Ever experienced some negative experiences from locals directed at you for being an expat, ABC, ABT, or in a CCR?
Not really experienced anything bad, for me its more often good not anything bad, other than why I do not speak better Chinese (for the amount of time I am here in Taiwan and China). I am Asian-American(Japanese American), other than in Taiwanese thinking I am from Japan not much bad (I think Taiwanese often think Japanese are better than Americans though). In mainland China, most people think I am local Chinese, interesting difference from Taiwanese.
Wait, what do you mean, “unspoken”? They’re not shy about sharing their point of view about the “waiguoren” in your face.
I think you’ve posted this question on the wrong website, people here don’t like to go on about their negative experiences
It exists but interactions are mostly postive Here for expats and abcs so its not a giant problem. We arn’t getting hacked to death in streets with samurai swords yet like what’s happened in china.
But it obviously exists. That Turkish guy who was accused of rape 2 yrs ago and was allllllll over the news(because he had banged tons of girls) like he was public enemy no.1 was recently acquitted of the crime. Was that all over the news? No, quietly brushed under the table that one…
The ones here who are economic refugees (Canadians, South Africans) are often looked upon by locals with pity and compassion
Emm, Taiwanese culture emphasizes criticism in many ways,
I often hear parents criticising their kids in comparison to others, even about their looks!
jealously of this or that is also a powerful motivator of criticism. Best to ignore it, iits easier for locals to attack people from somewhere else than to attach their shitty bosses and managers I guess.
While less and less common, many (most?) parents still believe you should “never say anything positive about your child to his or her face,” ever, because it will make the kid arrogant and lazy. Only negative things, 100% of the time. :-/
Hmm, just a lot of shitty parents out there.
This heard two days ago passing a kids boutique.
Mother and Kid.
mother: That kid in the picture is cute, you could never be a model.
Pointing to my kids: Look mixed kids, so cute, they could be models.
Continues to walk down the street with poor kid.
CCR? I’ve never heard of any local person hating Creedence Clearwater Revival.
In my office CCR = Change Control Request for when someone wants to change one of the SOPs.
Why did you come here? America is so good… (Trust me, they’re actually thinking of something else.)
Why can you enjoy Health insurance? We paid for it since we were born… (Well it’s insurance, should it matter when you started to pay?)
How much tax you pay? (I most likely contribute to Taiwan’s treasury more than you. So BUG off!)
Because you are waiguoren, ha ha ha. (I’m Asian so I can’t imagine what else you fellas face.)
YOU went there by yourself? shocked
the list goes on…
Sometimes I just want to go Michael Douglas (in Falling Down) on Taiwan
Then there is the media at fault:
- Most foreigner’s on media are either jester-like or hot ladies. But I guess in all parts of the world, ladies get it easier.
- If it’s an ABC or foreigner at fault, media blows it out of proportion. Not so much highlighting the goods.
It wasn’t so bad, maybe like 10 years ago. ABCs/ABTs were mostly respected. Wonder how it got so bad recently.
I’ve experienced negativity because I’m a foreigner only twice in over four years here, but in my experience Taiwanese are annoyed by people living here for years and never learning Chinese. Same as most nationalities, I suppose. I know some Brits expect immigrants to have perfect English fresh off the boat.
This forum has way too many threads about thoughts on what other people think of certain groups of people.
That is crap. Taiwanese basically refuse to speak Chinese with non Taiwanese and complain we don’t speak it? I tried to learn during the first two years, but most everyone answers me in English when I speak Chinese with them. They can go f themselves if they complain about non Taiwanese not speaking Chinese if they themselves refuse to speak Chinese with non Taiwanese. Such rubbish.
How about, instead of everyone telling everyone what “Taiwanese people do” and “Taiwanese people don’t,” we accept that we can only speak from personal experience?
In my personal experience, I had a really tough time getting people to speak Chinese to me for the first year or so, and after that I’ve felt nearly totally accepted by society at large but completely overlooked in every workplace I’ve been. All of my friends were surprised to hear when I decided to leave, and even today TWese people still assume I can vote in January’s election and I have to explain that the government isn’t quite so 21st-century about things. But overall, I’ve only gotten “when do you go home?” out of ignorance, not spite, and the "welcome to Taiwan"s are all misplaced attempts at being friendly. They are annoying to be sure, but ignorance is not the same thing as racism. This is my personal view on the matter.
But you do realize that non-citizens in most countries would not be entitled to vote in major elections such as presidential elections?
Take the US for example… from wikipedia: “Under current law, non-citizens are not allowed to vote in federal elections, and it is a federal crime for a non-citizen to vote or register to vote in such an election, punishable by imprisonment and/or the initiation of removal proceedings against that individual.”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_ … ted_States
Now, how 21st century is that?
… Wait, are you saying that non-citizens should be allowed to vote? That doesn’t make sense on principle. What I meant by my 21st century comment is that I can’t immigrate to Taiwan while maintaining my US citizenship, so as long as I hold a US passport, I’m not voting in Taiwan. This discussion came up last week at work, with my coworkers remarking how they were able to immigrate here and can still go back to TW to vote, and me saying that Taiwan’s naturalization process isn’t so open.
From observation, I think young and/or ignorant Taiwanese people, especially those in college or younger, or just graduated, tend to casually bash CCR as a way to form a bond, sort of like peer pressure about bashing homosexuals.
However, as individuals, and with some actual interaction with people in CCR relationships, most people out grow those stereotypes and attitudes. So when CCR couples do come in contact with most Taiwanese, they are usually not harboring any negative views.
If you ever go to PTT, some of the more immature “villagers” would be casually saying trash about CCR, and very few ever get stopped by mods there.
Can we ditch “CCR” for something that people outside of Taiwan understand, like interracial relationships? CCR is a nice euphamism so that people can go on ignorantly bashing it. When you say “Young Taiwanese people tend to casually bash interracial relationships” it shows how abhorrent that behavior really is.