I think it’s about time the government in Taiwan draws up some stricter laws on amplified street noise and have enforced … I’m not against a cultural heritage but there need to be equal respect for other people that are not involved in the noise and disturbing event …
What I’m talking about? Someone dropped dead a few weeks ago and today’s the funeral … yesterday afternoon they started playing and praying until pretty late last night, I don’t mind the afternoon and early evening but until after 12:00PM is a little OTT … this morning they started again at 4:30 AM … you can hear it clearly over a 4-5 block area and is really disturbing when you fell a sleep late because of the noise and woke p early because of the same source of noise …
OK, some people will say give them some slack because it’s a funeral … well, they can have their funeral, but not on my night rest … they can mourn, in silence, or at least remove the amplifiers … not everyone is interested in their grief …
Anyways, don’t deities and gods sleep at night … stupid question, probably not … :bluemad:
Some guy died downstairs durring the first three months I lived in Taiwan. They did as you discribe for [color=#FF0000]six weeks[/color]. Even the other Taiwanese neighbors were asking when it would end. I went to school early to sleep in my classroom. Nothing else to do.
Oh, the rape of the instruments, the wailing, the fireworks at 4 a.m.! I mentioned killing them once, buy my Taiwanese friend wisely replied that if I did that, it would just start all over again!
I’m with you on this. And so are most foreigners who reside in Taiwan. According to a tealit.com poll, Noise/Air Pollution tops the chart as being the number one reason why foreigners leave Taiwan.(22%). Everyday there is some noise to contend with - barking dogs, drills, car horns, construction, buzzing generators, - and these noises raise anxiety levels in the community. I for one am now looking for a quiet retreat in the mountains, where the only noise will be birdsong and babbling brooks.
I had that once but my wife didn’t like it (she’s Taiwanese) … it was too humid, too far, no good fongshui blah, blah, blah … but it was quite … the only noise we had was for about 1 day at Chinese new year … and my stereo …
Make sure you check the place out on the weekend before you move in. Some places in the hills come with free entertainment in the form of mournful, wailing karaoke.
People can have their funerals and ceremony but please don’t use an amplifier … no need, it’s for family, it’s in a tent … it’s not a music festival to attract lot’s of people …
True. It’s a noise festival to attract lots of face.
When we lived in Chiayi County, the neighbours lit a huge “ghost fire” (like a ghost money burner, but made of wire mesh and about 1.5 metres in diameter; not sure what its real name is) on the street in front of our house and it burned for about three days. The odours and smoke damage, however, lasted much, much longer. Now that I’m older, wiser and more embittered, I would probably just turn the hose from our balcony onto it, but I was trying to be a “culturally sensitive” person. And of course, there was the tent that blocked the whole street (Do they not need permission from the neighbours to do that?), the hired wailers (wonder if they got overtime pay for wailing after 2am…) and the lovely, lovely firecrackers. I guess misery loves company, even if that company extends for blocks.
I understand the need to grieve, but at least do it yourself! Don’t hire others to cry, and if you do, don’t give them microphones. And if you do, make it stop at midnight. Sometimes I almost think they have these funerals to get back at the neighbours who’ve kept them awake long into the night with their own fiery, inconsiderate apocalyptic noisefests. I’m glad that the EPA is doing something; it must mean that even the Taiwanese are sick of it.
Its no coincidence that among the first words you learn are “re nau” = hot noisy.
(considered a good thing).
But I think it goes further back to the ancient ideogram for Taiwan.
The first character, Tai, is an pictogram of a man operating a jackhammer.
Or, some scholars argue, a man riding a moped.
I finally found the time today to exercise my democratic right and complain to the EPA about the noise pollution here in Taipei. I’m sure ALL of you forumosan have had problems with noise pollution too, whether it be barking dogs, drills, hammers, karaoke, funeral processions, buzzing generators, etc. If you are fed up with the noise, please go here and complain:
I had my revenge day yesterday … we had to cut through a concrete wall and remove a few smaller ones … oh, it’s sweet revenge … hammer drilling from the morning until mid-late afternoon … people complained but I cared shit … sorry, can’t help you out here, job has to be completed …
Yes, this is the way people become - vengeful. Obviously you “cared shit” because before someone was noisy and they cared shit about you and the way you felt. The thing is that our homes are our castles and they fortify us from the horrid world that exists outside. If that space is invaded, we become hostile and protective.(It isn’t only animals that are ‘territorial’. But who said that humans aren’t animals?) Unfortunately, there are so many ‘victims’ of noise pollution in this society, it’s no wonder people walk around with miserable looks on their faces, eyeing each person as though he/she is their worst enemy.
