COFFEE AND PHILOSOPHY IN KAOHSIUNG:
Musings in the Cultural Zone of Coffeehouses and Bookstores
Samuel Ling
Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan. Hot, humid, dusty, it speaks of energy, change, and multiculturalism. Men and women ride thousands of motorcycles and scooters, often with children in tow, on the way to school, work or shopping. The coffeeshops, internet cafés, boutiques and bookstores remind me that Taiwan is on the cutting-edge Pacific Rim. The noodleshops and steamboat (huo wo) restaurants (sometimes with Kuan Gong idols in the front) point to traditional Chinese ways. The little sidestreets and alleyways, the banners that fly above boutiques, and the trim design on bakery boxes and shopping bags are subtle reminders of Japanese influence. A generation of senior citizens speak Japanese! Teaching historical theology to a group of Chinese pastors in vibrant Kaohsiung has been a wonderful, eye-opening experience.
Bookstores have the usual selections as in America: popular magazines, children’s books, management and self-help, computer guides, hobby books. A large selection of English-language study books and magazines complements English schools and radio programs offering instruction in English conversation – even Time, Inc. and CNN have gotten into the English teaching business. New Age influence is everywhere, both in the religion and self-help sections. One afternoon I picked up a beautifully designed features which features dozens of quaint, luxurious or unique coffeehouses up and down the island of Taiwan. How about a coffeehouse at a hotspring where one can both sip and soak? Or an urban escape with a Chicago theme, featuring a convertible car in the middle of the restaurant?
What about serious reading? Bookfield (Kai juan tian) has academic sections such as social sciences and philosophy. The current Nobel Prize winner, a mainland Chinese living in France, has several of his titles out. Since my interest has been the intellectual challenge facing the Chinese church, I dutifully bought a textbook on the history of western philosophy for my class, as an example of the kind of background study which pastors should engage in, as we seek to defend the biblical faith in secular times. I found four such texts.
One day I was looking at the new bestsellers, and discovered that a prominent Roman Catholic scholar has a book in Chinese translation, on the spirit of medieval philosophy. Why would a book on medieval, Catholic, Thomist philosophy be translated into Chinese? Could it be that, postmodern Taiwan and Asia need to find some foundation to their rootless, fleeting existence? Could it be that the Middle Ages can give us some clue as to the meaning of life? Could it be that, since western authors are looking to the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and other periods in our past, for wisdom and guidance, Taiwanese publishers and readers are doing likewise? Or is this just some kind of passing fad to satisfy the Yuppie generation of coffeehouse patrons?
My own introduction to apologetics and philosophy came at age 17, when I was shown Lit-Sen Chang’s A Christian Criticism of Humanism, and Francis Schaeffer’s Escape From Reason. I read Chang in Chinese, and Schaeffer in English. As I went through the University of Pennsylvania in the days of the Vietnam War and the Hippie’s counter-culture movement, I discovered that the faith of my parents, rooted in prayer, Bible reading and evangelism, can and does stand the test of intellectual challenge. I have since discovered that this heritage of piety and apologetics is rare today.
Where are the discerning minds in Taiwan’s church today, ready to give a defense of his/her faith in Jesus Christ? In the cacophony of voices in urban Asia, it is intriguing, refreshing, and sobering to know that philosophy, both serious and otherwise, is in the marketplace.
March 22, 2001
Kaohsiung, Taiwan