There’s a lot of blowhards in Taiwan.
There’s also a lot of really humble people. It all comes even in the mix.
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I was just thinking of Giant. They make bikes for Schwinn and they make their own.
That explains it…
I guess some of you complain about Taiwan because you probably heard it from other Taiwanese, Taiwanese who for a lack of a better word would only take the time to learn English and talk to foreigners because they’re the type who have a romantic notion of the West and sees you as a ticket to get there. Therefore anything out of their mouths about Taiwan is going to be negative unfortunately.
The Taiwanese who have little desire to immigrate or even have a distorted notion of the West tends to be the ones who doesn’t speak ANY English at all, and are so indirectly related to foreign trade (meaning they produce the products, but do not do the actual business deals) that they really have little desire to be in the West except that they get orders from them. So they like Taiwan the way it is (I met a machine dealer in Chayi who basically is trying to convince his daughter to not study in America, and I told him that America is not paradise and that for a Taiwanese there would be a LOT more adjustment they have to do over there).
You know the AIT could do an experiment if they wanted to see how much Taiwanese wanted to come over (not that they care). If they were to announce that every Taiwanese automatically gets the same rights as a citizen in the US, right to live, vote, possess firearms, etc. and see how many Taiwanese flock over. They can then see if Taiwan becomes significantly depopulated.
I think for the first year or so a LOT of Taiwanese would probably take the bait, move over, and find out it’s basically disappointing and come back, if they could afford to.
That’s basically what happened with Taiwanese immigration to Canada in the 1990s. The vast majority eventually returned (with passports in hand). : P
Guy
What makes you assume we speak to our Taiwanese friends/family in English, and that they see us as tickets to the West? This is a bit offensive.
There’s a problem with that (for US passports). Taiwanese likes to cheat on their taxes whenever they can and the government doesn’t seem to care. The US is not as understanding, and if you hold a US passport, you gotta pay US tax too.
Taiwan Luthiers is telling us how it is after moaning for years about Taiwan, running off to the US and then coming back again.
But we got to listen to him tell us how it is we live our life here. 
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I wouldn’t even mind if it were factual, but it’s basically just a long string of stereotypes.
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The glorious era was long gone and it belongs to those elders(>50yrs). In their time, demand was high, supply was never enough. Competition was relatively mild. Wage was reasonable and cost of living was OK. Those generation made heck lot of wealth, now owning lands and properties, controlling everything from press to politics. They make laws that suit themselves in a name of social welfare. They even shamelessly ask younger generation to “chin up” “full commitment” “dream big”
One social welfare is Citizen Pension (國民年金) which is literally Unemployment Tax . Any citizen who is considered jobless has to pay. The law was enforced back in 2007, whereas I finished military service in 2008. The job I had, 1/2 of my wage went to rent, not to mention utilities. I changed to another job in 2010, it got a bit better but I still had to work after-hours in my place to cover the rent. In between jobs I was jobless for 4 months and those Unemployment Tax bill came on time each month pretty much like saying “loser, pay up”
The conflict between generations is more than real in Taiwan. The older guys made money back then and now ask youngster to share their burden on pension. Nothing more ridiculous than this.
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If you don’t like it don’t pay. They don’t do anything about it you just don’t get the benefit. NHI is a bit different though because you do have to pay that. Not to mention you gotta see a doctor sometimes.
I never paid my citizen welfare thing and I don’t expect any benefits. Nobody cared either.
Also, America isn’t so peachy either because people are working crap retail jobs with student debts because there are too few jobs and no manufacturing jobs to speak of. Those jobs came to Taiwan and China. Except I hate working for a Taiwanese because they are freaking grumpy all the time.
I find southerners to be more easy going but I never worked for one.
I might move down there someday… let’s just say I’m getting sick of those foreign missionaries who act like 天龍人
Fecking spot on brother!
Generation war is never so stark than here.
So much money here comes from decades ago, right place , right time. They try their best to hold onto it and further accumulate it versus growing the earnings for younger people and letting the country change and innovate. All the top pols 60 years old and up
Vietnam and other countries offer far more opportunities now. Taiwan is quite a tough place to get ahead for young people with no assets.
Also all these old people don’t want to fund better education at the primary level which is key for kids development .
When my wife was sick and unemployed she ( me) still had to pay jianbao and laobao.
Actually I still pay all my family’s jianbao and also I pay my wife’s laobao as she is a housewife for now. Also they will not let you access the system unless you account for all payments WHEN UNEMPLOYED. I find the system quite odd indeed.
The rest of the country even subsidised tian long guo Taipei . Taipei city gets more share than any other area of tax even though it is the richest!
All the schools in Taipei city are getting aircon as mandatory this year , rest of the country is told screw you.
Also Taipei city parents get subsidies for kids, some other counties and cities , nothing.
The clubs in Taipei city schools are almost fully subsidised, in new Taipei city you usually have to pay yourself.
Taipei city schools usually have swimming pools, outside, rare.
Crazy.
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Same crap is happening in the states. Wealth is being concentrated to the .1% and worse is no infrastructures are being invested in.
I then refused to pay from 2012 after I went overseas. Now I’m back and the bills have accumulated heck a lot which I can never pay. It’s like owing student loan but never go to school. Believe me those politician may change the law one day and I’ll end up in jail pretty soon, for being jobless.
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Then a lot of people will end up in jail for not paying. Lots of people can’t pay.
I never seen anyone end up in jail for not paying something in Taiwan. They jail people in the states for not paying parking tickets.
Most people I meet are at golf courses or driving ranges, so it’s an, ahem, special section of society.
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You do realize that this is not a Taiwan thing right? This applies to practically any rich country, verbatim.
People want western quality of life with Chinese-style double digit growth, that’s just not going to happen. Ever.
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Man, whatever happened to duckboy?There should be a roll call of anyone whose been on this site for over ten years.
It’s much worse in Taiwan though probably related to very low birth rate and high land cost, lack of space .
Actually met him a few times. Once at a Forumosa meet up ages ago. Will never forget the twins 
… lucky bastard. Not a bad chap at all. Last time we talked he seemed to be living the life pretty well here.
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Taiwan does have all of that though…it’s just not so beautiful on the outside. There is a lot of wealth, the infrastructure works and makes sense, and the social serves work efficiently. There is a large middle class as well. What are you comparing it to?