Compared
to the hypermodern state of Taiwan, Europe looks ancient. Half of
Taipei has a wireless Internet zone; even in the MRT you can check your
email. The mayor of Taipei wants to make Taipei the first wireless city
in the world. Many people have a GPS system on their mobile; they might
feel lost but they can at least localise themselves geographically.
台
灣社會的差距與不同時代面貌並存的情形令人感到困惑。一種超現代，而讓歐洲顯得老態龍鍾的情形是，台北一半面積都已是無線區域網路的範圍，甚至在捷運裡也
能收發電子郵件。台北市長要建造世界上第一個無線網路城市。許多人的手機有GPS系統，即使迷路了也可以從手機中找到方位。過馬路時，綠燈裡一開始有個小
小的人閒適地走著，在他上面是倒數計時器，然後那小小人越走越快，直到最後像發瘋似地狂奔。
In
many taxis you will find screens in the headrest of the front chairs,
so you can follow the news during your trip. This efficiency you
experience everywhere. A Taiwanese lady told me that she was once at a
German wedding. She experienced it as awful, it took ages. Even a
wedding is supposed to happen fast.
在許多計程車裡，你還可以在前座椅的頭靠上看電視，所以才不會浪費時間，就是講求效率。一個台灣人告訴我，她曾在德國參加婚禮。「妳覺得怎麼樣呢？」「真可怕。好像永遠不會完！」對她來說，甚至連婚禮都要講求快速。
There
are restaurants where every table has a screen where you can watch
hundreds of programs while eating, and in a lot of hotels there are
rooms where the room and bathroom are split by a glass wall. Not to
watch your spouse taking a shower but the other way around, so you can
even watch television from the bath.
有些餐廳中的桌子有電視螢幕，可以邊吃邊看百種節目。許多飯店房間裡的臥房和浴室用玻璃分隔。是要讓人從床上就可以看到美女入浴？不，正相反，你甚至可以從浴室或廁所裡看電視！
Another
technical wonder is the 508-meter high skyscraper "Taipei 101"; it has
the fastest elevator in the world; at 60 kilometers an hour you are
taken up to the 80th floor in a few seconds. But you hardly notice it;
the cabins are under regulated pressure.
另一個驚奇科技是508公尺高的台北101，它擁有每小時60公里，世界上最快的電梯，在幾秒內就可以抵達80層樓高，你卻沒什麼感覺。電梯內有壓力平衡的裝置。
「我們必須一直是最好的」，Chang Ming-Lei簡單明瞭地做評論。
The
'Taipei 101' is constructed according the Feng-Shui principles; that is
the traditional knowledge of architecture that adjusts to the invisible
flows and ghosts at a certain place. According to this knowledge it is
forbidden to have the entrance exactly facing the exit; otherwise you
take the risk that the visitor of the building will enter it and
immediately will exit it. According to the Feng-Shui principles it is
bad for the inhabitants of a building if a street directly points at
your apartment block. To deflect these bad influences an 8-cornered
mirror will avoid the bad influence. It will reflect back the negative.
台
北101是依照風水理論建築而成的，那是以傳統原理避免無形沖煞的知識。根據這樣的知識，入口和出口處不可相對，否則就會有訪客進入大樓後又立刻出門的風
險。根據風水理論，居住在路沖的大樓中是很不好的，可是對一樓的商店卻有好處。轉化負面的影響是把八卦鏡掛在窗上。台灣人很小心，儘量避免生活上不好的事
情發生。街上到處是監視器和緊急紐，大部份的陽台裝設鐵欄杆，不過有個居民對我說，發生火災時，這些鐵欄杆卻讓人無法逃走。這人還說，八卦鏡的作用就像光
線，可以轉移不好的東西或反射回去。
'Taipei 101'
is build up from 8 segments, and each of the consists of 8 floors; 8 is
the lucky Chinese number. Four is the unlucky number that is why there
is no 4th floor. The 101 looks like a piece of segmented bamboo. Bamboo
– flexible and easy to bend, but still strong – is an old symbol for
resistance and fortune. 'Taipei 101' is build with a 660 tons steel
sphere as a damper within, so that in the case of an earthquake the
building will not break but swing only, like a bamboo stick in the wind.
