Noah Smith 台灣是一個文明 Noah Smith Taiwan is a civilization

原始文章

Taiwan is a civilization - by Noah Smith - Noahpinion

根據我的經驗，美國人往往比其他國家更了解某些國家。想想東亞的富裕國家。 美國人心目中的日本形象雖然在很多方面都不準確，但卻是相當完整的。 美國人普遍知道動漫、電子遊戲和日本漫畫——越來越多的美國人喜歡這些東西——來自日本，他們的腦海裡常常浮現出密集、霓虹燈閃爍的日本城市和快速、高效的日本火車的形象。幾十年來接觸日本流行文化，再加上該國旅遊業的繁榮，使美國人普遍認識到日本的存在。現在，韓國流行文化的繁榮同樣讓韓國成為美國人思考的地方。

In my experience, Americans tend to have more awareness of some countries than others. Consider the rich countries of East Asia. The American mental image of Japan, though inaccurate in many ways, is pretty well-formed. Americans generally know that anime and video games and manga — things an increasing number of Americans enjoy — come from Japan, and they often have a mental image of dense, neon-lit Japanese cities and fast, efficient Japanese trains. Decades of exposure to Japanese popular culture, combined with a tourism boom in that country, have made Americans generally cognizant of Japan’s existence. Now, the boom in Korean pop culture is similarly making Korea a place that Americans think about.

但我認為台灣還不在那個名單上。你不會真正聽說過台灣流行音樂、電視或其他流行文化。 台灣食品確實存在，但除了珍珠奶茶，大多數美國人可能不會認出它。

But I don’t think Taiwan is on that list yet. You don’t really hear about Taiwanese pop music, TV, or other pop culture. Taiwanese food exists, but except possibly for bubble tea, most Americans probably wouldn’t recognize it.

Taiwan is a civilization

這似乎是應該改變的事情。最重要的是，因為台灣看起來真的很酷。但也因為它在地緣政治上很重要，因為它可能是大國戰爭最有可能的導火索。

This seems like something that ought to change. Most importantly, because Taiwan seems really cool. But also because it’s geopolitically important, because it’s probably the most likely flashpoint for great-power war.

台灣人一般不再認為自己是“中國人”（更新：這是一篇簡短的歷史博客文章，解釋了一些原因）：

Taiwanese people generally don’t think of themselves as “Chinese” anymore (Update: Here is a brief blog post of history explaining some of the reasons for this):

Taiwan is a civilization

但中國政府強烈反對。近年來，中國增加了對台灣的好戰和威脅言論。它的軍隊加強了對台灣領空的入侵，並對其兩棲部隊進行了現代化改造，以應對可能的入侵。作為回應，美國已採取行動與台灣建立更密切的關係，加強我們自己反對中國侵略的言論。美國並未宣誓保衛台灣（就像我們宣誓保衛日本一樣），但作為拜登提名的國務卿，安東尼·布林肯 (Antony Blinken) 有力地表示，美國將幫助台灣保衛自己，並警告中國不要發動攻擊。

But China’s government disagrees pretty vehemently. In recent years, China has increased its bellicose and threatening rhetoric toward Taiwan. Its military has stepped up incursions into Taiwan’s airspace, and has modernized its amphibious forces for a possible invasion. In response, the U.S. has moved to establish closer ties with Taiwan, ramped up our own rhetoric against Chinese aggression. The U.S. is not sworn to defend Taiwan (as we are sworn to defend Japan), but as Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has stated forcefully that the U.S. will help Taiwan defend itself, and has warned China against an attack.

這意味著，在未來十年的某個時候，美國發現自己捲入一場代表台灣的超級大國衝突的可能性非零。這是美國人更多了解台灣的一個很好的理由。

This means that there is a nonzero chance that the U.S. might find itself embroiled in a superpower conflict on Taiwan’s behalf sometime in the next decade. Which is a good reason for Americans to learn more about Taiwan.

