The new term has begun, and the streets of Taiwan are filled with schoolbags, compulsory for schoolchildren of all ages. Sometimes, like with those from Taipei First Girls' High School or Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School, the bags point to a university career and a bright future ahead. But in any case, the satchel is a banner to rally around: Among students of the same school, friendship is easier when everyone is carrying the same bag, and it also helps when one wants to flirt on the bus.
These satchels, with their quasi-military look, are also souvenirs of an era when jeans and long hair were forbidden. The uniforms of the nation’s youth were invariably of a khaki that left no room for the imagination. But those were good times, and those who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s in Taiwan like to get nostalgic about it. So it is not surprising that despite its Spartan appearance the school satchel continues to inspire designers and young hipsters.
However, one of these bags has a history all its own, that from Atolan—or Dulan in Mandarin—elementary school in Taitung County. In bottle green for boys and carmine for girls, it crops up in the video clip for “Kapah” by singer Suming, and could previously be bought in Lovely Taiwan, the hipster boutique selling aboriginal crafts. First lady Chow Mei-ching sometimes carries one over her jeans jacket.
What is so special about this bag, one might ask. One answer is Atolan is a poor aboriginal village and profits from the bag sales were returned to the community. Another answer is Atolan has long been known as an artists’ colony. It is the home village of Suming, among others.
A third answer is that one of these artists, Chen Ming-tsai, killed himself here by throwing himself off a cliff, one day in August 2003. The only thing he left behind was the Atolan satchel that everyone recognized him by. This bag is a symbol, a homage, a rallying cry against the arbitrariness and the lack of respect that the aborigines have suffered. (SDH)
(This article first appeared in Taiwan aujourd'hui.)
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