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Seventeen years on the streets, living and working with the people of China, Jeff
For donations, print books, ebooks and audiobooks, please see at the bottom of this post
My message
Important message for our Taiwanese friends: we have to leave the Island.
When we moved to Puli, Taiwan on October 22nd, 2024, we thought that 450 meters of altitude would be enough to make it work, but it’s just not happening. We ended up in a house that’s 530 meters above sea level, but it’s still not enough.
Evelyne is extremely sensitive to hot, humid climates. When we came here, we thought with the higher altitude, that she’d get used to it. When Evelyne told me that she was allergic to heat, I thought she was exaggerating. Then I found out from a member of the China Writers’ Group, Amarynth Flower, who lives in Latin America, that she too is allergic to heat. It may be more common than we realize. Evelyne’s hairdresser, who is Taiwanese, says she is also very sensitive to the heat and humidity here.
Last summer, Evelyne was flat out miserable and this year is no different. Part of the problem is that the hot weather really lasts nine to ten months of the year. For Evelyne, only December, January are cool and comfortable for her. It’s not fun living from one air conditioner to another, not going out, taking walks, being outside months on end. For most of the year, we cannot comfortably go to parks and temples, of which Taiwan Island has so many, to see this amazingly beautiful place.
A friend here suggested to us, “Go live in Alishan. It’s at 2,000-2,700 meters above sea level”! I thought, “Well, okay, I’ll check it out.” I looked on maps. It’s southeast of Puli. However, the round trip between Puli and Alishan is six hours. To go shopping in Taichung (COSTCO) or take care of administrative affairs in Nantou, our county seat, the round trip would be eight hours, €55 worth of gas and a lot of wear and tear on our geriatric, 22-year-old Honda Accord. Alishan is not that far, it’s just one mountainous, steep switchback after another, for three solid hours in each direction.
We cannot continue to live like this. We’re going to have to move.
There are other Chinese cities we like, but we can’t live in them. Shenzhen is one. Beijing’s summers are oppressively humid and hot. Taichung, Hualian (Taiwan) and Shanghai, ditto. The list goes on and on across China.
There’s only one city in China where Evelyne can live comfortably and that is Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. It is 2,000 meters above sea level and is the exact same latitude as Puli and Shenzhen. It’s that far south, on the Tropic of Cancer, 23° Latitude North. We spent nine days there on our last trip, to do reconnaissance and see what we thought of the place. We loved it.
Evelyne especially loves that at 2,000 meters, the temperatures there are five to 15 degrees cooler than they are here in Puli. Plus, the humidity is half as much, the rain is half as much, and being on a mountain plateau, it’s windy. There’s a lot of wind on the coasts of Taiwan Island, but we’re up in the foothills of the mountains, and our house is actually in a cul-de-sac.
We’re only 100 meters away from the mountains － literally － I’m not exaggerating. Therefore, there is not an ant fart’s worth of wind almost all of the time, except when there are storms. We actually like this calmness when it’s cool, because I grew up in a very windy area and have experienced it all my life, as has Evelyne. But, when it’s 30-33 degrees outside, 85% humidity and the trees are as still as statues, you really wish the air would move a little.
Evelyne grew up in the Ardennes, which is the area between Champagne and the Belgian border in northeastern France. It’s very much a northern climate. In the winter, it easily gets down to minus 10 degrees and all the way down to 20 degrees below zero. In the summer, it rarely gets above 25 or 30, and most of the time it’s around 20. Since that’s what she grew up with, she has never acclimated herself to hot, humid climates, like we have here on Taiwan Island.
Evelyne will suffer through our second summer and then in September, we will start to make our move to Kunming.
Leaving Taiwan Island leaves us with a deep sadness and heavy hearts. We have made wonderful friends here and learned so much. We love the people, we love the culture, we love their spirituality, we love the honesty, courtesy, calm and traditional values of the people and the respect that they have for each other in public, especially for elders like us. Here, it is extremely Confucist, Daoist and Buddhist, which we can really sense in our daily lives, with a peacefulness, safety, family- and social solidarity that Judeo-Westerners can only dream of.
In sum, we have gained nothing but respect and admiration for the Taiwanese people.
Of course, we will come back to Puli. It’s not that far from Kunming. We look forward to visiting our friends whom we’ve made, and after we get settled in Kunming, we hope they come visit us often!
