20030922

Revolutionize education

Last week People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chin Wei-chu accused a member of the Examination Yuan of ideological bias for emphasizing Taiwan-centered history and geography in a grassroots civil-servant examination.

In a test for low-level civil servants set by the Examination Yuan the sections on national history and geography were composed of questions almost entirely about Taiwan. Many of the examinees were shocked by these "biased" questions, Chin fumed. What they expected to be examined on was the history and geography of a foreign country, not their own.

We assume that we don't have to defend the commonsense idea that people seeking jobs as public servants should know something about the place and people they want to serve. But Chin's kind of stupidity brings us close to despair. Can anyone think of any country where such a thing might be said and not provoke a torrent of derision? Imagine a legislator in the Irish Republic complaining that civil servants were examined on Irish, not British, history and geography. They would be scorned out of public life.

And the sad thing is that Chin, in a way, has a point. Not of course in her vicious prejudice against Taiwan and the Taiwanese language. But one could argue that it is unfair to test people on subjects they haven't been properly taught. And Taiwan's history and geography are things that the examinees have not been taught, except as a small part of the general education that all school students receive about China.

It is to redress this that the Ministry of Education has come up with a draft plan to restructure the high school history syllabus. The plan is to split history into three kinds, Taiwanese history, ancient Chinese history -- everything up to the end of the Ming dynasty -- and world history, which also includes Chinese history from the Ching onward. All this makes perfect sense. China, from where the vast majority of this country's people come, is studied up to the point at which the narrative thread of Taiwanese history begins, at which point history divides between domestic or foreign, Taiwan, and everywhere else. Under the plan the history of the Republic of China, at least pre-1945, is treated as foreign history which, in that it happened somewhere other than Taiwan, it certainly is.

Because the plan is so sensible, it has, of course, generated huge controversy. Conservatives are outraged over the view of Taiwan encapsulated in the syllabus, that it is somewhere that developed from China, by Chinese but that its history is its own and that China is only a part of that, an influence among many. It is a syllabus which is aimed at developing a "localized" consciousness. As such it is loathed by the unificationists who, appointed in the bad old days for their political loyalty rather than their scholarship, still dominate so much of the educational establishment and who have succeeded in frustrating other attempts to make the school syllabus more Taiwan-centric.

The history syllabus is just another battlefield in the long-running kulturkampf between those who want to develop a Taiwanese consciousness or nationalism, and those who cling to the icons of the alien Chinese Nationalist Party and its decades-long illegal occupation of this island. One of the problems with Taiwan's transition in the 1990s was that, because it was, thanks to Lee Teng-hui, accomplished by peaceful consensus, there was never the rejection of these icons and the gutting of the system they represented that happened in countries where the ousting of colonial regimes needed more robust measures. The result has been seriously weakening to Taiwan's sense of identity.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou speaks foolishly of the Cultural Revolution still going on in Taiwan. Actually a revolution in Taiwan's cultural outlook is certainly needed, of which the education ministry's new history syllabus is an important -- and long overdue -- element.

Academics quarrel over Chinese history lessons

By Jewel Huang

STAFF REPORTER

A historian's letter to a local newspaper criticizing the Ministry of Education's draft guidelines for high school history textbooks has reignited an ideological dispute between China-centered historians and Taiwan-oriented academics.

The ministry plans to enact the new history guidelines for senior high school students in early November and has publicized them on its Web site.

Wu Chan-liang, a history professor at National Taiwan University, wrote to a Chinese language newspaper, which published his letter on Friday, accusing the ministry of basing its guidelines on the "special state-to-state relations" dictum of former president Lee Teng-hui and "one country on either side" of the Taiwan Strait comment by President Chen Shui-bian.

Under the new rules, senior high school students would study Taiwanese history, from the prehistoric history age to modern times, in the first semester and ancient Chinese history from the ancient times to the early Ming Dynasty in the second semester.

Second-grade senior high school students will spend the school year studying the history of the modern world from the Age of Discovery to the modern day.

Wu, who specializes in the history of modern Chinese thought, argued that it is untenable for the ministry's ad hoc committee compiling the guidelines to regard history since the latter part of Ming Dynasty, from about 1500, including the Ching Dynasty and the history of the establishment of the Republic of China, as part of modern world history.

Wu said that such a historical angle would only confuse.

"If we do not expound on history from the Ming Dynasty till the present day, and instead include it in modern history, how can Taiwanese people understand their past and the current situation?" Wu asked in his opinion piece.

Wu is now conducting research in the US and could not be reached for comment.

