Taipei’s “Tongzhi” Issue
March 24th, 2008 | Published in glbt
Say what you will about Taiwanese politics, but I don’t think I’ll ever live to see the day in which we have such open debate, nor such debate about sensitive matters, nor see politicians stand up to openly state their (relatively) positive stand on gay rights. Compare this to what our politicians are allowed to say. Hsieh and Ma spar off (in Mandarin) to a question about gay marriage fielded by a local activist. The better candidate later went on to win the presidency in a country (will China be mad if I called it a country?) tired of the incompetency of Ah-Bian and the DPP, and the fear-mongering of their candidate. Good on Taiwan. I’ve always thought of Taipei as the one major “Chinese city” I wouldn’t mind living in (Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing being the others), with its amazing food, lovely people and excellent infrastructure. If you haven’t been, you should think about it. Doesn’t Ma look so much more… presidential than the DPP goons? When I was in Taipei last December, the election machines were just starting up — election season in this city is a treat.
P.S. The Chinese word for gay, as used in the video and in formal speech, is “tongzhi”, which means “comrade”.
P.P.S. Word of advice for Hokkien-speaking Singaporeans heading to our neighbouring city: when asking for toilet paper, say che jzua, and not the very Singaporean, very efficient straight-to-the-point pang sai jzua (shit paper). You’ll get funny looks, as my entourage discovered!
