What Does the Bible Have to Say About Democracy?

原文：Original Chinese Language Article
Featured on Front Page of 電子報：ICLP Bulletin 062 (Feb. 1, 2012)

What Does the Bible Have to Say About Democracy?
English Translation of Chinese E-Bulletin Article by James Smyth

Christians have actively participated in American politics since colonial times. Unfortunately, Jesus never mentioned the Republican or Democratic Parties, so the question of what political views Christians should have is a thorny one that can even make believers come to blows. Left and right wing advocates each have their own political interpretations of Bible passages like “The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common ” and “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” and “Slaves, obey your human masters in everything.”

But very few Americans have discussed the following Bible story.

After the Israelites returned to Canaan from Egypt, they established a nation that was free and independent for 400 years. They had no kings. Besides times of crisis, when a “Judge” would emerge and temporarily lead the country, the twelve tribes were free to govern themselves.

But when Judge Samuel aged (around 1020 B.C.) the Israelites made an unprecedented request from him: that he choose a king to rule them. Samuel strongly opposed them, but God told him to “listen to whatever the people say. You are not the one they are rejecting. They are rejecting me as their king… Now listen to them; but at the same time, give them a solemn warning and inform them of the rights of the king who will rule them.”(1)

The next time Samuel met with the Israelites, he warned them (abridged): “The governance of the king who will rule you will be as follows: He will take your sons and daughters into his service. He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take your male and female slaves, as well as your best oxen and donkeys, and use them to do his work. He will also tithe your flocks. As for you, you will become his slaves. On that day you will cry out because of the king whom you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you.”

But the Israelites persisted: “No! There must be a king over us. We too must be like all the nations, with a king to rule us, lead us in warfare, and fight our battles.”

Israel had three kings over the next hundred years, two of which were outstanding and devoted themselves to the glory of the kingdom. The fourth king, however, was incompetent, and because of that the nation split in two. What’s worse, most of the kings who ruled both the northern and southern states after that were weak and corrupt, causing Israel’s international standing to decline. Two hundred years after the death of Samuel, the northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrian Empire, and one hundred fifty years later, the southern kingdom was swallowed up by the Babylonian Empire. Israel would not win its independence back until 1949(2).

I think that what this story can communicate to Americans is that sometimes a people voluntarily give up their freedom in exchange for something else like glory or security. The younger President Bush, a Christian, deeply believed that freedom was the desire of every human heart, so he thought that after the U.S. liberated Afghanistan and Iraq, their citizens would happily cooperate with America. Instead, the American military sunk into a quagmire.

What this story says to Christians about democracies as a whole is that sooner or later, their citizens will exchange freedom for national power, safety, welfare, or some other good. The same thing will eventually happen in the United States of America, the Land of the Free. Even though many Americans believe that government’s primary responsibility is to protect the freedom of the governed, and many believe that the U.S. is the freest country in the world, the American government’s grasp on its citizens tightens year after year (its airport security measures are just the most visible example) because the demands the citizens make to the government sometimes necessitate the sacrifice of personal liberty. The history of the Kingdom of Israel is a reminder to American Christians that though they may willingly give up precious liberty in exchange for glory or security, they will not be able to preserve that glory or security forever.

(1) Biblical quotations are from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website.
(2) The country declared its Independence in 1948 but had to defeat four invading armies immediately after that.

Using ICLP’s Pre-Election Lectures to Analyze the Taiwanese Election Results

Using Last Week’s Lectures to Analyze the Taiwanese Election Results
English Translation of Chinese E-Bulletin Article by James Smyth
原文(Original Article)
Featured on Front Page of ICLP Bulletin 061 (Jan. 18, 2012)

Accomplished political scientists gave lunchtime lectures at ICLP on both January 6 and 8 about the Taiwanese Presidential and Legislative Election on the 14th. Now that the election has passed, we can use these professors’ ideas to analyze the results.

