One aspect of living in Taiwan is dealing with local myths. (Along the lines of the Korean “fan death” myth.) Or “Don’t leave the water pressure pump on except when you need it; otherwise you’ll waste electricity.” Or “I can’t eat ice cream today; I’m having my period.”
Maybe we should have a thread to discuss, bust, and confirm myths we encounter in Taiwan.
Here’s one I’m grappling with right now: “Don’t stay in the room when the dehumidifier is on. It emits exhaust.”
Has anyone heard this myth? Can anyone bust it? Apparently she’s been told this by her Chinese doctor (who once told me that my belly was sticking out because of qi, rather than because of fat), by her sister (who is prone to believing bizarre myths), and by the salesman who sold the dehumidifier. It’s an electric powered one, so I can’t imagine it emits any more “exhaust” than any other electrical appliance. Seems to me to be as irrational as the Korean “fan death” myth.
Hi, You have got no chance of busting the dehumidifier myth but trying to deal with it head on. But you could say that you know all that and that you bought a special one that emits “good exhaust” in the form of positive ions. Remark on this when she is happy or in a good mood?
As for the other myths, just use them to your advantage.
I find it easier to go along with mythical beliefs as long as it causes no discomfort. Here are some of the more common ones that I first encountered mainly in Malaysia a some time ago.
Food and drink.
Don’t eat too much watermelon, you’ll catch cold;
Same goes for all the other “cooling” fruits, and drinks, especially cold lager;
“Heaty” drinks like coffee, are OK in small quantities, but watch out for that sore throat;
Dark chocolate is way too heaty.
After a time one will have an encyclopaedic knowledge of all heaty and cooling foods, and know how to balance them when ordering in a restaurant or cooking at home;
Talking/listening.
Calling someone’s name – better to say it twice, otherwise it could be a ghost;
If you hear your name called once when you are in the jungle, it is definitely a ghost, so don’t turn round. If you do turn round, make sure you do it twice otherwise the ghost will def. get you;
If you say that you do not believe in ghosts, others will think that you are one.
Laundry.
(for men) No mixing of male and female clothes in the washing machine. That will definitely reduce male qi;
(for women) wash his shirts and pants with your underwear to make it easier to bend him to your will;
At work.
Don’t sit with your back towards the door, or facing the door, or you will not last long;
Speak loudly, or not at all.
As for fans, there are any number of stories about them. Ceiling fans are particularly bad, cos they are really dragons see, and they get enraged if you have sex under them, and will do you no end of harm.
[quote=“Chris”]One aspect of living in Taiwan is dealing with local myths. (Along the lines of the Korean “fan death” myth.) Or “Don’t leave the water pressure pump on except when you need it; otherwise you’ll waste electricity.”
[/quote]
The only time I had to worry about a water pump in Taiwan, the guy who owned it told me to leave it on at all times. Otherwise, we’d be sorry in the shower.
So I guess there’s hope.
More hope! Some people here (法鼓山) told me to pretty much leave it on at all times to prevent mold.
[quote=“Chris”]
It’s an electric powered one, so I can’t imagine it emits any more “exhaust” than any other electrical appliance. [/quote]
Could it be that what they mean by “exhaust” is the air being pushed out of the dehumidifier? A toaster does not push air, so no exhaust. Maybe?
Surely the dehumidifier thing is so you don’t dehydrate or dry out your skin because of the dry air - something Taiwanese are generally not used to. So while the rationale sounds weird, the prictice makes sense.
Now as for the cold hot foods business, are you really asking them to throw away centuries of empirically attained Chinese medical knowledge? Where does it end? Should we tell the Panan that their longhouses contravene basic human sensibilities about the need to fuck in private?
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]Surely the dehumidifier thing is so you don’t dehydrate or dry out your skin because of the dry air - something Taiwanese are generally not used to. So while the rationale sounds weird, the prictice makes sense.
Now as for the cold hot foods business, are you really asking them to throw away centuries of empirically attained Chinese medical knowledge? Where does it end? Should we tell the Panan that their longhouses contravene basic human sensibilities about the need to fuck in private?
HG[/quote]
F*cking privacy? Ha!
You let her know not to make a sound or you have something for her to bite down on. That’s been known for centuries. Either that or you’re hung like a flea.
OH and privacy in Taiwan is a contradiction in terms - everyone knows your business - including the neighbors.
If one grows up with a certain belief, it is understandable that you would keep on following it through your life, even if it sounds like it’s a myth. However, it just doesn’t make sense for foreigners who had a western education to suddenly follow these myths as if they’ve always been doing it.
