Ok Old Taiwan Hands,
Here it is. Two quite likely good job opportunities are on the horizon in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung. Assuming I were offered both which would you rather live in and why?
I worked in Hsinchu once during the week (weekends back in Taipei) and i can tell u my fav part of the week was going back to taipei on friday. Hsinchu is the capital of BOREDOM of all large(ish) cities on the wan. Plus all the people there are mostly Hakka and they are all bean counters and serious people. And the girls are rather plain janes (by comparison). But if you want to marry one, get a bean counter hakka girl from Hsinchu after you done partying with the Taipei and Ktown party animales.
Id take Kaohsiung in a NewYork second.
I’d go for Hsinchu/Zhubei, been there for 6 years before going to Taipei. Hsinchu you can’t rely on public transport (scooter is a must have). You are 30 minutes with HSR from Taipei and Taichung. I find Kaohsiung much more rough and spreaded out. Summers in Kaohsiung are the killer and you will feel far from anything. Hsinchu has a lot of nice restaurants and bars (including the best steakhouse and best japanese I know), but you need to know where to go in advance. The ‘center part’ of Hsinchu is boring (goes for all Taiwan cities I feel).
Tommy: You’re from NY too? 
No, its an expression 
But Lily is tho.
OP, it might help if you tell us something about yourself and what you like to do.
[quote=“tommy525”]I worked in Hsinchu once during the week (weekends back in Taipei) and i can tell u my fav part of the week was going back to taipei on friday. Hsinchu is the capital of BOREDOM of all large(ish) cities on the wan. Plus all the people there are mostly Hakka and they are all bean counters and serious people. And the girls are rather plain janes (by comparison). But if you want to marry one, get a bean counter hakka girl from Hsinchu after you done partying with the Taipei and Ktown party animales.
Id take Kaohsiung in a NewYork second.[/quote]
Hsinchu is no different from San Jose/Cupertino.
So why are you currently living in that area if you didn’t like Hsinchu :discodance: …(unless you’re currently in Frisco which is a different story).
If you want western anemities and a decent nightlife, go for Kaoshiung.
I’m surprised that no one has commented yet on this racist bit…
I find it sad that it came from Tommy.
I’m surprised that no one has commented yet on this racist bit…
I find it sad that it came from Tommy.[/quote]
what i said wasnt derogatory. notice i said if you want to marry a girl get a hakka girl. They have a reputation for being good wives in taiwan. U do know that taiwan is heavily hakka dont u? My tw side of the family happens to be hakka and so was my ex wife. So i can says what i want cuz im hakka too :raspberry:
U may live in a dream world where there is never the slightest thought as to ones race but …we are all colored by our race whether we want to be or not.
Theres going to be some jewish jokes, irish jokes, whitey jokes, asian jokes, hakka jokes. Deal with it.
JUst so long as they are not evil minded, its ok to have a little laugh.
But i stand by what i said bout the girls being mostly plain janes in hsinchu tho. Whatever ethnic mix they were, they be plainer then most over there.
I’m surprised that no one has commented yet on this racist bit…
I find it sad that it came from Tommy.[/quote]
what I said wasn’t derogatory. notice I said if you want to marry a girl get a hakka girl. They have a reputation for being good wives in Taiwan. U do know that taiwan is heavily hakka dont u? My tw side of the family happens to be hakka and so was my ex wife. So i can says what I want cuz im hakka too :raspberry:
U may live in a dream world where there is never the slightest thought as to ones race but …we are all colored by our race whether we want to be or not.
Theres going to be some jewish jokes, irish jokes, whitey jokes, Asian jokes, hakka jokes. Deal with it.
JUst so long as they are not evil minded, its ok to have a little laugh.
But i stand by what I said bout the girls being mostly plain janes in Hsinchu tho. Whatever ethnic mix they were, they be plainer then most over there.[/quote]
Taiwan is not heavily Hakka. It is heavily Han Chinese.
See, I’m simply fed up with the Han Chinese majority looking down upon the Hakka (and other aborigines) here. Often it’s done in seemingly naive ways that are supposed to mask the ignorance and be a “joke.” Unfortunately, that card, the “joke card” is far too easy to play, like you just did. The reality is disturbingly different.
It has nothing to do with me living in a dream world. We all know there are differences, but to openly comment that living in an area heavily populated by Hakkas is somehow a disadvantage, is inexcusable, whether back peddled as a “joke” or not.
But go ahead and back peddle some more, as one would be bound to do in your situation.
Hi eros
what are you by the way? Hakka? other Han? Interested bystander?
Taiwan actually enjoys good racial harmony , there is no real strife now. They have Mando, taiwanese and hakka on the MRT> Id like to see it only be mando (to reduce noise) and signs in mando and english.
IM half taiwanese and my taiwanese buds rib each other all the time bout being from the south, or east or north or being half hakka or half mainlander and all that stuff. Aint nothing serious.
donno what YOUR beef is though.
Only beef i like is in the form of a steak or in my beef noodles. Yummy.
And hakka are known on the wan for being frugal, no nonsense people. The ones I know pretty much live up to that repo, cept my then wife who totally did not represent that point of view.
Im also a Taipei-ian and i look down on anyone who is not originallly from Taipei too. So there…
(i dont actually or id have no friends as most of my taiwanese friends are not originally taipei-ians)
p.s. hakka are most definitely NOT aborigine. They are Han Chinese just like Fujianese and beijingese and shanghainese. And you will not believe this but I do believe the percentage of hakka on taiwan is quite high. Han TAiwanese (as opposed to aborigine) are mostly fujianese or hakka, then followed by people from other parts of China that came with CKS.
