It made him drop medicine to become a writer to cure the minds, rather than the bodies of his compatriots.

Gazing at the onlookers, he saw coldness and indifference. He satirised such behaviour in his short story, Medicine, with a scene in which passers-by stood around and watched as young revolutionaries faced the firing line. 'Wei guan', or standing around and looking on, became a byword for apathy.

But for Peking University internet expert Hu Yong, the term has taken on a more positive meaning in the cyber age.  As Twitter-like social media spreads, the number of virtual bystanders has grown exponentially.

When two sisters were bullied by officials in Nanchang, their plight was broadcast and seen by close to millions through such social media.

The online onlookers did more than look. They shared the sisters' story with their networks, enabling the tale to spread so fast that censors could not catch up.

WHAT HAS CHANGED

What had changed, wrote Dr Hu in a column, is that these social media, or micro-blogs as they are known in China, have lowered the risk and cost of participation. 

It does not require anything heroic. Virtual onlookers just need to click their mouse and share the story, in the comfort of their homes.

Micro-blogs can add up to something big, Dr Hu believed.

A common Chinese saying goes: 'What man is doing, heaven is watching.'

Perhaps one can now say: What the powerful in China are doing, the netizens are watching.

While it’s uncertainly unwise to exaggerate the Internet’s impact, it has for sure made many officials watch their backs. Or maybe their wrists.

As Zhou Jiugeng, an ex-property bureau chief, would know, a branded watch glimpsed online may mean an end to one’s career.

Back in 2008, the most popular Internet neologism in China was 'da jiang you', which means literally to go buy soy sauce. It was a cheeky rejoinder to mean, 'I’m just passing by and it’s none of my business'.

A man in Guangzhou had famously offered soy sauce as an excuse when he declined to be interviewed.

Will the Internet make the Chinese less of a nation of 'soy sauce buyers'? Especially when all that’s asked of them is that they click their mouse?

Well, we’d all have to watch and find out.

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You know how it was very much the fashion for female stars to lock their lips in public a while ago, like Madonna and Britney or Stephanie Sun and Tanya Chua.

In Taiwan’s political circles, it is the fad these days for male politicians to grasp each other’s hands tightly, in what the media describes as "shi zhi jin kou" (ten fingers tightly interlocked).

Previously, the term was used mainly on celebrity couples caught holding hands in public by the paparazzi, such as Taiwan singer Annie Yi who was caught holding hands with actor Huang Weide, behind the back of her husband, singer Harlem Yu.

But Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou got in on the act when he held the hand of Taipei City mayor Hau Lung-bin a few weeks ago, in a bid to quash rumours that they did not get along.

There has been talk that there is bad blood between the duo, as Mr Ma, who was Mr Hau’s predecessor as Taipei City mayor, had left behind problems for Mr Hau, like the malfunctioning Wen-hu mass rapid transit line and Maokong cable car system.

What did not help was that there was speculation that Mr Hau might be asked to lose the Taipei mayoral elections in December to the Democratic Progressive Party’s Su Tseng-chang in order to nullify the threat Mr Su would pose to Mr Ma’s re-election bid in 2012.

Thus, when both men interlocked their fingers in comradely fashion at a public event, much was made of how both were determined to underline that all was fine between them.

Subsequently, Mr Hau came in for much teasing at a publicity event for the opera Turandot, when he was asked why he did not hold hands with Taichung mayor Jason Hu, who was also present.

Mr Ma, though, did not shy away from locking fingers with another male colleague again, this time with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng during a party to celebrate Mr Wang’s 70th birthday on Wednesday.

According to media reports, Mr Ma grasped Mr Wang’s hand tightly in a natural manner during the party.

Incidentally, Mr Ma and Mr Wang are said to have a less than amicable relationship dating back to 2006 when both were competing to be elected as Kuomintang chairman. Mr Ma had said some unpleasant things about Mr Wang back then, about how Mr Wang had links to local factions. 

By interlocking their fingers, both men were perhaps looking to underline how that was all water under the bridge.

