Making passport fun!

Taiwan was pretty upset that WHO did not recognize it as a country not belonging to China – its reputation as a country which has managed to control the pandemic is fantastic but the WHO, never gave it credit as it was excluded as a country, recognizing it as part of Beijing’s “One China” policy. Its truly infuriating to know that the Communist Party calls Taiwan as a part of its territory despite never ever having governed there.

And to create a national identity for itself, it has begun the process of making a design for the passport. Its current passport bears the official name as, “Republic of China,” and “Taiwan passport” in English and in Chinese. Those who are undertaking this change say that in the current scenario, being associated with China has become problematic and does not want the world to confuse them with being “Chinese.”

The New Power Party convened the passport design competition. From hundreds of submissions, 127 finalists are featured in an online gallery where people can vote and comment on the designs. Right from the whacky designs like yams, a bowl of rice, and at least six artistic interpretations of Taiwan’s greatest beverage export: bubble tea, also known as pearl milk tea or boba, most  entries incorporate elements that are emblematic of Taiwan, such as Taipei 101, plum blossoms, Formosan swallowtails, Yushan, the Formosan black bear, the Formosan sika deer, the Taiwan blue pheasant, the Taiwan blue magpie, the Presidential Office Building, whales, braised pork over rice, and maps of Taiwan.

The top three voted till now are  - number one is the Butterfly of Formosa – creatively uses a map of Taiwan to serve as the wing of a butterfly. Number two is the ‘Diverse land’ which uses a number of colorful dots to represent Taiwan's island and signify the country's diversity and achievements. And at number three is ‘Guardian God,’ which features a simple dark cover with a map of Taiwan that highlights its mountains, and the "W" in Taiwan is in the shape of a person raising their arms to represent the country's focus on human rights. 

Come to think of it, it’s a great idea of using the passport to reinstate one’s national identity. Wonder how China will react once the design is finalized?