I live in Hsinchu County now. I can’t stand it, and I hate the city even more. Least charming place I’ve been to in Taiwan. Can’t imagine why anyone would pick Hsinchu (local or foreign) over Kaohsiung unless there were a major difference in employment opportunities (which there often is, admittedly).
Hakka are great people though, and so is their food. 
I don’t see how what Tommy said was derogatory; there aren’t really many more of them in the city than the rest of Taiwan, though - most of them are in the rural areas.
Isn’t Hsinchu the “science park” area? How does it compare to Neihu as far as work opportunities?
Whoa, who’s from Cupertino? Thats where I’m from! I’ll be in Hsinchu for graduate school this feb
[quote=“PigBloodCake”][quote=“tommy525”]I worked in Hsinchu once during the week (weekends back in Taipei) and i can tell u my fav part of the week was going back to taipei on friday. Hsinchu is the capital of BOREDOM of all large(ish) cities on the wan. Plus all the people there are mostly Hakka and they are all bean counters and serious people. And the girls are rather plain janes (by comparison). But if you want to marry one, get a bean counter hakka girl from Hsinchu after you done partying with the Taipei and Ktown party animales.
Id take Kaohsiung in a NewYork second.[/quote]
Hsinchu is no different from San Jose/Cupertino.
So why are you currently living in that area if you didn’t like Hsinchu :discodance: …(unless you’re currently in Frisco which is a different story).[/quote]
I’ve been living in the Hsinchu area for 3 years, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone move here over Kaohsiung. I’m planning to move to Taipei next year, hopefully. Hsinchu is boring, boring, boring. If you were coming to this part if Taiwan, I’d say go to Taichung, but since the choices are Hsinchu or Kaohsiung, I say go south, young man. A friend of mine lives down there, and you’ll have a much better social life in Gaoxiong. There are a lot more foreigners, activities and things to do in Gaoxiong.
As far as the whole Hakka thing goes, the OP probably won’t even notice. It’s not like they look different, or act noticeably different. Anyway, if the OP even understands Mandarin, he probably doesn’t understand Hakka or Min nan hua. Actually, Miaoli city has the most Hakka, way more than Hsinchu. Whatever you do, don’t ever move to Miaoli city. Xinzhu looks like a wild party town in comparison.
Hsinchu’s weather is horrible–cold, dreary and windy for months on end. Kaohsiung has far better weather and a great laid-back feel with a reasonable number of big city attractions. It also has the beaches of Kenting and the mountains in easy striking distance. I’d take the job in K-town for sure.
Kaoshiung is like a cooker for most of the year, a noxious cooker at that. Nice city , good bike paths but climate and pollution are not so good. I spent a few days there recently the number of Western foreigners there is also quite low, as with most of the country. Hsinchu city is surrounded by awesome nature in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli county. Kaoshiung has Kenting nearby but it is heavily industrial in many parts and has a very large population.
Miaoli city also has a lot of non Hakka but yes it is very quiet indeed, it’s more a town than a city anyway.
[quote=“achangey”]Whoa, who’s from Cupertino? Thats where I’m from! I’ll be in Hsinchu for graduate school this feb
[quote=“PigBloodCake”][quote=“tommy525”]I worked in Hsinchu once during the week (weekends back in Taipei) and i can tell u my fav part of the week was going back to taipei on friday. Hsinchu is the capital of BOREDOM of all large(ish) cities on the wan. Plus all the people there are mostly Hakka and they are all bean counters and serious people. And the girls are rather plain janes (by comparison). But if you want to marry one, get a bean counter hakka girl from Hsinchu after you done partying with the Taipei and Ktown party animales.
Id take Kaohsiung in a NewYork second.[/quote]
Hsinchu is no different from San Jose/Cupertino.
So why are you currently living in that area if you didn’t like Hsinchu :discodance: …(unless you’re currently in Frisco which is a different story).[/quote][/quote]
All your iWhatever are from Cupertino
They usually end up in the scrap heap after few years of use.
I wish to echo Muzha Man’s earlier comment about what sorts of things the OP enjoys–that would certainly make a difference here.
I lived in Hsinchu for six years and had lots of chances to hang out in Kaohsiung during that time too. They are entirely different city spaces with quite different strengths.
Hsinchu is an old Minnan city (it’s not a Hakka town despite what some posters are claiming–large parts of Hsinchu county are Hakka but not the city). It has a complicated city center featuring narrow streets radiating out from Dongmen Circle. It’s a small place that was blessed/cursed with the top-down imposition of the Science Park in 1980. This development completely changed the topography of the city and as far as I could see there was almost zero corresponding investment in infrastructure or public transit. The result is a divided town (old city vs science park) with very little love between the two sides. On the plus side of all this are considerable job opportunities, which is why many people move there. There’s hiking in the county and Taipei is about an hour away if you want to enjoy the Big City.
Kaohsiung, on the other hand, is a modern city laid out for the most part during the Japanese colonial era. It has comparatively excellent infrastructure with broad streets. A big plus is the way the city interacts with the water around it (i.e. lots of easy access to the waterfront). The Big Shift for Kaohsiung economically was the introduction of Taiwan’s first export processing zone in 1966. Alas, with the hollowing out of the manufacturing industry, Kaohsiung has suffered, with relatively few opportunities compared to cities in the north. On the plus side, the city went through a dramatic clean up during the Frank Hsieh mayorship and has become one of the most pleasant big cities in Taiwan in which to hang out. In my experience, it has a nice laid back feel with lots of interesting sites nearby: not just Kending but the mountainous parts of Pingtung are great; and Tainan is nearby. As elsewhere in the south, costs will be lower than in the north–but salaries tend to be lower here too.
I hope this helps. 
Guy