台北101由每節八層樓的節段所構成。八是中國人的吉祥數字，四是不吉祥的，所以沒有四樓。台北101看起來像是一節節垂直重疊內插的竹子，中空而有彈性，卻仍然堅固，象徵堅毅與進步。內部有個660噸重的鋼球，地震時會晃動卻不斷裂。就像在風中佇立的竹子。
Another
surprise you can see in this hyper capitalistic society – more and more
I hear 'Only the one who is to lazy or has to many children is poor' –
is the burning of money. However it is not real money, but 'money
papers' that are specially made for ritual offerings, produced and sold
for that purpose. The owners burn it in metal cans in front of their
stores and pray for good business. For environmental reasons nowadays
there is also "money" available that does not smoke that much, but it
is somewhat more expensive.
我不斷聽人說：「只有懶惰和孩子多的是窮人。」這個超資本主義社會裡，在店前燒錢的那些人也是個驚奇點。這種錢不是真正的鈔票，而是看起來像錢的紙鈔。他們在商店前的鐵桶裡燒紙錢，祈求好財運。不久之前出現所謂的「環保紙錢」，烟較少，但賣價也就更貴。
In
the middle of the IT city of Taipei you can find an overload of
Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist temples that serve as oracle places. For
example there is the City of God temple; in large numbers, young women
with Gucci or Louis Vuitton handbags put flowers and fiancée cookies on
the altars on Saturday morning before shopping. Here the god of
marriage is residing, and the young women use oracle sticks to ask
questions about their upcoming spouse.
在資訊科技產業大本營的台北，有許多孔廟、道宮
和廟宇，這些往往也是取得神諭的地方。和瑞士教堂不同的是，年輕人也來廟宇。例如週六中午，許多帶著Gucci或LV皮包的年輕女人在購物前到廟裡來，供
上鮮花和訂婚餅。這裡也有管姻緣的神，女人就在那裡求籤求問她們的未來。
One
night I visit a temple. In front of it there is a movable shrine on
wheels. 'God can be placed in there and moved around, for example on
someone's birthday', people tell me. 'Now God is in China, but tomorrow
he will be back and there will be a procession.
有一晚我到一個廟裡，在廟前有一種可以行駛的神龕。「神過生日的時候，把神放進車裡，到處開著走。」有人這麼告訴我，「現在神在大陸，明天回來，到時候會有遊行。」
The
procession is a big spectacle with lots of firecrackers, red bangle
torches, riding light organs, fireworks, drums and screeching
loudspeakers. The 'God' is a colorful painted wooden figure in a chair
with long bars that is carried around the neighborhood rocking up and
down on the shoulders of the bearers.
第二天的遊行是個盛大的熱鬧場面，有鞭炮、紅色孟加拉火把、可行駛的、裝飾燈光的電子琴、閃爍不停的強光、煙火、鈸、鼓、吵雜的擴音器。神是彩色的木雕，坐在左右晃動的長轎子裡，被抬著到處走。
And
all this in an atmosphere of bright neon light. The stars in the
procession are Hsie and Fan who are normally the guards of the temple
annex statues. Hsie has a black face, Fan has a down hanging tongue as
long as the man who wears the costume, and he looks through a hole in
his shirt. Everything from the torso up the performer wears on his head.
轎子有刺眼的霓虹燈管，電源是由一個在後面推著的，發出難以忍受噠噠聲的發電機所提供。范、謝兩人通常是廟裡的守護神，在遊行隊伍裡卻成了主角。
謝，有張黑臉。范，有長長外吐的舌頭，而且身體高得讓打扮成他的人只能從衣服上的洞向外看，並且要挺胸，以頭來保持平衡。
The
appearance can be explained by a legend. Hsie and Fan once wanted to
meet on a bridge, Hsie was somewhat early and was watching the water
below the bridge and fell over in the water when he lost his balance.
