GGs Adventure 海外遊子的生活點滴

     Recent anti-China demonstrations and violence in Taiwan have highlighted the wide culture and perception gap between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Living in Taipei, I sometimes feel that, even as both sides strengthen commercial ties, their political cultures remain separated by a wide, perhaps irreconcilable gulf.

近來發生在台灣的反中國示威與暴力事件凸顯出了台海兩岸之間極大的文化與認知差異。生活在台北，我有時可以感受到雙方在政治文化上依然被無解的鴻溝所阻隔，即使是雙方正在加強經貿往來的當下。

      Hopes were high under Taiwan’s new president Ma Ying-jeou of a new era of cross-strait reconciliation. And indeed, there’s been progress. The 15-year dream of direct cross-strait air and shipping links was finally realized earlier this month. And the island has opened its doors to more Chinese tourists.

民眾對於新總統馬英九上任後的兩岸和解新局有著相當高的期許，而事情也的確有所進展。長達15年的直航之夢在這個月稍早終於被實現了，這座島嶼也已經向更多的中國遊客敞開大門。

     But if the economies are drawing closer, the Taiwanese and Chinese peoples seem as far apart as ever. Witness events in the last month. In late October, a Chinese official visiting southern Taiwan was roughed up by a small, angry anti-China crowd (including, pathetically, an elderly woman who banged on the official’s car with her crutch).

但正當經貿關係越趨緊密時，台灣人與中國人的關係卻似乎背道而馳。如此的證明發生在上個月。10月下旬，一位中國官員拜訪南台灣時遭到一小群憤怒的反中國人士粗暴對待（令人感傷的是，這當中包含了一位以拐杖攻擊該名官員轎車的老太太）。

     On Oct. 25, tens of thousands poured into the Taipei streets to demonstrate against China and the Beijing-friendly president Ma. A common refrain I heard at the protests: Ma is selling out Taiwan, sacrificing its dignity and autonomy for filthy lucre.

10月25日，數十萬人湧入台北街頭表達對中國與親中總統馬英九的抗議。我在遊行中普遍聽到的話語就是「馬英九出賣台灣，並且為了不當的利益犧牲了自己的人格與國家主權」。

      Things got worse during the Nov. 3-7 visit of China’s top cross-strait negotiator, Chen Yunlin. Protesters trapped him in a Taipei hotel for eight hours. An unruly crowd surrounded and yelled at a celebrity Chinese journalist from CCTV. And enraged anti-China demonstrators clashed violently with police. (I personally saw one irate, hard-bitten southerner attempt to scale four layers of barbed-wire-wrapped metal barriers, before reason triumphed over emotion).

事情到了11月3-7日，中國負責兩岸事務的最高層級談判代表陳雲林到訪時更加惡化。抗議群眾將他困在台北的一家飯店長達8小時。失控的民眾包圍中國央視的一位名主播並對其咆哮。被激怒的群眾與警方爆發了激烈的推擠衝突。（我親眼目睹一位憤怒的南部民眾試著攀越四層的鐵拒馬，但後來他的衝動被理性擊敗了。）

       To be sure, the violent protesters were an extreme minority. Yet negative views of China are widespread here. According to a recent government-commissioned poll, 65% of Taiwanese think China’s government is "unfriendly" to Taiwan’s government, and 46% think it’s unfriendly to Taiwan citizens. Not too surprising, since China’s coastline bristles with missiles — over 1,000, by recent counts — aimed at Taiwan, ostensibly to "deter" any moves towards formal independence.

雖然使用暴力的民眾是極少數的，但對於中國的負面觀感已在此廣泛蔓延。根據一份最近的政府委託民調，有65%的台灣人認為中國政府對台灣政府是不友善的，另外有46%的人認為中國政府對台灣人民是不友善的。這並不令我意外，因為中國在其沿海設置了超過1,000枚的飛彈對準台灣，雖然表面上僅是嚇阻台灣邁向正式的獨立。

      But another poll, from "Global Views" magazine in September, surprised me more. The magazine asked "If both sides of the Taiwan Strait one day match each other in terms of the economy, politics and society, would you support unification?"

但另一份來自《遠見雜誌》的民調倒是令我比較驚訝。雜誌問說，「假如台海兩岸有一天在經濟、政治與社會等各方面皆達到一致，你是否會贊成統一？」

     Fully 66% of respondents said "No" — up sharply from May 2004, when 38% rejected the idea.

結果有整整66%的人說「不」，比起2004年5月時回答相同答案的38%大幅地增加。

       Anecdotally, nothing in my experience suggests that further exchanges will help reverse that sentiment. In fact, it may only harden attitudes. Take the Taiwanese landlord I recently met, whose family runs factories in Suzhou. She complained about Chinese workers, saying if you compensate one for an injury, the next day scores of other workers come in with fake or self-inflicted ones, looking for their handout. Chinese take advantage of any perceived kindness or weakness, she said.

有趣的是，在我的經驗中，任何更多的交流都不會改變這樣的心態。事實上，這只可能會使這樣的態度更為堅定。以我最近認識的一位台灣地主為例，她的家人在蘇州經營工廠，但她對中國勞工卻是多所不滿。她說，如果你對一個因工受傷的職員進行補償，隔天就會有一堆假裝受傷或是自殘的員工來跟你要錢。「中國人很會利用人的善心與弱點」，她說道。

       Then there was the young Taiwanese travel agent I met at one recent rally. She knows Chinese tourists could help the island’s economy (and her own business), but she still doesn’t welcome them. "They spit, and urinate in public," was her reason (she should have added chain-smoking indoors and out, which is a more serious nuisance, in my observation).