As mentioned above, I recently wrote to the EPA complaining about noise pollution:
"One of the problems that foreigners face on a daily basis in Taipei is the dreadful noise pollution. According to a poll conducted by tealit.com, noise pollution is the main reason why foreigners leave Taiwan. Something must be done about this. Your proposed law regulating construction/drilling work between 6pm and 8am simply doesn’t go far enough. Most people begin work at 9am and finish at 5:30pm, so they may be at home at this time. But this is not really the problem. It’s more about attitudes. Recently work was done on my neighbours apartment, but no one came to inform me that work would be beginning and ongoing for 3 months! If people were to talk to one another here - and they don’t - then these problems may be avoided by for example scheduling work when the ‘victim’ is out. Also why not limit the noise to a certain volume? If the noise exceeds this volume, then the person causing the noise should be HEAVILY fined. Finally, I’d like to say that construction work is not the only form of noise pollution that has to be addressed. What about barking dogs that bark late into the night because indifferent owners don’t care about them? What about old and dangerous generators that buzz and hum all day? What about cars and motorbikes that cause both noise and air pollution because they haven’t been checked by a garage for roadworthiness? What about noisy funeral parades and karaoke parlours that belch out noise 24 hours a day? All these things need to be tackled if Taiwan is to move into the 21st century. Taiwan could be a much better place if the noise was eliminated. Until this is done, foriegners will keep leaving and western tourists will select other quieter alternatives in the region. Wake up Taiwan!
And here is their reply:
“First of all , thanks for giving us your suggestion. As we know that Taiwan is the most density country all over the world. That’s why populace living so crowded,especilly in urban areas. Because of this circumstance,noise problem being wrose. In order to solve this problem and alleviate the raise of noise complaint cases year by year, we implemented several measures for noise control.For noise sources, the measures are intended to control the noise from emission sources, such as tighten the noise limit of new vehicles models, added the low frequency noise standard and revised the overall noise standard for entertainment and business premises, factories, and construction projects within these years. But there is still something we need to do more effort, just like you said “attitudes”. We need to educate people to think more before they do anything. We think most of Taiwan’s people are friendly. We will do our best to let our country become more friendly and quieter. Best regard EPA.”
It was nice to have the email acknowledged and great to know that some people here do actually care about changing ignorant attitudes. If you have any complaints, please bombard the EPA with them.
Looking back, I lived in five places in Taiwan, and had to endure the following:
Place 1: Nothing!
Place 2: waterpump on top of other building
Place 3: waterpump behind the walls of my apartment that starts at 3 hour intervals. Waterpump of surrounding lowrise buildings, one with occasional metal shrieking sound at 5-6 am. Occasional alarms going off for hours in neighbouring vehicles or buildings. Neighbour 2 floors up from mine who watches movies or plays games on his subwoofer surround system until 5 am (complaining was mostly ignored; neighbours above told me didn’t think it disturbed them!!!) And lastly, to add the FINALISER to this place, GET THIS: at some point a new tenant moved in one floor lower diagonally under my apartment… and moved in a goddamn acoustic piano to practise every day from 9 am (punctually!) to around 6 pm, with breaks, but at least 5 hours a day. Not loud, but perfectly audible. That’s practising tone ladders, playing the same songs, same mistakes again & again repeating the same patterns again & again, mental torment?! MENTAL TORMENT. No more late sleeping on Saturday or Sunday… Sure, you can move in your acoustic piano into your apartment in Taiwan, just stick to the hours! (I had to move out a couple months after this started, luckily)
Place 4: Noisy cacaphony of waterpumps in the alley behind apartment. Neighbours showering at 2-4 am EVERY day; a goddamn SINGLE THIN separating wall between their bathroom and my bedroom - could hear the water splashing through the wall. Dog of neighbour left out on balcony barking continuously for whole days, mostly national holidays. Breaking out and subsequent construction of the apartment 2 floors up, took three full months during daytime, the only time in Taiwan I was in between jobs and was able to stay at home for some peace and quiet… NOT! Materials delivered by blue trucks for construction, at 5 - 6 am with lots of noise and disregard for people sleeping.
Place 5: A good place again. Some occasional fireworks at 4 am, but I’m feeling it’s nice here. Peace and quiet in Taiwan… it IS possible it seems.
Place 3 was an older building at a higher up floor. Place 4 was a gongyu (lowrise building) in what seemed like a quiet alley.
edit: added “piano woman” to place 3… how could I ever forget that…
