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Remembering Fang Quan: The Legacy of a Renowned Political Strategist and Philosophical Writer

Today’s Weekly columnist and well-known political strategy writer Fang Quan was shocked to hear that he died peacefully at home of cardiovascular disease at 1:04 a.m. on Monday (11/6) at the age of 68.

Scope has a wide range of friends across the Taiwan Strait and three places. The family keeps a low profile and adheres to his last wish: there will be no office memorial, no mourning hall, and no farewell ceremony. The website of the Outpost Preparatory Camp founded by him will continue to be used as a commemoration of his creation and messages from all walks of life. Salute.

The official website of the Fang Kuang Outpost Preparatory Camp writes that Fang Kuang has been engaged in philosophical thinking for many years, and strongly promotes the three spirits of Taiwanese civilians: the CCP is not equal to China, and Taiwan’s 12-character formula and other unique ideas have received responses from all walks of life. It is unique and incisive in its definition: As long as it grows tenaciously in the cracks between the great powers and has endogenous democracy and freedom: the concept of Taiwanology is also about to be promoted globally. We hope that all walks of life will continue to work hard for the common concept and carry it forward.

He holds a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Philosophy of Columbia University in New York. He has started businesses in Taiwan, Singapore, the United States, and China for more than 30 years, involving fields such as education, digital publishing, venture capital, and regional economic development. He has annotations such as “Not related to China” and “Related to Xi Jinping Talks about Taiwan and China” and other works.

“Today Weekly” conducted an exclusive interview with Guangzhou in 2015 to talk about his special experience in China during his youth and his future writing dreams. He was good at using metaphors and full of talent. His sudden death shocked people.

The following is the full text of the interview in issue 950 of “Today”.

▲Scope was originally scheduled to attend the “One Taiwan Seminar 2023” in Japan today and discuss with 3,000 Japanese people how to create a new era of joint struggle between Taiwan and Japan.

Those who care about Taiwan’s social development and are interested in studying cross-strait issues must have heard the name “category” before. Who is this author who is good at using metaphors and is extremely talented? Fang Quan accepted an exclusive interview with “Today” to talk about his special experience in China during his youth and his future writing dreams.

“Expanding the time span by thirty years, in 2044, Tsai Ing-wen was 88 years old, Lin Feifan was 56 years old, and Chen Weiting was 54 years old. All the existing elders of the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party had bid farewell. , and in that year when I was probably lying on a certain hillside or scattered in the sea, Taiwan might be in one of the following three situations…”

In March 2014, Taiwanese students protested against the trade in services and occupied the Legislative Yuan to protest. The “Sunflower Movement” shocked the world. On April 17, the eve of the full moon of the Occupy Movement, an article titled “Three Kinds of Taiwan in Thirty Years” was published online. It broke away from the superficial debates of most public opinions and seemed to pull readers into a helicopter and overlook the three-dimensional Taiwan. The cross-strait situation ten years later attracted tens of thousands of people to repost and comment on it in just a few days. The author is a name that everyone seems familiar with: Category.

“Three Types of Taiwan Thirty Years Later” became a hit, along with Guangzhou’s previous works, such as: “Will Taiwan Die?” A Martian’s Perspective”, “Whose Taiwan is it? “” and other outstanding political commentary books have become popular. Suddenly, the elderly and young people who were concerned about Taiwan’s future and the cross-strait situation began to think over and over again about the complex relationships between Taiwan, China, the United States and the world, following the clear and concise words of the scope, making a “China” discussion by young people The social movement triggered by “anxiety” has quickly become more sophisticated and far-sighted.

“Talent” cares about cross-strait issues, and even the mayor is a fan of the book

Hong Kong’s “Asia Weekly” selected the top ten best books for 2014. Guan Guang’s new book “Not Related to China Season 2: Three Types of Taiwan Thirty Years Later” was prominently listed, and his earlier work “Whose is Taiwan?” ” was also translated into German and sold, and his influence gradually spread in the Chinese circles on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

“The advantage of categories is that they use brilliant metaphors to illustrate complex issues, such as using identity cards to describe Taiwan’s sovereignty, using 7-ELEVEn to describe Taiwan’s trade-oriented economic model, and using free-range cattle and captive cattle to describe mainland China. The private economy and the state-owned economy… suddenly make readers suddenly realize that, or simplifying the complex, the effect is a hundred times better than the discussion.” Fucha, the editor of the scope and the editor-in-chief of Eight Banners Culture, said that the scope was originally written in a thousand words The article was written in the form of a column and its performance was outstanding. The Eight Banners Cultural Talent then systematized and logicalized its views and integrated them into a special book.

The clever metaphors that explain profound things in simple terms make Category attract readers from all over. Not only young people who are concerned about cross-strait issues love to read it, but many political figures are also fans of his books. Director of the New Taipei City Information Bureau, Lin Jieyou, revealed that Mayor Zhu Lilun occasionally forwards articles in the category to first-level city government supervisors and asks them to read them. “Of course it will not directly affect specific decisions, but the mayor hopes to provide a different perspective and a different perspective,” he said. way of thinking and understand the latest trends.”

“If I want to describe it, his writing reminds me of Lu Xun and Li Bai.” Fu Cha, who has read countless people, even gave such a grand praise to Guang Ku: “There are two types of authors. One type is born, with great talent and great writing skills. Surprisingly, he has not received much training, such as Li Bai; the other type is acquired, who has been tempered and trained, and can write well, such as Du Fu. The category belongs to the former.”

