Ugly Truths About Working in Taiwan

[afterspivak]

I suspect you may find it in Hanoi or in other places where it still seems the sky is the limit.

You will not find it in Taipei.

Buzz, RIP.

Guy

[OysterOmelet]

If Taiwanese are migrating to the US or Canada en masse, WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY? I don’t see them. Every Taiwanese person I see has been here 20-35 years or more.

[gbrown]

That’s because aesthetically speaking there is no discenable difference between a Chinese and Taiwanese. Unlike other Asian nations where it’s easy to guess where they are from. Unless you’re talking about aboriginals; who hardly venture as far as the states.

Some of the schools of Chinese you see milling around the US or Canada are actually Taiwanese.

[OysterOmelet]

@gbrown

That’s because aesthetically speaking there is no discenable difference between a Chinese and Taiwanese. Unlike other Asian nations where it’s easy to guess where they are from. Some of the schools of Chinese you see milling around the US or Canada are actually Taiwanese.

LOL. Are you from the US? There are numerous other clues, like drastically different dress, accent, the way they carry themselves, etc. Plus I can talk to them and ask them. It’s not that hard.

Fact is, Taiwanese migration to the states abated in the 1990s.

[gbrown]

Yes obviously you can tell if you talk to one. But if I lined up 5 Taiwanese and 5 Chinese in a row and dressed them all in black you’d have no idea which is which.

Now if we added Korean, Japanese, Filipinos and some Thai people then it’d be easy to identify them. But Chinese and Taiwanese? You’re picking hairs at that point

[tando]

Can you distinguish Chinese/Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese dressed all in black?

[pieta.mabel]

I worry his ability to tell who’s who in a classroom with high school students all wearing uniforms.

[fanglangzhe]

Many interesting viewpoints here. Moderators, shouldn’t this thread be moved to ‘working in taiwan’ or ‘living in taiwan’?

[Gain]

@fanglangzhe

Many interesting viewpoints here. Moderators, shouldn’t this thread be moved to ‘working in taiwan’ or ‘living in taiwan’?

I don’t see why this troll topic should be moved when there are 52971408513476082452760130671340865719346 similar topics in this site already.

[fanglangzhe]

If troll topics should only be kept in the temp forum, then over 90% of this forum’s posts only belong in the temp section. it seems any opinion expressed on a forum like this can be accused of being a troll.

[fanglangzhe]

@Brianjones

Also agree that the timing of negotiations with China is really important . But Taiwan doesn’t need to become a SAR , it has its own military and independence and still wealthy country and strong capabilities in tech (of sorts ) I don’t see them giving that up.

Needs to be some other deal.

I wonder what kind of deal this could be…A tricky one.

[Brianjones]

Any deal where Taiwan doesn’t give up one tank or aircraft or allow PRC soldiers or administrators in Taiwan. Some kind of Chinese community .

I don’t know if that is possible but that’s what we should aim for, otherwise no deal.

[OrangeOrganics]

Yep, some kind of federation of Chinese States, similar to the CIS. Taiwan could enter the Olympics as Taiwan again, keep it’s democracy and engage with China more economically

China doesnt really want Taiwan, it wants face or more not to lose face.

[Toe_Save]

What if Taiwan disarmed? In fact, what if they sold every piece of equipment that goes bang bang to China in exchange for getting the fuck off our backs. Declare the year 1996 as the birth of our nation (fuck 10/10), rebrand as Taiwan and get on with gettin’ on.

Green the new country in every way possible, have a crack Search and Rescue squad ready to deploy to wherever disaster strikes, set up fair and green stock exchange and become the gateway between east and west?

Unfortunately. no politician would ever have the courage to demilitarize, nor would The DSA allow us to shed them as our “patrons”.

[the_bear]

Well, they stopped selling caffeine pills in the drug stores. That was our legal buzz back in the day.

Remember up until the 1997 financial crisis everyone was raking in shitloads on the stock market. All that money fueled a real buzz in Taipei since no one gave an F.

[fanglangzhe]

@CTaitung

I’m not as down on Taiwan in the next decade or two or three as some are.
If Japan can survive a lost “decade” now that’s been ongoing for nearly 3 decades, Taiwan will somehow survive a same-type scenario. If anything, if Taiwan can maintain 1% growth in GDP at sub-1% birth rate, then mathematically at least, its GDP per capita slowly rises. Yes, it’s rather a simple statement, but Taiwan has a huge store of amassed wealth. I wish I could find that article that compared Taiwan to other nations in this regard. Plus, I think a bit more overseas Taiwanese (whether ABTers, CBTers, etc.) will slowly arrive back on the island to spend their later twilight years in relatively cheap comfort.

Great point about the amassed wealth. Indeed, many parents in Taiwan (those that built up wealth over the boom decades in the 1970s-1990s) buy homes for their kids. This can last another 20-30 years before it falls apart. The current youngsters won’t have any extra wealth to give to their kids. Then what?

[the_bear]

Sell to mainlanders obviously.

[BHL4life]

i think taiwanese are really misinformed about chinas economy. they always stick to the point of it being powerful and rich, but in reality its a bit of a shit hole, far less developed than taiwan with a worse living standard. taiwanese have nothing to feel inferior about.

if Taiwanese actually just sorted out their corrupted as hell working environment things would be a lot better.

china had a nice buzz when i was there too 9 yrs ago. it was fun but didn’t inspire long term living. and i think its probably gone now with xi jing poohs reign of misery. buzzes come and go!

[fanglangzhe]

Indeed, GPD per capita still has Taiwan more than 2x China (around USD26K vs 10K). But the gap has been narrowing for years if not decades. Still a long way for China to go though.

[Brianjones]

This shouldn’t be in temp.

Tak**e it out of temp!