Last summer, I went to visit Taiwan for the third time, and really enjoyed the homey feeling of this beautiful island. People say third time is a charm, which is truly the case with my experience. The feeling of home away from home is, to everyone, something worthy of remembering.
In fact, 25 years ago, when the Communist regime slaughtered thousands of students in Beijing’s Tiananmen square in 1989, a private foundation in Taiwan felt, strategically, the need to connect with Chinese students and scholars in America when such a drastic change was taking place in China. Fortunately, I was among 50 Chinese students in all American universities chosen to go to Taiwan as a recipient of Taiwan Visiting Scholarship; unfortunately, my advisor would not grant me leave as the lab was too busy at that time. So of the 4 planned trips to Taiwan, fulfilment was done on three, a charm that it truly is.
My first visit was in 2005. During my two weeks there, I stayed at a Japanese style hotel called Gloria Prince, and came across Typhoon Talim and an earthquake! That trip enabled me to change many wrong perceptions about Taiwan and cleared away much improper indoctrination instilled upon us when growing up and attending schools in China. I felt the shame and sadness coming from a country where the Communist ruled, but the feeling there is one place on earth where Chinese people can enjoy freedom and liberty, is surely satisfying.
Then 3 years ago in 2013, I visited the island for the 2nd time because of the publication of my book over there, ‘The Dragon’s Vault” was published by Broad Press. For the 10 days of stay, I asked the publisher to help find a hotel near a night market and public transportation for me, as I had heard so much about the delicatessen in the night market. The Grandee Hotel was exactly what I needed, it is right across from the famous Shilin District Night Market, and near the subway. In fact, I could look down and see the night market from my hotel room window, and observe the night market into late night with many food stalls, and the morning market which is kind of like a whole sale food distribution center, in the open.
My biggest gain from the 2nd visit, is for me to be able to understand further the Taiwanese society. Be it when I spoke on college campus, got interviewed by media, visiting government officials, riding on light mopeds, taking the subway everywhere, or transferring between different modes of transportation with millions of people every day.
If all Chinese people could live in a free and democratic society for some time, this could greatly serve them well when China needs to select its own political system. The trip to Tainan and speaking at National Cheng Kung University was great experience, as it showed to me another side of Taiwan that is more traditional and more reserved.
My 3rd time to Taiwan, in May to June last year, was truly a charm with new enlightenment. My friends in Taiwan stopped treating me like a foreign guest, instead, they gave me a mass transit card, told me how to recharge it, where to go to get on the bus from the airport, etc. I flew from Taiwan to Malaysia and back to Taiwan, from airport to hotel and back and forth, surviving almost like the locals. That feeling is very good, like an ancient Chinese saying, the Celestial Horse Wanders Around Freely and Lonely. This time around, I traveled with Professor Xia Yeliang, who was on the faculty of Peking University (my alma mater) and now a research fellow at the Cato Institute. We stayed at the Taming Business Hotel, which is across from Taipei Railway Station, and close to tons of eateries and night stalls, subway and high speed railway, and we could hop on a high speed train to Kaohsiung and back on the same day!
Third time is a charm in that I really felt at home in Taiwan, not so much wanting to go back to the states, truly. I even asked friends there how to buy real estate in Taipei, how do foreigners get by in the country. One night I saw a TV program where an American guy with big head and fluffy hair teaching Taiwanese how to paint landscapes, the guy seemed to have done very well and was enjoying a decent life there. It surprised me the TV network would allocate so much time for him on the air, just to paint and talk, which is almost unheard of in the states.
Another day, I was strolling a small alley not too far from National Taiwan University, shortly before we were about to give a presentation there. I came across an American student in Taiwan, she was a white girl in her 20’s, but when she opened her mouth and started talking to the street vendors, that’s when I was really shocked! She had no accent in her Chinese or Taiwanese local dialect, and she grabbed so much food and drink in her hand and managed to navigate the alleys and street traffic extremely skillfully. If a Westerner can enjoy life in Taiwan just like that, you can imagine the comfort, ease, and freedom of living in this place.
Across from where we stayed, the Taming Business Hotel, stood the massive, heavy, and weathered Taipei Railway Station. This building always reminds me of the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and the Grand Central Station in New York City. I spent quite some time walking around in the station and found that it is no longer just a station anymore, but a true multi-modal transportation hub that connects the subway in Taipei, long distance rail, and high speed rail. Old fashioned on its outside, but a true modern facility on the inside.
One day, I was outside of Taipei Railway Station, two big on-the-ground-street vendors caught my attention. So I persuaded my friend to go with me to look at it. It turned out under a big, long tent, there was one long sheet where there were hundreds of stainless steel lunch boxes on the sheet for sale, and there were hundreds or may be thousands of umbrellas for sales on the other sheet. All the lunch box canteens and umbrellas are quite new, some are old, but they are all very clean. While many lunch box canteens look alike, the umbrellas are not of the same design or color, but a giant soiree of umbrellas, all kinds, all colors, and all shapes.
My friend told me, these are not the ordinary, used merchandise for sale, all the canteens and umbrellas have one common origin: The Taiwan Railways! It turned out they are all left-overs on the train. I asked whether there is a lost and found window at the railway stop, and why those people did not go back to get their forgotten belongings! My friend shrugged and said, that’s the way Taiwanese are! When the canteens piled up so much, they ended up here with the on-the-ground vendor.
Lunch box canteens from Taiwan Railways are, in fact, cultural relics and icons of Taiwanese history. When talking to Taiwanese people at all levels, the words “lunch box of Taiwan Railways” was very frequently mentioned. Those stainless steel boxes have borne the memories of hard work, dedication, and self-reliance of generations of Taiwanese, whose sweat and contribution made Taiwan what it is today, a modern, world class metropolis. After Professor Xia and I went to National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung to give a talk, the host said we would take the high speed rail back to Taipei at night, and our dinner would be the a lunch box on the train. I cried oh yes, that’s exactly what I wanted, something I heard so much about! Then at that wonderful night in June, on the train and hungry, we really enjoyed that famous lunch box of Taiwan Railways! The only pity is, nowadays the box is made of paper and plastic, not the stainless steel that I was hoping for.
Dr. Frank Tian Xie is John M. Olin Palmetto Professor of Business and Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of South Carolina Aiken, in Aiken, SC, USA.