但更好的理由是台灣是一個非常有趣和獨特的地方。人們可以整天爭論它是否真的是一個國家（它是），但更重要的是台灣是一個文明。

But an even better reason is just that Taiwan is a very interesting and unique place. People can argue all day about whether it’s really a country (it is), but what’s more important is that Taiwan is a civilization.

不管怎樣，我自己對台灣完全是個新手；我從來沒有去過那裡。自從我在去年開始更加關注台灣以來，這裡只是我了解到的一些關於台灣的快速信息。顯然，這不是真正的台灣指南，只是冰山一角。但有些東西讓美國人思考。

Anyway, I myself am a complete newbie to Taiwan; I’ve never even been there. So here are just a few quick things I have learned about Taiwan since I started paying more attention to it over the last year. Obviously this is no real guide to Taiwan, just the very tip of the iceberg. But something to get Americans thinking.

卓越的公共衛生 Superior public health

Taiwan is a civilization

除了與中國的緊張局勢，今年還有另一條讓我更加了解台灣的重大新聞：公共衛生。 台灣比幾乎任何其他國家都更好地處理了 COVID-19 大流行，可能只有紐西蘭可以與之匹敵。當美國人因為害怕致命病毒仍在人群中肆虐而縮在家裡時，台灣人到秋天就開始在餐館吃飯並在俱樂部聚會。美國死於 COVID-19 的人數超過了整個第二次世界大戰期間的死亡人數。台灣一共死了 7 人。

Besides tensions with China, there was another big news item that made me more aware of Taiwan this year: Public health. Taiwan handled the COVID-19 pandemic better than just about any other nation, probably rivaled only by New Zealand. While Americans huddled inside their homes for fear of the deadly virus still rampaging through the population, Taiwanese people were eating in restaurants and partying in clubs by the fall. The U.S. has suffered more deaths from COVID-19 than it did in all of World War 2. Taiwan has suffered a total 7.

台灣是怎麼做到的？如果這只是一個小島的問題，愛爾蘭就不會受到重創。 2002-2003 年 SARS 恐慌的痛苦經歷，加上高度稱職的官僚機構，讓台灣能夠迅速有效地做出反應。

How did Taiwan do it? If it was just a matter of being a small island, Ireland wouldn’t have been hit hard. The painful experience of the SARS scare in 2002-3, combined with a highly competent bureaucracy, allowed Taiwan to respond quickly and effectively.

首先，台灣領導人和人民都明白，短期的痛苦有助於防止長期的更大痛苦。立法機關通過了一項法律，賦予政府全面的新權力來抗擊這一流行病。實施了嚴格的社會疏遠措施，以及全面的旅行限制——美國在這兩件事上明顯沒有做到。它使用數字工具來監控居家隔離人員，並實施全面、廣泛的接觸者追踪計劃。當然，它會主動對人進行檢測，而不是等到他們出現症狀時。政府的高國家能力使其能夠有效地執行家庭隔離。

First, Taiwan’s leaders and people both understood that short-term pain would help prevent greater pain in the long run. The legislature passed a law giving the government sweeping new powers to fight the pandemic. Strict social distancing measures were implemented, along with comprehensive travel restrictions — two things America notably failed to do. It used digital tools to monitor people under home quarantine and implement a program of thorough and extensive contact tracing. Of course it tested people proactively, not waiting until they had symptoms. And the government’s high state capacity allowed it to enforce home quarantine effectively.

當然，台灣人也幫忙。 台灣人沒有為口罩是否有效爭論幾個月，而是直接戴上口罩以防萬一。你不會看到尖叫的反蒙面者被粗暴地趕出台灣的商店。你也沒有看到台灣人反抗社交距離。他們明白，今天的一點痛苦意味著未來的痛苦要少得多。 美國人拒絕延遲滿足； 台灣人民短暫的犧牲，長遠的收穫是巨大的利益。

Of course, Taiwan’s people helped too. Instead of squabbling for months over whether masks worked, Taiwanese people simply went ahead and wore them as a precaution. You don’t see screaming anti-maskers getting violently thrown out of stores in Taiwan. You also didn’t see Taiwanese people rebelling against social distancing. They understood that a bit of pain today meant far less pain down the road. Americans refused to delay gratification; Taiwanese people sacrificed for a short time and reaped enormous benefits over the long term.