I studied Chinese medicine for five years, with a six month stint as an intern in a hospital in China. I came at that study with some decent western medical study via nursing and then some, but in that time I definitely overcame a lot of my tendencies to write stuff off as myths. I studied the raft of TCM, including acupuncture, which I initially thought was mostly bollocks. However, i saw way too much to write things off so quickly now.
The ice cream and periods thing is pointless out of its Chinese medical context, which is something most Taiwanese, for example grasp rather well. In the same schema, having sex when a woman is menstruating is also considered a bad idea, and lo and behold, now western medicine has come around to the idea that it does potentially increase the risk of endometriosis.
it’s important to keep in mind that western medicine has had it;s share of zany ideas that have been again and again proven ridiculous - stress causing ulcers, for example. All “sciences” are in a perpetual state of flux.
Now when my Thai tirak tells me that she knows ghosts are about because she smells flowers, who am I to squash her centuries of belief by saying that’s all crap? No one has really proved she’s wrong, after all. For Thais and Chinese, ghosts are just as real as the living, and many claim to routinely see them.
If the foreigner lives with someone who subscribes to such myths, it can place unneeded stress to their lives, including quarrels.
Religious beliefs are one thing–most people are aware of their partner’s beliefs when they start a relationship. Strange beliefs about electrical appliances is another thing altogether.
For me personally the differences are part of the rich pageant of being with someone from another culture. I will baulk at the idea that being in a car doing 200/kmh with a drunk driver at the helm has no bearing on the pre-ordained time of our death, but generally speaking I can deal with the my daughter not being able to swim because the weather has dropped to a “chilly” 29 degrees celsius and she might catch her death.
(A few minutes ago, I replied to the posts above, but it didn’t appear.)
I had a strange experience. A few months ago when I was at home, I was looking for accommodation in Taiwan as I was planning to return after spending a year in South Africa. A friend of mine referred me to someone who was looking for a roommate. I decided to take the offer. On arriving here, I was told that the place was haunted. There were four of us, me and three girls. One was Taiwanese and the other three of us were foreigners. The Taiwanese girl had a friend that said the place had bad Qi and that the other girls had to call in a priest to exorcise the ghosts. I said I wouldn’t be there for the exorcism. When I came back, there were curtains hanging in front of my door, all the other bedroom doors and the bathroom as well. One by one, the foreigners removed their curtains and I must say I was relieved, because I found it cumbersome. Shortly after all these changes that the Taiwanese girl made, she decided to move out.
I have my own beliefs, but I don’t expect others to follow it. Neither will I abandon my one.
[quote=“Huang Guang Chen”]I studied Chinese medicine for five years, with a six month stint as an intern in a hospital in China. I came at that study with some decent western medical study via nursing and then some, but in that time I definitely overcame a lot of my tendencies to write stuff off as myths. I studied the raft of TCM, including acupuncture, which I initially thought was mostly bollocks. However, I saw way too much to write things off so quickly now.[/quote] :bravo:
That’s it. And it’s not mystical or anything; just natural phenomena which as yet don’t have a complete scientific explanation.
Not to say that all Taiwanese people follow TCM principles consistently (after all, how many western doctors do you know who smoke or pop pills?), or that there aren’t many many quacks. And certainly not to say that TCM has a solution for everything or that it works in exactly the same way for everyone.
But it seems rather unscientific for people to chuck the baby out with the bathwater and say that because they haven’t personally experienced TCM working, and because science doesn’t have a complete explanation for such stuff, that there might not be something in it.
It’s a big subject. The pulses are taken at three different depths, and there are lots of different pulse types. And that’s only part of a full traditional diagnosis; there’s the actual questions/talking, the looking at the tongue, and some other stuff I can’t remember. HGC would be the man to ask about that, and I’m sure he also has an opinion on whether some parts of the diagnosis are more effective than others.
It works. One of my earliest “successes” as a final year student was to diagnose a woman pregnant on only her pulse, which displayed the textbook perfect “pearls in a dish.” No, she wasn’t showing, and I shocked myself almost as much as her. Anyway, the pulse is only one of many variables, the most important being inquiry.
The pulses are part of the whole Chinese medical schema, and can’t really be taken too much out of context of the Chinese medical theory. Somethings are fine, but I’d be dubious, for example, of someone spotting cancer from a Chinese pulse. i have heard that’s possible - comes up as blood stasis in the Chinese medical explanation, but typically there is less ability to ascertain how serious that “cancer” maybe (a bruise or a cancer?). You hear amazing stories of the ability of some TCM doctors, and that may be so, but I’d be wary.
I’m a big believer in using both western and Chinese. If I had my own clinic I would always run patients via a western doctor for their perspective too.
Could it be that what they mean by “exhaust” is the air being pushed out of the dehumidifier? A toaster does not push air, so no exhaust. Maybe?