What would Taiwan look like if

Taiwan Living in Taiwan
1

…overnight all people living in Taiwan would be miraculously replaced by people from your country?

Here’s the scenario. The sun goes up, everyone wakes up and realizes that he or she is where before a Taiwanese person was. Now, somehow everyone has to continue the life in place of that local person but with the freedom to change anything according to his or her liking. Everyone is kind of qualified to continue with the lifes of the locals, cause professors are replaced by professors, workers by workers, and so on.Of course, there’s no going back to the former home country and the original life. Taiwan is those people’s new home now. How would Taiwan change?

I make the start with the Germans.

  1. Night markets will die a sudden death. Those surviving will be much cleaner, sauerkraut and beer will be served.
  2. The roads will be paved the proper way for a change.
  3. 90 percent of the houses will receive a major facelift inside and outside. Iron bars outside windows will disappear, flowers on balconies will be common.
  4. Laws will be enforced, there will be less junk on the streets and less running red lights.
  5. Lots of pedestrian areas. Driving your own car in downtown Taipei? Forget it.
  6. Taxi drivers won’t be allowed to cruise around, but have to wait in designated areas.
  7. Temples will be preserved but turned into churches, statues of local deities will find a new home in a newly built museum.
  8. No more firecrackers and burning paper money.
  9. Baseball will disappear, baskeball will stay, soccer/football will be the game played in leagues around the island.
  10. Unemployment will skyrocket, life will be much more boring with shops closed in the evening and on weekends.
2

Everyone would immigrate to America.

3

Bars would be called …bars…and they would open at a more reasonable hour.

Say 10 a.m. or so. Some maybe even earlier.

So, I personally see that as a major improvement.

I think safety and health laws would actually be enforced. Thats a good thing.

But honestly…too many white people make me nervous.

4

Poof! All Taiwanese are replaced by Americans. Screams of agony and discomfort as everyone is suddenly transported into inadequately sized clothing! Busses and subway cars crammed full of telecommuters suddenly bulge, windows breaking and rivets popping! There are many horrific casualties. (That’s just the first few seconds.)

5
  1. Garbage trucks without music, no more tearing down walls in my building. Finally some quiet.
6

Children would happily run toward the ice cream truck, only to find a stinky garbage truck. Furious, they would pull out their weapons and blow the garbage guys away. Smelling chou doufu nearby, they’d blow that away too. Mile-long lines would form outside of Dunkin’ Donuts, Mr. Donut and McCrap, blocking traffic. Many Forumosans would wake up with a strange American person next to them in bed. There would be many horrific casualties. (That’s still just the first few seconds.)

7

I can’t help thinking about the old joke about the two Scotsman, two Irishmen, two Welshmen and two Englishmen washed ashore, shipwrecked on a desert island.
Three months later, the Scots had established a wee still up in the hills, the Welsh had started a choir, the two Irishmen were still fighting on the beach and the two Englishmen were waiting to be formally introduced.

8

All the whining would stop for a few seconds, then start again.

9

If people in TAipei were suddenly replaced by people from my hometown in Canada, I think everyone would be freaked out by being crammed so close together (and no, not because of obesity.)
If people in Taipei were suddenly replaced by people from Vancouver, I would expect no change.

10

If Taiwan was suddenly replaced by Mancs, the quality of English and services would actually go down.

11

I try to stay with the possible positive changes…

The Germans:
12. People in Penghu finally enjoy some shade… from the hundreds of newly built wind power towers on the islands.

  1. Illegal structures on rooftops will be replaced by solar panels.

  2. There WILL be a freeway to Hualien through Taroko Gorge sooner or later (not neccesarily a positive)

  3. No more shark fin on the menu. No more stinky tofu and oyster omlets.

  4. No more TV channels with fortunetellers or stock analysts.

  5. Animals will be protected better, animal cruelty will be punished severly.

  6. There will be towel wars on Kending beaches, most likely with British tourists.

  7. The cities will feel cold despite the heat.

  8. Scooter gangsters shave their heads and sport Nazi symbol tattoos.

12

[quote=“bababa”]
If people in Taipei were suddenly replaced by people from Vancouver, I would expect no change.[/quote]
The smell of cannabis would be everywhere. And there would be overpriced restaurants galore.

13

I would move.

14

I grew up in the south of England…

  1. Cyclists would wear helmets and stick to designated cycle paths. But like Taiwanese, they wouldn’t cycle to work - they’d drive.
  2. People would go food shopping once a week, or less often than that.
  3. Lace curtains would appear in most windows in residential areas.
  4. Gay men would sport mustaches.
  5. Train and bus fares would quadruple.
  6. On entering any hospital or government office, you’d be greeted by a notice saying “No abuse or harassment of staff will be tolerated.”
15

Everyone would suddenly be right all the time.

16

Cost of living would double.

Tax rates would double or triple.

Half of the country would tell me I don’t deserve my NHI benefits.

17

The bad:
Garbage pickup would be only once a week.
MRT would look shabby and would come once every 20 minutes.
15% tips in restaurants would be “required” by social custom.

The good:
Right-hand turns on red would be legal!
Some nude beaches would open.
No more high school entrance exams.

18

…then you would be where you WERE ! :slight_smile:

19

problems:

personal space
booze being sold 24/7 everywhere and no container laws
scooters turn into SUV (traffic hell)

not problem:

booze being sold 24/7 everywhere and no container laws

20

The good:
We do not have enough people to fill Taipei, let alone the whole Taiwan. So we would start importing people from everywhere. Lax ARC regulation, open Taiwan to everybody!

The bad:
The economy goes kaput when the elected president runs away with half the gold reserves. The rest was given to his political oponents as hush money. Expresident uses such gold to buy himself a nice position within the UN/Human Rights comission/european union government -as he has double nationality, etc… from which he speaks in favor of world peace and criticizes the imperialists interventions… Investment trust goes out the window as enterprises and banks are taken over by the Gov’t, while utilities and health care are privatized. Environment is finally killed by opening rights to seashore oiling and open mining, while turning a blind eye to chemical and plastic factories’ pollutants. Following IMF’s advice, economy is dollarized and that is the final nail in the coffin. Military dictatorship takes over, later replaced by extreme right government, later replaced by extreme left government, later replaced by military junta, later replaced by right… ad nauseum.