stands here in Taiwan, except here the grow-up sells a special lemonade, called the loving jade 愛玉 lemonade. The lemonade usually sells at NT $30 a cup, approximately US $1.00 per cup. The money earned is for the grow-up to feed the family.

The loving jade 愛玉 lemonade has a special texture when you drink it. This texture is similar to what you would feel in your month when you drink 'bubble-tea' in some stylish cold-drink stands in the Chinatown area in the New York City. The reason for such a texture is that a gumming substance from a plant, native to Taiwan is added. This special plant is called the loving jade, or 愛玉.

Actually, the loving jade has its English name and biology name. Its English name is called the Jello Fig while its biology name is Ficus awkeostang. The plant belongs to a Moraceae category. For more information, you can consult: http://www.lilyfruit.com.tw/data_29/book_01.php.

Well, I saw the plant at the organic fruit farm, called Ming-Hsung organic farm at Tong-Su on May 2, 2009. Attached is a photo of the loving jade plant.

Mother, your name is Taiwan

Since it is only 4-days after Mother's Day (May 10), it is still appropriate to post the following lyric to my readers. I got this lyric from a CD sold at 2-28 concert in Taipei.

母親是山 母親是海 母親是河 母親的名叫台灣
Mother is the mountain. Mother is the sea. Mother is the rivers. Mother, your name is Taiwan.

母親是良知 母親是正義 母親是你咱的春天
Mother is the consciousness. Mother is the justice. Mother is our spring.

二千萬粒的蕃薯子 甭敢叫出母親的名
20 millions of Taiwanese dare not to call out your name.

台灣甘是彼難聽 想到心寒起畏寒
Is your name so unpleasant to hear? It is frightening when I think about that.

母親是山 母親是海 母親是河 母親的名叫台灣
Mother is the mountain. Mother is the sea. Mother is the rivers. Mother, your name is Taiwan.

母親是良知 母親是正義 母親是你咱的春天
Mother is the consciousness. Mother is the justice. Mother is your spring.

二千萬粒的蕃薯子 未凍叫出母親的名
20 millions of Taiwanese have not call out your name.

親像啞巴壓死子 讓人心凝捶心肝
It is like a mute whose sons are in danger, yet he or she cannot call out for help. This makes us so guilty that we want to beat-up our chests with our own fists.

二千萬粒的蕃薯子 甭通店店不出聲
20 millions of Taiwanese can no longer be silent.

勇敢叫出母親的名 台灣呀 台灣呀 你是母親的名
Courageously call out Mother's name. Taiwan, Taiwan, you are our Mother's name.

二千萬粒的蕃薯子 不敢叫出母親的名
20 millions of Taiwanese dare not to call out your name.

台灣甘是彼難聽 想到心寒起畏寒
Is your name so unpleasant to hear? It is frightening when I think about that.

讓人心凝捶心肝 二千萬粒的蕃薯子
This makes us so guilty that we want to beat-up our chests with our own fists, 20 millions of Taiwanese.

不倘靜靜不出聲 勇敢叫出母親的名
Do not be silent again and courageously call out Mother's name.

台灣呀台灣呀 你是母親的名
Taiwan, Taiwan. You are the name of Mother.

Fire-Dragon Fruit 火龍果--What it looks like

On November 29 of 2008, I had posted a story describing a special fruit in Taiwan--A fire-dragon fruit 火龍果. I explained to readers that the dragon fruit, in fact, has its biology and English names. The English name of the dragon fruit is 'red pitaya'; its biology name is hylocereus undatus. It is a species of cactaceae; the fruit contains various kinds of vitamin, proteins, and betacyanin, an antioxidant.

On May 2, 2009 I saw the real plant of the fire-dragon-fruit at the fruit organic farm of Tung-Su. It was just wonderful.

The top photo shows the plant; the middle photo shows the fruit. The third photo shows a guy in Arabian-like head-set. Who is that guy?

Leo's 'Creative Juice' for Mother's Day

Every year, Meeilei and I are anxiously waiting for 'creative juices' from our kids, Victor and Leo. Here is from Leo for Mother's Day.

Victor's 'Creative Juice' for Mother's Day

Every year, Meeilei and I are anxiously waiting for 'creative juices' from our kids, Victor and Leo. Here is from Victor for Mother's Day.

Great work transcends time, nation, and religion

This post is a continuing discussion on Professor Su Jeng-Ming's 蘇振明 seminar on May 1. In fact, the following is almost a paraphrase of his presentation on the work Jean-François Millet (1814-1875). One of the Millet's great work, 'The Angelus' or 'Prayer for the Potato Crop' (completed 1859) is a great inspiration to painters transcending time, national boundary, and religion. About a century letter, a similar work appeared in Taiwan. The lower photo is a copy of one of the works of a Taiwanese artist, Chang Chiu-Tai 張秋台(1938-). The name of the painting is called 'A Short Afternoon Rest' 午後小憩.