Chang Yuan, the convener of the ad hoc committee and professor of humanities and social science at National Tsing-hua University, said the scholars and teachers who participated in compiling the guidelines utilized the idea of the "concentric circle," which aimed to teach students to learn Taiwanese history first as the center of a circle and then Chinese history and the ensuing modern world history around the periphery.

"There was a major defect when we studied history in the past," Chang said. "Students were asked to memorize many historical terms and geographical materials which were remote from students' experiences and which they could not link to real life."

As for the classification of locating Chinese history since 1500 into modern history, committee member Chen Kuo-tung, a researcher at Academia Sinica's Institute of History and Philology, said world history entered a new age in 1500 as a result of the expanded interaction around the world prompted by the Age of Discovery.

"In fact, China underwent significant changes from this period and the impact brought from the western world had a close relationship to China's current situation," he said, using the example of how the importation of Spanish silver altered the currency system used during the Ming Dynasty.

Chen said people kept emphasizing the so-called "international perspective" but did not understand China's history in the context of world history.

"What we [committee members] did is the job of an architect. We do not do the job of a fengshui master, who tries to judge the house," Chen said responding to Wu's comments.

Another committee member, Huang Fu-san, a researcher at Academia Sinica's Preparatory Office of Taiwan History, said that Wu's accusation was missing the point, which is to address what the Chinese Nationalist Party did to Taiwan's history education in the past.

"I think what should be examined is whether the historical facts were changed when writing history," Huang said.

KMT's rule harks back to colonial times

By Fiona Lu

STAFF REPORTER

A history professor said yesterday that a recent dispute between a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman and the Chinese-language Liberty Times highlights again the KMT's colonial-style politics in Taiwan.

Tsai Cheng-yuan labeled the newspaper a "jackal" and the running dog of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

"The KMT spokesman changed his position according to the times. He first lashed out at People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong's embezzlement of the nation and the KMT government's assets when the former KMT leaders turned on Soong during the 2000 presidential election," said Jim Lee, a history professor at Shih Hsin University.

"Now he speaks for Soong, because of the political reconciliation between [KMT Chairman] Lien Chan and Soong in an effort to secure the 2004 presidential election," Lee said.

"It is obvious that the spokesman made his personal and party interests a priority over Taiwan," said Lee, who specializes in Taiwanese political history.

Lee said the spokesman's role-playing is not unique in the blue camp, and is an echo of former Japanese civil administrator Goto Shimpei's carrot and stick policy.

"Despite Goto using this system 100 years ago, the colonial style policy maintains its influence in politics since the KMT obviously adopted a similar thinking in its half-century governance of Taiwan," Lee said.

In 1898, when Goto advised his superior Kodama Gentaro, the fourth governor-general of Taiwan during the Meiji government's colonization, about governing local Taiwanese, he presented his "sweets-and-whip" policy.

The best way to control native Taiwanese residents and make them collaborate with the Japanese government was by luring them with preferential treatment coupled with harsh punishment, Goto said.

Punishment was dished out to those who tried to fight against the colonial leaders. The colonization theory became a well-known part of Taiwan's history.

Being a prominent advocate for "scientific colonization," Goto said that the sweets and whip policy would work well "because Taiwanese people are timid so harsh punishment will halt revolts" when he later wrote a memorandum to Kodama.

"Offering preferential treatment and benefits will please these people and satisfy their greediness for money and fame," added the Japanese civil administrator who planned Taiwan's modern railway network.

Lee said that the only difference between Japanese rulers and the KMT regime was whether they emphasized the carrot or the stick.

"Based upon the sameness of their nature as alien authorities, the colonization government and the KMT leadership decided to lure native Taiwanese as their No. 1 priority for governing Taiwan."

But they were both alert to safeguarding the reins of government so they did their utmost to quell any uprising, Lee said.

Another historian said that the success of Goto's policy and the KMT's rule rested on the native residents' fight for land.

As Taiwan confronted the scarcity of natural resources and minerals, residents fought over farmland. They continued to fight against each other to guard land ownership, which lead to the evolution of the first societies, Lee Yung-chih, a history professor at National Taiwan University, said.

He said that the competition led to Taiwanese putting material gain ahead of all else, including the judgment of legitimacy and illegitimacy.

"And it is therefore not surprising to see many Taiwanese pledging their loyalty to the KMT in light of the fact that the regime dominated Taiwan for over 50 years."

"For those who sought fortune and celebrity, working for the KMT was definitely the easiest way to realize their goals," Lee Yung-chih said.

