Town council elections in Orchid Island are usually routine, predictable affairs, but this February was different. The new chairman was not a village elder but 31-year-old Chou Ya-wen, who won by a margin of over 200 votes, becoming the first woman town council chairman in Orchid Island's history.
Situated off the eastern coast of Taiwan, Orchid Island has enjoyed local administrative autonomy for 36 years. Council politics by and large had been a male preserve. Before Chou, there had been only two chairmen, both village elders.
Hsieh Chu-ming was an influential local representative who thought he had long ago covered all the bases. Little did he expect that Chou Ya-wen would receive the Kuomintang nomination, spoiling his plans. Hsieh decided to keep on fighting, however, throwing the peaceful island of about 2000 people into a tizzy of election fever.
Campaign literature could be found everywhere. Workers for both sides did house-to-house canvassing, and everyone talked of the election. To those who feared for the position of males under a woman chairman, Chou had a ready answer: "Behind every successful woman stands a man," and after a look at Chou's administrative ability, the misgivings about a woman chairman gradually faded away.
Energetic, able, and carrying a faint smile, Chou comes from a traditional Yami aboriginal family. Nevertheless, she has seen considerable social change. As part of the first class of Orchid Island students affected by the nine-year compulsory education policy, she lived at school, owing to primitive transportation on the island. Her bed was a board, and the blanket church-supplied. For hot baths, she and others would head for the woods to chop firewood for the heater.
After three years, when 31 students decided to go to Taiwan to take entrance exams for senior high school and vocational school, a storm broke. Parents and clan elders armed themselves and went looking for the principal and teachers, believing them responsible for the children's plans. After discussion with teachers and police, the parents relented. All but two students placed into schools and Chou went to study at the Taitung High School of Agriculture and Industry.
After graduation, finding employment was difficult and a frustrated Chou wrote a letter to the then-mayor of Taitung, Huang Ching-feng. Huang helped her find work at the Orchid Island telegraph office. Later Chou went on to a variety of posts, among them being town councilman, secretary of the woman's association, member of the mediation committee and woman's association member.
Being involved in public service from so many angles exposed Chou to the many difficulties faced by Orchid Island citizens. Taxes made the greatest impression on her. As aborigines, Yami had been exempt from taxes as part of government's plan to raise their standard of living. The program had considerable success, and later the exemption was lifted.
The Yami had a rude shock. In many cases, the government seemed to be asking for as much as ten times as much as it should. Some, who had never worked in Taiwan, owed several hundred thousand NT dollars.
Acting quickly, Chou investigated the matter and found the smoking pistol. Several companies, after obtaining basic information from Yami individuals, had used their tax-exempt status to falsely report company income. Chou collected the tax slips, which gave the companies' names, and phoned them one by one, insisting that they pay the taxes for the Yami and send receipts as proof. Otherwise she would notify the government. The companies paid the taxes, and many young people suddenly knew that Chou Ya-wen was someone who got things done. Quite unintentionally, she had developed a core of supporters.
"There's been some modernization here, but Orchid Island is still a simple place. Very little swindling, robbery, or violent crime. At most people drink too much and get a little out of hand, or outside workers come here and there are some problems with the locals," says Chou.
Orchid Island problems actually belong to a much larger category, namely, how a culture holds together between tradition and modernity. Wood has been replaced by gas for cooking, and the dinner table now finds fish and rice instead of taro. Concrete apartments once thought too cramped are now seen as being good shelter against wind and rain. The "high" water and electric bills are paid by the children, who have gone to work.
Says Chou, "Modern life has its conveniences, but we don't want things to move too fast. There's a lot of the Yami culture we want to preserve."
The new chairman has several ideas for improving life on Orchid Island. Expanding tourist facilities, she believes, will help the island in many ways. Youth who would go to Taiwan for work can find employment at home. The tax base and general wealth of Orchid Island would be increased, and Yami handicrafts and traditions safeguarded. At present most tourism development is controlled by outsiders and has done little for Orchid Island, but Chou plans to change this situation.
Other policies include looking first to Yami youth to replace vacancies in schools and government agencies. Fortunately, Chou will not have to make this effort all on her own. This summer the provincial ministry of education plans to set up a branch of the Tungkang Maritime and Fishery Vocational High School at Orchid Island.
Whether or not Chou does well depends in large part on how much her constituents support her. Some villages located in the remoter parts of the island still cling to traditional ways of thinking. Chou, for her part, says communication will be a key to success.
The man behind Chou Ya-wen, Chung Ts'o-po, was the first person from Orchid Island to attend a university and is now the director of the island's junior high school. He often arrives home earlier than his wife, and helps her out by taking care of the children, washing diapers, and even making dinner. Sometimes he goes fishing, bringing back crab and lobster for breakfast.
Chou feels Chung is just what a husband should be. He, for his part, does not mind her lack of attention to household chores, saying, "She's busy on behalf of the public." Change, clearly, has come to Orchid Island.
[Picture Caption]
Orchid Island Town Council Chairwoman Chou Ya-wen and her husband Chung Ts'o-po.
Chou's busy schedule rarely gives her time to watch TV.
Almost every household in Orchid Island has a wheelbarrow to move things.
An elderly inhabitant carefully carves on a canoe.
Orchid Island also has its junk sculptors.
Water taro is a staple of the Yami diet.
Canoes take refuge from the elements during winter.
A matter of perspective. When students from Orchid Island Junior High School painted maps of their home and Taiwan, somehow Orchid Island came out much larger.
Chou's busy schedule rarely gives her time to watch TV.
Almost every household in Orchid Island has a wheelbarrow to move things.
An elderly inhabitant carefully carves on a canoe.
Orchid Island also has its junk sculptors.
Water taro is a staple of the Yami diet.
Canoes take refuge from the elements during winter.
A matter of perspective. When students from Orchid Island Junior High School painted maps of their home and Taiwan, somehow Orchid Island came out much larger.
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