我堅信，美國儘管在某些方面做得很好，但也有很多地方可以向其他文明學習。 台灣的公共衛生系統就是一個很好的例子。它也擁有世界上最好的整體醫療保健系統之一，如果不是最好的話。

I firmly believe that America, despite doing some things well, has much to learn from other civilizations. And Taiwan’s public health system is a great example. It also has one of the world’s best health care systems overall, if not the best.

但請注意，儘管台灣擁有令人驚嘆的公共衛生保健系統和 COVID-19 的成功，但由於中國的政治壓力，世界衛生組織不會允許它進入。

But note that despite Taiwan’s amazing public health care system and COVID-19 success, the World Health Organization won’t allow it in, due to Chinese political pressure.

偉大的都市主義 Great urbanism

正如您在上面的有趣影片中看到的（由台灣街舞藝術協會製作，一次拍攝！），台灣首都台北是一個非常密集的城市，但也是一個美麗的城市，有很多綠色植物和相當多的人傳統風格的建築也是如此。雖然我從未去過那裡，但您可以通過滾動瀏覽 @TaipeiUrbanism Twitter 帳戶或觀看 YouTube 影片來了解這座城市的感覺。實際上，這段音樂影片給人一種很好的風景感，包括一些公寓內部的鏡頭。一眼就能看出這座城市與日本城市相似，但樹木和草地更多。

As you can see in the fun video above (made by the Taiwan Street Dance Art Association, and filmed in one take!), Taiwan’s capital Taipei is a very dense city, but also a beautiful one with lots of greenery and a fair number of traditional-style buildings as well. Though I’ve never been there, you can get a good idea for what the city feels like from scrolling through the @TaipeiUrbanism Twitter account or watching YouTube videos. Actually, this music video gives a great sense of the landscape, including some shots of apartment interiors. It’s immediately noticeable that the city resembles Japanese cities, but with more trees and grass.

城市規劃師 Alfred Twu 的這篇文章是關於台北歷史和規劃的快速入門。與舊金山不同，但更像巴黎的是，台北有很多 5 到 7 層的住宅樓。它們通常看起來不像東京的那些（大多數建築物每 30 到 40 年就被廢棄和重建）那麼閃亮和新，但台灣的室內設計非常具有傳奇色彩。豐富的綠色植物與稍微破舊的密集建築相結合，使這座城市的大部分地區看起來都非常陽光朋克。

A great quick primer on Taipei’s history and planning is this thread by urbanist Alfred Twu. Unlike San Francisco, but more like Paris, Taipei has a lot of 5 to 7 story residential buildings. They generally don’t look as shiny and new as those of Tokyo (which scraps and rebuilds most buildings every 30-40 years), but Taiwanese interior design is pretty legendary. The abundance of greenery combined with the slightly dilapidated dense architecture gives much of the city a very solarpunk look.

為了促進土地的有效利用，台北採用了最能被描述為喬治主義的政策，不鼓勵閒置土地，並讓政府將建築物出租給私營部門。事實上，喬治主義是台灣歷史的一部分，農地改革政策在《亞洲如何運作》一書中有著名的記載。

In order to promote efficient land use, Taipei uses policies best described as Georgist, discouraging empty lots and having the government lease buildings to the private sector. In fact, Georgism is part of Taiwan’s history, with agricultural land reform policies famously documented in the book How Asia Works.

台北是一個非常適合步行的城市，公共交通便利，包括世界上最好的地鐵系統之一。正如 Twu 所指出的，小街上有很多企業。西門町購物區讓我想起了東京的澀谷——多層零售的密集霓虹燈迷宮（但同樣，樹木比日本多）。

Taipei is a very walkable city, with great public transit, including one of the world’s best subway systems. As Twu notes, there are lots of businesses on side streets. The Ximending shopping district reminds me a bit of Shibuya in Tokyo — a dense neon maze of multi-floor retail (but again, with more trees than Japan).

