Cultural Taiwan (IV)

choi

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(1) 龙应台新书展现60年伤痛.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/2009-09-19-voa18.cfm
("在台湾的马祖、台东、屏东，她拜访了许多国共内战的幸存者，包括加入国民党军队后来又成为解放军，之后成为韩战战俘，又以'义士'的名义回到台湾的台东卑南族的陈清山和吴阿吉，其中的吴阿吉至今认为国民党军队就是解放军")

My comment: 卑南族 Puyuma is one of the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan.

(2) Robert Kelly, Temple of Fire; A Boat-Burning Festival in Southern Taiwan Revels in Ancient Folklore. Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 2009 (weekend edition).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125315178060618481.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Note:
(a) Donggang 屏東縣東港鎮
(b) Donglong Temple 東隆宮
(c) Wang Yeh 王爺
(d) daitian xunshou 代天巡狩
(e) Qing-an Temple 慶安宮
(f) Xigang 台南縣西港鄉 (今不靠海; three centuries was a harbor along a lagoon 潟湖, which was called 台江內海.
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B0%E6%B1%9F%E5%85%A7%E6%B5%B7
(Click 潟湖 for explanation)

(3) Taiwan tribe opens witch school. AFP, Sept. 17, 2009.
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Asia/Story/STIStory_431531.html

Note:
(a) A witch in this sense is also known as a shaman in English.
(b) Paiwan 排灣族

(4) Peter Enav, For Taiwan craftsman, sword-making is in the bones. Associated Press, Sept. 7, 2009.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hX3fHI4yVxFXHBSwA6UTwBZtY40gD9AITDOG2

Note:
(a) Che Ding 高雄縣茄萣鄉
http://www.cheting.gov.tw/style/front001/bexfront.php?sid=1933134794
(地名緣起: "本鄉名茄萣，「萣」字為康熙字典中所無，係約定相成之新造字。關於本鄉地名之緣起，至少有三種說")
(b) Kuo Chang-hsi 郭常喜

(5) Jorge Liu & Elizabeth Hsu, Taiwan's fertility rate the lowest in the world. Central News Agency, Sept. 19, 2009
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1061565&lang=eng_news&cate_img=49.jpg&cate_rss=news_Society_TAIWAN
("Taiwan has the world's lowest fertility rate, with an average of one child per woman * * * [or] only eight births per 1,000 population")

My cmment: The report cites

Carl Haub, Birth Rates Rising in Some Low Birth-Rate Countries. September 2009
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2009/fallingbirthrates.aspx

Don't forget to click and see the table, which shows that Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of Taiwan came to be lower than Hong Kong in 2008 (the latest year when data are available)--until and including 2007 Hong Kong (being a city, low TFR is natural) had been the lowest in the world for years. Incidentally,
(a) TFR is defined in both text and table: "the average number of children a woman would have during her lifetime if the birth rate of a particular year were to remain constant."
(b) In 2008, countries with TFR immediately followed in parentheses are: Russia (1.506), Hong Kong (1.056), Japan (1.370), Taiwan (1.050) and United States (2.098) in 2008 was 2.098. Mainland China was not included in the data set.

(6) TR Reid No Country for Sick Men. To judge the content of a nation's character, look no further than its health-care system.
Newsweek, Sept. 21 2009 (cover date).
http://www.newsweek.com/id/215290

(a) The article mentions China only once:

"In the Confucian nations of East Asia, doctors were traditionally expected to treat people for free; they earned a living by selling medicine to be taken once the patient went home. To this day, doctors in Japan and China do both the prescribing and the selling of medicine. And guess what? Those doctors tend to prescribe far more drugs than their Western counterparts, who don't share in the pharmacy's profit.

My comment: Taiwan has succeeded in 醫藥分家, although physicians resisted it for decades.

(b) The article talks about Taiwan twice, which has universal health care.

"Some countries—Canada, Taiwan, Australia—have a blended system, with private-sector doctors and hospitals, but a government payment system. The Canadian model—private providers, but public insurance to pay them—is the system Lyndon Johnson copied when he created Medicare in 1965. The difference is that Canada, Taiwan, and Australia provide the public insurance for everybody, while the U.S. restricts it to seniors and the disabled.

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※ 修改:．choi 于 Sep 19 14:12:05 修改本文．[FROM: 128.197.0.0]