One consequence of all this hand holding is that the media is playing up every little touch. When Kuomintang secretary-general King Pu-tsung momentarily rested his hand on another male politician's thigh recently, this was deemed significant enough to be recorded in a news article.

Whatever one makes of this touchy-feely turn in Taiwan politics, it sure beats the pushing and shoving that goes on in the august chamber of the legislature from time to time!

Taiwan, which often claims to be more Chinese than anywhere else — despite voices advocating a separate Taiwan identity — loves exams. This is a legacy from the Mandarin system of imperial China, which selected scholars using nation exams.

A few days ago, the post office  announced it was hiring postmen, a job made considerably more sexy after a hit movie, Cape No 7, featured a postman as its romantic lead.

Now, to be a postman, one has to pass exams too, and some schools offer courses on how to be a postman, as I found out when I was handed a flyer the other day.

Exams are also de rigeur if you want to be a civil servant, a train captain or a telco engineer. Apparently, workers hired to record parking offences also need to pass a test — so that they know their ABCs when writing down the licence plate numbers.

Exams preoccupy the minds of so many in Taiwan that the broadsheets here actually publish the university entrance exam papers  days later, dissecting puzzles and trends alike.

They also issue a list of correct answers, saving parents and students the cost of buying those dreaded 10-Year Series.

This year, driftwood made the headlines after a Chinese Language exam paper asked students to write an essay titled, "Driftwood's Soliloquy".

Before you think, thank goodness the examiners didn't ask them to ruminate on being deadwood, here's food for thought: driftwood is actually a very topical issue.

Large amounts of driftwood and assorted debris were flushed down the mountains by the deadly Typhoon Morakot which hit Taiwan last August, causing damage.

And while some may see driftwood as rubbish, many artists love these logs, carving sculptures out of them. In Taitung, southern Taiwan, the authorities invited artists to turn driftwood into art pieces at an art festival last year.

Apart from driftwood, popular Shanghai-born writer Eileen Chang also made it as a topic in one exam paper, with students being tested on an excerpt from her short story, Red Rose White Rose. Alongside Chang, three of the "Simei" — or the Four Chinese classical beauties, Xishi, Wang Zhaojun and Yang Guifei — also appeared in a paper, in a poem which students were tested on. 

This is also the time of the year when parents write to the papers, expressing angst about the pressures of the school system and the over-emphasis on exams.

While there are many universities in Taiwan these days (more than 160 for a population of 23 million) — enough for everyone to get a place — the race is still on to see who can get into the top universities.

With the stakes so high, exams don't look like they are going to drift in importance any time soon.

IF THE green cops have their way, those who smoke while they walk in Taiwan may find themselves poorer by as much as S$300.

Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has declared pre-emptive war on would-be litterbugs by proposing a fine on those who smoke in public without being close to an ashbin or carrying a tin for cigarette butts.

But this 'fine' move was deemed so incredible in free and easy-going Taiwan that it grabbed Page 1 headlines in two major newspapers here, possibly causing many a fag to drop from the mouths of stunned smokers.

While the EPA cited a survey showing that 58 per cent of about 1,000 people asked support the ban, there is considerable difficulty in enforcing it.

How close must a smoker be to an ashbin to escape a fine, some ask. Would there be enough policemen around to nab errant smokers, others wonder.

Those who guard their rights shudder at the possibility that body searches might be conducted to determine if someone is carrying an ash tin and judged to be smoking by the rules.

Trying to snub out the spiraling unease, an EPA spokesman said the fine was meant more as a deterrent, conceding that enforcement might prove tricky.

But the authorities can take comfort from the success they have had so far in reducing the number of smokers in Taiwan.

There are about 3.61 million smokers in Taiwan, down from 3.94 million after a ban on indoor smoking kicked in here last year (09).

While the difficulty of enforcing the ban on those who smoke while walking has sparked derision, the hazard of discarded cigarette butts is no laughing matter.

Each year, cleaners in Taiwan pick up at least 10 million such butts.

