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| Everyone wants to move from the right to the left. I started out on the right, and am not sure how I feel about having made the jump to the left. |
I've been trying to formulate my thoughts on the wealth gap in Taiwan for some time now, and while I have many opinions, they're all just sort of swirling around incoherently at the moment - at least in English.
Then, I blurted my thoughts out in Chinese on Facebook the other day, and it's probably the clearest thing I've said on the subject, and best captures my feelings. So I'll just use that.
我來台灣時就住在右邊，真的沒有錢，跟其他的在補習班教
Translation, please
ReplyDelete"Sky Dragon Country" (天龍國）is a new, slang term (from a cartoon show I believe) to describe a place where everyone has money and everything is shiny, rich, new and convenient, but there is an implication that that's all meaningless and it may look nice but it's not real, or not important, or it lacks a certain amount of heart. A lot of people from outside Taipei - some folks from the rest of Taiwan - call Taipei "Sky Dragon Country" because compared to the rest of Taiwan it is wealthier, cleaner, shinier, has more jobs (although I am not sure about that - there's always Hsinchu Science Park) and thanks to the MRT and good bus system is a lot more convenient to get around.
ReplyDeleteThe division of wealth in Taiwan is most evident in its residences - take a look at the picture on the right (not so well-off) vs. left (upper class) and the difference is clear.
So the closest translation to what I said in Chinese is - when I first moved to Taiwan I lived (in a building like the ones) on the right. I had very little money, taught kids in a cram school (for what is considered a high hourly wage but poor benefits) and my boss controlled my visa. That's how most foreigners land in Taiwan. Now I'm a permanent resident, have better skills and qualifications and make pretty good money, and can afford a lifestyle similar to those who live on the left side of the photo. Our building is not as fancy, but we have all the amenities the folks on the left have and expect. So we now live in "Sky Dragon Country". It's everyone's dream to jump from the right (side of the picture) to the left, but isn't it easy to lose touch? To start to think that that's really Taiwan? It's not, and it's important not to forget that. People who work harder than me - from 7 to 11 (pun on 7-11 which as you know is ubiquitous in Taiwan), their offices "always open" - still live on the right, so how is it that I live on the left? So, it's important to keep fighting and protesting for better working hours, higher salary and stronger labor laws in Taiwan because it's not fair that people work that hard and still can't make the jump.