NEARLY TWO OUT OF 100 TAIWAN SCHOOL CHILDREN BORN OF MIXED MARRIAGES
A total of 46,411 children born to mixed marriages received primary and secondary education in Taiwan last year, a jump of 54.5 percent over the 2003 level[/quote]
Yes this is great! Now Taiwan Independence advocates have more reason to believe they are not Chinese as the Taiwan population gets more mixed from children that are a product of foriegners that “Love Taiwan.”
Uhm…Minor setback…Taiwan Independence supporters can now claim we are “Taiwanizing” these commie PRC individuals, one spouse at a time.
Any time you get more mixing between peoples, they understand each other better, and harmony increases. America was created out of just such a mixture. I’m such a mixture too, and I think it has enriched my life. Also, I think kids that are half Asian half other are often very attractive. All in all, very good news for Taiwan.
Yeah, well, someone told me recently that my Taiwan born son will never be really Taiwanese. See, his father, me, isn’t Chinese, and that’s all that matters to many people. They don’t care that he has a Taiwan ID number, doesn’t have any other citizenship, that his mother is Taiwanese, or anything else. He, in their eyes, will never be Taiwanese. I was MAD when I heard that being said.
People pick him out as being different and I can see some hard times and battles down the road for him. Although, he may have an easier time getting a g/f
If you raise him fully bilingual, there will be benefits there for him, though. My own background gave me Spanish and English, and adding later languages ended up a major asset.
But importantly, it prevented me from being as ethnocentric as I might have otherwise been, since I had a foot in two cultures, two countries. This greatly contributed to a sense of being a citizen of the world, rather than just of one nation.
I’ve heard the same type of thing said about my son a few times (and once quite enviously because the moron thought my boy wouldn’t need to do Taiwan military service??) but it takes a while for me to calm down after I see my little bloke get picked on.
Yeah, there’ll be some battles but I reckon he does have some things to look forward to.
He isn’t, you know? Hoklo Taiwanese are proud of their “Yam” status and clearly it’s they who are giving labels like Tarot and Yams to people who aren’t or are like them (that’s if they were sensitive enough not to use “Pig” in the first place). Hoklo are the ones who like to decide who is and who isn’t Taiwanese. Actually they go a step further and decide who is and isn’t Chinese. Nice of them, eh?
So, AC, you reckon the Taiwanese should feel ashamed that they are assimilating outsiders into their society at such a high rate?
Does this demonstrate their degeneracy in comparison with their half-cousins in China, who so staunchly defend the racial purity that they have preserved over the millennia – apart, that is, from those times in their history when they have been invaded and ruled by foreign barbarian tribes, who have subsequently thoroughly mixed their blood into the rich Chinese ethnic mix?
[quote=“Bassman”]Yeah, well, someone told me recently that my Taiwan born son will never be really Taiwanese. See, his father, me, isn’t Chinese, and that’s all that matters to many people. They don’t care that he has a Taiwan ID number, doesn’t have any other citizenship, that his mother is Taiwanese, or anything else. He, in their eyes, will never be Taiwanese. I was MAD when I heard that being said.
People pick him out as being different and I can see some hard times and battles down the road for him. Although, he may have an easier time getting a g/f[/quote]
I have heard and do hear the same thing.
Sometimes it gets to the boy. I just explain to him that not everyone has the ability or intelligence to understand things that are different.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“Bassman”]Yeah, well, someone told me recently that my Taiwan born son will never be really Taiwanese. See, his father, me, isn’t Chinese, and that’s all that matters to many people. They don’t care that he has a Taiwan ID number, doesn’t have any other citizenship, that his mother is Taiwanese, or anything else. He, in their eyes, will never be Taiwanese. I was MAD when I heard that being said.
People pick him out as being different and I can see some hard times and battles down the road for him. Although, he may have an easier time getting a g/f[/quote]
I have heard and do hear the same thing.
Sometimes it gets to the boy. I just explain to him that not everyone has the ability or intelligence to understand things that are different.[/quote]
My lad just tells them that when they are off doing military service that he doesn’t have to do that he’ll be off hanging out with their girlfriends…
Hi Bassman, it is hard for many Westerners to understand that being Taiwanese to a Taiwanese person means being Ethnically Taiwanese, not a citizen of Taiwan. If he is a very Asian looking EurAsian then he might perhaps be accepted.
One of Taiwans biggest problems is that they have no sense of nationality. They cannot call themselves Chinese Taiwanese or Aboriginal Taiwanese or Caucasian Taiwanese, Eurasian Taiwanese, the way we in the west could say Asian American, or Afro-American, or Causasian American. Being American is based on citizenship. If Taiwans many ethnicities can agree that they ar all citizens of the same country (nevermind what country you call it) then maybe they could unite against common enemies like the Chinese Communist Party and their PLA guards.
[quote=“Satellite TV”][quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“Bassman”]Yeah, well, someone told me recently that my Taiwan born son will never be really Taiwanese. See, his father, me, isn’t Chinese, and that’s all that matters to many people. They don’t care that he has a Taiwan ID number, doesn’t have any other citizenship, that his mother is Taiwanese, or anything else. He, in their eyes, will never be Taiwanese. I was MAD when I heard that being said.
