Left Flank

Taiwan bloggers are having fun with the issue of the restoration of direct flights between PRC and Taiwan, even as western media emphasize them as «a show of conciliation between the long-time rivals». Well, at least, there's direct flights to and from only two, of a possible eight, Taiwanese airports and five Chinese cities (Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai and Xiamen). According to FT, a funny thing happened on the way to Taiwan:

The pageantry was lower key at Pudong airport in Shanghai, home to China's largest Taiwanese community, where only an airline counter banner reading »Welcome to Shanghai Airlines' cross-Strait weekend charter flights» marked the departure of a morning flight filled with mostly Taiwanese returning home.

The flights were not without some controversy, as a group of about a dozen Tibet independence activists shouting »Welcome to free Taiwan» protested outside the airport over Beijing's recent crackdown in Tibetan regions of China.

Reporting on what the Taiwanese locals are really worried about, Michael Turton brings up «secondary sex characteristics»:

The Nantou county government, concerned that Chinese tourists may discover that Taiwanese girls have secondary sex characteristics, has ordered that the betel nut babes dress more demurely. I think the Nantou government is just trying to spare the feelings of the poor Chinese by preventing them from finding out that Taiwanese girls are hotter than Chinese girls.

Taiwanese are obsessed that this first small group of 867 privileged Chinese tourists, will still be hicks.

Government employees are working overtime to renovate the Japanese colonial airport in Taipei that will be servicing the visitors. Also, they're cleaning the toilets at tourist sites around the island.

Huh. Yeah, I've noticed they're a little skanky. Umm. So yeah, uhh, way to go putting your best face forward. I like this other quote from the article:

After half a century of separation, many Taiwanese have contradictory ideas about Chinese: They are eager to show off Taiwan's democracy, wealth, culture and sophistication, but some worry that the Chinese are backward, rude and may bring diseases to their homeland

AND «those Chinese» eat stinky tofu, spit on the streets, pee in the gutter, drive like maniacs, pollute their atmosphere, and they're probably after our women as well.

And, what's the big tourist draw? Chiang Kai-shek! Wasn't he the enemy?