Local towel manufacturers tout superior quality of their products
By Su Chueh-yu
An uninformed traveler who made his way to Taipei’s Zhongxiao East Rd. yesterday would have had a hard time figuring out what was going on.
Some marchers seemed to be focused on bathroom towels, while others were dressed up as pandas, with red helium missile-shaped balloons emblazoned with yellow stars parading above them.
Yet any one of the more than 100,000 participants marching would have explained that this was a march to protect democracy, and stand against annexation by China.
For some, the timing of the march had significance, coming 10 years after China bracketed Taiwan with missiles in an attempt to influence the country’s first direct presidential election.
The move prompted the United States to send two aircraft carrier groups to protect Taiwan and deter China from further military action, ratcheting up tensions in the region.
Recalling 1996 crisis
The red missile balloons with yellow stars at yesterday’s rally served as a reminder of the 1996 crisis, but also of what the governing Democratic Progressive Party calls China’s two-pronged strategy toward Taiwan.
The party believes that China is making “goodwill” gestures like offering to send pandas to lower the guard of Taiwan and the United States, while targeting some 800 missiles at the island to “intimidate and seize Taiwan.”
The account, as told by a 40-year-old marcher surnamed Lin summed up the feelings of many at yesterday’s rally, even his seven-year-old son, whose answer to the question of whether he knew the meaning of the missile balloon he was supporting on his back surprised those around him.
“It means that we’re not scared of China’s missiles and we want independence!,” the young boy said.
And when he was asked if he wanted to see a Chinese panda, Lin’s son had yet another surprise.
“I think pandas are cute, but what’s the use of them coming if we can’t see them up close in the zoo anyway?” the child asked.
Family affair
Many of the demonstrators, such as Lin, brought their entire family, with the children holding missile balloons their parents bought for them at the demonstration’s assembly location, the Songshan Tobacco Factory near the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall.
Most marchers sported a yellow, white, light green or pink towel with the English word “Taiwan” marked in green, often used as headbands with the word “Taiwan” shown on their foreheads.
The towels, passed out for free at the starting point of the demonstration, were courtesy of domestic towel manufacturers, who recently have slammed China for “dumping” cheap low-quality towels on the local market and Taiwan’s government for doing nothing to stop the practice.
“The quality of these towels are so much better than those made in China, don’t you think?” asked one of the distributors, as she asked one of the marchers to feel the texture of the towel.
“Please support M.I.T. (made in Taiwan) products!” other distributors shouted.
‘Stop killing and leave Tibet’
Another large group drawing attention was the Liberate Tibet Association, which demanded that China “stop killing and leave Tibet.”
Overseas Taiwanese also came from all over the globe to contribute to the demonstration. Fan Chiang Yun-he, the vice president of the Hakka Association in Vancouver, Canada, led 36 people to return and participate in the march.
“We came back especially for the march,” said Fan Chiang, adding that they will probably stay until April 5, after they’ve visited the tombs of their ancestors.
The comments from these fervent marchers summed up the atmosphere of the march yesterday: a unified voice demanding the right to decide the future of our own country.