In the painting of 'The Angelus', Millet painted a farmer couple at the sun set with a remote church in the background. Millet was a Catholics. When he was a small boy, his dad often took him by hands walking along the shore of Normandy, a southern French coast. Seeing the sun set, his dad would remind young Millet to be thankful for the land and for the sun. His dad would say, "The setting sun is God's work." In the painting of 'The Angelus' the farmers had shown great devotion and thankfulness to God for the land and for the sun.

In the painting of 'A Short Afternoon Rest' 午後小憩 by Chang Chiu-Tai 張秋台, the setting was quite different. Taiwanese farmers were not catholics. There was no remote church in the background. Yet, the expressions of thankfulness to the land and to the sun in both paintings are the same. In fact, Millet's work has transcended time, national boundary, and religion.

The meaning of life, a Buddhist perspective

On the way back from the organic fruit farm to the Taichung city on May 3, 2009, one of the women in the group gave me a "Pocket Guide to Buddhist Wisdom" written by Venerable Chan Master Sheng-Yen published by Dharma Drum Mountain, 2006. The book is written in English. I read through it and found the perspective interesting and there are some subtle differences in its teaching from that of Christianity. For this reason, I would like to share Buddhist's perspective with my readers.

When I read the book, I was paying my attention to Buddhism teachings in situations when human beings are experiencing unbearable suffering, for example, "Why bad things happen to good people?" All great religion must have teachings so that their believers have the attitude and strength to endure the unbearable.

Just like Christianity, Buddhism asks its believers to face calamity with a peaceful mind. Buddhism believes in retribution. Thus your current suffering is the results of retribution from unwholesome deeds of either your current life or previous life. By completely "accepting retribution' , the believer will have the strength to endure the suffering. This is what the Venerable Chan Master Sheng Yen believes.

This perspective is quite different from those of Christianity. Indeed, in Christianity belief, "Why bad things happen to good people?" is a wrong question. The right question to ask is "When bad things happen, what do I do?" In Christianity, God does not promise believers to have an easy life of no suffering. Bad things happen to good people all the time. Indeed, Christ has to die on a cross; so did Saint Peter. What God promises is that 'when suffering comes', He would give you strength to endure it. Because if you do, you are bearing the witness of 'Him'.

Religion is very personal. I ask my readers to pick and choose what is right for you. You may also want to read my post on 4/23/09, "to care is to live". In the end, both great religions teach the same thing, endure the suffering with a peaceful mind.

Plants named after feline

Cats' behavior fascinates people. They can be ferocious, or they can be indifferent. Taiwanese finds these behavior appropriate to name the plants.

On February 3, 2009, I had posted a story about a plant,called 'biting cat' 咬人貓. I had reminded my readers not to touch the leaves of 'biting cat' 咬人貓 because if you do, you will feel like bitten by 100 ants.

Last week with the field trip at Tung-Su and at an organic farm, I learned another plant called the "passing (indifferent) cat", or 過貓. "Passing cat" not only is harmless, but it is said to be good for your liver.

The biology name for ' biting cat' 咬人貓 is Urtica thunbergiana Sieb.& Zucc, It belongs to category Urticaceae, or 蕁麻科. On the other hand, 'passing cat' 過貓 is a fern. In biology it is called Anisogonium esculentum（Rexz.）Presl.

When we were at the organic fruit farm on May 3, the owner asked us to pick up 'passing cat' 過貓 for lunch; so we did.

The photo on the top show the ferocious look of the biting cat 咬人貓 plant. The middle photo shows the plant of 'passing cat' 過貓. The lower photo shows the dish prepared with 'passing cat' 過貓 at the farm.

An old soldier never die,..

"Old soldiers never die, they just fade away"... This is a famous quotation from the fareware speech of General Douglas MacArthur in 1951 after 52 years of military service in the United States.

In U.S. General MacArthur qualified to be "an old soldier". In Taiwan, the person who qualifies to be "an old soldier" is Teacher Su-Ming, 史明. I was so honored to have the photo taken with him on May 7, 2009 at 2-28 park of the Taichung City.

Who is Teacher Su-Ming 史明? and how did I get the opportunity to have a photo with him?

The original name of Teacher Su-Ming 史明 (1918-) is Shu Chau-Huei 施朝暉. He was born and raised in Taipei. In 1937, Su-Ming 史明 went to Waseda University 早稲田大學 of Japan to study political economics. That was very rare at the time. During the Japanese colonialism, most Taiwanese studied to either becoming a medical doctor or becoming a school teacher. At Waseda University, he was fascinated with Karl Marx's ideology of communism that he went to China(1942) to fight side-by-side with Chinese Communist against the Japanese aggression in China. However, he was very disappointed and disenchanted with Chinese Communist that he eventually escaped to Taiwan in 1949. In 1952, he had organized a "revolutionary army" near Taipei and had attempted to assassinate Chiang Kai-Sheik but was not successful. He fled to Japan and continued his work for Taiwan independence in Japan until 1993 when he returned home in Taiwan. From 1952 to 1993, Su-Ming has published many books. One of them is "Taiwanese 400-year history." I have a copy of the book in my book shelf.

