I agree and I’ve 20 years under my belt, much of it working with Taiwanese daily.
Mafia don’t get involved in regular biz disputes where I’m from, but they do here. I’ve been threatened by mafia at work when I worked for a Taiwanese company .
Also tonnes of petty lawsuits about trivial shit and a culture of passive aggressive behaviour and stealing from, ripping off business partners who are supposed to be ‘friends’.
Snide comments about co-workers weight or color or race, especially to females.
Jealousy , back biting and envy of some foreigners for having a job or getting treated relatively well.
Ignoring child abuse is or was a big problem
Hopefully many of those issues above are becoming lessened with the younger generation. You might not encounter them so much you don’t work here in Taiwanese businesses. But as we see the same can happen with neighbours.
Some friendly folks for sure. Foreigners are generally pretty welcome . Most people just getting through their day.
My biggest problem is not any of that though, I find most locals too damn quiet and shy these days and there’s a general awkwardness around ‘foreigners’. Never thought I’d say that 20 years ago!
They’re still here but most of the big gangs mainly put their money in legit businesses these days such as real estate. There are lots of smaller , and much younger gangs around these days. That will murder for a 3000NTD debt just to make a point. Yup I mean 3000 about 100 bucks US