We’ve all heard the stories that are supposed to be true. The stories get circulated around so much and in so many forms that they MUST BE true. Who knows? They may actually be true but no one ever knows for sure. In the end, who cares? Just take 'em with a pinch of salt (and a swig of tequila to boot).
Well, what are some of those urban legends? Here are a couple or three I have heard many many times over the years.
There’s the one about a foreigner who goes around shagging women left right and centre, eventually pissing off some gangsters who cut off his “thing”.
There’s the one about formaldehyde in Taiwan beer. Never did suss out of that was true or not. Smells like urban to me anyway.
Then there’s the one about the foreigner who gets in a taxi, wants to go to the airport but, not being able to speak Chinese, flaps his arms like wings to indicate plane. The taxi driver then takes him to a lake famous for its swans. Well, it’s an old joke, but some people claim it actually happened and, you never know, it may well have done!
Damn, I can’t think of anymore. DOH! I was sure I had loads in mind when I started. Anyone else care to share any urban legends specific to Taiwan that they’ve heard?
That actually happened. Tai Da, about 1990 if memory serves. The gangsters were hired by one of the girls or their families. Maybe somebody else remembers the guy’s name.
I heard several stories while traveling, that turned up later in the Urban Legends books. Not in Taiwan, though.
The Philippines was the richest country in Asia in the '50s and '60s and many Taiwanese had to go there to find jobs. Lots of Taiwanese like to point this out when talking about Filipino laborers coming to Taiwan these days. I know that the Philippines economy was stronger under Marcos, and Taiwan used to be a very poor country, but I think they’re exaggerating. One of those “when I was your age, I had to walk 5 miles in the snow” stories.
I heard a story about a guy in Taichung or someplace who was supposedly arrested for shagging a goose. It was thrown out however because the judge couldn’t find a law dealing with such an act.
There is an urban legend about a North American couple living in Taiwan who went to a Cantonese Restaurant with their little doggie. Since they couldn’t speak Chinese, they motioned for the waiter to take the doggie to the kitchen and give it some food.
Unfortunately, the waiters interpreted their hand motions to indicate that they wanted the dog cooked up and served as part of the meal.
So when the couple was getting ready to leave, they commented on the good taste of the roast, and the other food . . . . and then asked about their doggie. A waiter was found who spoke English, and he said: You ate it.
That actually happens in the more rural locations, along with concrete made with sea sand (see my walls for details), radioactive rebar in the concrete etc.
But this is an urban legend. The real reason is that bad chi falls out your arsehole (no joke) so you should bang the seat before sitting on it in order to knock off any chi klingons, so to speak.
Any evidence/proof of this? I heard the claim many times but remain doubtfull until there is something more concrete (pun intended) to look at. Perhaps we could drill a few holes into your house? Just kidding.
I’ve seen a good number of photos in the papers of a school that fell down a few years back because the main supports were filled with old cooking oil cans.
Later… hmmm, after a quick google, it seems that oil cans, wadded newspaper, etc. is often used in Taiwan to create voids in non-structural beams in the same way that styrofoam is used in the US. So maybe it is an urban legend after all.
They showed footage of some of the buildings that tumbled in the 921 earthquake revealing that main structural foundations were merely a thin veneer of concrete over oil drums and rubbish. The school is in Taiching somewhere. It got totaled but mercifully there were no kids there at the time. In fact a lot of the new buildings that fell in the south end of Taiching had this greed-indced problem.
I saw the goose story years ago in one of the English papers. I used to have a copy of it on my fridge. The guy was in a blue van and had pulled off the highway, so to speak. The court claimed there were no laws to prosecute him with.
“What facts made buildings weak? (Taiwan News10/7/99)
Architects and civil engineers who have examined hundreds of buildings damaged or destroyed by the September 21 earthquake said they have not found a single instance where cooking-oil cans placed in a building’s concrete contributed to a building’s structural integrity or collapse.”
How about the truck drivers that hit a pedestrian or scooter rider and then back over them to make sure they are dead. They do this because it is cheaper to pay funeral costs than medical costs.
I saw footage of structural engineer tapping his hammer through a thin veneer of concrete to oil drums during the week after the earthquake.
I also saw footage from one of those securiy camera thingees of a car with a pregnant women in it being squashed by a cement truck. I think it was a couple of years ago and there was considerable outrage. I know the stories have been around for ages but they actuually caught this particular driver on foot, jumping out an checking the driver after an accident then backing up over the car.
I have seen the cooking oil cans through the cracks in the wall of the staircase up to a friend’s appartment in Taichung, just a few weeks after the big one.
That is NOT an urban legend.
Just kidding.