TV interviewing foreigners married to locals

My gf’s just told there’s a program on Channel 6 at 10 o’clock tonight featuring interviews with expatriates and their Taiwanese wives. It might be interesting to many of our community. Maybe some of you are even in it? I’m off to watch it now.

Oh my God, forget it! It’s not what I expected at all! It’s typical Taiwanese junk TV. I thought it might be something serious, probing and meaningful – silly me! And only one token foreigner, as far as I can see (though at the start of the program they said it would be like “the United Nations”). :?

Well, it does have some interest after all, albeit very shallow. They started by talking to a Taiwanese woman who is married to an American who is something like 25 years her senior and who has a daughter from a previous marriage who is older than she is. Stuff about how her family took it, and so on. Then they interviewed a gorgeous half American (dad) and half-Yuanzhumin girl who recently came back to Taiwan and married a Yuanzhumin guy. After the break, they’ll be interviewing some more. I suppose it’s just about worth continuing to watch it.

The interviewer was pressing pretty hard the bearded guy about money.

When you go out with friends, who pays? Will you ever shout (treat)? Will you clearly calculate each others bill and then pay seperately? If you pay, will you get money from your friend when you get home? :shock:

Now she’s asking the old guy whether or not he’s had a one night stand or affair. Poor guy didn’t understand the question.

And they’ve gone on to talk to Taiwanese women married to a Nepalese, an Argentinian, an El Salvadorean and a Finn, respectively.

Inevitably, the main focus of discussion with the last one was everyone getting naked together in the sauna in Finland.

Oh well, it’s a bit of a chuckle, if nothing else.

But blimey, they don’t half stretch out these programs. It’s well into the second hour and still going strong.

And they’re trotting out all the standard prejudices and stereotypes. As Amos mentioned, they were just asking the Argentinian husband if he screws other women in Taiwan, and if he has mistresses or one-night stands. Fortunately, he hardly understands what they’re asking (though they take that as an excuse to be even more offensive).

You wouldn’t get me on a program like that for anything! How about you, Amos? Fancy giving it a go?

No chance mate, I’d have to be half pissed. Nothing groundbreaking there, just stereotyping at its ugliest. Hopefully the rugby on Saturday will be a touch more entertaining :wink:

Sophisticated stuff, Taiwanese TV. Do you reckon they’ll ever get bored with their stereotypes ?

Do you think there’ll ever be a big enough foreign community in Taiwan for us to get our own cable TV station? If so, we could have lots of fun producing programs that mimic standard Taiwanese gogglebox fare, but with the boot on the other foot, presenting the most outrageous stereotypes of the native population or showcasing them as performing monkeys. Wouldn’t that be a hoot!

Who would like to take on the role of the foreigner Jacky Wu?

The TWnese like stereotypes of us/we/them foreigners because stereotypes fit the image they have of stereotypical foreigners. Nothing will ever change.

If you look deep inside at yourself enough, it the same with OUR stereotypical views of Taiwanese. Admit it, you do the same wit them.

It’s human nature.

It’s the next best thing to knowing someone. And yes, where has HakkaSonic been lately? I miss him too.