comparing with USA, I don’t think Taipei is worse.
An unofficial one I would like to think. Otherwise it would probably be controlled by Beijing by now
No doubt, but not a diplomatic ally nevertheless.
HK has its own comprador class too. I guess that’s another thing people now realize they share in common.
Guy
Not me. I haven’t ducked out to the countryside yet. Maybe one day
Depending on how much you are making. If you are making 35000 TWD a month in Taipei or less I don’t think it is better than living in the USA
Bottom line, there are Taiwanese who like it here, consider it home, have deep roots and take pride. Our personal sampling of what locals think is limited to our social circle, which is very small for most of us.
You have Taiwanese who have deep roots here. They were here before Chiang came over. They seem to be pretty proud to call themselves Taiwanese and some even resent those that came over with Chiang.
Then you have the Chiang group who came here because they had to. This was not home and was not meant to be home for long. They made a mess of the place. They are the ones who mostly want reunification or get out of here as soon as they can. They take little pride in this being their home.
Then you have the natives who have a rightful claim to the island and have interesting culture. They take a back seat to everyone else though.
Then you have a heck of a lot of SE Asian laborers who are here practically working as slaves. Not all, some make decent wages and are treated fairly. But most are treated poorly. They have zero interest in making Taiwan better.
Finally you have us. The foreigners from more developed countries who come here for various reasons bringing our memories of home which we use to compare with Taiwan. We want Taiwan to improve, to become better and to thrive.
It is a big mix up of people and a lot of young Taiwanese are not quite sure which group they fit in with. Most see no future here and want to leave. Those that don’t just end up being a peg fitting into the hole that their family is classified as. They work hard but also depend on family money and property to survive. They too have little hope for the future and some see China as a solution.
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Was wondering if you were dropping a hint about a certain somebody from long ago.
The Taiwanese men I’ve met don’t seem to be lacking in confidence. They’re always banging on about how much they earn, the car they drive, the uni they went to etc.
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This seems like an oversimplification. What about land reform and the economic miracle?
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Without Chiang coming over and the assistance of America defending Taiwan from Communist China I highly doubt Taiwan would be a developed country today. America helped build Taiwan. Taiwan would likely be an underdeveloped backwater nation without Chiang Kai Shek or just part of Fujian province today.
Yeah, it is.
Didnt want to drift too far from the topic at hand.
Great summary. However I would add that I in my experience a significant portion of Taiwanese don’t see a bright future but are still content with how things are and don’t want to leave but are staunchly anti-China.
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eh?
No, not really.
We did not build or assist in any infrastructure.
The US bought a shit load of stuff manufactured in Taiwan way back when. Used to be every cheap thing said “made in Taiwan on it” back in the 70s and 80s. But those days are long gone. Now they say “Made in China”.
Japan helped “build” Taiwan and after that it was Chiang and his group who made everything super fast which is why many cities feel like there is no plan to them. They needed places to live fast.
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Taiwan is definitely a developed country in most ways. Some it falls down though.
Heck some folks even created whole threads on the subject a few years back .
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I kind of see Taiwan as in a state of arrested development. It’s hard to progress when you are not considered as a country. And being on an island seems to allow people to be more insular. I find myself taking on that same attitude
As @Whatevah said there seems to be a negative vibe about the future from people but they are content to stay with what they know
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錯Cuo.
America very much directly helped to develop Taiwan’s reservoirs in the 50s and 60s. They sent American and other engineers over to guide the projects (unfortunately those engineers were probably not familiar enough with typhoons and sedimentation problems caused by them ).
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Japan AND America helped build Taiwan
As the Korean War broke out, the Truman administration resumed economic and military aid to the ROC on Taiwan and neutralized the Taiwan Strait by United States Seventh Fleet to stop a Communist invasion of Formosa
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Giant does the same thing and is doing just fine. Maybe they couldn’t get enough capital to ramp up production as high as they like and they are doing this for some extra cash.
This exactly shows a lack of genuine confidence.
Guy
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