Is Ma a crypto-muslim?

i had a friend whose family name was Ma. She told me she had to go do some religious ritual her family does every year. i was thinking she was talking about something Taoist,and was shocked to hear her say " no my family is muslim". she went on to explain how muslim was her family's religion from way back, how their religion was totally chinese, their eating customs (which were radically different from middle eastern muslims), etc. her family's version of islam was veiled under chinese culture. it resembled Taoism but it wasn't. According to wikipedia, the family name Ma comes from Mohammed (repronounced in chinese as Ma Ha Me). my friend told me that MOST people in taiwan named Ma have a muslim ancestor. so why do we see Ma ying Jiou kowtowing in MaDzu temples? why do we see him holding those incese sticks all the time? is it just to court votes, or is there something deeper about MaDzu (in other words is she really a chinese-ized form of Fatima, or even the Virgin Mary, and is that the real secret that the Tao sects in taiwan want to keep hidden)? this would not be the first thing to have been hidden this way.There are famous cryto "kurisutan" sites in japan as well as in china. even the martial arts may be crypto- occidental. Karate master Mas Oyama said that karate came from greece, by way of alexander to india, then onward into china, and finally to okinawa and japan. the oral traditions of karate state that "karate does not come from buddhism or shinto". it is also beleived that wing chun kung fu may have orignated in egypt, due to its emphasis on triangles.heiroglyphs of simliar movements to wing chun have been found in pyramids. it is beleived the system was transmitted as part of an ancient set of knowledge contained in the libraries of alexandria that made its way to china proper. at any rate, if Ma is a crypto muslim, and indeed his visit to a taipei mosque sometime back may be a hint, coming out of the closet would be a great thing. at least, it would open up a conversaton about what it means to be chinese. not all chinese burn incense and paper money and pray to their ancestors. there are chinese jews, muslims, and christians with a thousand year lineage, not to mention many groups in china practice tribal relgions. are they any less "chinese"?

a new year,and more truth coming!

another year has gone by at truth about taiwan, and we're ready to take on the new one! I'll be back with even harder hitting articles, asking the questions that need to be asked. the truth about taiwan has been here for 3 years,gaining followers, without much in the way of internet savvy. i beleive it's because the truth, or at least an honest attempt at it, is what people really want. if you tell the truth, or at least your honest opinion of it, people will come. i thank you all for your loyal readership of this site. We're here to make the good guys smile and the bad guys tremble, and to expose the agendas that are trying to define what all of us,foriegner and local,should be. Happy New Year!!

staying warm in taiwan winter

winters in taiwan are dreary,thanks to Siberan cold fronts mixed with local dampness. on top of that, houses in taiwan have no insulation! they are built of steel and concrete to withstand earthquakes and typhoons. for that purpose they do very well. but nobody thought to put in another wall with insulation behind it. at any rate, there are things you can do to keep yourself and your "tao fang" (small suite, as i presume most foriegners will rent this kind of house) warm, and they don't cost much: 1. go get some "tatami squares". these are artificial tatamis cut into pieces with jigsaw edges to fit them together. very cheap, and VERY effective for keeping the cold from coming up thru the concrete floors. your room will feel TOTALLY different with these. 2. make sure you have curtains on your windows. tons of cold comes thru glass via osmosis. 3. you need TWO kinds of blankets on your bed (DO NOT SLEEP ON THE FLOOR). the first blanket is the "fuzzy" kind. that goes on the bed, under you. the second is a japanese futon style blanket. ALWAYS BUY 100% natural flller and covering for these or you will wake up wet from sweat. 4. turn your small space heater on at regular intervals, but not all night. 5. this sounds backwards, but you MUST keep your window cracked a little during the night. waking up choking from CO2 that you've breathed back and forth IS NOT FUN. 6. sleep with a cap on. 7. outside wear should consist of a gortex undewear layer, followed by a T shirt and jeans, then a cotton jacket, followed by a wind breaker. this is so you can peel layers if/when it warms up sometimes in the day. a scarf, gloves, winter socks, and cap round out the ensemble. most of your heat escapes thru your head, hands and feet. 8. on your scooter, wear a wind breaker and make sure you have a raincoat AND rainboots and gloves. having any part of your body wet and cold on a scooter is not fun. also wear a FULL FACE HELMET! it's safer, and keeps your head warm and dry. 9. try to drink more soup and hot tea. 10. do your computer work at starbucks or other warm place.^^ that's all. MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all!

