Professor Khin-huann Li: On Saving the Taiwanese Language

Professor Khin-huann Li

 

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – For more than half a century the Chinese government did an excellent job of decimating the Taiwanese language. In 1949, the Chinese Nationalist Party a.k.a. the Kuomintang (KMT) fled the Chinese mainland to reconsolidate their power on the island of Taiwan. There they banned Taiwanese, the main local language, from being spoken in all public institutions. Fines and beatings were enforced to ensure compliance, and Mandarin Chinese was established as Taiwan’s official language.

When martial law was lifted in 1987, so too was the practice of punishment for speaking Taiwanese. But by then it was too late. Young people in Taiwan were now communicating almost exclusively in Mandarin Chinese. Today, some experts estimate that 80 percent of the Taiwanese population in their 20s and 30s cannot speak Taiwanese, a statistic one local professor finds infuriating.

I first met Professor Khin-huann Li (李勤岸) in the fall of 2008, while visiting my parents in Taipei. Growing up in the States, I spoke a mixture of English, Taiwanese, and Chinese at home (though most often in English, and more often in Taiwanese than in Mandarin). While I can hardly claim fluency in Taiwanese, I was struck by how much easier I was able to communicate in the once de facto mother tongue of Taiwan than some of my younger cousins in town. (Thanks mom and dad!)

Ziad Haddara: “My Personal Mission Is to Bring the Middle East Closer to the Rest of the World”

Ziad Haddara (in Syria)

 

BEIRUT, LEBANON – Since my last two entries on visiting the Middle East in the midst of the “Arab Spring,” I have been posed many questions about my trip. So today, I want to introduce you all to Ziad Haddara, founder of My Middle East, the online travel consultancy company Husband and I used to plan our amazing honeymoon in Egypt and Syria. While normally not one to use a middleman to arrange my travels, being neck-deep in planning a large-scale, weekend-long wedding and at the same time wrapping up my final month in grad school, I needed help and that’s where Ziad and his team so gallantly stepped in.

“It’s not your average tourist-bussed traveller or overly cautious type who comes to us,” says Ziad.  ”It’s the sort of people who typically would be very comfortable designing their own trips but either don’t have time to plan it or want someone from the region to enhance their experience by giving them that local flavor. We approach this business like you are going to a new country and you have a friend in town.”

Born and raised in Lebanon during the 15-year civil war, Ziad now calls Egypt home after relocating to Cairo in 2006 for a position with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Despite switching from development work to the tourism business, Ziad’s belief in incorporating social responsibility and community building into his profession remains intact. I chatted with Ziad via Skype from his company’s headquarter in Beirut and ask him about his vision for My Middle East, thoughts on tourism in the region, and analysis of current events in the Arab world.

Surprise, Surprise! We Have Our Damascene Moment.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA – Much has been said of Syria in the headlines lately that I have delayed putting up this post, holding my breath for an awesome Egypt-like turning point to happen here. (Sure, President Bashar al-Assad is replacing his cabinet, but protests continue.) Shortly after January 25th, there was talk that the country would face its own people-powered democratic revolt, with a Facebook page calling for exactly that: Syria’s “Day of Rage.” But that “Day of Rage,” however, failed to materialize – though the government was prompted to legalize the use of Facebook, which I discovered, many of its young citizens had already been using via proxy servers.

When Husband and I visited Syria on the second week of March, the world’s eyes were not yet directed at the seeds of unrest taking place within, but at the devastating earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis in Japan and the escalating unrest and civil war in Libya. Which, speaking of large scale uprisings, a revolt like that would never happen in Syria, I was told by those in Damascus and Aleppo. While everyone acknowledged the need for greater political freedoms and social reform, they pointed to reasons why a revolution wouldn’t work here: from the relatively large – and comfortable – middle class population in the country to the respect and admiration Syrians have for their president. (Keep in mind Readers, this was just our experience in town. The locals we spoke to were nearly all involved in one aspect or another of the tourism industry – which like in Egypt is temporarily suffering – and their interest may be in having a “stable” country and not one shaken by a revolution. Others are fearful of arrest, have been intimidated by the police state, and are on the whole not comfortable speaking openly about politics, especially to a foreigner. We often take such things for granted in America…)

Revolutionary Road: With No Other American Tourist in Sight!

CAIRO, EGYPT – This past week, we returned from our honeymoon in the Middle East. Our journey back home was an emotional one – Husband and I did not want to leave!  It was, in many respects, the perfect moment to be in Egypt. As an International Affairs graduate specializing in post-conflict security, I was able to witness first-hand a new democracy in the making. As a tourist – though not my favorite descriptor when paired with “American” for its connotation of a boorish and arrogant traveller abroad – I so am not! – it meant the ability to visit the prerequisite sites with no crowd and little hassle.

Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa has been hard hit from the revolts shaking the region. Our announcement to travel to the Arab world at a time when pro-democracy uprisings were spreading and being met with violent crackdowns, elicited fear (for our safety), shock (at our seemingly reckless decision to go) and awe (at the impression of our fearlessness) from friends and family in America. We felt, however, no danger our entire time in Egypt, as well as Syria – the subject of my next post.

During our 12-day stay in Egypt, we encountered a handful of mostly Europeans in Giza, Aswan, Luxor, and Abu Simbel, yet at no point did we meet another American.

Petrit Çarkaxhiu: On Rock, Rage, and the Albanian Identity

Petrit Çarkaxhiu

 

PRISTINA, KOSOVO – Last June I was introduced to Petrit Çarkaxhiu, frontman of Jericho, by a friend at a bar in Pristina. The first thing I noticed about him – his drink order. He asked our waiter for a Coke, while everyone else at our table ordered beers. Petrit, I’d later learn, is a practicing Muslim, a minority in a country where everyone claims Islamic ancestry though seldom practices the religion. He is also one of Kosovo’s biggest rock stars – who less than a week after our interview opened for Snoop Dogg in Snoop’s first concert in Kosovo. ”Jericho is the best sound that we’ve got in Kosovo at the moment,” veteran rocker Migjen Kelmendi told me. ”They have this perfect way of articulating their songs and music that’s authentic.”

Petrit – “Rrusta” to his friends – formed Jericho (then Jericho Walls) in 1997 at the age of 19. The band’s name derives from a song by the Brit group Simply Red, though their musical influences are heavily American: Rage Against the Machines, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and bands from the Seattle grunge scene like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains. During that time, in the 1990s, the Balkans was in turmoil. War was breaking up Yugoslavia … and MTV had just arrived in Kosovo.