When Fan arrived he found his friend dead and Fan strangled himself
with his bare hands. That is why his tongue is so far out of his mouth,
while Hsie became black in the water. In Taipei people say that the
spirits of the two roam the Manka region with heavy chains and eat the
tramps and thieves. And yes in the Manka neighborhood there is less
crime then in the other regions of the city.
這兩人的外表可由民間傳說來解釋：
范、謝曾約好在橋上相見，謝早到了，在等候時，因看橋下的水身體失去平衡而跌入水中。當范抵達時，發現他的朋友早已死去。痛苦之餘，范用雙手勒死自己。這
是為何他的舌頭吐出這麼長來，而謝的臉在水中成了黑色。台北人說，這兩人夜裡帶著鐵鍊在艋舺附近巡邏，看到了小偷就把他們吞掉。艋舺一帶的犯罪率的確比其
他地區低。
Taipei has different
monuments for their country heroes like Tsjang Kai-sjek and Sun
Yat-sen. One of these places is a huge memorial hall with a more then
living height statue, guards in official uniform and a lot of free
space around the immortals mark the distance between them and every day
life. It's amazing how the people of the city interact with these
places.
台北有好些紀念國家英雄的地方，中正紀念堂和國父紀念館也在其中。這兩個建築物內有巨大的廳堂和大於常人的塑像，塑像前面站有衛兵，塑像四周空曠，彷彿讓不朽者和平常人的生活有了適當的距離。令人驚訝的是，居民如何對待這種強烈要求展現崇敬的地方！
If
you go there at 5 in the morning, when the city is still silent, you
will be surprised by a grotesque carnival. From many loudspeakers you
will hear all kinds of music at the same time, marching music, hip-hop,
Chinese classics, country, tango and new-age noise.
只要在整個城市還相當安靜的清晨五點去到紀念館，會突然看到某種型態的嘉年華會。從許多不同的擴音器傳出進行曲、嘻哈、國樂、鄉村、探戈等等不和諧的刺耳聲音。
Hundreds
of people are gathered. Some performing taichi, others do sword
fighting, some dance in the morning mist. A man and a woman of age
throw over a pink frisbee. There are people in kimono, in cheerleader
look, a rapper with oversized trousers and a shirt with hood. Many
people there are of age and ask, "how old do you think I am?". Mostly
they are twice as old as they look.
有的團體練太極拳，有的練劍，有的就在晨曦中跳社交
舞。一對銀髮夫婦互丟粉紅色飛盤。這裡有幾百個人。有人穿和服，有人穿得像啦啦隊，也有人穿像唱饒舌歌的人，有特大的褲子和鴨舌帽，背後還印著「Gung
Fu New Fashion very good」。好多人都已經上了年紀，他們對我說：「你猜猜我幾歲？」大多數人的年齡看起來比實際年輕一半。
You
can also see younger people dancing Salsa. All this happens at the foot
of the 'Taipei 101'. Businessmen in suit and tie hurry through the
kungfu fighters and shadow boxers. Nothing of this is organized, a lot
of people come regularly, but the groups change constantly.
也有年輕人練習目前最流行的薩爾薩舞。這些熱鬧場面都發生在台北101底下。上班族穿西裝打領帶，急行穿梭在練習功夫和太極拳的人群中。沒有人去組織這些活動，有的人雖規律地來參加，團體卻也常有異動。
At
7 o'clock the guards appear in parade marching steps. They raise the
national flag and the national hymn starts. In a split second everybody
stops with what he is doing and takes the formal pose when the national
hymn is heard. It takes a few minutes and then everything goes on as
nothing happened: Chinese ballet, aerobic, rock-n-roll and chi-gong.
And meanwhile in the park Sun Yat-sen, 'the father of the nation', one
time in bronze another pose in stone, looking straight forward to all
the fuzz.
