幸福微醺居酒屋

這是一封轉寄信，是一位在台灣旅行兩週的瑞士記者筆下的台灣。

看完之後，你有什麼感想？每個國家就像家庭一樣。都有無法解決的難題。

不用太悲觀，想想，怎麼樣可以讓台灣更好。讓自己更好，讓自己代表出來的台灣更好。

How isTaiwan? There is no country in the world where the people make so many working hours as in on – 2282 hours a year. Over 30% of the people work more then 62 hours a week.

 世上沒有任何一個國家的人像台灣一樣，

工作時數每年高達2,282小時，30%的人每週工作超過 62小時。

Taiwan is the second densest populated country in the world. Only in Bangladesh live more people per square kilometer. Although Taiwan is smaller then Switzerland it belongs to the 20 most successful industrial countries; Taiwan is market leader in notebooks and there is no country that has more mobile phones (1,14 per citizen of Taiwan).

台灣人口密度高居世界第二，只低於孟加拉。

雖然台灣面積小於瑞士，卻是20個最成功的工業國家之一。台灣

是筆記型電腦製造的領導先驅，有世界第三大外匯存款，也是手機密度最高的地區（平均每人擁有1,14支手機）。

Furthermore there are only three countries that have less sex then the Taiwanese, and according to the French magazine "Elle", Taiwanese women are the unhappiest women in the world. Taiwan has also the most near sighted people. So how does this all relate to each other?

 然而，只有三個國家的性生活是少於台灣，且根據「Elle」

雜誌研究指出，台灣女性是世界上最不快樂的。台灣同時也是最多戴近視眼鏡的國家。

 這些現象之間彼此有何關聯呢？

Twenty years ago Taiwan changed from a dictatorial country to a democracy and speeded up the modernization in a fast pace. And now we see the strong Confucian working-moral besides gay-clubs and piercing studios. Colorful Taoist temples along side big glass skyscrapers and supermarkets that are open 24 hours a day. Since Tsjang Kai-sjek, the rival of Mao, fled to Taiwan in 1948, Taiwanwas seen as a rebellious province. Taipei as capital, with all direct surrounded sub cities, has a population of around 8 million people and is in a sense a post modern version of Peking .

 20年前台灣從獨裁轉型為民主，現代化與自由化同時

快速進行。也因此，嚴謹的儒家工作倫理與同志酒吧、刺青商店同時存在。多彩的道家

廟宇，就在電子產業的玻璃維幕高樓及24小時營業的超市旁邊。自從毛澤東的對手蔣介

石1948年退守到台灣，中國就一直把台灣視為叛逆的一省。如果自由化繼續進行，二十年後的中國可能就像現在的台灣。而連同附近城鄉合計約有800萬人口的台北，就是北京現代化後的願景。家庭是台灣社會變遷中特別引起注意的生活範疇。

In many households the man and woman both have a job, they not only make long working hours, but also even in different cities. They only see each other in the weekends. The children are often raised by the grandparents who display a worldview that has almost nothing to do with current reality. For Taiwanese there is almost nothing more important then good education for their kids, therefore they are overloaded with courses and extra classes after regular school often till late in the evenings.

 在許多家庭中，夫妻兩人不只是長時間工作，甚至在不同城市工作，且保有各自的住處，只在週末見面。由祖父母帶大的小孩，其價值觀也因此來自幾乎是與現實脫節的世界。對台灣人來說，沒有任何事比給孩子更好的教育來得重要，因此孩子們常常在晚間也必須承受許多額外的課程。

In Taipei I visit a surgeon at his home. His 6-year-old daughter is taught English at school, but she has extra classes English in the evenings besides painting, dance and piano lessons. With proudness she plays classic piano parts without music paper. In August the whole family goes to the USA to improve her English even more at a summer camp.

我在台北時拜訪了一位外科醫生，他六歲的女兒已經在學校學英文，但是在

晚間，她除了必須再學英文之外，還有畫畫、舞蹈和鋼琴。她很驕傲地不用樂譜就彈得出古典曲子。八月，他們全家會到美國去，讓女兒參加兩週的暑期營隊，以增進英文能力。

 I ask the father if he is not afraid that the pressure on the kids might be too high. From Japan more and more stories are heard of children who commit suicide because of the shame of failing an exam. "Yes, sometimes all the effort is for nothing," says the surgeon. "Sometimes the musical wonder kids play virtuously when they are 14, but when they become 25 the difference fades between the kids who started only at the age of 10". The father also mentions the competition between the parents that cannot be avoided.

