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This autumn, Sadler's Wells presents a collection of works from across Asia. The Out of Asia season brings together artists from China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Japan and Taiwan.
Sadlers Wells - Out Of Asia - Sadler's Wells Theatre - London's ...
---又一名藏族僧侶自焚
柏林據德國西藏動議從西藏人權與民主中心處獲悉，週二（10月25日）早晨又有一名西藏僧侶自焚。位於四川境內的東藏甘孜地區38歲的達瓦次仁（Dawa Tsering）在一次宗教儀式上往自己身上澆上汽油點燃，並呼喊希望達賴喇嘛回來以及要求西藏自由的口號，在場的其他僧侶努力撲滅火焰，並將已被燒傷的他送往醫院。據信，達瓦次仁傷勢嚴重。達瓦次仁是本月以來自焚的第六位藏人，今年以來的第10名自焚藏人。這些人以自焚方式表達對北京鎮壓政策的抗議。德國西藏動議主席格拉德爾（Wolfgang Grader）指出，再度發生自焚事件表明，藏區喇嘛廟的情況已到了何等不堪忍受的程度。他指出，聯邦德國政府在歐洲各國中是唯一個公開表達了對藏東地區局勢關注的政府，他對此表示歡迎。他並希望，聯邦總理默克爾會在即將召開的20國集團坎城峰會上提出保障西藏人權問題。
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洪峰進逼 曼谷洪水假備戰
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| 泰國曼谷第二大機場廊曼機場因受水患影響，已於二十五日傍晚關閉。圖為一架泰航班機二十五日被困在泡水的機場跑道上。（歐新社） |
放假5天避水難
〔編 譯張沛元／綜合報導〕泰國五十年來最嚴重水患二十五日持續惡化，隨著大水逼近首都曼谷，泰國政府宣布放五天洪水假，讓民眾有機會躲避洪患。內閣也通過三千 兩百五十億泰銖（約台幣三千一百七十八億元）重建預算。此外，曼谷北部淹水情況嚴重，廊曼機場已暫時關閉，河水水位上升與適逢漲潮導致曼谷岌岌可危。
儘 管防洪當局企圖疏排大水從曼谷東西兩側入海，但由於暹羅灣二十三日正值大潮，穿過市區的昭披耶河（湄南河）水位也創下歷史新高，二十五日晚間又下起大雨， 曼谷市中心因而籠罩在可能於漲潮時淹水的陰影下。再加上曼谷附近巴吞塔尼府的擋水牆破裂，導致首都人心惶惶，民眾忙著強化住宅擋水，囤積食物與飲水。
廊曼機場宣告失守
以 國內航線為主的曼谷廊曼機場，當地時間二十五日傍晚五時（台灣時間同日晚間六時）暫時關閉，預定十一月一日重開。由於政府的救災指揮中心設於此地，一座航 廈也成為擠滿四千災民的避難中心，機場被迫關閉，是政府防洪抗災迄今遭遇到的最重大挫折之一，勢必重創民眾對總理盈拉的信心。
救災指揮中心發言人表示，由於道路仍可通行，指揮中心暫時不會撤離廊曼機場。估計機場主體設施可能在二十八日被大水攻陷，但積水不會超過一公尺。位居高處的蘇凡納布國際機場則未受影響，但可能會因人手不足而考慮減班。
曼谷蘭實大學「氣候變遷與災難中心」主任瑟利說，情勢瞬息萬變，大水是否會漫過昭披耶河堤防還很難說；最糟的情況是堤防擋不住大水，曼谷所有地區或多或少都泡水。
災區停課至11月7日
泰 國內閣宣布，曼谷與二十個受到洪水影響的省份，從二十七日到三十一日放假五天；教育部也下令曼谷和十二個受災省份各級學校停課到十一月七日。此外，內閣也 宣布一項主要提供中小企業、小販與個人紓困的三千兩百五十億泰銖重建預算。日本央行也考慮與泰國央行合作，提供泰國日商以日本國債為擔保的融資計畫。
此外，面對物資短缺，泰國商業部二十五日表示，將放寬食物、飲水與部份消費物資的進口關稅與規定。
曼 谷北部的廊曼、拉席與賽邁等部分地區自二十二日起已經淹水，部分地區淹水深度甚至達兩公尺，救災指揮中心二十五日還要求曼谷北部的曼亞克社區居民撤離。泰 國水患自七月中旬起，已造成至少三百六十六人喪生，受影響人口近兩百五十萬人。大水還迫使曼谷附近的大城、暖武里與巴吞塔尼等省份的七大工業區關閉，造成 數十億美元損失、工業供應鏈中斷與六十五萬人暫時失業。
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Looming China fosters Taiwan identity in independence heartland
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan |
(Reuters) - Tsai Chin-sheng's voice rises with emotion when asked whether he feels Taiwanese or Chinese. Then he utters the response that Beijing fears most.
"Of course I'm pure Taiwanese. I'm not Chinese. We are not a province of China. We are our own country," Tsai said in thickly accented Mandarin through teeth stained red from chewing betel nut, a popular stimulant.
"We have democracy and human rights here. What the hell does China have to offer?" added Tsai, an enthusiastic supporter of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP.L), which hopes to unseat the China-friendly Nationalists in presidential elections on January 14.
"Maybe the Chinese tourists who come here now can learn a thing or two from us and apply it when they go home," said the businessman, a resident of southern Taiwan's balmy port city of Kaohsiung, a DPP stronghold and pro-independence hotbed.
