Day 5: Hualien

This is my first trip out of Taipei for Formosa Betrayed. Hualien is on the east coast of Taiwan, and is considered one of the most beautiful cities there because of it's mountain and oceanside views. A former legislator Bi-Khim Hsiao has booked a screening of the film for her constituents in Hualien. Bi-Khim has an interesting history. Her father is Taiwanese and her mother is American, and she grew up both in Taiwan and the United States. Although she is only a few years older than me, she has a long political history in Taiwan. I first met her when I worked as an intern for the Formosa Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) in 1993, and she had been an intern there the year before.

After she graduated, she came back to Taiwan to work on developing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) which was born out the democracy movement we describe in Formosa Betrayed. She eventually became highly sought after for her intelligence and charisma and landed a plum position in the Chen Shui-Bian administration when President Chen came to power in 2000, even though she was only in her late-twenties at the time. I remember her on stage when President-elect Chen won in March 2000 -- I was in Taiwan visiting with my family at the time. She was the MC for the winning rally on election night speaking fluently in Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, and English to audiences around the world. I was very impressed.

Since then, she went on to become a legislator and is now the head of the international affairs department for the DPP. She was selected by the DPP to run for office in Hualien, and ran and lost in the last election there. But she has committed to the area and has moved there permanently. And because there is only one movie theater in Hualien, Formosa Betrayed is not playing there. So after she saw the film in June, Bi-Khim organized a group to buy a screening for the Hualien area and gave out tickets for free.

She tells us that although the theater only has a capacity of 300, over 450 people asked for tickets -- which surprised her because Hualien is considered a very "blue" area (see my Day 3 post about "green" vs. "blue" politics in Taiwan). The place is packed and Bi-Khim, Echo, and I introduce the film and then we do a Q&A afterwards. It's quite a diverse crowd of academics, farmers, politicians, and everyday people. Definitely a great experience.

Afterwards, Bi-Khim takes us to a restaurant she recently purchased -- a beautifully restored Japan-era restaurant where they serve us shaved ice (my favorite!). She tells me she's going to England in September and I let her know that Formosa Betrayed will be opening there in September as well. She takes us to the train station -- it was quite difficult to get tickets to Hualien cause everyone likes to go there for vacation in the summer. Bi-Khim had to pull strings for us, and she said she herself has trouble getting tickets from Taipei to Hualien. Always good to have friends in high places.... :)

Till tomorrow...

-Will