Professor Wang Yeh-li, the Chair of the National Taiwan University Department of Political Science, focused on the 2008 electoral reform’s influence on the makeup of the Legislative Yuan. Before the reform took effect, most legislators were elected from multi-seat constituencies with non-transferable votes, but afterward, most were elected from single-member districts. This changed the foundation of the electoral system from proportional representation to majoritarianism. For example, in the 2004 election, the Kuomintang received 34.90% of the votes and 35.1% of the seats in the legislature, while the Democratic People’s Party won 37.98% of the vote and 34.9% of the seats. In the post-reform 2008 election, however, the KMT took 51.2% of the votes and 71.7% of the seats while the DPP won 36.9% of the votes and 23.9% of the seats. This year, however, the gap between votes received and seats won was much smaller: the KMT received 44.55% of the former and 53.5% of the latter while the DPP took 34.6% of votes and 35.3% of seats in the legislature. It seems, then, that the DPP has adapted to Taiwan’s new style of competition.

Dr. Wang also told us that Taiwanese voters often used midterm legislative elections to check the ruling government: for example, the DPP took over 50% of the vote in the March 2004 presidential election, but the opposition Pan-Blue parties won the December 2004 Legislative Yuan election, and in 2006 a KMT candidate almost won the mayoral election in Kaohsiung, a DPP stronghold. Because the presidential and legislative elections are now on the same day, however, Dr. Wang thought it was possible that less voters would split their tickets. The election results indeed bore this out, as the KMT won control of both branches of government.

Dr. Wang also stressed that while politicians without party affiliations play strong roles in local politics, they have much less standing in national politics. This year was no exception: after the ‘01 and ‘04 legislative elections, unaffiliated candidates belonging to neither the Blue nor the Green Alliance held 4.44% of seats in the legislature, after the ‘08 and ‘12 elections, they had just 2.65%.

Dr. Shelley Rigger, Chair of Political Science at Davidson University, said that large corporations unified in support of President Ma Ying-jeou’s re-election campaign because they believed a Tsai Ing-wen victory would be bad for business. They encouraged employees working abroad to fly home and vote for the incumbent president. American media also reported this phenomenon: Foxconn, for instance, gave 5000 employees vacation time and helped them buy plane tickets to Taiwan so they could exercise their right to vote.

Dr. Rigger also explained that the main difference between the two candidates was in their views about the 1992 Consensus with China. President Ma supported this agreement, which contains the statement “There is only one China.” This doesn’t necessarily mean China and Taiwan must unite, and the agreement doesn’t clarify how this unification would come about, but the People’s Republic of China has firmly maintained that the 1992 Consensus is the sine qua non for relations between the two states. Tsai Ing-wen didn’t agree. She criticized the ‘92 Consensus because it was not approved by Taiwanese citizens themselves, who she argued would first have to come to a “Taiwan Consensus” (but she never clearly explained how such a consensus would be created). After the elections on the 14th, many Taiwanese newspapers, like Dr. Rigger, said that the 1992 Consensus was the focal point of the election : for example, the United Daily News’s post-election headline was “’92 Consensus Wins”; the Want China Times wrote that Ma Ying-jeou’s victory was the Consensus’s victory, and the Commercial Times editorialized that the concept of the Taiwan Consensus was empty and meaningless.

Dr. Rigger also said that the Chinese government supported Ma’s reelection, but it tried not to do so too loudly because it was afraid that would backfire and turn the Taiwanese people against Ma. After the election, however, the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, editorialized that “this result shows that the pursuit of peace, development, and stability is mainstream on the island of Taiwan and that our Taiwanese brothers wish to further develop the cross-strait relationship and create even more mutually beneficial relationships” and that “naturally, a peaceful and stable cross-strait relationship cannot depart from the ’92 Consensus, the foundation of bilateral negotiations.”

It’s easy to see that these two lectures greatly aided ICLP students’ understanding of the election.

