Seriously?!
Chinese are not direct, or not as direct as we might be used in Europe (although I guess that within Europe you have very different degrees of directness).
Air pollution.
Food is poison.
Chinese people talking about you behind your back.
Water is polluted and poison.
Everything is āsuper famousā in this island, and the best you name it in the World.
People being childish, or rude, or whatever.
Probably Iām the person I know who complains the most, but I donāt complain much about people complaining
In the older version of the forum I remember someone once asked:āWhat are the pros and cons of living in Yilan?ā, and a wise man (canāt remember who) replied:
Pros: youāre living
Cons: in Yilan
It applies to the whole of Taiwan as well, and to be fair it applies to every place in the world because no place is perfect.
For many aspects in life, Taiwan is better than many Western countries and MUCH better than most Asian countries. Of course there are some fairly annoying cons, like black birds trying to rape my brain and lay eggs inside it on a daily basis.
Yeah, I agree. No place is perfect and I certainly have my own gripes about life here, but if all you do is complain 24/7 itās best to go home. Although these chronic complainers realize deep down theyād be just as unhappy, probably much more so, back in their hometown where theyāre not special and theyād be stuck working a boring and soul-crushing 9-5 office job if theyāre lucky (unemployed, or slinging burgers if theyāre not).
People always like to complain - whether you are local or foreign. Locals might be dissatisfied about politics, salaries, health services. Foreigners will complain about differences compared to their environment they were comfortable with in their home country. Itās natural.
Sometimes people complain as a chitchat or an opener. Sometimes it affects their life and they need an advice. Sometimes people are toxic and they only focus on the bad things.
Itās a common thing in every country - whether you are local or forgein.
And one thing that people learn with age is - you cannot always run away if one or two things are not the way you want them to be. Neighbors lawn is not greener. Every place has pros and cons.
If the complaints are work-related, well yeah I agree to some extent. Even the locals I know have wondered if management style would be different if they worked for an American company instead. But, at the end of the day, most people choose to stay in their shitty workplace because the payās better than elsewhere.
Then, thereās a fellow foreigner who used to complain about speaking Mandarin. She verbalizes that she doesnāt want to learn it because itās difficult and even says upfront to locals that their language is difficult when asked how much Chinese she can speak/understand since coming to Taiwan. Honestly, I sometimes want to smack her in the head. I canāt help but think, donāt make excuses for your lack of ability to learn it. Itās not the language thatās the problem, itās you.
There are valid complaints, and there are those that are just projections of the complainant, their way of evading their own faults/shortcomings. In most cases, it helps to limit spending time with such negative folks. Theyāre simply not worth the effort.
I think a common complaint that you canāt become a ROC citizen without our giving up your other citizenship. My mom went through the same thing.
Oh please thereās like a billion things to complain about in Taiwan, local and foreigner alike. When I browse through my Facebook feeds itās like complaint after complaint about the shit salary, shit boss, school-related stuff, pollution (in winter), politicians doing something retarded blahblahblahblahblah.
Taiwan is already more accepting that most, no? Allows dual citizenship, but must renounce if becoming a neutralised Taiwan citizen.
No trash cans Anywhere. Whyyyyy
Because people will use them for their household garbage instead of waiting for the truck.
Even itās name is kick assā¦Black Drongo.
Beware of the Drongo.
Me either, especially in Taipei. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I first came here, in 1990, the driving here was far, far worse. Now I find it downright orderly.
Thereās an orderly chaos of the whole thing
99% of my complaints in Taiwan are towards the working culture. I donāt like working with Taiwanese and I donāt like working for Taiwanese bosses. I also have a lot of affection for Taiwan and the lack of direction. And general passion , worries me. I complain about these things all the time, to the point where I have recognized I have to leave.
But I love a lot about this place for basic living
Aside from the climate, which is horrific, the only thing here that really puts a crimp in my long-term existence in Taiwan is the food. Everything elseāthe pollution, the traffic, the passive-aggressive behavior, the inane popular culture, the sputtering economyāI can handle just fine.
The cuisine, on the other hand, is something Iāve never really come to terms with. Every time someone raves about how delicious the food is, it really makes my head spin. I have no problem at all with Chinese food (done properly), but Taiwanese ācuisineā is the bane of my existence.
The dishwater concoctions they call soup (yeah, letās take this watery broth and enhance it with a little seaweed and a couple of oysters that are about to turn); all the organs and congealed blood; the sweet sausages and jerky; the way they flavor just about everything with those little dried shrimp, giving it the aroma of dirty gym socks and the texture of egg shells; the āfish ballsā and āfish cakesā made out of God-knows-what; the fact that just about everything has one flavor: sweet and salty. I could go onā¦
Well, itās another age-old story:
[quote]If I go, there will be trouble,
And if I stay it will be double.[/quote]āTopper Headon, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Joe Strummer
[quote]Time is tapping on my forehead,
Hanginā from my mirror,
Rattlinā the teacups.
And I wonder,
How long can I delay?
Weāre just a habit, like saccharin.
And Iām habitually feelinā kinda blue,
But each time I try on the thought of leavinā you,
I stopāI stop and think it over.[/quote]āPaul Simon
Ennio Morricone can do the theme:
And here they are, with their bad selves:
I always meet the toxic kindā¦ That is why I started this thread.
I donāt find Taipei traffic shocking either fwiw, and Iām a law-and-order type, but Iām probably desensitized after experiencing traffic in less developed cities.
This whole topic isnāt a mystery to me at all. People have always been complaining about things and always will. Itās just that foreigners (in any country) are likely to complain about some thing that locals are not so likely to complain about and vice versa.
Like the character Nanny in this old gemā¦
Ah sorry Zapman, I was replying specifically to @Andrew0409 regarding dual citizenship laws! Not a general remark on the people of Taiwan.