由於密集的城市規劃和高質量的交通，中產階級和工薪階層能夠居住在市中心。正如 Twu 所展示的，台北地鐵沿線的收入差異遠小於香港或舊金山灣區。不幸的是，住房成本是一個問題，就像當今大多數大城市一樣。與東京不同，台北未能擺脫困境。但房屋擁有率非常高——84%，而紐約市為 33%。

As a result of dense urban planning and high-quality transit, middle-class and working-class people are able to live in the city center. As Twu shows, the income variation along Taipei’s metro lines is much less than in Hong Kong or the San Francisco Bay Area. Unfortunately, housing costs are a problem, as in most big cities nowadays; unlike Tokyo, Taipei hasn’t been able to build itself out of trouble. But homeownership rates are very high — 84%, compared to 33% in New York City.

台北並不大——市區只有260萬人口，首都圈總共有700萬人口。但它似乎應該在人們的旅遊目的地名單上名列前茅，並且應該被納入關於如何建設一個功能性、包容性、美麗城市的對話中。

Taipei is not large — just 2.6 million people in the city proper, and 7 million total in the metropolitan area. But it seems like it deserves to be higher on people’s list of tourist destinations, and deserves to be included in conversations about how to build a functional, inclusive, beautiful city.

更多信息，請查看 @TaipeiUrbanism。

For much more, just check out @TaipeiUrbanism.

一個進步、寬容、自由的社會 A progressive, tolerant, liberal society

台灣即使不是亞洲最進步的社會，也是最進步的社會之一。它是第一個將同性婚姻合法化的亞洲國家，擁有充滿活力的同性戀文化。 台灣是世界上性別最平等的社會之一，在常用的 GII 等級上與挪威相當，高於法國。總統蔡英文是女性，女性佔立法機關的42%。 中國積極推動企業性別平等，2018 年男女薪酬差距為 14%，低於美國。

Taiwan has one of the most progressive societies, if not the most progressive, in Asia. It was the first Asian country to legalize gay marriage, and sports a vibrant gay culture. Taiwan ranks as one of the most gender-equal societies in the world, equivalent to Norway and higher than France on the commonly used GII scale. The President, Tsai Ing-Wen, is a woman, and women make up 42% of the legislature. The country has actively pushed for gender equality in business, and the gender pay gap, at 14% in 2018, is smaller than in the U.S.

台灣也積極嘗試承認、頌揚和保護佔人口 2% 的原住民文化（他們的政黨在立法機構中佔有 7% 的席位）。該島也開始向移民開放。

Taiwan has also made vigorous attempts to recognize, celebrate, and preserve the culture of its indigenous people, who make up 2% of the population (and have a political party that holds 7% of the seats in the legislature). The island is also starting to open up to immigration.

由於這一切以及其他原因，台灣正在贏得一個寬容、進步的社會的聲譽——這在大多數保守的東亞地區是罕見的。

As a result of all this and more, Taiwan is gaining a reputation as a tolerant, progressive society — a rarity in mostly conservative East Asia.

很難說這是為什麼，但據我的台灣朋友說，部分原因可能源於該島的歷史。儘管在其歷史的大部分時間裡都是獨立的，但它曾多次被殖民——1600 年代被荷蘭殖民，1683 年被中國殖民，1895 年被日本殖民。這迫使它處理各種殖民者、移民和定居者之間的社會摩擦，也賦予了它對自決和擺脫外部勢力的自由的渴望。

It’s difficult to say why this is true, but according to my Taiwanese friends, part of it might stem from the island’s history. Though independent for most of its history, it was colonized multiple times — by the Netherlands in the 1600s, China in 1683, and Japan in 1895. This forced it to deal with social frictions between the various waves of colonizers, immigrants, and settlers, and also gave it a yearning for self-determination and freedom from outside powers.

