Straits Forum
The rally wasn't the only thing happening this weekend. Also check out the program from this year's Straits Forum. My favorite part has to be an article about a performance put on during the evening of the 16th titled Chinese Spirit, Straits Fate (中华情·海峡缘).
The performance included a song called One Hundred Surnames 《百家姓》which included lyrics like:
百家姓里你姓李我姓张，骨血里淌着都是黄河长江；百家姓里你姓赵他姓王，心脏里装的都是龙族的荣光…
You're name is Li and my name is Zhang, but our bones and are blood all flow with the waters of the Yellow and Yangzi Rivers; You're name is Zhao and my name is Wang, but our guts and hearts are filled with the glory of the Dragon People...
The chair of the event had a little cute poem to read that included the following:
“离我们不远的地方，就是欢腾的海峡。”“每一阵海风，都是亲人的消息。”“我们是知己，不分我和你，咱若有代志（闽南话，指事情），互相来扶持，因为你是我的兄弟。” Not far from me is the great [Taiwan] Strait. Every time the wind blows in from the sea, it brings news of relatives. We are intimate friends, and we do not distingish ourselves from each other. Whatever the situation, we can count on each other, because we are brothers."Best of all have to be lyrics from a Beijing opera titled I am Chinese 《我是中国人》. This reads like it's jumped out of a time warp in the Cultural Revolution where even all the Beijing Opera was political:
“中国人，同是华夏好子孙；中国人，海角天涯一条根。你和我逢盛世担大任，做一个坦坦荡荡、磊磊落落、堂堂正正中国人……”If that closing line doesn't ring a bell, may I direct your attention to Taiwanese elementary school textbooks from not that long ago (more images here):
Chinese people are all decedents of the Yellow Emperor. Chinese people even in far off regions still have the same roots. You and I have a great mission in this world, to be honest, proud and true Chinese ...
9 comments:
What a sickening load of brainwashing that stuff is!
Tim Maddog
Could you tell me which grade's textbook is this, I'll ask my friend (who is a teacher)to get a clearer image of it for a permanent collection as the evidence of KMT's cultural genocide. I need a it to enrich my blog's reference source.
Damn, I hate this crap, living on the mainland you heard it pretty much every time you turn the television on.
That said: Cultural Genocide? I have a friend who is one of the last remaining people of the Ping Pu tribe, and he uses that bullshit term for pretty much everything that happens to his tribe. He never seems to recognise that the fact that he never bothered to learn his own tribal language and knows little about tribal culture/history (even though he has the opportunity to learn) means that he is as guilty of the 'cultural genocide' of his people as anyone else.
About the "Damn", I don't use foul language .
About the "cultural genocide", my kids can speak Hoklo (and there is no one else here to speak to them other than ME), and so can many second generation Taiwanese Americans (and Canadians) etc.
ABT and CBT actually speak their mother tongues (many kinds in TW) much better than those kids in Taiwan because the environment in Taiwan restricted (used to be prohibited) the learning process of their mother tongues.
When we were at elementary schools, if we were caught speaking Hoklo, we were fined. Only Mandarin was allowed as the language of communication.
Fortunately, my family left TW, and I was able to continue speaking my mother tongue and be fluent.
If you don't call this cultural genocide, Mr. FOARP, tell me what is it?
And I believe the Tibetans have the similar situation, and worse!
No one has answered my query, was that grade 1 or 2's textbook?
And by the way, I hope your "friend" will discover your comment here.
What kind of a "friend" are you?
Άλισον,
Not sure which year the textbokos are from.
@Άλισον -
1) "About the "Damn", I don't use foul language ."
Good for you
2) I think using the word "genocide", that is, the murdering of an entire race of people, in the context of what may be illiberal and dictatorial measures but do not involve killing, cheapens the phrase and discredits those who use it.
Genocide is genocide, there is no other form of it.
If you had not learned a language, even though you had the opportunity to learn it, have you been 'culturally murdered'? Have you committed 'cultural suicide'?
3) "And by the way, I hope your "friend" will discover your comment here.
What kind of a "friend" are you?"
His friend, and this is a common subject of conversation between us - he knows exactly what I think.
To FOARP:
Try these links if you haven't heard of the cultural genocide,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_genocide
and
http://www.cceia.org/resources/publications/dialogue/2_12/section_1/5139.html
Try this if the above 2nd link was truncated:
http://www.cceia.org/people/data/david_nersessian.html
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