The Third Reich goes down!

Great news! It looks like the large Nazi swastika symbol at the door of Macana is gone! It's not hard to believe, as it was so blatantly in poor taste. What is surprising is that it took so long! As I had mentioned before, someone had tried and failed to deface it, but it lived on for months.

Now, Macana has very cleverly changed the winged Third Reich logo into a lion with Zodiac signs. It now looks reminiscent of the winged lion logo that Van Halen used on tour years back. logo

Anyhow, I guess the pressure to change finally had an impact! Taiwan 1, Macana 0.

Nazi post repository here.

More Taiwan Nazi imagery... unfortunately

Spotted this on the sidewalk in the center part of Taipei. The store is Macana. It is undeniably Nazi.

Should you care to lodge a complaint or accidentally splash it with fresh paint follow the link to the location.
Google Map location

Playing the Nazi card... again!!!

When will it ever end? Your a Nazi, I'm a Nazi, everyone's a Nazi!

Here's a political party banner on a Taipei bridge. Looks harmless right? Guy in a Mao suit (in Taiwan it's called a ZhongShan suit after Sun Yat-Sen). Picture of Sun Yat-Sen up above.

And then down below... Oh, aren't they cute, President Chen and Ma Ying-Jiou. But wait! What's that I see? Could it be? Naw! That's impossible! Not after using it the last election!

You got it! Nazi symbolism is once again being used to put down politicians. Chen even has the little mustache!

In case you aren't familiar with the practice, take a look at a few posters from the previous elections. Notice the use of Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Saddam has gotten a reprieve this time around...


















It will be interesting to see what kind of mud they dig up for the Presidential race.

If you would like to see my other articles written about the Nazi influence in Taiwan, use the Google search on this page and search using the word "Nazi".

Just one more example...

A girl poses in front of a Nazi flag somewhere in Taiwan. She is obviously unaware of the association she is making and is likely totally clueless about world history. Taiwanese tend to be very inward-looking. Hopefully this will change over time but I'm not crossing my fingers.

Use the Google search to the right to search for more of my articles about Taiwan and Nazism.

Swastikas for Feng Shui

Here's a prominent building with some huge swastikas on it.

Those are buddhist swastikas for good fengshui. It's not Nazi HQ Taipei.

Jesus, I don't make this stuff up...

I've been using Google Reader and Google News Alerts to find information about past articles I've written to follow up on them.

To my surprise (and disgust) I found this about the National Socialism Association of Taiwan, a Nazi "political organization founded [...] in September 2006 by 許娜琦, a 22-year-old political science graduate of Soochow University" (I have to say I was surprised to know that the founder was a she not a he but I guess I shouldn't be!)

The membership apparently includes people of high educational background and is growing as it seeks more members in universities, colleges and high schools.

'The organization views Adolf Hitler as its "leader" and often proclaims "live long Hitler" as one of their slogans.' (Ouch!)

The party seems to be a reaction to indecision at the national level with the parties struggling against each other and getting little meaningful done.

As one member interviewed by a journalist said:
'he thinks Nazism is a "good idea about enriching the country and stengthening the military" '

WIKI

Previous blog entries about this topic are here:
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2007/03/racism-on-rise-in-taiwan-naaaaa.html
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2007/01/flirting-with-nazism.html

Racism on the Rise in Taiwan? Naaaaa...

The newspapers reported recently about a group that sympathizes with Nazism in Taiwan. What's even more disturbing is that they seem to agree with the notion of superior race promoted by the Nazis.
Taipei Times - archives

Some might say that this is another example of rising racism and xenophobia in Taiwan. I'm not so sure. I've written about the fascination with Nazis and the swastika in Taiwan before.
http://islaformosa.blogspot.com/2007/01/flirting-with-nazism.html

And although this group seeking attention seems to be a bit more organized than the typical display of Nazi anything, they really do not have any broad support or any real chance of widespread success. They must be regarded as fringe.

At least they can try to start their party regardless of how horrible it sounds. Communists don't have this privilege.
http://islaformosa.blogspot.com/2007/01/communist-party-of-taiwan-province-of.html

I think this is just another fine example of how flirtation with Nazis, the swastika and nationalism themes pop up now and again in Taiwan with disastrous results.

Of course, blatantly wrong things like this should be pointed out as they are really embarrassing. Poor old Taiwan that should be trying to make as many international friends that it can rather than alienating them.

I include an infamous ad that appeared in Taiwan a few years ago. The Hitler cartoon is promoting the German superiority of a heater by proclaiming "Declare War on the Cold Front". It is interesting to note the reaction of the creator to the ad once she became aware of how offensive it was:

Huang Chong-jung, manager of the trading firm's marketing department, said that the campaign was never intended to show support for Hitler. The company merely decided to use him to emphasize that the heaters were made in Germany. `We thought it was just a comic picture,' Huang said."
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/NO+COMMENT-a059270818

A German in another situation says:
"Taxi drivers will often tell me Hitler was a great man, very strong"
http://www.stormfront.org/solargeneral/library/www.fpp.co.uk/Hitler/docs/popularity/Taiwan221199.html

This is the attitutude we're up against in Taiwan and perhaps in Asia in general...
http://www.vho.org/tr/2000/4/tr04asians.html

Flirting with Nazism???

I don't support Nazis but it's amazing to the extent that Taiwanese misuse their symbols.

The swastika on the Nazi flag of course really resembles the Buddhist swastika (which goes in the other direction). On top of that it's on a field of red which is an auspicious color for Chinese.

In my ramblings I've found the pattern in many places that are temple related. There are even modern buildings with swastikas on them for fengshui purposes, mostly when facing or housing a temple.

But there's more to this strange obsession. Some Taiwanese admire Hitler and associate him with German products. At one point I remember one electric heater company, with a heater from Germany, advertising it with the slogan "Set fire the cold front!" and showed a cartoon picture of Hitler beside it. Needless to say the Jewish community launched a letter of complaint.

Another case was the restaurant owned by Jackie Wu called the Prison. The tables were placed in cells. You get the idea. What caused the controversy were the pictures of the people in Nazi concentration camps. Off went another letter.

I've heard some Taiwanese admire Hitler on occasion due to his ability to unite and lead the people. Coming from an authoritarian past themselves, I guess I can see some people's fond remembrance of that period. I mean, the KMT fashioned itself as a Nationalist party (even though it had more of a Soviet hierarchy and training).

One last note. Westerners often look down on this Asian flirtation with Nazi symbols, flags and uniforms but we are equally unaware of our transgressions as well back home. I have often seen the Japanese rising sun emblem on t-shirts and caps (it's a military flag with the rays of the sun representing the reaches of the Japanese empire). How offensive would Chinese find that if they were bold enough to complain about it?

We also have clothing, hats, banners, bandannas and mirrors emblazoned, not to mention tattoos, with Japanese and Chinese symbols and characters we don't really understand the full implications of.

So think about this the next time you see that swastika. It might be an innocent mistake. And maybe again it isn't...