Just remembered a classic. I’ve heard this several times in different forms.
The maid of a bastard Taiwanese boss decides to get revenge, collects dog poops in a plastic bag and dries 'em out on the roof. When completely dry she grinds 'em down to a powder which she then puts into her ‘master’s’ meals.
In some versions of this story she gets away with it for years before being discovered. I hope this urban legend is true.
One I hear a lot (even from Chinese) is that Tianmu (the Taipei suburb) is a corruption of the Taiwanese “ti a bo” (I don’t understand) either becuase theta’s what all the foreigners living there said to the locals or because foreigners asked the locals (in English) “what’s the name of this place?”.
Actually Tianmu, although not meaning anything in Chinese, is just the Chiense reading of the characters in Japanese (and they names it).
Brian
[quote=“Bu Lai En”]One I hear a lot (even from Chinese) is that Tianmu (the Taipei suburb) is a corruption of the Taiwanese “ti a bo” (I don’t understand) either becuase theta’s what all the foreigners living there said to the locals or because foreigners asked the locals (in English) “what’s the name of this place?”.[/quote]I heard that’s how Yucatan got it’s name too. “Yucatan” being Mayan for “I don’t understand”, thay may be a myth or a just a funny story.
From my fridge, undated:
DOH confirms almost all beers contain formaldehyde
The China Post staff
The Department of Health yesterday confirmed that almost all local and mainland beers contain formaldehyde, but their amounts are within the safe level, according to media reports.
DOH officials were quoted as saying that almost all 89 beer samples from 12 mainland brands have been found to contain low levels of formaldehyde, and even the sample from Taiwan Beer contains 0.4 ppm of the chemical.
The officials said that formaldehyde is a natural by-product in the making of beer, but they have yet to determine whether the chemical was illegally added by the manufacturers to speed up the brewing process, according to the Central News Agency.
They maintained that the formaldehyde in their products is so low that it is almost undetectable in some of the samples tested.When I arrived here in 1985, a Mormon missionary told me that it was rude to eat while walking on the street. What a dingus…
My friend let his pet alligator free in Lanitan lake in Chia Yi City over two years ago, he had gotten too big for the cage (the alligator not the friend). Some time after that alot of animal bones were found around the lake…
What do you think? The poor animal had too eat.
One of my students mentioned something about this a few days ago when I asked if Taiwan had gators or crocs. Strange now to think it might actually be true. Yikes! 
One of my students mentioned something about this a few days ago when I asked if Taiwan had gators or crocs. Strange now to think it might actually be true. Yikes! [/quote]
They had to fish one out of the pond in Da-An park last year
Ok, I am going to jump back a few posts. Oil cans. Back in the day, when Chen was Mayor of Taipei, the China Post had a huge photo of him inspecting the Mucha MRT line. The title said, “Taipei Mayor is not happy with construction workers’ being economic.” There was no article, or any other explanation. But in the picture you could easily see vegetable oil cans inside of the rebar columns which made of the support columns of the MRT tracks. The vegetable oil cans were the perfect size to fit inside the rebar. Interestingly, it was so common practice at the time that no one really paid attention, except for the Mayor. The construction workers had a look on their faces that said “Hmm, but everyone in the past didn’t mind our shortcuts; this is how it is always done…” I think that the major earthquake a few years later changed a lot of views.
I was listening to ICRT one morning in 1996 or 1997 when they had a story about some nuclear fuel rods being delivered for the reactor close to Kenting. The plan was to transport them from the port in Kaohsiung using several trucks. Well, one of the drivers showed up completely drunk, but since there was no one else to drive, they put him behind the wheel. Well, he got into accident on the way, but of course, at no time was the public in any danger 
Does anyone else remember this?
[quote=“kingjk”]I was listening to ICRT one morning in 1996 or 1997 when they had a story about some nuclear fuel rods being delivered for the reactor close to Kenting (Kending). The plan was to transport them from the port in Kaohsiung (Gaoxiong) using several trucks. Well, one of the drivers showed up completely drunk, but since there was no one else to drive, they put him behind the wheel. Well, he got into accident on the way, but of course, at no time was the public in any danger
Does anyone else remember this?[/quote]
I remember seeing a picture from the Taipei Times, three or four years ago, showing some deformed fish from a river in Taoyuan where a drunk driver actually crashed a truck load of nuclear waste some two years or so earlier.
gotta…hic…get this…hic…stuff…down the…hic…road!!!
Are we talking about ‘urban legends’ or ‘rural facts’ here? 
Well as long as we are not posting Taiwan Ghost Sitings, I’m okay.
I remember well the formaldehyde in Taiwan Beer story; and given the fact that Taiwan Beer back then was “brewed”/concocted by civil servants working on a budget I have no doubt it is true. But I did used to drink it.
Also remember the story on the MRT overhead tracks. I also know, as a personal fact, that a number of local insurance companies refused–for any price–to insure the overhead MRT because of major/obvious design flaws. How I come to know that is that one of my longest lasting students was The Owner (as in Big Kahuna) of insurance company X, which will remain nameless to protect the innocent. He was also a Japanese trained engineer and when the MRT folks approached him about bidding on the contract to provide insurance on the overhead segments of the MRT—he just laughed.
His bit of advice to me was…don’t ride on it.
Now, having told my stories of Taiwan Urban Truths, let me ask you folks about one. And both my wife and I are seriously interesting in this as we are both interested in mental health issues in Taiwan.
I thought that about 6 to 8 years ago some Tai Da University Medical School professor released a study that he claimed showed that almost all persons born/raised in the greater Taipei basin from about (I am really guessing on the years) 1968 to 1988 had measurable brain damage as the result of the high leval of lead in the air during those years. It was the same kind of damage that kids in some of the big cities in the States used to get from the lead used in cheap house paint.
The story appeared in the China Post but then I heard that the “powers that be” ordered the story completely buried and the Dr. had to kind of retract/shut up about his conclusions from the study. The obvious reason being the governement and Tai Da Medical School did not really want to label a large segment of Taiwan’s population as “brain damaged”.
Anyone remember this or by chance have any internet links to the original study?
Dr. Brian Brain
[quote]Anyone remember this or by chance have any internet links to the original study?
[/quote]
No links, sorry, but I vaguely remember this – wasn’t the good doctor’s story debunked as being unscientific? AFAIR, it was his peers, not the government, that shot his paper down when it was published.
Although the brain-damage thing would certainly explain a great deal.
Anyone heard the one about the whole mountain behind the Grand Hotel is hollowed out bomb shelter, as is the mountain in waishuangxi behind the The Palace museum. Can’t remember which of the two mountains had the big underground command center.
That is not rumor.
funny, never heard that, there’s an active military base by yuanshan which i could never figure out, would explain it.
there are vaults for art objects behind the museum.
Another thread reminded me of the story that Courtney Love used to strip down TaiChong way… myth, legend or just plain scary?