How was life in Taiwan like during the 90s compared to these days?
My parents lived in Taiwan for three years until 1989. They recently started living here again and they say not much has changed (in a negative way).
The only real improvement they see now is less betel-nut juice stains on the streets, and of course there are MRT systems now.
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Easy money and easyā¦
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Didnāt there used to a poor trash collection system as well? Iāve heard horror stories of people walking past piles of trash everyday.
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Some piss poor observation skills if thatās all theyāve noticed.
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Is there anything they think got worse?
They say the news stories have gotten more ridiculous, in terms of what Taiwanese consider newsworthy.
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I was younger so the traffic, the wild west aspect of driving a scooter or a motorcycle fast in and out of traffic was thrilling. Older now, and Iād be so much less thrilled if it were still like that. Been back a month now and I havenāt yelled at anyone for nearly killing me crossing the road. Thatās huge. The MRT is great, as are the clean and fast buses into Taipei from the hinterlands.
It is cleaner, but I havenāt been around the island yet. The air is WAY cleaner than it was in the acid rain, burning skin days of the mid 90s. Could be better though.
There arenāt packs of dogs running all over, which is huge. The culling program they ran, as odious as it was, worked.
I see way more belly buttons and tattoos just walking down the street now. Used to have pay a cover charge in Taichung to get that.
The hilarity of the culture is still here. Iām more accepting so things donāt bother me, but in laws saying bye bye oooh ten times over still grinds my gears a bit.
Noise cancelling earbuds hadnāt been invented yet. Theyāre a huge part of my days now.
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Word. The news programs of JUST car accidents is crazy. I saw a show today of some guy following some other guy on a scooter recording the other guy talking on his phone. Then the first guy sends the video to the cops and the guy gets a 9500 NT fine for all the infractions. what a dick. lol
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There were less foreigners, so even a mixed-race kid like me stuck out like a sore thumb. Not sure how it works out in elementary school now, but I still get PTSD from the BS Iāve endured every once in a while, and it took me MANY years to convince myself to ever visit Taiwan ever again, and Iām glad that the amount of stupid questions I receive about my race/background has been reduced to nearly zero.
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Pollution was much more rampant: Iād walk past piles of trash everywhere, and despite having more public trash cans available (itās almost eradicated since nowadays apparently people would abuse the trash system), littering was extremely commonā¦ Now thereās almost no trash cans everywhere but the streets are pretty clean.
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Smog was something else; I went back to the US in 1997, visited Taiwan in 2001, and had severe eye allergies in the summer enough to need to go to the doc and get some eye drops.
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Stray dogs were VERY common, at least where I was (Zhonghe City, Taipei Province AKA Zhonghe District, New Taipei now); the animal control wonāt even bother unless theyāre attacking people and/or rabid, and even then I saw a neighborhood strayās mouth foaming for a week before they finally did something about itā¦ Consequently, dog droppings were also common enough to be a HUGE problem from both stray dogs and dog owners who ignored the problem alike, and it took me a LONG time to undo the habit of looking at the ground to avoid stepping on poop in the US.
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Although cars/scooters/etc. will still zip past you while youāre trying to cross the street every once in a while, but back then it was WAY worse. Apparently the law was always that pedestrians had the right of way, but NOBODY would EVER stop for you back then; Iāve had cars passing me within inches while trying to cross a road (when in the US theyād at least
wine and dine you before you get fkādgive you a bit of wiggle room), and even one punk-ass circled back to pick a fight with my cousin when he yelled at a dude that almost ran over my foot. -
You used to have to stand for the national anthem in movie theaters.
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I never once saw graffiti when I was a kid, but now itās unfortunately getting to be like Downtown LA.
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Ha. I never did that. Ridiculous.
I donāt think Iāve ever even heard the Taiwan national anthem, but I can sing the PRC one by heart. Iām such a bad Taiwanese.
I went to school here and weād have to stand for the anthem AND sing it in school too (not sure if thatās still the case), but I only remember the general melody and like, 2 of the first verses.
I have a couple of American friends who were here for a couple of years in the early 90s and havenāt been back since then. Their biggest memory seems to be the smog, which they found to be unbearable. Iāve tried to convince them itās really nice here now!
They call that art now.
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Less martial law.
Fewer gangster kidnappings.
Less garbage all over the place.
Less obvious pollution in the cities.
More HSR.
Better TRA.
Better just about everything actually. 
Guy
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Hereās a guyāformer AIT director Stephen Young, an American who grew up in K-Townāwho lived in Taiwan back in the day. Check out how he remembers things:
Guy
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Not true, a lot is better?
Did you not travel north/south? Before needed to fly (or drive a car or bus), now with the bullet train is much faster and easier. Also safer, the local airlines would sometimes crash, the bullet train here (and in Japan) zero deaths.
Toilets much better, can flush paper down in most places no need to bin it (I seldom did it though)
New modern homes, even older homes like the one I am in is modernized inside
Better public safety , very few kidnaping or news like that, you see bars on windows cus in the past crime was higher
All the trains and I think all bus are air con, unless a few years ago still some non air con trains (now the tourist brezzy blue)
New underground Taipei station, and the urban stations here (KHH) are under too
Traffic in Taipei area much much much better, if you drove in like me in 2003 and now, a huge difference
Airfares seem cheaper to/from Japan, Korea, ect
Urban rivers cleaner, ie Love river (KHH)
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I remember standing for the national anthem in theaters , and smoking in them. Could smoke in post offices also.
Scooter gangs.
People getting bashed up at The Pig & Whistles.
Crap tests for ARCs.
The garbage piles. Around CNY you could sometimes score good stuff, even some antique furniture.
I remember no convenience stores and the first McDonalds.
And of course the McDonaldās bombing attacks:
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1990
This musician claims people came to his hotel threatening him with machine guns.
So Iām guessing machine guns were all over the place.
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