ICLP電子報第49期：我捨不得離開ICLP ~ I Can’t Stand to Leave ICLP (featured in 49th ICLP Bulletin)

To begin with, this is fictional. I’m going to stay at ICLP another year. My prompt for this assignment was to write from the point of view of a depressed student, and because the end of the school year was coming, it was perfect timing for a piece like this.

我捨不得離開ICLP (original article including photos)

I Can’t Stand to Leave ICLP
English Translation of an Article by James Smyth

I’ve been down in the dumps lately, and it’s all because I have to leave ICLP. I called Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou and used an emotional appeal to try to convince him to help me stay here. He said he felt my pain, but he couldn’t help me because he has to convince Taiwanese skilled workers to stay in the country rather than emigrate first. A fortune teller told me he couldn’t help because studying isn’t in my future. It looks more and more like no one can help me.

I don’t want to go to a restaurant that’s not Sababa.
I don’t want to drink juice if it’s not made by Grandma Amy at the Xinhai Gate.
I don’t want to dance if the music isn’t “Radio Plays” BGM.
I don’t want to eat lunch if I can’t listen to a lecture while doing it.
I don’t want to open my mailbox if it won’t have emails from Ariel inside.
I don’t want to write characters if Ms. Zhou isn’t giving me a dictation test.
I don’t want to go to class if Mr. Chen isn’t there to say hello to me.
All these things are irreplaceable.

I feel worse every day. I often go to the office to chat, but last Friday they told me that although they don’t want to say goodbye to me, either, if I ever enter their office more than ten times in a single day again, they’ll have to call campus security on me. I don’t want to miss a single minute of class, and I’m afraid of oversleeping, so I hide in the computer room at night until Mr. Chen has locked the doors. Then I take a shower in the fourth floor restroom, eat the leftovers in the third floor refrigerator, and sleep in front of the door of my first period class.

I’m really worried about forgetting Chinese when I go back to America. I tried to stuff all my textbooks into my suitcase, but they didn’t fit. I won’t be able to avoid speaking English in the States, but when I do, I’ll feel guilty about breaking ICLP rules. But I’m afraid I’ll be lonely, too, because women only willingly talk to me during class time. I asked Head Teacher Chen for John Smith and David Lee’s contact information so I’d have someone to talk to, but she said I don’t need it because they already live inside my heart. [John and David are fictional exchange students from our textbooks.]

If I can write for the ICLP Bulletin one more time from the States, I’ll get to feel happy one more time, but if I don’t have a life, I won’t be able to write about my life after ICLP. Every day is agony. Please help me before I have a nervous breakdown!

ICLP電子報第48期：臺灣中部旅遊 ~ A Tour of Central Taiwan (featured in 48th ICLP Bulletin)

電子報第48期：臺灣中部旅遊 (original article including photos)

A Tour of Central Taiwan
English Translation of an Article by James Smyth

In my last report of ICLP’s trip to Central Taiwan, I described the Mazu Festival in Beigang. This time, I’ll recount the rest of the trip. We had all sorts of activities during an abundant three days of travel. I invite everyone to read the following, and if any of these places interest you, you can go visit them yourself!

On the way to Beigang, we stopped at the Zhongxing Kebao factory; we took a leisurely tour of its new museum and learned more about our favorite staple food: rice. At the museum shop, we tried rice ice cream [rice cream?], malted rice milk tea, and the like.

After that, we went to Tianwei Flower Garden and rode bicycles through Taiwan’s “Genuine Flower Expo,” which is the traditional farms and neighborhoods of the town. You don’t have to be Lance Armstrong to ride, as the town bicycle shop rents 2-, 3-, and 4-person bicycles in addition to the single-seaters. Pedaling around with friends is a very social way to sight-see. The town’s restaurant, “Grandma’s Kitchen,” also prepared delicious Taiwanese cuisine.

The second day, we drove from Beigang to Lugang. The Qing Emperors made Lugang an important part, as did Japan, so Lugang was central Taiwan’s biggest city until the early 20th century. First we toured the restored historical temple street market. We made yuzhen cakes [consisting of dry flavored powder packed together] and drank oyster soup. While we were in the heart of Lugang, a group of pilgrims carried an icon of Mazu into the temple accompanied by dancing, costumes, and music.

