Tuesday 28 July 2009
Here is another side of the games - the political side. You see, even though Taiwan is hosting the games, and Kaohsiung city pretty much paid for the whole thing out of their pocket, local athletes are not allowed to compete under their country's name or flag. They are called "Chinese Taipei," which is a huge slap in the face as far as names go, both for the Chinese part, and because this isn't Taipei, it's Kaohsiung, and people down here are proud to be southerners.
There has been some protesting, especially by this group here, but not nearly as much as I would have thought. I think most Taiwanese are just happy to be hosting the games, to maybe be getting some international attention, to have more foreigners to shout "hello!" to for a couple of weeks, and have decided to let the politics lie. But I know if this were my country, I would be awfully mad about the whole thing.
At the closing ceremony, the mayor (an incredible woman who has done time in jail for her pro-independence activities) slipped a bunch of references to Taiwan's democracy and freedom into her speech, which was fantastic.
Here is another side of the games - the political side. You see, even though Taiwan is hosting the games, and Kaohsiung city pretty much paid for the whole thing out of their pocket, local athletes are not allowed to compete under their country's name or flag. They are called "Chinese Taipei," which is a huge slap in the face as far as names go, both for the Chinese part, and because this isn't Taipei, it's Kaohsiung, and people down here are proud to be southerners.
There has been some protesting, especially by this group here, but not nearly as much as I would have thought. I think most Taiwanese are just happy to be hosting the games, to maybe be getting some international attention, to have more foreigners to shout "hello!" to for a couple of weeks, and have decided to let the politics lie. But I know if this were my country, I would be awfully mad about the whole thing.
At the closing ceremony, the mayor (an incredible woman who has done time in jail for her pro-independence activities) slipped a bunch of references to Taiwan's democracy and freedom into her speech, which was fantastic.
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