Hakka in Taiwan

Someone asked me about Hakka in Taiwan. He(I guess) became to be interested in history of Hakka when reading a post on my another blog written in Korean language. I wonder the person has understanding of history of Taiwan or ethnic background. But I believe it's good for any foreigner to get to know more about this country.

I depict Hakka people as gypsy to explain easier. Indeed they are talented to artwork, music, poem, and so on. Even though they often has been excluded and shunned historically, they survived here and all around the Asia even Korea, Myanmar as well as Malaysia or Singapore.

They believe their ancestors are from north part of China and gradually has come down to southeastern provinces. Those in Taiwan also had crossed to island of Taiwan through hundreds of years. Their population is now approximately 20 percent.

As I blogged there, I was emotionally and really shocked by their history which recovered by great efforts of Hakka historians and artists. Their history was the history of blood as it was. They were attacked and boycotted whenever they tried to settle down near Han people's place so that another struggle, sometimes bloody combat, flight and wandering was waiting again.

So it's one more part of Taiwan history I've learned. There are much more complicated factors of social conflict in Taiwan as other countries. Among the them, except the relation with China, matter of ethnicity seems to be tough issue today.

What the bus shows now?

I think I should take this photo in Seoul. I believe this big bus has something sexy. The important point is not what the ad is going to show me, but how model's pose is sexier than competing ad. To me, it was good, indeed. I like it.

As a matter of moral, it could hit some of holy religionists, I'll bet it. However, to tell the truth, I bet again they will enjoy this dizzy photo in their dream.

Now I would say why I mentioned above about Seoul. One of the most square and boring, but itself claims it's exciting, city in Asia is operating public transportation system, which is financially supported by city government, in other words fed by tax payers of Seoul. That system had been renovated recently into ambiguous practice which is good and bad to citizen.

The disaster is neither that bus company is eating my tax, nor former mayor is now elected as the next president of Korea unfortunately. Buses are four colors of green, red, yellow and blue. Each colors mean their range such as long distance or short shuttle. Whatever, and however, the appearances of those buses are amazingly ugly, well, to me.

Who said public, but private company's bus' color should be such a boring and flat monotone? Why the hell this kind of decision is being made by one handful of mayor-close designers repeatedly? It's not the only one case of course. Basically it's derived from long long and strong tradition of Confucianism, which still dominates Korean society in bone. Yes, all of 'public' things should be 'gentle' and 'charming' damn it. But secondly, it's by consensus of people themselves even though they deny. They like it. Actually they feel secure only when everything around them is grey, monotone, flat and quiet.

So, the bus must not be colored like this breaking ad in Korea. This kind of photo is very much immoral. It should be enjoyed IN THE NIGHT in their private room through Internets. That is the reason why Internet infrastructure is so much developed in Korea. They need advanced highway to peep these sexy photos, not in public. Because they are very much moral. My goodness.

Perhaps there is the same kind of ad-painted buses in Seoul too. I hope so. I hope I'm too much. But so far I have no idea about those kinds of thinking is naturally being exposed in Korea.