Jim Lee said that certain residents' decision to obey the alien governments' orders to suppress Taiwanese countrymen was disgraceful.

"Chiang Ching-kuo recruited more Taiwanese youth than his father and promoted locals to the provincial assembly and local councils," Lee said.

For those who joined the KMT at that time, most of them went away from a primitive awareness of Taiwan because of a lack of awareness toward the nation's history and a sense of justice that should have helped them judge the deeds of the KMT government, he said.

For those native-born KMT members who are now middle-aged, it is conceivable that they joined the former ruling party for material gain, Jim Lee said.

"It is really disgraceful when these people blacken the current government and the president from the Democratic Progressive Party on the behest of the KMT," Lee said. "They are attacking Taiwanese countrymen again with regard to the approaching 2004 presidential election."

"They surely have forgiven the KMT's illegitimate repression and pillaging of the people of the island. Unfortunately, they cannot apply a similar charity when attacking fellow Taiwanese who uphold independence or serve in the current government under the Democratic Progressive Party," he said.

Political commentator Lee Ming-yung said that realizing democracy would help Taiwan get rid of the residual "malign wisdom" of foreign rulers.

"Taiwanese must shift their priorities from pursuing fortune to attaining a profound improvement of spiritual richness. The spiritual wealth includes establishing a real country comprised of people looking for the same goal of a better civilization," Lee said

He said nationals of an advanced civilized country would realize that they are masters of the country, but are not being mastered by the party or persons in power.

"The best therapy is to have every member of this society read Taiwanese history and get to know what happened here. Then they would come up with ideas about a future that Taiwan deserves to have," Lee Ming-yung said.

Pacific assembly meeting a muted success, officials say

By Melody Chen

STAFF REPORTER

Chaos threatened to undo the work of the Democratic Pacific Assembly on the final day of its summit, but many agreed the conference's outcome was better than they had expected.

More than 100 delegates from 24 Pacific Rim countries joined the three-day assembly initiated by Vice President Annette Lu to discuss human security, democratic development, the oceans and the economy.

One major aim of the assembly was to establish the Democratic Pacific Union.

In discussions on the union's purpose, some delegates felt that the issues raised in the conference were too wide-ranging and suggested the assembly be more specific about its goals and functions.

Manuel Menendez, executive director of the City Office of Economic Development of Honolulu, said international organizations are many but not all of them are successes.

The determining factor in the success or failure of an international organization is whether the organization can truly recognize the people's needs and map out plans to address these needs, Menendez said.

He suggested the assembly fit its purpose to issues people are really concerned about so that it can be clear about what it is going to do.

In the general discussion session yesterday, Lu decided to divide the assembly into three subcommittees consisting of countries from the East, West and South Pacific.

Joanne Chang, an Academia Sinica research fellow and moderator of the session, told the participants to form the subcommittees and elect chairmen, surprising some of the delegates.

But Chang found that apart from one South Korean, all participants in the subcommittee were Taiwanese.

Chang later explained that some delegates left the assembly in the morning because they had to return to their jobs the next day.

She also said the assembly wanted the participants to elect their subcommittee chairmen because the process represented a democratic mechanism.

Although many participants "were not prepared for the subcommittee chairman election," Chang said, they had become more familiar with other participants during the electoral process.

Mangone said that when a new organization is established, "there is bound to be a little confusion."

"But now I think we are on the right track," Mangone said after the subcommittee chairman election.

Over the past 15 years, the nation's information technology (IT) industry has grown rapidly. In 1986, the value of output was only US$2.1 billion; in 1994, it reached US$9.4 billion; in 2000, it reached as high as US$47 billion. In 2001, affected by the international economic downturn, the value of the IT industry's output dipped to US$42.7 billion. From 1986 to 2000, the average growth rate was 26 percent.

After 1990, the IT industry began to invest abroad on a large scale. As a result, a huge share of Taiwan's IT products were manufactured abroad. In 1992, 90 percent of the nation's IT products were made domestically, while 10 percent were made abroad.

In comparison, only 36 percent of Taiwan's IT products were made at home last year, while 64 percent were made abroad. That is, nearly two-thirds of the output value of Taiwan's IT industry was created by overseas production bases.

A significant portion of the overseas production bases for Taiwanese businesspeople are in China. In 1995, only 14 percent of Taiwan's IT products were produced in China; last year, 47 percent were.

Between 1996 and 2001, the average annual growth rate of Taiwanese businesspeople's IT products made in China was 35.5 percent. As a result, Taiwan's direct investment in China should have contributed tremendously to the development of that country's IT industry.

