In the mid-70s, when I was working in Taipei, the Taiwanese had not had that much contact with Westerners, apart from, mostly, American military personnel as the USA was their ally (against the communists) and had (still do??) military bases there. Every Westerner was, therefore, American to them, even those who spoke with a very strong European accent.
Soon after America officially recognised mainland China (the People’s Republic of China), which aroused very strong feelings in Taiwan (the Republic of China), the American Embassy in Taipei was closed down.[1] The chap sent to close it down (Cyrus Vance??) had his car pelted with eggs and tomatoes all the way from the Songshan Airport.
It was in this steamy environment that a Dutch journalist, who’d been in Taiwan for a while and could speak fluent Chinese, hailed a taxi one day and gave his destination to the driver in Chinese, while still standing at the kerb. “Aha!” the driver thought, “Here’s an American who can speak Chinese, so I’ll give him a piece of my mind.” He said to the Dutchman, “No, I will not take you there. You’re a stinking American!” The Dutchman said, still in Chinese, “No, no, I’m not American. I’m Dutch.” The driver spat and said, “You’re not only a stinking American, you’re a bloody liar as well!” and drove off.
From that day on, all non-American Westerners carried their passports around with them to show taxi-drivers and any other patriotic Taiwanese within spitting distance.
No comments:
Post a Comment