我問這個父親，難道他不怕給孩子太多壓力？不是常聽說，日本孩子因考試失敗感到羞恥而自殺嗎？「是的，有時所有努力會化為烏有。」醫生說，「比如有些鋼琴神童，十四歲就能將琴彈得很完美，但到了25歲時，他們彈琴的技巧則無異於從十歲才學起的水平。」這父親也提到在他的周遭環境中，父母與父母之間無法避免的競爭，他甚至用了「全副武裝」這樣的字眼。

And on top of that there is the 1 child policy – in Mainland China> obligatory, inTaiwan based upon choice and quite common. So of course there is more money and energy spent on the child to stimulate it even more. The emphasis upon educating and performance of the kids is characteristic for all Confucian countries like

 一胎化在中國是政策，在台灣則成了可以自由選擇的目標，和大家庭比起來，當然就會把更多時間和金錢花在提昇唯一的孩子身上。強調教育與成就是深受儒家思想影響國家的特質，例如中國、日本、韓國和新加坡。

But in Taiwan the people want the world to show that they are the better than China . From 1895 till 1945 Taiwan was occupied by Japan, after that period it belonged to China. After the Second World War when Mao's army defeated the nationalistic army of Tsjang Kai-sjek, they fled with 1,5 million citizens (mostly of them high developed and upper class), 500.000 soldiers, and the national treasure to Taiwan. Mao as well as Tsjang Kai-sjek saw themselves as the one and only representation of  China. The official name of Taiwan is still "Republic of China".

台灣不僅也是如此，更由於歷史背景因素，台灣人希望展現給世界的是一個更好的中國。從1895年到1945年台灣被日本佔據，接著被中國接收。二次大戰後毛澤東戰勝國民黨的蔣介石，蔣介石帶著150萬人民眾（大多數是有高教育水準的上層階級）、50萬軍人和國家寶藏來到台灣。毛澤東和蔣介石都自視為中國的唯一代表。至今台灣的正式官方名稱為「Republic of China」。

 The USA armed Taiwan as a buffer against communistic China and Tsjang Kai-sjek never gave up his goal to conquer China again up to his death in 1975. Taiwannowadays has a population of 24 million people, China 1,3 billion. The island country is economically a world power but politically isolated. Taiwan does not even have the status of "observer" in the UN and is only recognized as a country by 27 other countries like Palau, Kiribati and ,Swaziland .

美國高度武裝台灣以對抗共產主義的中國大陸，蔣介石直到1975年過世為止，不曾改變他收復中國的目標。台灣有2,400萬人口，大陸13億，這個海島有世界超強的經濟，但是在政治上卻是孤立的，台灣甚至沒有聯合國觀察者的身份

，只被27個國家所承認，像是帛流、吉里巴斯共和國和史瓦濟蘭等。

This is because China refuses any political relations with countries that recognize Taiwan as an independent country, and who does, especially today, want China as an opponent?

這是因為大陸拒絕和承認台灣的國家有外交關係，特別是今天，誰承認了台灣就無異與大陸為敵。在台灣可以感受到中國以一種矛盾的方式存在。

Continuously Taiwan experiences the presence of China like a big brother you want to push off but always keeps the lead no matter the distance. Taiwan always stipulates that it respects human rights, nobody will die from starvation, there is freedom of thought and press, Taiwan is progressive, democratic, liberal, cosmopolitan, post-industrial and post modern; the better China. But is seems like the citizens of Taiwan situate themselves in a jumbo jet: if the pace slows down below a certain speed, then it will crash.

在台灣可以感受到中國以一種矛盾的方式存在。中國就像一個大哥，台灣想要和他保持距離，可是這位大哥卻又權威性地不肯離開。台灣尊重人權、沒人苦於饑餓、有言論與媒體自由；台灣進步、民主、自由、國際化、後工業化、後現代化；總之，是一個更好的中國。在台灣可以察覺到一種清醒、一種警覺，這情形讓人想起以色列。這個中東國家除了強調它的合法性之外，也要表現得比敵對的鄰邦更好。可是台灣人民則更像是一架使勁飛翔的噴射只要把速度減慢到某個程度，就會墜落。