Taiwan’s humane environment and democratic freedoms have often won praises from many foreign visitors. Andie, a Canadian artist who has visited Taiwan three times, recently talked about why she keeps returning and why she does not like the mainland from a foreigner’s point of view in a short video.
Andie said that she preferred Taiwan to the mainland and even vowed that she would find ways to go to Taiwan every year from now until she dies. She is very happy that she has visited Taiwan three times.
The Canadian artist said that when she first came to Taiwan in 2017, she “just wanted to see it.” After returning to Canada, she wrote a 15-minute stage play, Sleeping Here Tonight, describing how big the thunderstorms in Taiwan can be, her experience of trying stinky tofu for the first time, and all the difficulties that she overcame during her trip to Taiwan.
Canadian artist loves Taiwan
Andie said that from those days in Taiwan, she had a special liking for elevated highways and dense, well-planned cities, and she enjoyed the pleasure of taking the MRT or a Ubike in Taipei. “Although I had an unfortunate encounter in Tainan, I found there were a lot of friendly people and the way they interact with each other is on a whole new level of kindness.”
Someone asked: “Why don’t you visit the mainland?” Andie replied that she did not like the Chinese government’s approach to labor, human rights lawyers, artists, and different religious believers. “Attacking Taiwan and Hong Kong in any form is an attack on my personal belief on the value of freedom.”
There is also one big reason why the Canadian artist doesn’t want to travel to China. She said bluntly: “In a way, every penny I spend in China seems to be sponsoring a government that does not respect human rights.”
Some mainland netizens said: “I am a mainlander, thank you! I agree with you. Taiwan, cheers, you are the future of the Chinese nation!”
Some netizens suggested that “Canada and China have become so unfriendly recently that it is better not to go to China, a country which can change a sentence of a case without any reason and lacks the most basic values, such as human rights and freedom, is a completely artificial place and not attractive to me…”
Translated by Yi Ming
