The gimmick of the odd:Japan's Channel Four last year broadcast a program entitled, "Witness: Supernatural Phenomena around the World. " Forty minutes of this two-hour program focused on exposing the tricks of mainland frauds.
On the show, a mainland master of Chi (inner strength) broke a metal plate against his head by moving his chi. The Japanese program took the plate back to Japan to have it examined by a university lab. A computer analysis of the plate revealed that the spot where it had broken apart had already been tampered with.
Another performer, said to have the power of being able to read characters written in sealed envelopes, was caught cheating by a camera hidden by Japanese television in a hotel room. Credited with the ability of being able to see characters inside sealed envelopes, she was actually being quietly tipped off by someone sitting next to her.
In the 1990s, when such paranormal powers are everywhere being scrutinized, how is it that Taiwanese television is taking them at face value to attract viewers? It makes one old television hand shake his head and say privately, "I definitely do not agree with handling it this way. These performances are just fooling the audience."
As for exposing the hucksters, the producers of "The Wonders of China," which has introduced paranormal phenomena on the mainland, say that they approach filming such material with an attitude of introducing magic and performance. "If you're at the scene, and someone takes a leaf and makes it bigger or smaller," says Chou Chih-min, "it makes you curious. But you don't know how it's done. We let the viewers decide for themselves whether to believe it or not."
Leaving the level of tourists:How much does this dual focus - on the strange and the scenic-- help the public to understand the mainland?
Some producers frankly say that most viewers aren't much interested in knowing about the mainland anymore. The early homesick feelings for the mainland, the longing and expectation about the fatherland, have already subsided as the government has relaxed its mainland policy, but the other needs of the audience have not been met.
"The mass media just don't get it. They keep thinking that the viewing public doesn't want to delve into things deeply. Coverage of the mainland has grown fragmented, and these shows have been reduced to consumer products, " says Kung Peng-cheng, the former head of the Culture and Education Office of the Mainland Affairs Council.
In his view, even for the historical sites that the Taiwan shows so favor, issues can be discussed and investigated in depth. They can tell the viewers how the mainland goes about digging at these sites and protecting these relics. Have their policies met with any difficulties? Do they need any help from society in the mainland or from abroad? And now that the mainland's unearthed artifacts are ever more numerous, will hordes of tourists going to these sites have an ill effect?
"These are questions that Chinese around the world care about. Would doing such shows serve as promotion for the red hooligans? Ask their archeological authorities questions instead of just letting the tour guides speak without any basis."
Beyond superiority and inferiority:At times Taiwanese visitors to the mainland have been criticized for harboring feelings of superiority and inferiority at the same time. Their money makes them feel superior, and the grandeur of the mainland's classical culture makes them feel inferior. When cameras from Taiwan go to the mainland they've been accused of falling into the same trap. When the production crews go to a remote area of the mainland, it seems as if they particularly love to shoot the locals' startled reactions to seeing the camera. The narration will take a smug tone, belittling them for not having seen the world. For example, "The natives don't like being filmed, but you can take a picture as long as you shell out 20 renminbi" or " They've been cut off too long from the outside world, and are very curious about people and things from the outside. One of the crew brought along a 'Tetris' video game, and they loved it so much they didn't want to give it up."
Scholars hold that taking the perspective of tourists has caused us to pay attention only to what's on the surface. It's as if only the new and strange have attracted our attention. " These kind of expectations, " points out Kung Peng-cheng, "are essentially no different from Westerners going to China to glimpse `the mysterious orient.'"
To approach the mainland without these feelings of superiority or inferiority, we've got to part with our nouveau riche attitude that using money is the best way to get something done, but we shouldn't lose our ability to decide for ourselves. And when looking at the mainland we need a Taiwanese perspective.
"The Taiwanese perspective is not a narrow local standpoint," Kung Peng-cheng says. After 40 years separation, the values and ways of thinking on the two sides of the strait differ. "The Taiwanese point of view is simply the way we ourselves look at the mainland."
Getting beyond good food and good fun:The field of seven shows about the mainland has thinned, which might make one conclude that this mainland fever is cooling down. But this would be a misreading. There are still many Taiwanese crews going to the mainland to shoot movies, videos and serial television dramas.
"There's no such thing as a cooling down of mainland fever," says producer Chou Ping. Taiwan will always find the mainland irresistibly delicious. And so even if there are numerous variables in the production process and the crews all have bitter experiences, they'll still be swarming like bees to go.
Having used television as our eyes, what have we been seeing in the past few years on the mainland, that place at once so strange and so familiar? Besides good food and good fun, what else do we need to know about? Will future shows about the mainland give us a satisfactory answer?
[Picture Caption]
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How complete is the image of the mainland in the Taiwanese lens?
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Kung fu, a discipline both broad and profound, is a favorite with media and audiences alike. (provided by Yunchiang Productions)
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When looking at mainland compatriots with living environments so entirely different from ours, couldn't the media show a little more compassion and emphasize a little less our economic superiority? (photo by Vincent Chang)
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Ling Feng, the host and producer of "Journey of 8,000 Miles," has made bold remarks about current affairs on both sides of the strait that have attracted widely differing opinions.
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The famous scenery of Guilin and other famous tourist spots have continued being the locations most loved by local television crews. (photo by Ni Shu-yun)
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Sent to shoot on location in mainland China, the R.O.C. television crews, lugging their equipment on their shoulders, play the role of Taiwan's eyes on the mainland.
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Do the R.O.C. tourists view the mainland in the same light as foreign tourists coming to China from afar? (photo by Vincent Chang)
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Having watched programs about the mainland for so many years, what do today's audiences still hope to see?