Racial rifts
Taiming constantly witnesses racial rifts and racial superiority. During the Japanese occupation, he starts a job as a teacher, but there is a “strife between the Japanese and Taiwanese faculty.” This is most evident in the treatment of the janitor, who is used by the principal as “his personal servant, making him chop wood, prepare his bath, and run errands.” Moreover, the principal favors the Japanese staff, assigning them formal, funded trips as well as rare paid leaves, and he denounces the Taiwanese staff because they lack national spirit, as their command of the Japanese language is not satisfactory. The only one who questions the racial discrimination is Instructor Zeng, who insists that the order of the name plates should reflect seniority and rank instead of ethnicity if there is to be true harmony among the staff. At first, he seems to have won the battle, because “There was no refuting Instructor Zeng’s reasoned opinion. Neither the principal nor anyone else said a word.” However, Zeng soon leaves the school to go to China instead.
This racial rift soon affects Taiming on a personal level, as he is attracted to a colleague named Hisako. He is well aware of the inappropriateness of their relationship: “For the more she aroused him, the more depressed he felt and the deeper he slid down into the unbridgeable abyss that separated them, he Taiwanese and she Japanese.” However, he does not let go of her and keeps a small spark of hope alive until she tells him what he has tried to ignore: “‘It can’t be. Because you and I are different.’ Taiming did not have to ask what she meant by ‘different.’ She had not forgotten that they belonged to different ethnicities.”
Having witnessed more hatred when he talked to a Chinese student, who “sneered in disgust and, with obvious contempt, quickly strode away” when he learns that Taiming is from Taiwan, Taiming decides to fortify “the barrier of oppressive silence” and to withdraw further into himself.
The advance of science
Taiming decides to study physical sciences because he realizes that the Taiwanese need to excel in the field of science if they want to be successful in their future, as they have little else to offer in a globalized world: “In the narrow confines of Taiwan, education is just a synonym for worldly success. For its young men, education means choosing between medicine, which is lucrative, and law, which hands you a weapon. But let’s consider education as a way to higher culture. In the twentieth century, that means science. It’s especially the physical sciences, which we Taiwanese have avoided, that we urgently need to master. In the future, men will probably carry out their struggles under the banner of science. Even if we set up a large company here, where would it find Taiwanese technicians? So few of us understand higher mathematics.”The rise of science in Taiwan is also evident in the falling number of doctors practicing traditional Chinese medicine, as more and more doctors choose to practice Western medicine.
The generation gap
Apart from finding his place in between the Taiwanese, Japanese, and Chinese cultures, Taiming is also challenged by traditional and modern views and values. For example, when he is educated by his grandfather, he is always told in “numerous sayings and classical examples to explain how difficult it was to become a bureaucrat. One had to wait at least three years to work for the state, it had always been said.” However, Taiming feels that in the modern world, which is moving at an increasingly faster pace, it is not a good idea to wait for so long.
Taiming’s roots in traditional values become evident when he takes a stance against breaking up the family’s traditional rituals. He thinks this would lead to them degenerating “into mere form, and to cling to formalities, that is, to follow the letter and not the spirit, was a worse offense to their illustrious ancestors.” On the other hand, there are instances where Taiming openly dismisses the traditional views of the elderly. For example, when a woman called Aunt Xin encounters severe complications during childbirth, the villagers trust in their traditions and do not call for a doctor of modern medicine. Taiming condemns this practice: “These stupid customs had taken the lives of countless mothers and babies. At least, if a real midwife were present, Aunt Xin might still be saved! But these people thought that midwives were for ladies; they believed that mere peasants had no right to ask for such fancy services.” Another example is his own mother, who during a legal struggle eats “eggs and somen noodles to defend against the encroaching ill luck,” while Taiming considers the more modern and rational approach of actually bringing the case to court. Finally, when she asks him to consider taking another wife, he “felt an indescribable sense of resistance to his mother’s tone [...] He did not doubt her genuine compassion, but she was just a foolish elderly woman adhering to the old customs.”
Yet, in his relationships, it is Taiming who holds the traditional views: “After Shuchun graduated, the couple discovered that they held contradictory views regarding her future. The man wanted his wife to settle down and become a good housewife, whereas the woman insisted on pursuing a career.”