How did this author, who was hailed by editors as “the Li Bai of today”, become a poet? What kind of experience allowed him to break away from the conventional thinking of society and see the world where “Tsai Ing-wen is 88 years old and Lin Feifan is 56 years old”?

▲Kuan Chu studied in Singapore in his early years (pictured on the left), but because of his feelings for Taiwan, he insisted on returning to National Taiwan University to study (pictured on the right, taken at National Taiwan University’s Coconut Grove Avenue). (Photo/Category provided)

Studying in the United States opens your horizons and frees you from the fetters of nationalism

His study experience in the United States broke the chains of nationalism; what he saw while doing business in China allowed him to look back at Taiwan and determined that his work would “change the lives of young people in Taiwan.”

Fang Kuang spent his middle school years in Singapore. He could have directly entered a prestigious Western school through Singapore’s education system. However, when he was eighteen years old, with a youthful spirit, he decided to “return to my own land to contribute and make changes” and insisted on returning to Taiwan. After studying philosophy at National Taiwan University, he went to the United States to study as a Taiwanese student. “At Columbia University at that time, there were no international students from China, only Taiwanese students. Two or three years after me, when the first batch of Chinese students arrived after the Cultural Revolution, we were all very curious about each other.”

Category recalled that in the Chinese American community in the early 1980s, the aftermath of the Diaoyu Islands Movement was still lingering. Taiwanese students studying abroad were roughly divided into two groups. One group was close to the Kuomintang, and the other was close to “non-party” societies. For the young Category, everything was lively and lively. It was interesting and gave him a preliminary understanding of China, which had just experienced the Cultural Revolution.

“Like Chen Ruoxi’s generation, there were many people who had their hearts set on China and returned to China for construction, and they just happened to return to the United States at that time. Suddenly, you will see many “contemporary people” in New York, wearing black coats and black coats from the Cultural Revolution period. Wearing round glasses and walking on the street. These are top elites. They could have been professionals in sharp suits in the United States, but now they look like ancient people, and even their peers do not recognize them.” Category recall.

“Students studying in Taiwan at that time were anti-Communist, anti-Kuomintang, and Taiwan was independent. Their thoughts were very straightforward. But these people who went to China and came back have seen and experienced the Cultural Revolution. The depth of things cannot be understood by ordinary people. “I saw with my own eyes these heroes who were in the early days of protecting the Diaoyu Islands. They returned to their motherland with enthusiasm. After going through the complex experience of the Cultural Revolution, they left the loess land of China and returned to the colorful American campus. The first generation of fishermen who protected the Diaoyu Islands gave the “China” stimulation at the forefront of the field; the European and American students on campus were open to the world and tolerant of history, “allowing me to get rid of the fetters of nationalism.”

“My words want to give young readers a Zen-like epiphany, a wake-up call, or a sharp dagger piercing the heart.”

Entrepreneurship Process” Look at the educated youth of the Cultural Revolution, the revolutionary emotions that never give up

“It should be said that after a person understands history, he can go out into the world calmly, as long as he knows where he comes from.” In 1985, Fang Liang left the American campus and went directly to China to start a business and opened his other A layered perspective: “If you haven’t interacted with mainlanders at that time, you won’t understand China: What I saw was a China without make-up, not the China that is strong and beautiful with make-up today.”

“There are two employees in my computer company. They are male and female educated youth who went to the countryside together during the Cultural Revolution. Their “revolutionary emotions” are strong. They are neither lovers nor married separately, but they care for each other and share difficulties; if I He said that he would fire the one with poor ability and the one with strong ability, but also said that he voluntarily resigned together and did not want to leave the other person behind. This is a China that outsiders cannot understand.”

Don’t think that the “revolutionary partners” in Guangzhou’s words are all old historical figures. “Look! Xi Jinping, who is in power today, is the educated youth who went to the rural areas of northern Shaanxi after the Cultural Revolution to work in farming and pick manure. I have seen This side.” As an early Taiwanese businessman, I had seen it with my own eyes.

More than twenty years of life as a Taiwanese businessman has allowed Wang Quan to personally participate in the two decades of China’s most rapid changes. He looked back at Taiwan with this “Chinese experience” and eagerly wanted to hand over the scenery and skills he saw to Taiwanese youth. Perhaps it is his long-term “China experience”, coupled with his early upbringing in the United States and Singapore, that brings a broad perspective to life in multiple countries, so that categorical comments can always subvert the imagination of regional experience.

“Future Dreams” writes documentary novels to change Taiwan’s boring atmosphere

Although he is currently widely known as a “political critic”, Category’s writing dreams have a strong literary flavor. He himself follows the path of Peter Hessler as his goal, looking forward to one day writing Chinese documentary reportage or even novels like “The Disappearing River City” and “Strange Stones”.

“I hope that I will not only bring new knowledge and new perspectives to readers, but also seek a Zen-like “epiphany” that can be knocked down like a stick or pierced directly into your heart like a sharp dagger. Heart─maybe only twenty or thirty seconds, but from now on you can never go back.”

With a unique Chinese vision, it is Category’s dream to soften the rigid cross-strait relations and turn it into a story that readers are happy to read, so as to change Taiwan’s dull atmosphere.

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category file

Born: 1955
Current position: Semi-retired, focusing on writing
Experience: Over 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in Taiwan, Singapore, the United States, and China, involving education, digital publishing, venture capital, regional economic development and other fields
Education: Master of Philosophy, Columbia University, USA
Family: Married

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2023-11-08 03:40:52
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