七點，衛兵踢著正步出現。他們在國歌聲中升旗。霎那間每個人都停下來，做敬禮姿勢。幾分鐘後，紙傘舞、有氧舞蹈、搖滾、氣功等又再度開始。石雕的、青銅的孫逸仙（也就是「國父」）正坐在公園四處，恬淡地看著這一切。
Peng
Wu Chih is one of the most famous taichi- and kungfu masters in the
country. He was the last apprentice of the famous martial arts master
Liu Yun-Qiao (who was the head of security organization under Tsjang
Kai-sjek). He took care of Yun-Qiao in his last months of his life,
when he was so weak that he only could lecture using his chopsticks.
在
一個下雨的午後，我去拜訪了Peng Wu Chih，他是台灣著名的太極和中國功夫教鍊之一。Andy
Hug也曾經是他的學生。他原本是醫生，後來改學中醫，最後專注於亞洲各種武術。他是功夫大師Liu
Yun-Qiao（蔣介石的首席護衛）的最後一個學生，在Liu Yun-Qiao生命中的最後幾個月照顧他，而Liu
Yun-Qiao在最虛弱時也只能用筷子教他。
One of
the specialities of Peng Wu Chih is 'rapid taichi'. He claims that
taichi originally was not, as nowadays, done in a turtle slow movement
but fast. In between the main course and desert at a restaurant he
gives a small demonstration. It only takes a few seconds. Dr. Peng
loves speed in general. Before we step into his car he says, "buckle
up, because I drive like James Bond", and he does not exaggerate. He
talks about 'chi', the life power and says: "meditation is not to
withdraw from the world environment, but being present in it. Get to
your opponent in half a second where others need two seconds. Never
lose your midst, not even when you are busy.' One time he holds my
wrist, not firm, but I feel an immense power. He could kill me in a
split second.
快速太極是Peng Wu
Chih的一個專長，他強調，原始太極並不像現在的龜速慢移，而是快速的。在餐廳中主菜和點心之間的空檔，他在桌子旁邊示範給我看。整套拳只花了幾秒鐘就
完成。Dr.Peng喜歡速度，也因此而成名。在我們上車之前，他說：「扣緊安全帶，我開車像007」。這當然是有那麼點誇張。他談到「氣」–
生命的力量，說：「冥想不是從世界撤回，而是留在那裡。對手需要兩秒，你必須在半秒內便完成。再忙，也不可失去中心點。」有次他握住我的手腕，不緊實，但
我感到那無窮的力量，就像是踩下法拉利的油門：只要願意，他可以在瞬間殺了我。
One
of his apprentices says: 'during the first lesson he said to me: I will
kill you, and he did. During the teachings I died inside; he destroyed
my value scale. The most important in martial arts is awareness, and
therefore you have to get rid of your past.'
一個他的學生說：「在第一堂課他告訴我說：我要殺了你！他也做到了！在這堂課裡，我的內在死了，他毀了我的價值觀。武術最重要的是謹慎專注，所以你必須擺脫你的過去。」
Peng
Wu Chih ends the meeting with a short anecdote: "two people die and god
asks them what they wish in a next life. The first says, "I want to get
lots of money", the other one says "I want to give lots of money", the
first is reborn as a beggar, the second as an millionaire."
Peng Wu Chih 以一個小故事結束談話：「兩個人死了，上帝問他們，希望來世有什麼？第一個說：我要有許多錢！第二個說：我要給許多錢！第一位轉世成為一個乞丐，第二個成了百萬富翁。」
On
the 1st of May I am in search of demonstrating people, but in vain.
Taiwan does not know of demonstrations of workers. Taiwan is the dream
of every neo liberal: up to a short time ago there was nothing like
income insurance (for that matter, officially there were no people out
of a job), no sickness insurance, no pension insurance, no social
service. Everything is insured from private arrangements or by family.
