Taipei

Dearest Rachel –

Well, we’re back underway; after more than a day and a half in Hong Kong (and welcoming aboard a whole raft of new passengers – which could be the subject of a whole other letter, I suspect), we’re on our way to another city I’ve never been to, nor have I even considered going to, apart from being part of this whole package. But that’s the whole point of a trip like this; you get more than your share of surprises from it.

To be sure, there’s a few things I (kind of) already know about the place that calls itself the Republic of China (which the People’s Republic of China is very, very annoyed about, to say the least); maybe not so much about the capital city itself. Essentially, it’s the island off the coast of what might be referred to as mainland China to which the Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek retreated upon being defeated by Mao Zedong and his Red Army in 1949.

However, I always wondered if the Nationalists had to displace anyone in order to settle on the island that was once known as Formosa, and which we now refer to as Taiwan. As it so happens, while there were (and still are) aboriginal Formosans (known as the Gaoshan people, and currently numbering over half a million – which sounds like a lot, but bear in mind, the population of Taiwan is just shy of twenty-four million, on an island about the size of Maryland, and four times as crowded, so there are actually fewer of them then there are Christians on the island), they had undergone a fair amount of Sinicization over the previous three centuries as the Chinese (primarily the Qing Dynasty) followed in the footsteps of the Portuguese and Dutch in colonizing the island.

And while Chiang’s Kuomintang did kick the Japanese off the island in the aftermath of WWII, they weren’t exactly greeted as liberators by those already living there. For one thing, they established a rather harsh form of martial law, compounded by the fact that they didn’t concern themselves overmuch with rebuilding Taiwan; the main focus was to rebuild the army, in preparation for returning to the mainland and kicking out the Communists. It took quite a few years before the Nationalists accepted the fact that this wasn’t going to happen any time soon – if at all.

However, once martial law was lifted (in 1987 – during which time both Chiang and his son essentially ruled the place for life), and democratic elections were permitted, Taiwan flourished. The “Taiwan miracle” is an actual phrase describing the island’s rapid economic development during the latter half of the twentieth century, placing it alongside Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore as the “Four Asian Tigers” for its economic strength and development. However, unlike its neighbors South Korea and Japan, the Taiwanese economy is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, rather than large corporate entities. Either way, it’s a very export-driven economy, with Taiwan running a substantial trade surplus with the world, particularly China and the U.S.

And it’s this last item that makes the current situation between mainland, China, and Taiwan so fraught. China has been Taiwan’s largest export market for the past two decades, with Taiwanese companies investing over $200 billion in China, creating 4,200 businesses and employing 240,000 Taiwanese in China. Now, there are those that suggest that Taiwan is too economically dependent on mainland China, while other schools of thought suggest that the strong ties between the two societies (calling them separate ‘countries’ gets the PRC very upset) render the cost of military intervention on the mainland’s part to be too costly, economically speaking. Given the saber rattling being done in the current geopolitical climate, one can only hope that the latter opinion proves to be correct.

***

As for my own trip, we aren’t docking in Taipei proper, as it’s not actually up against the shoreline. We’re actually disembarking in the port city of Keelung. However, I’m taking a somewhat open-ended excursion that buses us to the city center of Taipei, and making my way around from there; apparently, we’re thus at liberty to come and go as we please. There’s the Taipei 101 building, a 509-meter-tall skyscraper (briefly the tallest in the world) filled with upscale shops and an observatory on the 89th floor offering citywide panoramas. The National Palace Museum is home to one of the world’s largest collections of Chinese art and artifacts spanning thousands of years, while the Longshan Temple is one of the oldest and most significant such in the city. Dihua Street is famous for its traditional Taiwanese goods, including Chinese medicinal herbs, dried fruits, tea, textiles and other specialty products, and the Beitou District contains Yangmingshan National Park, with a clock made entirely out of flowers. As for local cuisine, I’ve been recommended to check out Din Tai Fung, a restaurant chain based here with branches worldwide that specializes in dumplings and dumpling soup.

After that, we’re to return to Keelung, which is known for several night markets (Keelung and Miaokou), and might be worth checking out before returning to the ship, as we’ll be in port until nine (although we’ll probably have to be aboard by eight-thirty, we’ll still have a few hours of darkness to check the place out if it’s available to us.

So that’s the gist of what I have to look forward to; we’ll have to see how everything shakes out. Until then, honey, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m going to need it.