Many a carelessly discarded cigarette stub has also added to the load of cleaners in Singapore and caused many smokers to end up with a broom and Corrective Work Order vest.

All across the world, such butts amount to a huge headache for the authorities. In cities like San Francisco in the United States, these make up at least one-quarter of the litter on the streets, the New York Times reported last May (09).

Many American cities have banned smoking from public places like the beach, while San Francisco has proposed a tax on cigarettes to help pay for the US$11 million that the city spends yearly to get rid of cigarette thrash.

Many people casually toss away their cigarette butts as they mistakenly believe that these are biodegradable. But most contain plastic filters that take years to be broken down and release toxins into the environment.

Ultimately, the problem may boil down to poor product design.

As Mr Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for San Francisco mayor Gary Newsom, told the NYT, "There is no good practical way of dealing with cigarettes."

"You have a fiery object in your hand and so you have to throw it down and crush it under your heel. And then we have to clean it up."

I TOOK two big plastic bags, stuffed with more plastic bags, back with me when I returned to Taipei after a trip home to Singapore in August.

Although I am happy that these plastic bags are not dished out to me without thought in Taiwan, as is the case in Singapore, this does mean I am often short of bags to line my bins.

Taiwan is generally more environmentally friendly than Singapore and has often come up with good ideas to go green.

These include subsidies for buying energy-saving washing machines and refridgerators, and promoting cycling.

But two initiatives, reported in the Taiwan media on Wednesday, have caused many people to go green in the face instead.

The first is a crematorium in Taipei, which uses smoke from the burning of corpses to power its air-conditioning system.

On average, the crematorium burns 52 corpses a day and the recycled fumes can help save more than NT$3,000 (S$150) a day in energy costs.

Still, the idea of using fumes from cremations to supply cold air has given some people the shivers.

Isn't it creepy, some ask. And how will the kin of the deceased feel?

One fengshui expert interviewed also believed that the fumes from burning bodies are a kind of dirty "qi", which will bring bad luck.

Surprisingly, though, given that the Taiwanese tend to be a superstitious lot, six in 10 people polled by Apple Daily newspaper are okay with the crematorium's recycling move.

Meanwhile, in Taichung, the local authorities have announced a novel scheme to encourage people to pick up litter from the streets.

Folks who pick up things like discarded paper or styrofoam cups can turn these in for vouchers in a scheme starting next week.

What has raised eyebrows though is that residents will also get rewarded for picking up dog poo, with every 1kg exchangeable for NT$100 in shopping vouchers.

While the intention is good, many, including me, wonder if it can be enforced. As the common saying here goes, the authorities have policy, the people have contingency.

"Who can tell if the brown substance handed in was really picked up from the streets? What is to stop people from turning in poo from their homes in return for vouchers?" I asked a colleague.

She almost spat out the pomelo she was eating.

I guess when it comes to green causes, Taiwan has no taboos.

TCHOUKBALL, korfball, fistball. These were amongst the 31 sports featured at the recently concluded World Games, which was initially seen as something of an oddball event.
 
A relative latecomer, the World Games was started only in 1981. It is held every four years, usually in the year following the summer Olympics, and features sports not in the Olympics, like sumo wrestling or parachuting.
 
In the run-up to the World Games in Kaohsiung, in south Taiwan, many feared that the event might not attract many spectators. But when the curtains fell on the 11-day Games last Sunday, the little-fancied Kaohsiung World Games ended up a big winner.
 
At first, though, it looked as if politics might mar the Games, if indifference didn't. Most people paid attention only to how China boycotted the welcome ceremony rather than to the welcome ceremony itself. A classic case of politics overshadowing sports.
 
In case you are wondering why China did what it did, it is because China, or formally the People's Republic of China (PRC), insists that it is the only "China". It does not recognise Taiwan,  officially the Republic of China (ROC), and hopes to see it return to its embrace some day. In a nutshell, with the PRC and the ROC - never the twain shall meet.
 