Local high school students gave us tours, which was a natural cultural exchange method. One could say the city’s most famous site is Longshan Temple (it has the same name as Taipei’s most famous place of worship, but the two have no connection with each other). The Lugang Longshan was built in 1653, during the 7th year of Ming Emperor Yongli’s reign. Though numerous natural disasters have damaged it over the last 350 years, it’s always been quickly rebuilt. Its most recent vintage was finished in 1938, during the 13th year of Japanese Emperor Showa, and it has great artistic value.

That afternoon, we ascended to Xitou Forest by bus. On the morning of the third day, we enjoyed a refreshing hike of the cool and beautiful mountain. There we saw the 2800-year old “God Tree.” Actually, before Japan colonized Taiwan, the entire mountain was virgin forest, but the Japanese army harvested almost all the timber to aid the war effort. They spared the “God Tree” because it looked terrible, so its initial misfortune was most fortunate indeed. There were also archetypal flower bulbs which enlightened “Thought and Society” students who had learned the theory that the Chinese character for “emperor” (帝) is a pictogram representing a drooping flower (蒂), symbolizing that society is supported from the top down by the emperor. The mountain resort in which we stayed had all kinds of Japanese shops, and we could also buy some comparatively rare Taiwanese snacks, for example “black charcoal ice cream” (which had the flower of bamboo charcoal).

Finally, we took a boat across Taiwan’s most famous lake, Sun Moon Lake, and sampled its traditional food stands, famous for wild boar, mushroom baozi, and rice wine. The area isn’t your parents’ Sun Moon Lake anymore: the pace of its development surprises year after year.

We returned to Taipei on Saturday evening so we could take a one-day vacation from our exciting three-day vacation and enjoy Easter Sunday.

臺灣＝合

我認為適合代表台灣的是「合」字，
我選的字並不是和平共處的和。因爲選舉季節又即將來臨，我擔心今年那個字沒有代表性。我提出的是「合適」的合，「綜合」的合，也就是「不謀而合」的合。

原因何在呢？首先我認為臺灣適合居住。「古人云。智者樂水。仁者樂山。臺灣非獨有山，且亦有水。」在這個「美麗島」，各種各樣的大自然環境組合在一起，同時也有現代化城市與傳統農村的結合，再加上四季分明，因此作爲一個臺灣居民就不愁生活會流於枯燥無味。

加之，臺灣是多元文化的社會。雖然我是個「老外」，不過連一次也沒有被臺灣人排斥過，我覺得非常難得。我當地朋友也說因爲臺灣已經是多民族的社會，也受不同民族統治的影響，必然比較開放。

我的春節接待家庭就是典型的臺灣文化英雄。父親是退休體育老師和童子軍團長。他曾經騎著自行車遊遍日本。因爲我以前居住在日本，所以我們用日文聊天、唱歌，很多想法都不謀而合。母親雖然不是客家人，可是當客家樂舞團的藝術總監，跟他們一起巡迴世界表演。兒子在華盛頓特區念過研究所。女兒是華語老師，也在英國住過幾年，因此她小孩也說英文說得很好。還有親戚養的導盲犬是從澳洲來的，也可以跟我用我的母語溝通（笑）。他們也接待過六個原住民國中學生三年。由於他們的熱情，使我有這個團圓快樂的過年體驗。