儘管台灣在 1949 年被戰敗的中國國民黨入侵和定居後幾十年一直實行獨裁統治，但它在 1980 年代開始了民主改革。 1990年，學生運動抗議完全民主和直接選舉，他們獲勝了。今天，它是世界上最民主的地方之一，政體得分為 10 分（美國為 8 分），自由之家得分為 93 分（美國為 86 分）。

Though Taiwan was a dictatorship for decades after being invaded and settled by the defeated Nationalists of China in 1949, it began democratic reforms in the 1980s. In 1990, student movements protested for full democracy and direct elections, and they won. Today it’s one of the world’s most democratic places, with a Polity score of 10 (compared to the U.S.’ 8) and a Freedom House score of 93 (compared to the U.S.’ 86).

民主不僅僅是台灣的製度；這是一種意識形態。政府沒有鎮壓抗議者，而是竭力傾聽他們的擔憂。在一個與社交媒體引發的動盪挑戰作鬥爭的世界中，台灣正在試驗新形式的激進數字民主。 台灣的一些立法現在通過一個名為 vTaiwan 的在線平台和一個名為 Polis 的討論平台有效地眾包，該平台明確旨在促進理解和（最終）達成共識，而不是灌籃和模因戰爭。

處於數字民主運動前沿的是唐鳳（Audrey Tang），她是這個國家最英雄的人物之一。

Democracy isn’t just a system in Taiwan; it’s an ideology. Instead of cracking down on protesters, the government has made strenuous attempts to listen to their concerns. In a world struggling with the challenge of social media-driven unrest, Taiwan is experimenting with new forms of radical digital democracy. Some legislation in Taiwan is now effectively crowdsourced via an online platform called vTaiwan and a discussion platform called Polis that is explicitly designed to foment understanding and (eventually) consensus instead of dunks and meme wars.

At the forefront of the movement for digital democracy is Audrey Tang, one of the country’s most heroic figures.

Taiwan is a civilization

作為一名傳奇黑客（恰好也是跨性別者，被稱為“後性別”），唐鳳曾是一名抗議者，但後來被邀請進入政府擔任無職務部長，她在政府中致力於實施數字民主，並幫助與 COVID-19 響應。部分歸功於唐鳳的努力和台灣政府有遠見的自由主義，台灣能夠以一種仍然讓民眾感到被包容和被傾聽的方式實施嚴格的疏遠措施。（你真的應該閱讀或收聽這個 Podcast，其中 Tang 提供了我在這篇文章中討論的台灣許多方面的想法，此外還有更多！）

A legendary hacker (who also happens to be transgender and identifies as “post-gender”), Tang was once a protester, but was later invited into the government as a minister without portfolio, where she has worked to implement digital democracy and also helped with the COVID-19 response. It was in part thanks to the efforts of Tang and the far-sighted liberalism of the Taiwanese government that Taiwan was able to impose strict distancing measures in a way that still made the populace feel included and heard. (You really should read or listen to this podcast, where Tang offers thoughts on many aspects of Taiwan that I discuss in this post, and more besides!)

台灣致力於民主和包容實際上已經成為與中國的意識形態鬥爭——以及香港抗議活動所體現的衝突的延伸。在最近的一次採訪中，唐鳳宣稱：“鎮壓香港的前提是，如果你有太多的民主，我想它會傷害穩定、和諧、經濟……我們有責任證明民主是有效的，而不僅僅是鎖定、自上而下或拆除。”

Taiwan’s dedication to democracy and inclusion has effectively become an ideological battle with China — and an extension of the conflict embodied in the Hong Kong protests. In a recent interview, Tang declared: “The crackdown of Hong Kong is hinged on the premise that, if you have too much democracy, it will hurt, I guess, stability, harmony, economy…We have a responsibility to show that democracy works, and not just lockdown or top-down or takedown.”

甚至有跡象表明，台灣最終可能會將其參與式民主的意識形態輸出到該地區的其他地區。 唐鳳已經在日本受到很多關注，香港抗議者已經在日本的年輕人中引起了同情。如果東亞出現一種激進民主的意識形態，以對抗中國威權穩定的願景，那麼台灣很可能處於它的中心。

There are even some signs that Taiwan may end up exporting its ideology of participatory democracy to other parts of the region. Already, Tang is getting a lot of attention in Japan, where the Hong Kong protesters have already attracted a sympathetic following among the youth. If there is an East Asian ideology of radical democracy emerging as a counter to China’s vision on authoritarian stability, Taiwan will likely be at the center of it.

