It wont be exactly same old same old anymore will it? Parts of the regular day to day activities we do like going out will start to seem like we are in China?
AS I gather from this blog :
I feel like I’m the only one that cares that Chinese are coming to Taiwan. I don’t want Taiwan’s culture to be ruined!!
Oh well, anyhow good relations are still a long way off, and an eventual (or uneventual) conquest seems even longer.
As far as I can see, there is not a lot of difference. Sure, at first glance Taiwan appears to be different, but stick around a little while and it becomes clear that these are Chinese people. Same slurping, hacking, shitting on the streets, and complete disregard for others. The Taiwanese hide it a little better, but otherwise no real difference.
5 weeks ago, I was sitting in a busy cafe near the cities main train station right next to a little water fountain display when I see a Taiwanese man walk out into the center of the display, drop his pants and promptly take a shit. Right in the center of town! Felt just like I was back in China.
No, as I see it, This is chinese culture, chinese people, and chinese attitudes. Try doing business or working with or for the Taiwanese, same exact ‘smile and lie’ routine.
It will be interesting to see how the Chinese-Taiwanese interact with each other though, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few scuffles here and there.
The Taiwanese think the bejing accent is a hoot…If you ever want to crack someone up, just bust out your ‘Bejing chinese’. I can just imagine that the Chinese tourists will not think it is so funny when people laugh at them every where they go.
What city was that in TAiwn? I cant imagine a grown person doing that in TAiwan? Iv never seen any grown person do that at any time in TAiwan.
Urban myths start like that.
“Now you ain’t gonna believe this, but there I was, sittin’ there drinkin’ my tea, and this ol’ boy walked out in that fountain and let loose some of the biggest brown trout I’ve seen in a long time…right there in front of Buddha and everybody…dangest thing I ever saw”
[quote=“Homey”]As far as I can see, there is not a lot of difference. Sure, at first glance Taiwan appears to be different, but stick around a little while and it becomes clear that these are Chinese people. Same slurping, hacking, shitting on the streets, and complete disregard for others. The Taiwanese hide it a little better, but otherwise no real difference.
5 weeks ago, I was sitting in a busy cafe near the cities main train station right next to a little water fountain display when I see a Taiwanese man walk out into the center of the display, drop his pants and promptly take a shit. Right in the center of town! Felt just like I was back in China.
No, as I see it, This is Chinese culture, Chinese people, and Chinese attitudes. Try doing business or working with or for the Taiwanese, same exact ‘smile and lie’ routine.
It will be interesting to see how the Chinese-Taiwanese interact with each other though, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are a few scuffles here and there.
The Taiwanese think the bejing accent is a hoot…If you ever want to crack someone up, just bust out your ‘Bejing Chinese’. I can just imagine that the Chinese tourists will not think it is so funny when people laugh at them every where they go.[/quote]
I’ve never seen that type of behaviour in Taiwan. It was probably a homeless person living around there (it is the main train station after all, you can see the same behaviour around train stations the world over!).
Wow, I honestly think that Taiwanese are way different from Chinese.
I mean, sometimes they do things that aren’t so cool, but overall the Taiwanese as a society or much more friendly then lets say, a lot of places in Europe.
No urban myth. Just a man shitting.
This was not in one of the bigger cities on the Island.
Whoa a number 2! Never witnessed that. I’ve seen a lot of people pee in the street, saw an old man do it in broad daylight just yesterday. Could have been drunk, who knows. I once got splashed on the foot with pee from a young boy relieving himself in front of a busy store as I talked on my cell phone. I see kids do it all the time, disgusting! A little discretion would be nice, I’m sure most of the men on this board have taken a whiz outside. Taiwanese people are definitely different from Chinese people. They certainly think so too and would be very insulted to hear they are the same or even similar.
I saw a guy do that, at an ING fun run two years ago in Taipei, along Ren Ai Rd, near city hall. He was a runner who suddenly found that he had to go. He went to the grassy median, pulled down his shorts and let go. It wasn’t classy, but he had the element of surprise! Later, he passed me running, turned, and offered me a handshake. It was one of the few times in my life I’ve refused a handshake! He was definitely Taiwanese.
The fact is that there are already 20 million plus chinese out and about in Taiwan.
4000 years of culture is not erased by crossing the water. Yes they are somewhat different in first appearance, in the same way that people in New York are a little different from the people in lets say… Kentucky.
I am all for freedom and independence, that is a seperate issue, but we are living in the result of thousands of years of Chinese culture, not thousands of years of Taiwanese culture.
[quote=“Homey”]
4000 years of culture is not erased by crossing the water.[/quote]
4000? You don’t understand Taiwanese culture. My wife says we have 5000.
And she didn’t even update it in the last 4 years I am here…
[quote=“bob_honest”][quote=“Homey”]
4000 years of culture is not erased by crossing the water.[/quote]
4000? You don’t understand Taiwanese culture. My wife says we have 5000.
