Status Symbols of Cash-Heavy Islanders : Taiwan Looks to China for Exotic Items : Cash-Heavy Taiwanese Look to China Mainland for Costly Exotic Status Symbols

TAIPEI, Taiwan — “Baby fish” that cry in the night, green-haired turtles and ancient love potions have stirred “mainland fever” in Taiwan while earning millions of dollars for smugglers and fishermen.

Alternately revered as the motherland and reviled as the home of “Communist bandits,” China is also seen as a source of strange and exotic items to be sold to cash-rich Taiwanese.

Taiwanese fishermen have carried on a flourishing but illegal trade with their mainland counterparts on the high seas for more than 10 years despite a government ban on contact with China.

Daily Necessities

In most cases, Taiwan fishermen bartered watches, toothpaste and other daily necessities for Chinese wine, cigarettes and traditional medicine.

But recently, with Taiwan’s relaxed attitude toward China and with its improved living standards, innovative traders have diversified into more exotic contraband.

Bored with Western amenities--easily bought with the country’s $74 billion in foreign reserves--Taiwan residents have turned to buying Chinese goods, the rarer and more expensive the better.

In the case of animals, endangered is best.

So-called “baby fish,” actually Grant salamanders, which derive their name from the sound they make that resembles a crying baby, have been listed by the Chinese government as an endangered species and are banned for export.

Local pet owners pay up to $20,000 for a full-grown “baby fish,” more than 100 times the mainland price, according to police figures.

A popular pet, the green-haired turtle, so called for the wispy green hair that grows from its shell, is so rare that the Council of Agriculture has appealed for help from international wildlife organizations to trace its scientific name, specialist Tang Hsiao-yu said.

High-Demand Items

Other high-demand items include Chinese antiques and traditional paintings, which often reportedly are “bought” from mainland museums with bribes, and Chinese medicines that claim to cure everything from acne to infertility to senility.

National Taiwan University sociology professor Michael Hsiao attributes the influx of mainland contraband to the rapid growth of Taiwan’s economy.

“People have money here, but they have no way of showing it,” he said. “They end up using economic means rather than cultural or social ones to parade their status. And economically speaking, scarce means precious.”

Smugglers cashing in on the craze for mainland goods have been caught bringing in 311 “baby fish,” more than 90 turtles and 26 Tibetan mastiffs in recent months, according to the Council of Agriculture.

The actual number of illegal imports is thought to be much higher, and a Cabinet-level task force on mainland China affairs plans to tighten security along the coast.

Meanwhile, youths working in stores specializing in mainland products wait their turn to go to China in search of new items to market. And even some criminals are jumping in, according to a report by the China Times newspaper of Taiwan.

Two major underworld figures, Yang Hsuang-wu and Hsu Ching-teh, moved a major part of their operations to Fukien province in southern China, directly across the strait from Taiwan after they received many requests for help in securing mainland products, according to the daily.

Stronghold in Shanghai

A major stronghold for Taiwan smugglers is centrally located Shanghai, which provides easy access to rare flowers and pets from Tibet and a fertile marketplace for trading.

One member of the Bamboo Union Gang, Taiwan’s largest criminal organization, said he spent his spare time in Shanghai reading Taiwan newspapers and watching Taiwan television programs with other local gangsters working out of China.

“Life isn’t that different here,” he said. “The main difference is that here the cops really cover for you after you pay them off. In Taiwan, sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t.”