more wing chun bullshit, exposed

sorry to divert once again to martial arts, but since i don't actually have a "wing chun blog" i will merge my two interests (wing chun and taiwan stupidity) in one post. bear with me. i'll try to make it relevant to taiwan/chinese culture.

wing chun is full of shit. yes it's a good style, but there is some defintite bullshit going on in this style:

1. centerline theory- wing chun people claim "most of your important organs are on the centerline, so you must protect them by placing your guard there". oh really? which ones? your liver, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, even heart, are NOT ON THE CENTERLINE. and forget about " pressure points" on the centerline. i'd rather you hit me with your fancy smancy pressure points than get a DIRECT HIT to my liver because i was too stupid to guard it like a good boxer does.

2. a straight line produces the most power- if so, then why do baseball players swing the bat in an arc? why not just bunt? cause straight lines don't produce much power. torque and circular motion DO. i'd take a wing chun punch over a left hook from a boxer anyday.

3. intercepting is better than blocking- hate to tell you this, but in order to intercept (punch someone while they're punching you, without him actually hitting you) your action would have to be TWICE AS FAST as his initial action, because REACTION IS ALWAYS SLOWER THAN ACTION! there is a time lag between when he starts the action and when you percive the action, to when you react. and a good boxer gives nearly ZERO indication as to where and when he's going to hit you. 4. fuck your sifu- so tired of seeing westerners the size of football players groveling over little old chinese guys, calling them master. straighten your back, stop bowing, and get a life. 5. fuck your lineage- show me which lineage is winning in the MMA, and i'll listen, other wise shut the fuck up. half of the history your master told you is bullshit anyway, and it's damn well not worth having death matches over. 6. i learned the system , so i'm deadly - if it were that easy to be a badass, the whole world would be filled with an army of wing chun geeks wreaking havoc. luckily, things like toughness and killer cunning can't be taught in schools, and don't really even require a martial art to have. so prepare to get your ass kicked one day, no matter who much kung fu you know. 7. let's chi sao in public- a really narcisstic, stupid activity. 8. theory theory theory- til you get hit or taken to the ground. then theory doesn't mean jack does it? .... all for now. tired of writing.

if you're not living in taipei.....

... you're basically wasting your taiwan experience. i lived in taipei for many years before moving to another part of the island, and all i can say is, the change in scenery doesn't make up for the utter stupidity of rural taiwan people. in taipei, people generally know that they can't make too much noise,don't park their vehicles like they have dyslexia, and generally don't act like they just came out of a chimpanzee cage. but the rest of this island, in the words of george carlin " Holy jumping shitballs! dumber than a second coat of paint!" you as a foriegner (unless you just look at the ground everytime rural taiwanese think you should) will have many problems with these people. it won't be long before they start pushing the limits with you, because they want to show you that you (and yes even your taiwan spouse) are outsiders. these people are also violent and basically have the law on their side thanks to gwan shi with the cops. also, their constant, noisy religious rituals and burning of paper money even drives taipei people batty. take my advice: move to taipei and stay there. the rest of this island isn't worth your time and stress.