到目前爲止，我在臺灣只住了十個月而已，不過已經對這裡產生了深厚的情感，我要在此感謝各位歡迎我，並祝賀中華民國再一百年好「合」！

臉書時代的情形 ~ The Facebook Generation

臉書時代的情形
作者: 史杰輝
編輯: 沈若榆

自從大學就學以後，我只要透過臉書就可以毫不費力地知道遠方朋友的情形。反過來說，我朋友無論是美國人或是臺灣人，也都可以隨時跟我聯絡。因爲使朋友能夠交換網站，所以臉書在信息跟娛樂活動上也有所貢獻。
如果可以因此緩和分離的痛苦，又何嘗不可？不過從另外一個角度來看，如此方便的社會網絡，並非人人都能抗拒對臉書上癮。即使臉書是交流工具，也絕對不能取代面對面互動交際。雖然歷經多年網絡上的友情，仍然無法了解那個朋友的情形。如果某人在現實生活中沒有其他的興趣，反而在螢幕前面度過大部分的時間，這並不是我們所樂見的。
我有少數朋友至今仍拒絕用臉書，他們說必須藉由親身的經驗來過真正的生活。由於臉書為我個人帶來許許多多的好處，我不願意放棄這個工具，不過我很關心我使用電腦的時間，希望好好利用我生活的寶貴時間。

The Facebook Generation
Author: James Smyth
Editor: Shen Ruo-yu

Ever since I went to college, I’ve been able to use Facebook to effortlessly keep up with my friends from a distance. And whether my friends are American or Taiwanese, they can use Facebook to keep in touch with me. Because Facebook also lets friends trade web addresses, it’s also made a great contribution to the news and entertainment industries.

If we can use the network to ease the pain of separation, what could be wrong with it? Well, such a convenient social network can be addictive. Though Facebook is a handy communication tool, it still can’t compare to face-to-face interaction. Even if you maintain a friendship with someone for years through the Internet, you can’t understand certain things about their lives. Not cultivating one’s interests outside of Facebook and spending most of one’s life in front of a monitor are not things we should look favorably upon.

I have a few friends who refuse to use Facebook. They say only life in the outside world is real. Because Facebook has done so much good for me, I don’t want to give it up, but I keep track of how much time I spend on the computer; I want to use my limited lifespan wisely.

地域觀念的影響

地域觀念的影響
作者：史杰輝
編輯：周長楨

今天我的同學，思婷，說「半身插進土裡」的村民可能免不了討厭那個地方。我認爲她說得很中肯，所以先把這個思想加以分析。我學生時代常常用尖酸刻薄的話描寫我家鄉。即使我了解那是非常安全跟富有的地方，也以爲村民很淺薄、很高傲。作爲一個青少年，固然很容易流於批評人和事，不過理由不充足的話只是害人害己罷了。我如今的愛鄉土感情比任何時候都強烈。

進一步來説，除了我家鄉以外，我也住過在四個不同的地方，那就是杜克大學、馬德里、一座日本農村跟臺北，都各有千秋。在我腦海裡我管每一個地方都叫過「我家」。每到夢到某個地方的時候，我就知道我在那裡感到自在了。去年世界盃的時候我支持三個國家隊。錦標賽當天我四點起床看了比賽，西班牙勝利之後我就欣喜若狂。

我想這樣的觀點與傳統地域觀念有衝突，不過在這個國際化的社會裡類似我的人會一年比一年多。其實，不少居住在日本的移民哀嘆無論他們住在某個地方幾年，參加幾個當地活動，本地的人還是把他們看成旅客，問他們什麽時候要歸國。這是日本移民的苦衷，跟美國的情形截然不同。縱使日本人注意到移民有形的差異，不過至少得承認有日本血統不是當日本人的必要條件。大家都知道我珍惜我日本鄉下經驗，不過我也感到了這個不能跨越的隔閡。

反過來說，我在臺灣也屬於少數民族，不過我在這裡連一次也沒有被排斥，我覺得非常難得。ICLP的國際化固然扮演很重要的角色，不過我當地朋友也說因爲臺灣已經是多種民族的社會，也受過多種民族統治國家的影響，必然比較開放。到目前爲止，我所觀察到的臺灣的地域觀念簡直是微乎其微。

Regionalism’s Influence
Author: James Smyth
Editor: Zhou Chang-zhen

Today my classmate Stephanie said that some people who are “half-planted in their hometown soil” [a Chinese figure of speech] can’t help hating the place. I think this is very true, so first I’d like to expand on her thought. When I was a student, I often used sarcasm to describe my hometown. Even though I knew it was a very safe and prosperous place, I thought the people there were shallow and arrogant. When you’re an adolescent, it’s natural to criticize other people and things, but if you don’t have a good reason for it you’ll simply hurt yourself and others. My love for my hometown has never been stronger than it is now.

