There is absolutely no difference between people here and people on the mainland. Except perhaps that mainlanders aren’t consumed with hatred for those living across the Straits, and not every bad thing that ever happens in China is blamed on illegal immigrants from Taiwan.
So how does your missus get along with the locals here, Hex? Does she feel completely at home among them, or does she look askance at their ways and refer to them in disparaging terms?
[quote=“WarMonkey”]Anyone seen this photo (in the Sunday TTimes) of the Mainlander in the Montreal airport?
Would a Taiwanese guy ever do this?[/quote]
My ex used to be a travel guide here. One of her tours was to Kuala Lumpur. On the way through the airport she noticed all the Malaysians stopping and staring. She turned around and saw one of the Taiwanese men in her tour group taking a whiz on the wall.
No more than I do 
Unfortunately, we are getting to see the very worst side of the face Taiwan presents to the world. As far as the government here is concerned, if you were born in China after the KMT left, you’re scum, and they don’t care who they have to offend to get that message across. Happily, the people I hang around with aren’t like that. It’s OK for the medium term, I guess, but despite being a British citizen (just like me), and being married to a foreigner with an ARC, it’s no Resident Visa for you, no ARC, and no Health Insurance. If she’d been born in Oz (as I was) and not China, she’d get all of the above. So having it pointed out to you that you’re definitely not welcome certainly colours her (and my) view of things, but we’re here now so…
in the end they’re all chinese!!! i swear chinese ppl are one of the most racist…there’s even some derogatory term used to refer to ppl like my mom who immigrated to north america…and how’s shes not really taiwanese anymore blah blah blah…><
In the end, we’re all human.
Amen.
[quote=“hexuan”]There is absolutely no difference between people here and people on the mainland. Except perhaps that mainlanders aren’t consumed with hatred for those living across the Straits[/quote]Not yet. Give it time. After Taiwan asserts itself and independence moves from de facto to de jure, they’ll be plenty 'o hate to go around the Mainland.
Seriously, I have witnessed Mainland students verbally assaulting Taiwanese students in the States over this ‘cross-Straits issue’. It boiled down to the Taiwanese usually saying ‘leave us alone’ and the Mainlander going on and on about the glory of the Chinese race and Taiwan’s destiny as part of the motherland.
Yuck. :x
[quote=“WarMonkey”][quote=“hexuan”]There is absolutely no difference between people here and people on the mainland. Except perhaps that mainlanders aren’t consumed with hatred for those living across the Straits[/quote]Not yet. Give it time. After Taiwan asserts itself and independence moves from de facto to de jure, they’ll be plenty 'o hate to go around the Mainland.
Seriously, I have witnessed Mainland students verbally assaulting Taiwanese students in the States over this ‘cross-Straits issue’. It boiled down to the Taiwanese usually saying ‘leave us alone’ and the Mainlander going on and on about the glory of the Chinese race and Taiwan’s destiny as part of the motherland.
Yuck. :x[/quote]
Yes. I would expect no less from uppity spoilt rich kids whose parents are very likely to depend on the CCP for their wealth. What these same people actually know about Taiwan could be written in capital letters on a postage stamp.
Yeah, bringing up the Taiwan question in a conversation with Mainlanders is a real hornet’s nest. They will turn into real nasty nationalistic pigs, and when you are a foreigner it’s also like “What the hell are you talking about? That is China’s business, not yours!”
This is really a vast difference between the two sides. Taiwanese are not as nationalistic (at least not this aggressive nationalism) and more laid-back. Mainlanders on the other hand have some really sensitive buttons - push them and all hell might break lose.
What is absolutely incomprehendible for them is the U.S. involvement in “their backyard” Taiwan. The Mainlanders I have talked to loathe this to no end.
I guess as soon as China feels superpower enough they will feel the need for some adjustment.
Mainlanders abroad might appear like Taiwanese, in front of inexpereinced foreigners though. When talking to peoples from their neighbourhood (SE Asia) they get quite arrogant I was told.
If you really want to know the difference between Mainlanders and Taiwanese, you gotta actually go to the Mainland. Coldblooded bastards, their manners mostly non-existent. When they want something from you they can be quite nice though.
A notion of civil society (gong de xin) is totally laking. You think Taiwan has it bad? Think again.
Anyway, last time I visited China is quite a while ago and I didn’t speak Chinese then. Still I figure nothing has really changed.
Anyway, just my 0.whatever RMB.
P.S.: Don’t drink and write. Maybe drinking Taiwan beer makes one more patriotic…???
Actually, when i visited mainland at a time i didn’t speak Chinese I loved it. Once I understood, what people were talking behind my back, I hated it. Today…I don’t care anymore…stare at me, point at me, talk behind my back, spit next to my feet…what ever…your just a mainlander…=)
Yeah, and when they figure out that you can speak Chinese, they just revert to their native, local language when speaking with each other. The Shanghainese are the worst for this.
