6. Final Thoughts

Tomorrow is our last full day in Taiwan. In this last week of the trip, we learned how to make a Chinese knot and Chinese opera masks, went to the National Palace Museum, and visited the Raohe Night Market in Songshan. In my Chinese class, we also took our last test and prepared our final farewells.

Over the course of our stay in Taipei, I learned many things about the culture, language, and history of Taiwan. I saw that Taiwanese people are sometimes warmer and more open than I am used to seeing in the U.S. and in Mainland China. For example, at the beginning of our last week, our Chinese teacher made great efforts to make our goodbyes special, passing cards around for everyone to sign, taking pictures, and arranging for karaoke on the last day.

Outside of Chinese class, our culture classes provided additional insight into the culture that Taiwan and Mainland China share through products and practices such as calligraphy, the Chinese knot, and opera masks. Going to the National Palace Museum and seeing historical bronzes, ceramics, jades, and pottery allowed me to better understand the depth and length of Taiwan’s shared history with Mainland China. At the same time, being in the crowded museum and witnessing the differences in behavior between Taiwanese and Mainland Chinese people showed me how differently the two cultures have diverged in modern times.

One of the things I was most interested in exploring in Taiwan was the night markets. In Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Hualien, I was able to visit several different night markets to see the differences in taste and size in night markets of different geographical areas. The Raohe Night Market that I visited on Wednesday had many stalls and stores selling merchandise other than food, which contrasted with some of the other night markets I saw in Taipei (although the larger markets outside of Taipei, in Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Hualien, had many arcade and clothing stalls). Being in the crowded night market at night, shopping for dinner and clothes at the same time, made me feel like I was really taking part in the nightlife experience of Taiwan.

Tonight, many of us will be doing some last-minute souvenir shopping and preparing for our final reflection speech for tomorrow's closing ceremony. Tomorrow, we will also be attending a function and eating with our professor's family.

5.

This weekend, we went to Ilan and Hualian to learn about the farming, brewing, and orchid industries in Taiwan. We also made and lit paper lanterns, and saw a show performed by some of Taiwan’s aborigines.

It was interesting to see and hear some elements of the aborigines’ culture because they are not elements that are prominently linked to Taiwanese culture or shared in the many tourist videos about Taiwan that we have seen. In general, when I think of Taiwanese culture, I imagine the elements of Mainland Chinese culture brought over by the Mainlanders, so this was the first time I was able to more clearly see and experience Taiwanese aboriginal culture.

It was also interesting to compare the colonial histories of both Taiwan and the U.S. Like in the U.S., the Taiwanese aboriginal culture has been overshadowed by the culture brought over by the colonists. Like in American history, the treatment of Taiwanese aboriginals is not something that many Taiwanese people are proud of today. The existence of cultural centers and events for aborigines may indicate an increased interest in aboriginal culture, even if in an altered, more commercialized form.

The morning after seeing the aboriginal show, we went to Taroko National Park, also known as the “Grand Canyon of Taiwan.” While taking pictures in the environs (the gorge itself being closed the day we went, due to maintenance), we came across two girls playing with a dog, one of whom our professor identified as someone of aboriginal descent. However, when our professor asked her what tribe she came from, she said that she didn’t remember. This response, combined with the fact that the girl was speaking Mandarin, reflected to me the effects of cultural assimilation on the indigenous populations in Taiwan.

This week is our final week in Taiwan. We will be learning about Chinese knots and facemasks, and visiting the National Palace Museum. We will also be attending a Chinese opera tomorrow evening.

4.

Yesterday we went to the main Tamsui campus of Tamkang University to have lunch with the Dean of International Affairs and have a tour of the campus. Afterwards, we took a bus to some former Dutch and British consulate buildings for a guided tour and went to the nearby old town to look at shops and eat fish balls. At the end of the day, some of my classmates and I decided to go to Burger King for dinner in order to have a bit of American cuisine. It was the first time I had had any American fast food during my trip to Taiwan, so I was interested to see how similar and different the Taiwanese Burger King would be in comparison to the American restaurants.

The menu was similar to the American menu, including familiar things like Whoppers, chicken sandwiches, and fries. There were a few new additions, such as a “Poussin chicken” and fried chicken drumsticks. These changes may have been made to better suit Taiwanese tastes; the fried chicken drumsticks reminded me of the fried chicken that we sometimes see at the Shiling night market. The regular portion of French fries that came with the combo was also significantly smaller than what I’m used to seeing in the U.S. This might reflect a smaller appetite for fast food in Taiwan and more portion control.