People pick him out as being different and I can see some hard times and battles down the road for him. Although, he may have an easier time getting a g/f[/quote]
I have heard and do hear the same thing.
Sometimes it gets to the boy. I just explain to him that not everyone has the ability or intelligence to understand things that are different.[/quote]
My lad just tells them that when they are off doing military service that he doesn’t have to do that he’ll be off hanging out with their girlfriends…[/quote]
Mate
I thought your lad was a Taiwan citizen? I also thought all male Taiwan citizens regardless of ‘mixed’ background or not - are required to complete military service? Interested to know yay or nay as I dont want my son to be born in Taiwan if this IS the case.
Great scot, it’s got to my boys head now. Poor fella.
Recently we’ve been invited to a number of dinners, you know, lots of people. At the last one we we sat at a table with a group of people that we didn’t know. At first it was ok, my wife and son were elsewhere saying hi to some friends. I sat down alone and the, “Wow, your Chinese is so great”, stuff started. That I can live with. My son was as happy as anything until he sat down at the table. That’s when it starts. The staring (my son glares back), the comments about how foreign he looks, then the questions start. My wife, Taiwanese, is sitting right there. Somehow the ignorant folk don’t connect that she probably speaks Chinese and Taiwanese. The start drilling my friend with questions about all of us. We, still sitting right there, are ignored and become the topic of conversation for the table.
This started a nervous habit for my son - the toilet rush. Every five to ten minutes he has to get away from the table. The destination - the toilet. No urination just a quick visit and back to the table.
Next time I’m inviting every foreigner with Eurasian kids to dinner with us. We’ll be the majority and start talking about their kids and wives. See how they like it.
There is curiosity and a complete lack of class. They had the latter.
Ignorance is an excuse for their opinion, but not for plain bad manners.
My son, the character that he is, will answer a vociferous HWEI-AH! when someone asks whether or not he can speak Chinese.
And when they ask Can you speak English (when I’m standing right there lol) he’ll say, “Dang Ran!”
'Nuff said.
My favorite thing is when the 7-11 lady start chattering to me, simple stuff, "How long have you been here? blahblah blah…and the coworker jumps in saying “Ah he doesn’t understand!”
I pay for my stuff quietly and say, in Chinese, “Miss what makes you think I can’t understand Chinese?”
Usually, when I go back, the whole ice breaking thing is over and they do chat with me…“Do they have news from Taiwan in the Taipei Times?”
sigh…(big picture of Prez Chen in the front page)
DANG RAN LA!
Do they ask these simple minded questions because they think I’m dumb or that my Chinese is pathetic?
(This is why I don’t talk down to kids. Just because they’re learning English doesn’t mean their morons.)
Ah, so, I guess my Mrs should have piped up and said, “Hey, I do believe that I can answer those questions. I, being Taiwanese, am probably qualified to answer that question.”
Have to train her up.
Doesn’t bother me anymore, but the boy - he hates it.
Just tell him that they’re jealous … which they probably are … because he’ll have opportunities and advantages that those ignorant back-water hicks have never had and never will have … and neither will the poor, unfortunate ignorant children that they bring up. Teach him how to be quick-witted and not afraid or ashamed to talk back at them, make them lose face or look ridiculous. When they realize how much more intelligent your “half-breed” is than their gormless kids with the dazed look in their eyes are, they’ll think twice before saying things like that anymore (this goes for any ignorant people, not just Taiwanese).
[quote=“Bassman”]Great scot, it’s got to my boys head now. Poor fella.
Recently we’ve been invited to a number of dinners, you know, lots of people. At the last one we we sat at a table with a group of people that we didn’t know. At first it was ok, my wife and son were elsewhere saying hi to some friends. I sat down alone and the, “Wow, your Chinese is so great”, stuff started. That I can live with. My son was as happy as anything until he sat down at the table. That’s when it starts. The staring (my son glares back), the comments about how foreign he looks, then the questions start. My wife, Taiwanese, is sitting right there. Somehow the ignorant folk don’t connect that she probably speaks Chinese and Taiwanese. The start drilling my friend with questions about all of us. We, still sitting right there, are ignored and become the topic of conversation for the table.
This started a nervous habit for my son - the toilet rush. Every five to ten minutes he has to get away from the table. The destination - the toilet. No urination just a quick visit and back to the table.
Next time I’m inviting every foreigner with Eurasian kids to dinner with us. We’ll be the majority and start talking about their kids and wives. See how they like it.
There is curiosity and a complete lack of class. They had the latter.
Ignorance is an excuse for their opinion, but not for plain bad manners.[/quote]
OK, here’s what you do. Next time you’re at San Francisco or LA Airport and a plane-load of Taiwanese arrive, you rush to the arrival gate with your kid and point to the arriving Taiwanese coming through the gate, stare, laugh and yell “Waiguoren, waiguoren!”
It won’t solve any problems, but it will make you feel better.
On a related note, I find it amusing when I, a white American, am called “waiguoren” by Taiwanese and Chinese in America.
At a New Year party in my hometown, the hostess on stage asked in English for any “foreigner” volunteers. I didn’t realize she meant me!
Getting back to the earlier discussions in this thread, there is a difference between “zhonguoren” and “huaren,” being a “Chinese” from China, and being ethnically “Chinese.”