China's official statistics on its IT hardware products and exports are scattered and incomplete. Therefore, this article will primarily use the statistics of China's high-tech industry, supplemented by some statistics of its IT hardware industry.

Since the mid-1990s, China's high-tech industry has grown very rapidly. The value-added to its high-tech industry increased almost three times in six years -- from 108.1 billion yuan in 1995 to 309.5 billion yuan in 2001. Consequently, the share of value-added of high-tech industry in China's total industries increased from 8.8 percent in 1995 to 13.9 percent in 2001.

The value of China's high-tech exports was just US$4 billion in 1992 but by last year it had soared to US$67.9 billion. Between 1992 and last year, the average annual growth rate of high-tech exports was 33.4 percent. As a result, the share of high-tech exports in China's total exports increased from 4.7 percent in 1992 to 20.8 percent last year.

The majority of China's high-tech exports consisted of computer and telecommunication products. The share of these products in China's total high-tech exports was 49.1 percent in 1997, increasing rapidly to 80.4 percent last year.

According to China's Ministry of Information Industry, the sale of the country's IT hardware products increased from 13.4 billion yuan in 1992 to 62.6 billion yuan in 1995, to 115.5 billion yuan in 1998 and to 181.5 billion yuan in 2001. Between 1992 and 2001, the average annual growth rate of the sale of China's IT hardware products was 36.1 percent. This figure exemplifies the rapid expansion of China's IT industry in the 1990s.

As a matter of fact, the majority of China's high-tech exports were produced by foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). The share of FIEs in China's total high-tech exports was 71.5 percent in 1996, increasing to 76 percent in 1999 and to 82.2 percent last year.

To summarize, China's IT industry expanded rapidly in the 1990s, while around 60 percent to 70 percent of its IT hardware products were contributed by Taiwanese businesspeople in 1999 to 2001. In addition, the above analysis also suggests that at least 60 percent to 70 percent of China's IT hardware exports were contributed by Taiwanese businesspeople during the same period.

Tun Chen-yuan is the director of the China Economic Analysis Project at the Cross-Strait Interflow Prospect Foundation.

The Democratic Pacific Assembly reached a resolution yesterday to work toward forming a Democratic Pacific Union.

According to the assembly's joint declaration issued yesterday, the future union would promote a new Pacific civilization to facilitate the regional development of democracy and human rights as well as enhance peace and security. The union would also work toward long-term economic cooperation.

Vice President Annette Lu, who proposed the idea of the democratic union and organized the three-day assembly being held in Taipei, said Taiwan would like to play a greater role in integrating democracies in the Asia-Pacific region.

Lu, who two years ago urged Taiwan to be more like Hello Kitty in the international community, also promoted the nation's experiences in developing democracy, peace and prosperity, saying that those achievements could be adopted as the core values of the democratic union.

The assembly resolution also stated the wish to form a preparatory committee for creating the union and holding a second annual assembly in Taiwan before the end of next year.

The assembly also passed a motion to form three regional subcommittees to coordinate the agenda for next year's event and to invite more countries to join the assembly.

"To create concrete issues that the assembly and future union may work on for the Asia-Pacific region, all assembly members will join six working groups formed with the topics of democracy, ocean, human rights, human security, women's rights and economics," said deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office Joseph Wu, who also served as the moderator of the final roundtable meeting.

On the significant of the assembly closing on Sept. 21, Lu said it meant that Taiwan would bravely step out of the shadow of China's threats and the memory of the 1999 earthquake.

"Sept. 21 is a date not only to commemorate the tragedy of the 1999 earthquake in central Taiwan but also to observe the International Day of Peace declared by the United Nations in 2001," Lu said in the closing ceremony of the assembly.

"While President Chen Shui-bian leads government officials in reviewing post-earthquake reconstruction, I, on behalf of Taiwan, choose to march toward the international community with so many foreign guests," she said.

"We want to remind the international community that Taiwan is not alone," Lu said. "Even though China's military threats are unchanged, Taiwan now finds a path to combine all democratic powers in the Asia-Pacific region to resist it."

Lu said she is confident that Taiwan will no longer be marginalized in the international arena thanks to the formation of the Democratic Pacific Union.

The three-day assembly was launched on Friday and was co-chaired by Lu and Benjamin Gilman, a former chairman of the US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations.

The assembly also passed a resolution to deliver a formal letter to the World Health Organization and the UN to support Taiwan's bid to join the health body.