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Taiwan at the Crossroads
And although they had different customs and cultural preferences, they were almost all from Han Chinese culture. Fundamentally, these people and the original inhabitants of Taiwan were still able to adapt to each other. I remember that at the time of the February 28 Incident, the students at Hsinchu High School actively protected their headmaster, Mr. Hsin Chih-p'ing

, and his family who had recently come to Taiwan from the Mainland. The Dean of Studies. Mr. Lo Fu-sheng

brought hundreds of catties of rice to the school from his hometown in Chutung to feed the mainland teachers and their families who were being protected inside the school.  These things could prove that among the common people, there was no distinction between the ethnic groups, and there was no difference between the good people and the bad people.

Although there was no clear distinction between ethnic groups among the common people, there was still some residual friction between the mainlanders and the locals, and there are some political reasons for this. There is no need to pretend that in the early years the Kuomintang authoritarian rule did not mean cooperation of the ordinary people of Taiwan along with mainlanders and aborigines. It was the high-ranking central government officials at that time who enjoyed all the resources and the majority of the ordinary people were without. The conflict between the oppressors and the oppressed was often used to describe the mainlanders and the locals.

     In the transition from the high-handed rule by the Japanese to the oppressive rule by the people of the same ethnic background, Taiwanese people long ago learned to bury deep in their hearts the belief that they should be their own masters.  During that period, many people suffered.  The machinery thriving in the country was the development of a grassroot democratic and diverse social structure. Apart from these, the people of Taiwan came to realize that the establishment of a fair and reasonable social system was the only way to safeguard the rights and interests of the ordinary people.  Well, that is all what I want to say about the local history of Taiwan.  Now let me expand this scope to look at Taiwan from the prospective of the rest of the world.

     Although there was some impressive economic development in recent years, people in Taiwan as well as in many parts of Asia are still suffering from the consequences of the population explosion, the damage done to the ecosystem and the living environment, as well as the poor management of limited resources.  When you visit some of the major cities in Taiwan and in the Third World countries today, you will notice that along with modernization or westernization, which is symbolized by the rising of big tall buildings and the increasing number of automobiles, the presence of suffocating air pollution as well as mammoth traffic congestion.

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