Taking it a step further, I’ve now lived in four other places: Duke University, Madrid, my Japanese farming village, and Taipei, each of which has its own great qualities. I’ve thought of each place as “my home” before. Whenever I start to dream of a place, I know I’ve become comfortable there. I supported three teams during last year’s World Cup. I woke up at 4 AM to watch the championship game, and I was celebrating all day after Spain won.

I imagine my attitude conflicts with traditional regionalism and nationalism, but in today’s internationalized society there are more people like me every year. To tell the truth, though, more than a few emigrants to Japan complain that no matter how many years they’ve lived there, and no matter how many local activities they’ve participated in, the natives see them as guests and ask them when they’re planning to return home. This is completely different from the emotional burden carried by, for example, an emigrant to America. Though the Japanese easily distinguish a person looks different, they should at least acknowledge that Japanese ancestry is not a necessary condition for being a Japanese person. You all know I treasured my experience in Japan, but I also felt this kind of distance from people when I lived there.

Though I am also a minority in Taiwan, I’ve never felt left out here, and I find that amazing. ICLP’s international atmosphere obviously plays a big role in that, but my Taiwanese friends also say that because their island already has so many ethnic groups, and it has been governed by many different nations, it has a more open society. As far as I can tell, Taiwanese-style “nationalism” is a rare thing.

日本教育的好處 ~ Japanese Education’s Strong Points

日本教育的好處
作者：史杰輝
編輯：周長楨

大學畢業後我在日本五所國立中小學校教了兩年的英文。我一共跟四十多位老師跟一千多個學生一起上課。根據我的觀點這種了解日本教育的機會真是鳳毛麟角。日本教育跟我國教育比起來，缺陷有倒是有，可是在原則方面也有很明顯的優點，以下我要擧一些例子。

許多美國朋友，尤其是男生表示他們小學的時候討厭上課因爲令他們悶得發慌。更可憐的是許多教育者以爲類似的坐立不安的學生有精神病，因此讓他們天天吃葯。不過孩子本來不適合坐著念書，而需要常常運動、體驗。雖然日本也有不少應升學主義而成爲「書呆子」的學生，但是學校都爲了培養四育起見，進行各種各樣的活動，尤其是小學。我的學生往往要參加似乎無限的活動，包括園藝、種田、每日運動、藝術、表演、工作經歷、拜訪療養院等等，這幫助學生同時明白和培養自己的興趣和擴大經驗的範圍。我認爲一般的學校之所以智育站首要地位就是因爲智育是最容易管理的方面而已。

美國老師的標準與地位都不如日本老師。日本用淘汰制度挑選老師，原因在於該工作的名聲、穩定性，而且薪水很高。老師也在教書生涯中受訓練、加班。因此我認識的日本老師大部分都不但聰明而且認真。

我最後要討論日本老師的責任感。如果學生受傷或是被逮捕，醫生跟警察一定給學生的「担任老師」打電話，老師無論如何都會到學生那裡去。開學的時候老師爲了了解學生的家庭情形起見要拜訪他所有學生的家。老師也每個星期都要看學生寫給他們的日記，然後老師給學生私人指導。我不要說美國老師應該像日本老師一樣當學生生活上最重要的人，原因之一是日本跟美國有不能調和的文化差異，不過我個人在日本教書的時候感到我跟自己中小學老師的距離是一個缺憾。

因爲受到時間的限制，我只能談到這三個現象，不過因爲我對這個話題相當有興趣，歡迎各位老師跟同學隨時跟我一起討論日本教育的情形。

Japanese Education’s Strong Points
Author: James Smyth
Editor: Zhou Chang-zhen

After graduating from college, I taught English in Japan for two years. I had class with over 40 teachers and 1000 students altogether; it was a precious opportunity to learn about Japanese education. Though Japanese schools don’t surpass my home country in every respect, it still has many good qualities, some of which I’ll describe here.