傳奇的夜生活 Legendary nightlife

這都是非常嚴肅的事情，但台灣也以好玩而聞名。 台灣最著名的兩件事就是美食和泡在俱樂部（clubbing）。

This is all very serious stuff, but Taiwan is also famous for fun. And the two most famous fun things to do in Taiwan are food and clubbing.

台灣菜融合了中國菜和日本菜。麵條和火鍋很突出。街頭小吃也很受歡迎，尤其是在台灣著名的夜市，您可以在一個攤位到另一個攤位之間閒逛，吃著美味的東西。

Taiwanese food is a blend of Chinese and Japanese cuisine. Noodles and hot pot feature prominently. Street food is also popular, especially in Taiwan’s famous night markets, where you can just wander from stall to stall eating delicious stuff.

Taiwan is a civilization

這是 Anthony Bourdain 在台北的一集。

Here’s Anthony Bourdain’s episode in Taipei.

台灣夜生活的另一個傳奇是泡吧。顯然，我自己沒有經歷過這種情況，但我有很多朋友在大流行期間移居台灣，他們發回了大量照片和報告。不管怎樣，這是一段影片，一個有點傻的歐洲男人帶你快速而壯觀地遊覽台北夜總會的場景。大型“大型俱樂部”似乎特別受歡迎。

The other legendary piece of Taiwanese nightlife is the clubbing scene. I haven’t experienced this myself, obviously, but I had a number of friends who moved to Taiwan during the pandemic who sent back copious photos and reports. Anyway, here is a video where a slightly goofy European man takes you on a quick and spectacular tour through the Taipei nightclub scene. The big “mega clubs” seem to be especially popular.

所以台灣是一個令人印象深刻的文明。為什麼沒有更多的美國人意識到這一點？該島人口稀少——只有 2400 萬，不到韓國的一半——及其有爭議的獨立性可能是部分原因。另一個是，儘管擁有非常酷的城市化、美食、夜生活和自由社會，台灣卻沒有像韓國或日本那樣世界一流的娛樂業。如果我在台灣政府，我會苦思冥想如何讓台灣的娛樂產品登上全世界青少年的手機。

So Taiwan is a pretty impressive civilization. Why aren’t more Americans aware of it? The island’s small population — just 24 million people, less than half the size of South Korea — and its disputed independence are probably part of the reason. Another is that despite having very cool urbanism, food, nightlife, and a liberal society, Taiwan doesn’t have a world-beating entertainment industry like Korea or Japan. If I were in the Taiwanese government, I would be thinking hard about how to get Taiwanese entertainment products onto teenagers’ cell phones around the world.

政府可以做的另一件事是增加東亞以外地區的旅遊業。

Another thing the government could do is to increase tourism from regions outside East Asia.

Taiwan is a civilization

美食、夜生活、美麗的風景、徒步旅行和豐富的歷史文化應該足夠吸引人了（我當然打算盡快去），但政府需要做廣告。

The food, nightlife, beautiful scenery, hiking, and rich history and culture should be enough of a draw (I certainly plan to go as soon as I can), but the government needs to advertise.

無論如何，我對台灣在美國的影響力持樂觀態度。大流行和台灣的出色表現有望成為一個轉折點。我希望在未來的歲月裡，越來越多的美國人開始關注這個小而勇敢的島嶼文明，因為它真的很酷。

In any case, I’m optimistic about Taiwan’s mindshare in America. The pandemic, and Taiwan’s stellar performance, hopefully marked a turning point. It’s my hope that in the years to come, more and more Americans are going to start paying attention to this small but plucky island civilization, because it’s really pretty cool.

原始文章

卓越的公共衛生 Superior public health

偉大的都市主義 Great urbanism

一個進步、寬容、自由的社會 A progressive, tolerant, liberal society

傳奇的夜生活 Legendary nightlife

Reference