還有一位我在最近的遊行中認識的旅遊業者。她知道中國觀光客可以幫助台灣的經濟（以及她自己的事業），但她就是不歡迎他們。「他們隨地吐痰，還在眾目睽睽下便溺」是她的理由（她應該把那些不論在室內室外都猛抽煙的中國客算進去，我認為那是更為嚴重的惡劣行徑）。

       Or the young Taiwanese student I met on a bus to Quanzhou, in China’s Fujian Province, where he was attending Overseas Chinese University. He spent most of the two-hour ride from Xiamen complaining bitterly about China. He spoke with contempt about the Chinese, who he clearly saw as backward, uncouth hicks. But what most upset him wasn’t the people, or the lack of political freedoms, or free speech. No, it was the food. He missed his Taipei night markets, and quality seafood.

又或者是我在福建泉州的巴士上遇到的一位年輕台灣學生，他在當地的華僑大學就讀。從廈門啟程的兩個小時路途中，他花了大多數的時間在數落抱怨中國。他以輕蔑羞辱的語氣談論中國人，而且很認真地將他們視為落後粗魯的鄉巴佬。(劃線部分是我翻的, day tripper好像漏掉了)不過最讓他不愉快的不是人,也不是缺乏政治自由或是言論自由,而是食物. 他錯過了台灣的夜市與美味的海鮮.

       For their part, the Chinese have a host of complaints about Taiwanese. A fashion designer I met in Beijing said Taiwanese are snobs, and look down on mainlanders — a common complaint. Taiwan bosses of mainland factories are widely viewed as exploitative slave-drivers who help themselves to at least one or two mistresses and lord it over their mainland "cousins."

反之，中國人對於台灣人也是有滿肚子怨氣。我認識的一位北京服裝設計師就說台灣人都是勢利鬼，而且看不起我們大陸人。這樣的抱怨時有所聞。在中國開工廠的台灣老闆們普遍被視為剝削勞工的奴役者，好讓自己能夠包二奶、三奶，並作威作福。

     Other Chinese I’ve met are either ignorant about Taiwan, or spout Beijing’s propaganda line, automaton-like. "I must insist that Taiwan is a part of China, that is our bottom line," a young woman told me recently on an overnight train from Guangzhou to Xiamen. I had to look over to see if she was reading from a cue card. On the train coming back, after a couple of "Blue Power" Guangdong beers, a young man elaborated on how Taiwan was just part of the US’ grand plot to keep China down. Riiiight. (好Q的一個Right啊!!)

其他我認識的中國人，對於台灣若不是毫不在乎，就是像機器人一般地高唱北京政府的官腔官調。「我堅持台灣是中國的一部份，這是我們的底線」，一位年輕女孩最近在一班從廣州到廈門的夜車上這樣對我說。這使得我必須仔細檢查她是否在閱讀大字報。在回程的車上，我喝了一些廣東的"Blue Power"啤酒後，一位年輕人努力地向我解釋台灣只不過是美國用來壓制中國的一顆棋子。最好是這樣啦…

       For his part, Chen Yunlin was reportedly livid that Taiwanese police couldn’t simply clear the hotel area of protesters — a simple enough task in the mainland, but not in freewheeling, democratic Taiwan, where there’s such a thing as civil liberties. He was stuck making small talk with the Kuomintang chairman for an uncomfortably long time ("So, is it always this warm in Taipei this time of year?").

以他的角度來看，陳雲林對於台灣警方無法驅離示威者並靜空飯店周遭而勃然大怒，這在中國是再簡單不過的任務了。然而在有言論自由、民主的台灣卻不是這樣，這個地方有所謂的自由人權。陳雲林因此只能夠與國民黨黨主席閒聊，以打發這難熬的漫漫長夜（「嗯…台北每年這個時候都是這麼的『溫暖』嗎？」）。

       If anything, the recent month has underscored the fact that unification remains a pipe dream. The differences in culture, attitude and mentality are far too vast to bridge. Taiwanese want to do more business with Chinese, take more Chinese tourist dollars, get to their mainland factories more easily — that’s about it. If Ma actually does anything to erode Taiwan’s political freedoms, the violent minority throwing a tantrum last week could quickly become a majority.

真要說有什麼成果的話，最近這個月的事實已經凸顯出統一仍然只是虛幻的白日夢。台灣與中國之間的文化、心態與價值觀實在是一道難以跨越的鴻溝。台灣人想與中國做更多生意、賺更多觀光財、更輕易地到達他們在中國的工廠，就只是這樣而已。如果馬英九做出任何有損台灣政治自由的事，那些在上個月發出怒吼的少數「暴民」將迅速地變成多數。

      I’d guess the Chinese delegation got the message. At Taipei’s Grand Hotel, that gaudy monument to Chinese kitsch, a manager told Taiwan media that hotel staff walking through the hallways could hear late-night noises from behind the delegation’s closed room doors. The Chinese were all watching Taiwan TV news — 24-hour cable stations showing looping footage of the violent protests against them, and spirited, emotional debate about their visit.

我猜測中國代表團已經獲得這樣的訊息。在台北的圓山飯店，那個粗劣低俗的中國式紀念碑中，一位經理告訴台灣媒體說，飯店員工在走廊上可以聽見半夜裡中國代表團房裡傳出的聲音。中國官員們全都在看台灣的電視新聞，24小時放送的有線電視中重複地播著那些抗議他們的暴怒群眾，以及高聲地談論著他們的政論節目。

For some of the Chinese, at least, the unification dream must have died right there.

至少對某些中國人來說，統一大夢在此已宣告破滅。

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延伸閱讀:

台灣中國彷彿兩個星球