Lucky this guy was drunk

Aluba rides again!

In case you missed it, 'aluba' has hit the newspapers. It happened on Sunday...

FEATURE: `Aluba' stirs fond memories for some
taipei times

Interestingly enough, the article has dug even deeper into the sketchy 'aluba' history:

'Although various theories can be found on the Internet about how aluba first got started, former gender studies researcher Kuo Yi-ling (郭怡伶) said she has found no conclusive answer during her research into the ritual for her master's thesis.

"What we can say for sure is, the game itself pre-dates the name aluba," Kuo said. "My oldest interview subject, who recalls playing the same game, was born in 1948. Back then the game had no name or was called something crudely descriptive such as `nailing the knob.'" '

Nailing it indeed! My previous entry about 'aluba' or Happy Corner as a kind of hazing is here:
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2006/12/hazing-aluba-style.html
There are several videos of it on youtube as well. Here is one:
http://blog.islaformosa.com/2007/03/speaking-of-aluba.html

The article has some other great parts:

'Those who are not popular might not get off as easily.

"We aluba'ed our annoying supervisor in the military service for real on the last day of our service," Alex said, "on a tree with spiky bark." '

Ouch! Court-martial anyone?

Also:

' "The person being aluba'ed is male, but forced into a female role by the crowd, using a giant phallic object to make contact with the genitals," she said. "It's hard not to see the homoerotic subtext, coupled with violence." '

Young Taiwanese men and homoerotic. No way!

And finally:

' "[Urologist Hung Chun-tse has] always warned young men that it's a dangerous game with potential for permanent damage," Hung said. "Aluba is rightly banned by the authorities, and they should work to better enforce that ban."

"The penis itself is very, very vulnerable. If the corpus cavernosum in the penis breaks, that could cause massive internal bleeding. The urethra itself could be broken," he said.

He said the testicles are even more fragile and damage could result in testicular atrophy and infertility.'

Excuse me while I take a moment to contemplate my dream of becoming a father one day...

Speaking of Aluba...

This is Aluba 阿魯巴 and it gives a good idea of what the cartoon in the Wikipedia means...

And there seems to be a load more videos of this on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aluba&search=Search

Hazing… ‘Aluba Style!’

Truly one of the mysteries of the Chinese world is the fact that many people faithfully perform rituals often with no idea of their origins. As a foreigner wanting to learn more about Chinese culture this is very frustrating. Upon asking “Why?” we get the ubiquitous ‘There is no why!”, basically “Don’t be silly and ask!”
Among the most intriguing activities of young men in Taiwan (and Chinese East Asia) is ‘Aluba’.

I quote the Wikipedia:
“A male student is lifted up by several of his classmates and his groin is then rubbed against a hard object such as a pole, a tree, or even the edge of a door. In Taiwan, Aluba is usually performed by hitting the victim's groin on a tree trunk or a pole.”

I can’t imagine the original beginning of this activity. I thought it was stunning that so many people knew about it but most couldn’t remotely give me an idea of where it came from.

My first internet search turned up precious little. A few references here and there.
http://www.2flippant.com/pmachine/forum/threads.php?id=72_0_2_0_C
http://www.sinosplice.com/weblog/archives/001215.php
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Bistro/5799/diction.htm

I was about to give up hope until I started fooling around with Wikipedia, a fantastic editable online encyclopedia. Not only did I find info and a picture but also links to footage. Moreover, I found out that Aluba has an English equivalent called ‘Happy Corner’.

Read the whole thing here!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Corner