Some workers even give holidays to their company as a gift. Furthermore
it seems that there are no building regulations; Taipei is the dream of
every architect but also a nightmare, everything is possible
(highlight: a building formed like a woman's handbag).
我在五月一日
尋找示威的群眾，卻徒勞無功，這裡沒有工人示威這回事。台灣是新自由主義者的夢想，不久前都還沒有失業保險（因為幾乎沒有失業人口–至少官方是這麼說）、
沒有健康保險、沒有退休保險、沒有社會福利。每件事都由家人自己安排。有些人甚至把一部份休假「送」給公司。建築法規似乎也不太明確。對於建築師而言，台
北既是夢想也是惡夢，因為什麼都可能（女人手提包形態的建築。業界的高潮！）。
During
the visit of the Chinese president Hu Jintao to the USA Falun Gong
people in Taipei organised a demonstration. This spiritual movement is
forbidden in China. Lately a doctor witnessed that he had been in a
Chinese concentration camp. He says that tenth of thousands of Falun
Gung people have to do hard labor. He also records that these people
are operated on and taken away organs, while they are alive, and sold
for transplantation purposes.
雖沒有工人示威，卻恰巧是中共國家主席胡錦濤在華盛頓期間，所以台北法輪功有個遊行活動。這個亞洲最大的精神性組織，在中國是被禁止的。最近有個醫生公開說，他曾在中國的一個集中營裡工作，數萬名法輪功成員不但必須做苦役，有些還被活生生地把器官取出來賣掉。
Anti-Chinese
propaganda or not, such news remind the Taiwanese over and over again
that their welfare is highly vulnerable; like a small garden on an
overhanging rock. Up to 10 years ago Taiwan still had higher expenses
on their military defense system then China, while nowadays China is
spending triple the budget of Taiwan. 600 rockets are pointed towards
Taiwan, and every year another 75 are added. A politician who mentions
the taboo word "formal independence" in Taipei - and in some place in
Peking someone might push the red button.
是反中國的宣傳嗎？無論如何，這樣的新聞
嚇壞台灣人，也讓他們記得，自己的富裕生活不時遭受威脅，就像是站立在懸岩上的小花園。直到十年前台灣仍有比中國還高的國防費用，但今天中國卻有台灣三倍
之多。600枚飛彈指向台灣，每年還要再加上75枚。只要台北在「正式獨立」的禁忌議題上有一個政治上錯誤的用字，或許在北京就會有人按下紅色按鈕。
Even
lately China paid the small island nation of Nauru in the Pacific Ocean
the amount of 150 million dollar to change their diplomatic affairs
from Taipei to Peking. Taiwan can hardly cope with this process. Taiwan
can only try, behind the political scene, to keep them indispensable in
economical way. But that takes a lot of energy and is a lonely task.
最近中國付給太平洋的小島諾魯一億五千萬美元，讓他們放棄台北而和北京建交。台灣很難跟得上，只能試著在正式關係之外，讓自己（特別在經濟上）無可取代。這就要花更多的精力並且也是寂寞的工作。
On
the last day we drive to a "children's recreational center". It looks
like an Asian Walt Disney park. A luxurious place, however there were
no children, not one. 'Nowadays they prefer to play at home on their
computer', a supervisor tells us; another supervisor says "most kids
have courses at night"; and the guard at the entrance says: 'The
parents don't have time to come over here with kids.
最後一天我們開車
去「兒童育樂中心」，那是種亞洲華德迪士奈樂園，是一個美麗的、花了相當多錢建造的地方，卻看不到遊玩的兒童。一個都沒有！「現在的小孩喜歡在家玩電
腦」，一個管理員告訴我們。另一個則說：「大部份的孩子晚上都還有課。」門口守衛說：「父母沒時間帶孩子來。」
On
the way back I see a scenery while driving: an empty playground where a
man in suit is making a phone call while the rain starts dripping.
在回程的路上我捕捉到一個景象：無人的遊樂場中，一個穿著西裝的男人坐在鞦韆上打著手機，而雨滴也開始落下。
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