POLL: Did you worry about crime/safety BEFORE you came to Taiwan

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
101

With all due respect, the above assertion is, well, quite surprising. @Marco, I’m practically a shut-in, a borderline hermit, and even I know about this stuff.

I remember years ago, standing outside one of my neighborhood’s wangka with a Canadian fellow who had been here quite a while and knew his way around, and witnessing him describe the gangster territorial boundaries in the area. It was all Greek to me, and still is, but the mere fact that these boundaries or territories existed in my area was quite an eye-opener for me.

I’ve gotten the powerful impression over the years that it’s pretty much a commonplace thing here.

–“Editorial: Gangsters, gangsters everywhere,” Taipei Times, November 9, 2007

–Philip P. Pan, “A Strange Political Bedfellow,” Washington Post, November 7, 2000

–Joyce Huang, “Suspected gangster elected to judicial committee,” Taipei Times , September 22, 2000

–Kathy Benjamin, Funerals to Die For: The Craziest, Creepiest, and Most Bizarre Funeral Traditions and Practices Ever

–Chin Ko-lin, Heijin: Organized Crime, Business, and Politics in Taiwan

Edited to add one more for good measure, from 2005:

5 Likes