The period of 1942-1949 was an important turning point for Su-Ming 史明. Such a period of working with communist Chinese side-by-side made him aware of his Taiwanese identity. Su-Ming 史明 has transformed himself from a naive Chinese communist follower to a firm and resolute Taiwanese nationalist. This transformation can be a good lesson for many Taiwanese to naively believe that life under PRC would be better.

Teacher 史明 is 92 years old. He participates in walk for Taiwan independence this year from Heng-Chung of Ping-Tong County to Taipei. The group had walked since April 22, 2009. On the 16th day of their walk (May 7), the group was in Taichung City. I came to support in solidarity and got the honor to have the picture taken with the Taiwanese 'old soldier', Teacher Su-Ming 史明.

Teacher Su-Ming 史明 is in the middle of the photo while I am wearing a black Tee-shirt saying that Taiwanese worship Taiwanese spirit. The person on the left of Teacher Su-Ming is Professor Liaw of National Chung-Hsing University.

'Country Joy' 田園樂 in 1946 ?

This post continues the discussions from Professor Su's seminar on May 1, 2009. Professor Su 蘇振明 told us to pay attention to the details of the art work including its social-political background. If we do that, we will appreciate the value of the art work more.

Attached is the copy of the painting of Taiwanese first Western-style painter, Lee Shu-Chiaw 李石樵 (1908-1995). The name of the painting is 'Country Joy' 田園樂. If you look carefully the facial expression of each person, you probably will notice that no one was joyful in the painting except the baby getting the milk from his mother. Why is that? Lee completed the work in 1946 in Taiwan, one year before the 2-28 incidence. At that time, Taiwanese experienced greater economic distress under the new Chinese colonialism much worse than they had experienced during the World-War II.

You can enjoy Lee Shu-Chiaw's 李石樵 art work more from the attached website http://140.109.18.74/dacs5/System/Exhibition/Exhibition_Detail.jsp?exhibition_id=221.

Standing over the shoulder of a giant...

"Standing over the shoulder of a giant, so we can see far." This is a common expression saying that we often succeed because we imitate or emulate the work of great mentors. Imitation or emulation to succeed happens in science, in films, and believe it or not, even in art.

I have learned about this last Friday (May 1, 2009) from an art seminar presented by Professor Su Jen-Ming of Taipei Educational University. He was talking about the life and the work of Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875). One of his work, entitled Le Semeur (The Sower) is shown at the top of the attached photos.

It turns out Millet's work was a great inspiration to another famous artist from Netherlands, Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890). I would like to ask my readers to examine closely and compare van Gogh's work against Millet's work. Wasn't van Gogh standing over the shoulder of a giant, or Jean Francois Millet in his many work of 'the sowers' ? The lower photos are van Gogh's work: (1) Sower: Outskirts of Arles in the background, 1888 by van Gogh; (2) Sower with Setting Sun by van Gogh.

Miss Lo told a story of hard work and harsh life of a typical Taiwanese fruit farmer

On last Sunday, or May 2, 2009, I participated in a bicycle ride and organic farm learning field trip sponsored by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resource of National Chung-Hsing University. Before we hiked additional few hundred feet to the fruit-farm of Mr. Liaw on the top of the hill, we left our bicycle in the yards of another farmer, Ms. Lo. Miss Lo and her husband are fruit farmers on this part of Tung-Shu mountain range. They grow pears on their farm, mostly on steep slopes of hills.

The photo showed Ms. Lo explaining how they grew pears on the farm. In the photo, Miss Lo is the lady with a mouth mask facing the camera. Behind her mouth mask, she told us the harsh life of a typical Taiwanese fruit farmer.

Miss Lo wore the mouth mask not because she had a flu. She wore the mask simply she did not want us to see her disfigured face. She had a very bad motorcycle accident on a hill slope of this part of the mountain in March of this year. To avoid a pebble on the road, she pulled the brake to her motorcycle. The motorcycle carried her to strike a pole. The striking force was so huge that she lost 9 teeth; her face was disfiguring with blood. Bleeding made her completely numb on her lower part of the face. The cellular phone she carried with her her saved her life. An ambulance came and sent her first to a local hospital. Later she was transported to a bigger hospital in Taichung City to complete the emergency care.

To appreciate that this is part of the life reality of farmers like Miss. Lo, you have to realize that this a remote part of Taiwanese mountain range. To get the supplies from the city, farmers have to risk their life everyday riding motorcycles on the narrow, windy, and very, very steep mountain roads. When we arrived here from the Tung-Shu train station with the bicycles, we have to come down from the bike to carry the bike with us because the slope was too big for us to risk riding the bicycle up and down on this mountain road. Yet, the farmers here have to do that every day, 365 days a year. That is a life reality.

Miss Lo is almost recovered. After we completed organic farm and was about to carry the bikes to a lesser-slope mountain road to ride back, we saw her background, also on a motorcycle.