Many of my American friends, especially men, have told me that they hated going to elementary school because it bored them out of their minds. What’s worse is that many educators assumed restless students like them had mental problems and fed these children medicine day after day. But young people aren’t meant to sit and read all day: they need to exercise and try different things. Although Japan has more than a few bookworms, its schools, especially elementary schools, still offer several kinds of activities designed to provide a well-rounded training of the body, knowledge, teamwork, and morality. My students participated in a seemingly endless number of events, including gardening, rice-planting, daily exercise, art, work experiences, visiting nursing homes, and so forth. This helped them realize their own interests and abilities and expand their horizons. I think the majority of schools devote most of their time to the “knowledge” side of education simply because that’s the easiest to teach.

Japanese teachers have to meet higher standards than their American counterparts and also receive more respect. Teachers have to compete for positions in Japan because the occupation has so much esteem, stability, and remuneration. Teachers receive training and work overtime throughout their careers. Hence, most of the teachers I met there were not only intelligent but also hard-working.

Finally, I’d like to discuss Japanese teachers’ sense of responsibility to their students. If a student is injured or arrested, the doctor or policeman will call his homeroom teacher, and the teacher will drop everything and visit the student no matter what. At the beginning of the school year, teachers visit students’ homes to understand their families’ circumstances. Students also write diaries for their teachers, who after reading them give their students guidance. I’m not saying American teachers should become the most important people in their students’ lives, as Japanese teachers are – for one, there is a vast cultural differences between the two countries – but after teaching in Japan, I felt regret about the distance between me and my elementary and junior high school teachers.

Because of time constraints, I can only discuss these three phenomena, but because I’m very interested in this topic, I invite my teachers and classmates to discuss Japanese education with me any time.

ICLP電子報第47期：何寶彰教授演講側記 ~ Notes from Professor He Bao-zhang’s Lecture (featured in 47th ICLP Bulletin)

電子報第47期：何寶彰教授演講側記

Notes from Professor He Bao-zhang’s Lecture
English Translation of an Article by James Smyth

On the afternoon of April 20th, just before our spring vacation, Professor He Bao-zhang, who researches Chinese language education, came to ICLP and gave a lively introduction of his most recent work on grammar instruction. Dr. He taught at Ohio State, Harvard, and Holy Cross Universities in the United States for many years. In his experience, if a professor learns his students’ mother language, he can more easily grasp the difficulties the students will have with Chinese grammar and help them. Because students use syntax from their native languages and other foreign languages they’ve studied, they think they’re speaking very clearly, so they need definitive explanations of the differences between other languages and Mandarin. Grammar books should be bilingual, otherwise the explanations will be harder for students to understand than the examples.

One wedge between Western languages and Chinese is articles. In English, all common nouns are preceded by either “the” or “a.” Roughly speaking, the definite article “the” signifies “that particular thing” while the indefinite article “a” means “an unspecified one of those things.” Chinese doesn’t have articles, but it does put particular emphasis on the construction of a sentence; for example, “How does he sing?” and “How is his singing?” emphasize difference things, and teachers should stress that so that their students can speak more natural Chinese. When introducing grammar, however, a teacher shouldn’t get too caught up in detailing exceptions to rules, otherwise his students could forget the original purpose of the lesson or become frustrated and think Chinese is too difficult.

In the last part of the lecture, Dr. He and ICLP teachers had a spirited discussion of the evolution of conversational Chinese in Taiwan, especially the obvious influence of English: for example, teachers often overhear pidgin like “O bu OK?” (is it OK?) or “under bu understand?” (do you understand?) This exchange reminded me of my classmate Lance Davis’s report at the end of last term; obviously the subject is also of great interest to language instructors. Along these lines, Dr. He encouraged exchange students to make lots of Taiwanese friends, but he said if these friends challenge students with arguments like “I can understand you; you can understand me, so why are you still paying so much money to go to class?” they should calmly remind themselves why they’re studying: formal environments demand much greater proficiency than conversations among friends do.