And she didn’t even update it in the last 4 years I am here…
[/quote]
I heard with the Olympics coming some are even pushing for 8000, just to be that much luckier.
BTW, I’d say that the how ever many thousands of years of continuous chinese culture have been severed with a modern education system that values boys and girls equally.
Confucianism lingers over the culture less like the ghost of Hamlet’s father and more like Nearly Headless Nick in Harry Potter:ie, something that no longer inspires any real fear or devotion, but is trotted out to make the precedings a little more fun and atmospheric.
I’ve seen adults taking shits or peeing in public. One guy did it on the side of the freeway - between his car and the safety railing. Round the corner and… hello!
You’d think he’d have enough common sense to do it in front of his car so that the cars coming wouldn’t see it, but nope… right out in open view of everyone passing.
I’ve seen parents encourage and help their little kids to do it on the street or at the nightmarket… couldn’t possibly walk to a nearby business and use the toilet.
Anyway, yeah, it’s Chinese culture and I doubt it will be changing anytime soon.
How do you know he wasn’t a Chinese tourist?
Definitely not a tourist. 100% sure.
The tourists I see visiting from the mainland are in groups, have bags, dress much nicer than this man and are often quite loud. I think the common mainlander is not coming to Taiwan at this point, I believe it’s mainly the ones with a little more money and connections.
Mpenguin its crazy eh? No shame. One thing that has always amazed me about the Chinese is all this crazy, silly, brain damage where you can ‘lose face’ or cause someone else to ‘lose face’ for the most stupid little thing, meanwhile they somehow don’t ‘lose face’ for outright lying, or stealing, or littering and shitting/peeing in public. They put a big emphasis on looking good for other people, but then in the most obvious and blatant ways they don’t care or it doesn’t matter. I like being here for the people watching. It is never boring.
I’ve never seen someone taking a dump in public before. Are you sure you weren’t passing a rave after-party where people shit in their pants from OD’ing 'cept what you saw was, in fact, a civilized OD, on the road as opposed to in their pants.
Perhaps just one innocent crap per se? No everyone saw our last lunar eclipse. You lucky bastard you.
What’s this nonsense about taking a shit in public being part of Chinese culture? It’s the expression of a lack of culture by certain deranged individuals, who could be of any race or nation. I have never seen anyone but the smallest of childs (which, I agree, is also quite disgusting) relieve themselves in public especially where a number two is concerned, and I have lived in China for quite a while. Some posts here make this seem like a far more common occurence than it is.
Now, the slit pants on little children who are taken outside by their parents to pee on the streets, that is a disturbing aspect of the Chinese that I’m not a big fan of, either. But it’s a very different thing from adults intentionally shitting on the streets, fully aware of what they’re doing. I don’t recognise that at all.
The Taiwan social culture is the same as the Chinese social culture, except the Taiwanese are a little more refined in their behaviour. Complete disregard for anyone who is not family or friend. Keep strangers at a distance with a false smile and an empty compliment. Lack of warmth, understanding and empathy. Perhaps you won’t notice too much of a difference !
I was on a plane from Hong Kong to TW the other day, and was sat next to a mainland Chinese woman. After asking my assistance (in Chinese) to fill in her landing form, and me helping her, she told me “ni shi waiguoren”. Already fed up being called this so often in Taiwan, I was unwilling to let that one pass. I told her I lived in Taiwan, and she was the foreigner. Of course, she didn’t get it.
The strange thing was, several members of the air crew (China Airlines) treated her very badly, when she asked for a special meal and wanted to use RMB to buy Duty Free. I am not sure if I was imagining it because the cabin crew seemed very rushed, but it seems like they were really putting her down. So an example of Taiwanese racism against mainlanders ?
But no doubt the mainland visitors to TW will point and comment even more aggressively when they see a poor whitey on the street. And God help the black foreigners here ! One would hope that TW would become multicultural, but with the increasing Chinese influence it will probably go the other way.
[quote=“MPenguin”]I’ve seen adults taking shits or peeing in public. One guy did it on the side of the freeway - between his car and the safety railing. Round the corner and… hello!
You’d think he’d have enough common sense to do it in front of his car so that the cars coming wouldn’t see it, but nope… right out in open view of everyone passing.
I’ve seen parents encourage and help their little kids to do it on the street or at the nightmarket… couldn’t possibly walk to a nearby business and use the toilet.
Anyway, yeah, it’s Chinese culture and I doubt it will be changing anytime soon.[/quote]
I’ve never seen any Taiwanese person shit in public. Reducing “Chinese culture” to that is ridiculous, do you not have anything more intelligent to say?
As for the pissing in the street, that must be all the drunk English teachers stumbling out of Brass Monkey on a Saturday night…guess the barbarians won’t be changing their ways any time soon…