There were tons of Taiwanese and mainland Chinese students at my university back in the States. The school had a “Chinese-American Student Association”, and there were lots of participants … the odd thing was, most of them were Taiwanese or from Hong Kong. I found that most of the mainland students kept to themselves or locked themselves up in their labs. They did seem to come out of the woodwork for the big celebrations, like Chinese New Year, and everyone got along fine with each other. But, the Taiwanese were far more sociable (even though they tended to be very cliquey, if you made the effort to be friends with them, they were more than happy to include a whitey like me.)
My Qigong/Taijiquan teacher in China was a very interesting guy. His entire life was martial arts, and every minute of his time outside of his crappy engineering job was spent training. He loved meeting foreigners, and taught private lessons and small groups of students, always for free. He was also quite opposed to the Communist government, and his dream was to either go to Taiwan to teach Qigong, or go to the States. Right before I came to Taiwan, I got an e-mail from him saying that he’d gotten a 3-year visa to go to the States to teach Qigong … I was so happy for him. So, not all mainland Chinese are nationalistic, brain-washed robots … he was very supportive of the Taiwanese “cause” and democracy in China.
[quote=“hexuan”][quote=“WarMonkey”][quote=“hexuan”]There is absolutely no difference between people here and people on the mainland. Except perhaps that mainlanders aren’t consumed with hatred for those living across the Straits[/quote]Not yet. Give it time. After Taiwan asserts itself and independence moves from de facto to de jure, they’ll be plenty 'o hate to go around the Mainland.
Seriously, I have witnessed Mainland students verbally assaulting Taiwanese students in the States over this ‘cross-Straits issue’. It boiled down to the Taiwanese usually saying ‘leave us alone’ and the Mainlander going on and on about the glory of the Chinese race and Taiwan’s destiny as part of the motherland.
Yuck. :x[/quote]
Yes. I would expect no less from uppity spoilt rich kids whose parents are very likely to depend on the CCP for their wealth. What these same people actually know about Taiwan could be written in capital letters on a postage stamp.[/quote]What are you talking about? :shock:
I’ve never met these kind of people in the States (this and all your other posts that have something to do with the States proves that what you know about Mei-guo could be written on a flea’s a$$).
Graduate programs in engineering, science, and now even business at ALL large universities in the States (100+ schools) are filled with Mainlanders getting a free ride at American taxpayer expense (TA’s and RA’s). They are not rich at all and could not be in the States without this generosity extended to them.
Many of them are nerdy, anti-social, racist, nationalistic, and, at best, just plain annoying. They bully their fellow Taiwanese grad students, who are often in MUCH smaller numbers. I spent the last 2 years in this environment.
It wasn’t pretty.
One of my best friends is from the mailand. At the time I first met him we would have the most violent arguments over issues such as Taiwan. I remember we went to Cross-strait workshop during our Graduate studies together and both he and his Chinese friends would cringe when the lecturers would talk about the emergence of a “Taiwanese identity”. After the lecture they all huddled together to bash the presenters and talk about the shame of having foreigners meddle in Chna’s business. This after many of the lecturers were quite moderate and recognized the importance of Taiwan in China’s internal psyche, and politics.
After a couple of years overseas though, I can see my friend starting to tone down his nationalism. He is much more reasonable most of the time, although I think there is still a great suspicion of a “united western conspiracy” to keep China poor and weak. After all, that’s what they’ve all been educated to believe. It’s the West which has kept China poor and backward for the last 150 years. It’s almost the same thing as Americans who’ve been educated to believe that communsm is essentailly evil, although it is the mutated totalitarian form that is really evil, not true marxism.
Hmmm, perhaps going to get a few replies on this one 
Before you continue on about Americans being brainwashed in regards to communism, would you care to provide us with examples of kind, benevolent communist states?
I believe that you can order a customized essay on this subject from directessays.com, and the prices are quite reasonable.
I believe that you can order a customized essay on this subject from directessays.com, and the prices are quite reasonable.[/quote]
Do they also sell beachfront property?
Yeah, and when they figure out that you can speak Chinese, they just revert to their native, local language when speaking with each other. The Shanghainese are the worst for this.[/quote]
Note: Taiwanese never do this 
Don’t hold back, there. Let it all out. Okay, I was wrong. Apologies. Have I posted at length about the States ? I should state for the record that I know nothing about the USA - what posts are you talking about ? I’m not that interested in the USA, so if I have waxed lyrical on the subject, well, I shouldn’t have. Anyway, whatever…
But you’d be a better person if you were…