When the politics finally got out of the way, Kaohsiung and sport proved worthy winners.
 
While the opening ceremony was hardly a lavish spectacle like that at of the Beijing Olympics last year, it did showcase southern Taiwan's salt-of-the-earth charm.

One highlight during the opening was when Temple Gods on motorbikes — called the Techno San Tai Zi — zigged and zagged on the tarpaulin-covered ground, to the pulsing beats of a song called "You are my flower" by Taiwanese rocker Wu Bai.
 
It was kitschy but snazzy.
 
It was also inspired, a riff on the religious street processions seen in many provinces in Taiwan. And a nod to Taiwan's love for ji che, motorbikes or scooters.
 
And the Taiwanese athletes quietly honing their skills for years, finally got the attention they deserved, dominating headlines here with their stories of sacrifice and sportsmanship.
 
The island, which is crazy only for baseball and basketball, bagged a record eight gold, nine silver and seven bronze medals at the Games to finish seventh overall.
 
Despite being world champions, their women's tug-of-war team was little known before the Games. Successfully defending their title on home ground, they won not just fame, but also respect. The ultimate team sport, no individual stands out and no one can afford any slack.
 
Most of the team members are from poor backgrounds and hungry for success, said their coach Chen Tzuen-lung.

Taiwan's champion women's tug-of-war team.
PHOTO: Ho Aili

The homegrown athletes were not the only ones who won applause. The Swiss tug-of-war team made the front pages of newspapers here when they voluntarily took one man off when their German rivals was one-man short due to injury.
 
Certainly, the Swiss won a lot more than gold.
 
As the Games got going, the home fans warmed up and slow ticket sales picked up rapidly. Many bought tickets to see sports they were unfamiliar with just to soak up the carnival-like atmosphere.
 
One spectator who bought tickets to see rugby though she did not understand the game told a Taiwan newspaper she got her money's worth — when a foreign dude ran naked across the field.
 
Kaohsiung got the exposure it wanted too, and recouped some of its costs with NT$66 million in revenue.
 
Overall, the Games was a "fantastic success", said International World Games Association President Ron Froehlich, who was so moved that he even declared it the "best ever".
 
Not bad for an island which spends so much time quarrelling about politics that it has no time for sports.

He also described his wheelchair-bound wife, Wu Shu-chen, also on trial for corruption and money laundering, as someone who is "not normal".
 
Pundits in Taiwan have been left scratching their heads over what Chen is up to.
 
Is Chen trying to portray himself as someone frank and open, with nothing to hide? Is he trying to show how fair he is, by not sparing his family the blushes? 
 
With his latest revelations, Chen has transformed from Taiwan's former No 1 official to its No 1 exposer of secrets, one newpaper remarked.
 
Regardless of whether he is found guilty eventually, Chen has sadly tarnished his former office and legacy, with his indiscreet and indecorous comments about all and sundry.  

In Taiwan

BRIDGES are symbols of transcendence, bridging distances and differences - often over troubled waters.

In local politics, bridges may sometimes be indicative of pork-barrel politics. In Sarah Palin's Alaska State, the much-discussed "bridge to nowhere" is an example of such populist (but not always necessary) public work projects.

But in international relations, or the realm of disputed territories, bridges can be quite a different proposition.

So when Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou asked about the pros and cons of building a bridge to link a part of Taiwan territory to China, the symbolism was too much for many to bear.

The place in question was Kinmen, a quirky remnant of the Civil War between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang fought in the 1940s. 

Now, Kinmen is actually mere kilometres from Xiamen in Fujian Province, much nearer China than Taiwan. But it is under Taiwanese control - the Kuomintang lost the Mainland to the Communists, but fled to Taiwan and wrested control of Kinmen and Matsu, which are both closer to the Mainland. 

For years, Kinmen took the brunt of China-Taiwan hostilities, with the Mainland often dropping shells on Taiwan's little military outpost. 

But now with the China-friendly Mr Ma in power, relations between China and Taiwan have improved.  

