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Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Bicycle and the Battle of Identity Politics.

She's Got Good Taste

I just thought I would post this recent picture of DPP Chairwoman, Tsai Ying-wen trying on a bike helmet. Tsai is currently running for the Mayorship of New Taipei City in November's municipal elections. In several posts I have referred to the bicycle as a seme for the Taiwanese identity and Taiwanese national pride, therefore becoming an object of political capital coveted by political actors of various colors. Whoever owns the image of the bike owns what it represents to the electorate.

Update:

Battle of the Bikes
Yesterday the DPP New Taipei City candidate, Tsai Ying-wen, led a bike centered campaign event to draw out supporters. Meanwhile, the KMT candidate led his own event flanked by bicycles. (Liberty Times and China Times articles.) In the New Taipei City elections the bike often deployed as a symbol of a future of sustainability.

2 comments:

  1. Yes, and it's also the "I'm a real person, just like you" strategy made popular by Ma and his running.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Somehow the ghoulish-looking Ma was able to use a brilliant PR team that successfully convinced lonely women into thinking he was ruggedly handsome.

    Others in Taiwanese political life assert much the opposite.

    ReplyDelete