China claims Taiwan as its own, to be taken back by force if necessary, though the two have been ruled separately since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists.
Decades of dictatorship and repression followed by a gusty uptaking of democracy have engendered not only pride at Taiwan's generally smooth transition to rule by the ballot box, but also a growing feeling of distance and difference from China.
Many Taiwanese look with nervousness, if not fear, at China, where the ruling Communist Party remains unmoved by calls for political liberalisation.
Taiwan's free-wheeling press covers the island's politics in a critical way unthinkable for China's stodgy state-controlled media, and giving ink to Chinese dissidents and unrest in the mainland that would never make it past Beijing's censors.
This open debate helps reinforce the deep unwillingness in Taiwan to be absorbed politically by China, and the popular feeling that the island is very different from the mainland and this is something to be cherished and protected.
The sentiment is felt particularly keenly in Kaohsiung, one of the main heartlands of Taiwanese cultural identity and where, in 1979, rights activists held a landmark rally which helped spark Taiwan's eventual democratic transition.
"We can talk to China but it must be on the basis of equality, as nation-to-nation," said Hsiao Chuang, a supporter of opposition presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, out pressing the flesh on a trendy Kaohsiung shopping street.
"Ma Ying-jeou stinks. He wants to sell us out to China," he added, referring to the current president, who signed a series of landmark economic deals with China after taking office in 2008, sparking a rapprochement between the two sides.
China has recently hinted those deals could be at risk if the DPP does not adopt a more positive policy towards Beijing.
The party has sought a more moderate line. It no longer openly backs independence which earned Chen Shui-bian, president from 2000 to 2008, such enmity from China.
But some DPP supporters in Kaohsiung don't seem to have got that message, or at least don't believe the softer stance.
"I will vote for them because they will make us independent," said taxi driver Chen Wen-ling. "Native Taiwanese have to vote for the DPP. It is our duty."
STATUS QUO PREFERRED TO INDEPENDENCE
Most Taiwanese, though, say they would rather maintain the status quo of de facto independence as the "Republic of China" than declare formal independence and risk a Chinese attack.
But they show little enthusiasm to join up with their ethnic kin across the narrow Taiwan Strait, even if ancestrally many can trace their origins to the province of Fujian, which faces Taiwan and shares the same main dialect.
Even among Nationalist Party supporters, there is little willingness to accept that they are Chinese, apart from culturally or historically.
The Nationalists, who once tried suppressing Taiwan's own cultural identity, are also now trying to portray themselves as Taiwanese, hoping to win the voters' hearts.
Though friendly to China, Ma has resisted any efforts at opening political dialogue with Beijing or committing himself to making a decision on Taiwan's future status.
He has been successful at identifying himself with Taiwan, learning to speak the island's predominant Hokkien dialect and portraying himself as a "new Taiwanese", despite not being born on the island, a source of suspicion for some.
MA SUPPORTERS KEEP LOW PROFILE
In Kaohsiung though, most Ma supporters keep a low profile.
One exception is Yang Yu-mei, who runs a shop selling clothing decorated with Republic of China flags and displaying several pictures of her meeting Ma. Brushes with DPP supporters, whom she says sometimes kick the flags outside her store, have not dampened her ardour.
She is so keen on the Nationalists that her mobile phone ringtone is former president Chiang Ching-kuo, who fostered Taiwan's transition to democracy in the 1980s, leading a crowd shouting "Long Live the Republic of China!"
Still, even she is lukewarm on getting any closer to China.
"The current status quo is best. We don't want war with China," said Yang.
"I am a citizen of the Republic of China who lives on Taiwan," she added. "We can say and do what we want here without the fear of anyone looking over our shoulder, and that is very important."
China has hoped that with closer economic links, and with the series of trade agreements signed by Ma, the island will start to feel more positive about Beijing.
While Taiwan's airlines, hotels and major corporations have certainly benefited, many ordinary people say they have felt little impact.
The media has lapped up stories of mainland tourists being too noisy, jumping queues and generally behaving badly. It's something that plays well in the pro-independence south.
"I've seen no benefit from them being here," complained Huang Hsiao-yan, a cook at one of Kaohsiung's heaving night markets. "The mainland tourists buy only fruit or trinkets. They don't eat here. I don't like them at all."
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The once heavily industrialised Kaohsiung has lost many of its companies and factories to China, drawn away by a massive population and low manufacturing costs.
The effect can be seen on the city's sleek new subway network, where it is easy to find a seat even at rush hour. Many would-be commuters have long since decamped to China to work.
"Business has not been good in Kaohsiung for many years now. Everyone has gone to China," complained bar owner Landy Hsu.
"The only Chinese tourists we see around here are men asking us if we have any women, if you know what I mean," piped up her friend and colleague Melody Chin.
When it comes to China, the crucial aspect for many in Taiwan is they want the right to decide their own future.
"You can't choose your relatives, but you can choose whether to spend time with them," said Kaohsiung gallery curator Jemmy Chu, overseeing an exhibition on 100 years since the fall of China's last emperor and establishment of the Republic of China.
One day, perhaps, China could have a democratic revolution too, he added.
"At the moment China is like a bad grandmother who you would not want to have anything to do with. That could change. People complain about China but the Taiwanese have short memories. We were once exactly like them and we were able to change."
(Editing by Brian Rhoads and Jonathan Thatcher)
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