Take care,
真子 （Zhēnzǐ), aka Jeff J. Brown
国语
我的留言
致台灣朋友們的重要留言：我們必須離開台灣。
2024年10月22日，我們搬到了台灣埔里。當時我們以為450公尺的海拔高度應該要夠適應，但事實並非如此。我們最後住進了一棟海拔530公尺的房子，但仍然不夠。
露菲琳對炎熱潮濕的氣候極為敏感。我們來到這裡時，以為海拔更高，她會慢慢適應。露菲琳告訴我她對熱過敏時，我以為她誇張了。後來我從一位住在拉丁美洲的中國作家協會成員阿瑪琳·弗勞爾那裡得知，她也對熱過敏。看來這種情況比我們想像的還要普遍得多。露菲琳的理髮師是台灣人，她說她也對熱非常敏感。
去年夏天，露菲琳過得非常難受，今年也一樣。部分原因是這裡一年有九到十個月都是酷暑。對露菲琳來說，只有十二月和一月涼爽舒適。幾個月都只能待在冷氣房裡，不能出門散步，不能享受戶外時光，實在令人難熬。一年中的大部分時間，我們都無法輕鬆地去公園和寺廟——台灣島上有很多這樣的地方——欣賞這座美麗島嶼的風景。
一位朋友建議我們：「去阿里山住吧，海拔2000到2700公尺！」我想：「好吧，我去看看。」我查了地圖，阿里山在埔里的東南方向。但是，從埔裡到阿里山往返要六個小時。去台中（好市多）購物，或去縣城南投處理行政事務，往返要花八個小時，55歐元的油費，而且我們那輛開了22年的老本田雅閣也會損耗嚴重。阿里山其實不算遠，只是一路都是陡峭的山路，單程就要三個小時。
我們不能再這樣生活下去了。我們必須搬家。
我們喜歡中國的其他一些城市，但都不適合居住。深圳就是其中之一。北京的夏天悶熱潮濕，令人難以忍受。台中、花蓮（台灣）和上海也一樣。這樣的例子在中國各地不勝枚舉。
在中國，只有一座城市露菲琳能舒適地生活，那就是雲南省省會昆明。昆明海拔2000米，與埔里和深圳緯度相同。那裡位於南緯23度，北迴歸線上。上次旅行我們在那裡待了九天，考察一番，看看我們對那裡的感覺如何。我們非常喜歡那裡。
露菲琳尤其喜歡海拔2000公尺的地方，那裡的氣溫比埔里低5到15度。而且，濕度只有這裡的一半，降雨量也只有這裡的一半，由於地處高原，所以風很大。台灣島沿海地區風也很大，但我們住在山麓，而且我們的房子實際上是在一條死胡同裡。
我們離山只有100公尺──真的只有100公尺──我一點也沒誇張。因此，除了暴風雨天氣，幾乎任何時候都感覺不到一絲風。我們其實很喜歡這種涼爽時的寧靜，因為我和露菲琳都從小在風很大的地方長大，一直都習慣了這種天氣。但是，當室外溫度高達30-33度，濕度達到85%，樹木像雕像一樣靜止不動時，你真的會希望空氣能稍微流動一下。
露菲琳在阿登長大，那裡位於法國東北部，香檳產區和比利時邊境之間。那裡的氣候非常偏北。冬天，氣溫很容易降到零下10度，甚至是零下20度。夏天，氣溫很少超過25度或30度，大部分時間都在20度左右。由於她從小就生活在這樣的氣候中，所以從未適應過像台灣島這樣炎熱潮濕的氣候。
露菲琳將在這裡度過我們的第二個夏天，然後在九月份，我們將開始搬到昆明。
離開台灣島讓我們感到無比傷感和不捨。我們在這裡結交了許多摯友，也學到了很多。我們熱愛這裡的人民，熱愛這裡的文化，熱愛他們的精神信仰，熱愛這裡的人民的誠實、禮貌、冷靜和傳統價值觀，以及他們在公共場合彼此尊重，尤其尊重像我們這樣的長輩。這裡儒家、道家和佛教的氛圍濃厚，我們在日常生活中真切地感受到了這一點，這裡擁有猶太裔西方人夢寐以求的寧靜、安全、家庭和社會凝聚力。
總之，我們對台灣人民充滿了敬佩與欽佩。
當然，我們還會回到埔里。它離昆明並不遠。我們期待著拜訪在這裡認識的朋友們，也希望在昆明安頓下來後，他們能經常來探望我們！
保重，
真子，又名 卜杰富 （Jeff J. Brown）
Further reading
Jeff J. Brown’s ever-expanding collection of living libraries and catalogues. Many years and 1,000s of hours of writing+podcasting. Take advantage of them. Radio Sinoland 2026 Year of the Fire Horse!
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44 Days Backpacking in China: The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=YBKHEAAAQBAJ
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BIG Red Book on China: Chinese History, Culture and Revolution
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44 Days Backpacking in China: The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass
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China Rising: Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations
https://www.amazon.com/China-Rising-Capitalist-Socialist-Destinations/dp/0996487042
BIG Red Book on China: Chinese History, Culture and Revolution
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Praise for The China Trilogy:
Why and How China works: With a Mirror to Our Own History
JEFF J. BROWN, Editor, China Rising, and Senior Editor & China Correspondent, Dispatch from Beijing, The Greanville Post
Jeff J. Brown is a geopolitical analyst, journalist, lecturer and the author of The China Trilogy. It consists of 44 Days Backpacking in China – The Middle Kingdom in the 21st Century, with the United States, Europe and the Fate of the World in Its Looking Glass (2013); Punto Press released China Rising – Capitalist Roads, Socialist Destinations (2016); and BIG Red Book on China (2020). As well, he published a textbook, Doctor WriteRead’s Treasure Trove to Great English (2015). Jeff is a Senior Editor & China Correspondent for The Greanville Post, where he keeps a column, Dispatch from Beijing and is a Global Opinion Leader at 21st Century. He also writes a column for The Saker, called the Moscow-Beijing Express. Jeff writes, interviews and podcasts on his own program, China Rising Radio Sinoland, which is also available on YouTube, Stitcher Radio, iTunes, Ivoox and RUvid. Guests have included Ramsey Clark, James Bradley, Moti Nissani, Godfree Roberts, Hiroyuki Hamada, The Saker and many others. [/su_spoiler]
Jeff can be reached at China Rising, [email protected], Facebook, Twitter, Wechat (+86-19806711824/Mr_Professor_Brown, and Line/Telegram/Whatsapp: +33-612458821.
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