Last December, direct shipping, postal and air links were started between the two sides. Now there is talk of deeper economic co-operation through a common market pact. 

For a while now, the Kinmen local authorities have been eyeing a bridge to Xiamen as a way to increase economic opportunities. The bridge could also serve as a conduit for drinking water from Xiamen to Kinmen. 

If it is just between one Taiwanese county to the next, the bridge is just about the central government spreading wealth to the localities. 

But because it is Kinmen, which is literally at the forefront of cross-strait ties, it would be the most potent symbol of reconciliation between the former enemies across the Taiwan Strait yet.

Some though, it's taking one bridging step too far. 

Many Taiwanese are disturbed at the speed with which both sides across the Taiwan Strait have moved closer since Mr Ma took power in May. They worry that Taiwan may be over-relying on China economically.

Mr Ma's spokesman has had to come out to clarify that he has not given the green light to the bridge proposal, but has simply asked about the progress of a feasibility study.

Looks like the uncertain ground underlines how, even though the two former foes have moved closer, it will be a while before they build enough trust to bridge over differences. 

The populist policy, part of economy stimulus package that also includes public works spending, has caught on like wildfire since it was announced last November.

The idea is to prop up Taiwan's economy, which is reeling from steep falls in demand for electronics exports, by giving people the incentive to go forth and shop.

While it is too early to tell if the government has met its target of raising Gross Domestic Product growth by 0.64 percentage points, the signs are good.

For once, the folks of an island known for its messy politics put aside their squabbles to pick up their vouchers and start consuming.

The collection rate was a staggering 91.29 per cent, an A star when the authorities were expecting a B.

And the timing was smart too. Many people were in the mood to splurge with a week to go before The Year of the Ox rears its head.

But more crucially, businesses jumped onto the shopping voucher choo-choo train with many creative deals to loosen tight purse strings.

At first the offers were relatively conservative, with NT5,000 worth of goods and services, for example, in exchange for NT3,600 in vouchers.

By the time the vouchers rolled off the presses, many shops were promising double the value, NT7,200 worth of merchandise for NT3,600 coupons. Or even many times more.

Elsewhere, one could even get a three-day Singapore holiday in exchange for NT3,600 in vouchers. This would usually cost about five times more.

Lucky draw prizes offered heaven and literally earth. One county dangled a luxurious apartment, another county offered the chance to be a landowner and yet another said you could have your very own isle.

So much so that a voucher has become more valuable than cash!

When the takings were tallied after the first day of the vouchers, many supermarkets and electronics stores reported sharp increases in sales.

Optimists are now saying that the voucher effect may be greater than GDP growth of 0.64 percentage points. Already, many are asking the island's Gods of Fortune, "Sir, can I have some more (vouchers)?"

Small wonder that a whiff of euphoria surrounds the Cabinet these days, especially as the rings of cash registers drown out calls for a Cabinet reshuffle.

But lest euphoria blinds clear sight, the caveats still stand.

Will the vouchers generate extra spending or will they simply be spent on what people would have spent on anyway, thus reducing the multiplier effect?

Even as murmurs about a second round of vouchers escape into the air, news that UK-based credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings had downgraded Taiwan's credit status from good to negative should give pause for thought.

For Taiwan as a whole has incurred more debt to finance the voucher policy. So unlike what many think, the vouchers are not gifts from heaven, but loans from future generations.

To his credit, President Ma Ying-jeou, who can expect a spike in approval ratings with his 3,600 policy, cautioned that vouchers are an extraordinary measure for extraordinary times, whose oft use may weaken its effect.

And there are also collateral costs.

The burly Interior Minister Liao Liou-yi was reduced to tears when recounting missing vouchers worth an estimated NT5 million.

But the authorities did have unexpected windfalls – dozens of wanted criminals walked right into the waiting arms of the law at voucher pick-up points.

Sigh, who can resist a freebie?

The good news for them is, they can still use the coupons at the prison co-op. Guess in hard times like this, the spending of everyone matters!