Friday 6 March 2009
Two things of note in this picture. First off, you may notice the 100 in the upper left corner - that's the year the scooter is registered until. Yes, the year 100. You see, to make things confusing, Taiwan decided to start counting from 1911 (the year in which the nation, the Republic of China, was founded). So, 1911 is year 1. This year is year 98. I was born in year 70. (Funny story - when I bought my very first cell phone here, I wrote in my birth date at just 81, instead of 1981. After a few days it still wasn't connected, so I called them up. They were waiting for a parent or guardian's signature, because they thought I was just 11 years old.) "Taiwan years" are used by almost everyone for almost everything here.
And secondly, the Chinese at the top of the plate actually says "Province of Taiwan," the same word for province that is used by China. Now, why Taiwan would imply they were a province of China, I don't know. I've asked a bunch of Taiwanese people, and no one seems to know. Very strange.
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