tai ke island: an internet mini novel

the following is an internet mini novel dystopia. hope you enjoy it^^ wang ping, writing in the year 2060, in the 40th year of the new taiwan republic, to the leaders of the G 50 nations, regarding the plight of separatists on what was formerly green island, now known colloquially as "taike island". i will give a brief chronology of the events and results of decisions made up to the present: 2020- president jeremy lin,a former basketball star, began a policy of rapid westernization and christianization of the island. his first steps were to illegalize all religious parades. this drew hostility from traditional taiwanese, whose religion, Dao, required such parades. lin also,on environmental grounds, banned all burning of paper money. 2023- traditional taiwanese factions, known as the "taike", formed a separatist coalition which took the form of protests and violent clashes. 2025- upon re-election, president lin issued a granting of separation proclamation to the taike, giving them full autonomy on green island, on the condition that they would now be forever denied entrance to taiwan proper as well as receiving no western technology. 2028- the exodus of a majority of the taike was complete. those who stayed decided to abandon the movement and embrace modernization. 2030- while on taiwan proper, crime had dropped drastically, on green island, it was rife. a heiarchy of thugs ruled the island. these thugs took wives from whomever they chose, and basically meted out justice according to their whims or relationships. on taiwan proper, the rule of law made all equal before it. 2035- on taiwan proper, pollution had dropped over 50%. modern farming techniques made practices such as field burning obsolete. also since the daoist population dropped by 85%,pollution from these religious sources were gone. the remaining serious daoist who held to Dao as a philosophy did not need to practice burning and were given full freedom under the separation of religion and state laws established by former president lin. on green island, henceforth known as taike island, pollution was reaching dangerous levels. taike had brought their previous western derived technology with them, despite their claims that they did not need anything from western culture. they used this technology to establish industry and trade on the island, nevertheless ignoring the pollution they created. 2040- disease is rife on taike island, since there are no western medical facilities. dental care is down the the pre-Dr.mackay era levels, in other words non existent.birth deformities from pollution are becoming common. 2050- the situation on taike island is bleak. last intelligence reports are that there are no trees anywhere on the island, due to them all being cut down for use in temples, manufacture of idols, and other religious uses. while food is grown on the island, its sale is controlled by thugs who set the prices. there is no true economy on the island. 2060- the G50 delgation investigated the island, only to find that the population has dwindled from many million to a few hundred thousand. the populace also is difficult to communicate with, since they only speak the in context of mysticism and superstition. many do not even know that taiwan proper exists. it is the humble asking of this writer, at the behest of the new republic of taiwan, that the G50 nations offer assistance to them, but to also vote no on allowing the taike to return to our island. our country has made remarkable strides. crime has dropped to near zero. our air is among the cleanest in asia. christianity, scientific atheism, and logical agnostism flourish on our island. a large criminal element, of which most of taike island is a part of, would infiltrate our island if they were allowed to return. we feel as if the devil has been bound, and we are living in the millenium of prosperity. we ask that our island be allowed to continue on its path of improvement, and those of taike island be allowed to continue on the path which they chose for themselves.

government media control: will taiwan become another south korea?

a recent report states that several prominant journalists in south korea are resigining, claiming government interference with the content of their reporting. one only has to look at korean pop music to know that the gov has it's hand in it: ditzy, cheap dance routines of 5 or more boys/girls with very shallow childish melody and instrumentation. one also only has to be in korea a short time to see that westerners aren't so welcome. the news routinely shows negative stories about foriegners, the type korean americans would scream out against if the tables were reversed. also the past decade has been one where korea has been nationalistcally claiming it invented everything that was once the domain of chinese culture. they have even claimed confucious as being korean. korea is an extreme nationalist state, wiht the government infiltrating every facet of korean life. it is beleived by some that sun yung moon( moonies cult) is actually a creation of the south korean CIA. will taiwan become like korea? it's already there, but less obvious. look at the total monopoly that bubblegum pop has in this country. look at the shallow reporting on TV.look at the near total infantilisation of the populace. look at the negative images of foreigners being thrown in our faces ad infinitum. look at the racial slurs being said on national TV and in advertising. ask the average taiwanese how "great" his country is. ask them who ran the japanese off, and they'll say chiang kai shek (the japanese had left WAY before he got here). this is what "truth about taiwan" has been warning of all along. it's what I saw pretty much the day i got here. taiwan people, you are in the matrix. wake up!