Dr. He has a warm personality and deep experience, and his research is very meaningful, so the audience all went home happy.

ICLP電子報第47期:北港媽祖廟會 ~ Beigang Mazu Festival (Featured in 47th ICLP Bulletin)

ICLP 電子報: 北港媽祖廟會 (Original Article Which Includes Photos)

Beigang Matsu Festival
By James Smyth

On Thursday, April 21, a group from ICLP went to Beigang for the most important field trip of the school year. This year, over 30 students and teachers left together from Taipei; other students fit the trip into their own travel plans and met us there. Some students said this was their first time to leave Taipei and come to “the real Taiwan,” so it was a precious opportunity for them.

Because teachers and students have contributed so many pictures and videos, I think writing too many words to describe the trip would be like drawing legs for a snake (superfluous (unless it’s Trogdor the Burninator)), so instead I’ll just explain what you’re seeing in the images. Mazu (“Mother Ancestor”), also called Shengmu (“Holy Mother”), is a traditional Chinese goddess. She is a patron saint of the people of southeastern China, including the Taiwanese. In 1694 (Year 33 of Qing Emperor Kangxi’s reign), a figure of the goddess was brought from Meizhou, Fujian to Taiwan, and the people of Beigang built a temple to house her. Now more than a million people visit Chaotian Temple every year, and the busiest time of year is her birthday, the recently-passed 19th day of the third month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

Obviously, the incense, offerings, paper money, dice, censers, and donations were busy at Chaotian Temple, but the most distinctive part of the festival was the parade of pilgrims circling the temple, led by Mazu’s “advance guard.” They must have been exceptionally brave because all around them, people were setting off fireworks, mascots were dancing, and people and gods were both acting as Mazu’s servants. People carried images of the goddess in carts on their shoulders. Not only the Americans but even many Taiwanese thought it was brutally loud. So many fireworks were set off that when the wind blew or cars drove by, their tattered wrappers took to the air like they were dancing. Judging by this tradition, Mazu and the people have a mutually beneficial relationship: the people defend her from manmade threats, and she defends them from natural ones.

The parade floats (called “artistic pavilions”) were like no other. Small children dressed as Mazu sat atop beautifully decorated vehicles and threw candy to the people. I could tell from the many emotional faces in the crowd that they felt like they were encountering the goddess through the children. The children were extremely well-behaved; though the time they spent in makeup must have been longer than a typical school day, and the floats were blaring all kinds of cheerful music, even arch-American anthems like “Yankee Doodle” and “Jingle Bells,” they kept on serving their elders. The next Monday, to keep the positive cycle going, I threw candy I received to my classmates and teachers at school.

Han Feizi said that when all is peaceful under heaven, the people do not need to ask for help from ghosts or gods, and their faith diminishes. Religious belief is weaker every year in modern Europe; might rapidly developing Taiwan suffer the same phenomenon? I’m not qualified to say, but before we arrived in Beigang, a minor accident destroyed my sense of “invincibility.” I was resless at a rest stop, and I decided to get some exercise, so I took off running. Somehow, I slipped, fell, and slid across the concrete headfirst like a baseball player, cutting open my elbow, knee, and stomach. I must have looked like a small child. I was treated on the bus, at the next destination, and in a Beigang hospital, and I’m already much better, but it made me think that no matter what our circumstances, our lives are fragile: a natural disaster or a manmade one, a disease or an accident could break us down. I personally believe that people cannot outgrow religious faith. Speaking of which, recently sea travelers have decreased dramatically, but more people ride airplanes every year, especially Taiwanese, who often travel abroad, and they need a protector goddess, too. Perhaps Mazu is already on the job!