The overall restaurant also seemed slightly more formal than the American counterparts. In addition to the downstairs area with the cash registers, there was separate upstairs seating. The Burger King appeared to be more of a sit-down restaurant than in America, where many people take their food to go or eat their meals very quickly.

Finally, as we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, we noticed that the trash disposal was different than in America. Above the trashcan, there was an area to dump out the remaining liquid from the drink cups and stack the paper cups for recycling. This difference reflects the fact that Taiwan sometimes implements more “green” initiatives, such as increased recycling and encouragement of bike riding, than the U.S. I was also impressed that most customers seemed to follow the rules and sort their trash and recycling as directed. In the U.S., I’m very used to seeing people disregard the recycling bins and throw their recyclable trash in the regular trashcans because they think it is more convenient. The Taiwanese customers’ willingness to adhere to these green initiatives demonstrates the more collectivist society that Taiwan and many other Eastern cultures have, in contrast to the very individualistic society of the U.S.

This weekend we will be going on another weekend excursion, this time to Ilan and Hualian. Next week we will also be taking a culture class on the Chinese knot.

3.

This past weekend we went to Tainan and Kaohsiung, spending about one day in each city. In Tainan, we visited some historical forts and smaller temples. Our time in Kaohsiung was particularly interesting to me because we visited a Buddhist temple for the first part of the day, went on a ferry ride, and briefly visited the wedding of the nephew of our teacher Dr. Liu.

Last week in class, Dr. Liu asked us to observe tourists in Taiwan from Mainland China. In Tainan and Kaohsiung, I saw that there were noticeable differences between the manners and customs of Mainland Chinese people and those of Taiwanese people. For example, in the Tainan hotel during breakfast, some of the Mainland tourists were impatient and had less regard for lines. Later, on the ferry ride in Kaohsiung, our tour guide said that the passengers who stood up before the ferry was fully docked must have been Mainlanders.

In contrast, the Taiwanese people I encountered seemed more soft-spoken and cared more about manners and politesse. For instance, at the restaurants, the waiters would often say “不好意思,” or “I’m sorry,” when they had to ask us to move a little bit so they could bring the food to the table. This custom surprised me because I didn’t encounter it often at American restaurants, so it was more polite and apologetic than I was used to.

The wedding we visited in Kaohsiung highlighted the differences between Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese people during our trip. At the wedding, the couple’s families invited us to take many pictures and arranged for us to have food to take on our trip back to Taipei, even though they had not met any of us in person before the wedding. This treatment of strangers was not something I had previously seen during my visits to Mainland China. My mother, who grew up there, said that sometimes our family could be “小氣” or “stingy” because they were used to living in times when food, money, and resources were scarce. It was interesting to see the contrast between the different cultures during my trip.

Tomorrow we will be wrapping dumplings in our culture class. We will also be visiting the main campus of the Tamkang University later in the week.

2.

Yesterday evening we celebrated New Year’s Eve with a hot pot (火鍋) dinner followed by fireworks at Taipei 101, the most prominent building in Taipei. The hot pot dinner involves putting raw food into a pot of boiling water at the dinner table. At our restaurant, each person had their own pot of water, and the table was equipped with controls so each person could control the heat of their own pot. Some of the raw food included cabbages, mushrooms, imitation crabmeat, taro, and eggs. We could also choose between goat, beef, pork, and seafood as our main meat course.

After dinner, we went to Taipei 101 for the New Year’s countdown. When we visited the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in preparation for our trip, we learned that this year’s theme would be “I love you” because the year 2014—“二零一四 (èr líng yāo sì)”—sounds like “I love you” in Chinese. The lights on Taipei 101 did sometimes form hearts, which fit into the theme. We arrived about an hour and thirty minutes before the fireworks were supposed to start, so we were able to find a place to sit, but in the time before midnight, many other people arrived and formed a huge crowd that often threatened to fall over on top of us. After the fireworks, it was also an interesting experience getting home because we had to move through crowds in the streets and in the metro stations.

I had never previously spent New Year’s anywhere other than my home, so it was interesting to spend it in a foreign country. This was the first time I’d had a hot pot dinner, which was very different from the food I usually eat during the holidays. However, I think it would be a good thing to try at home because it would be really warming on the cold winter nights in Maryland. I also found the symbolism in Taipei 101 interesting. For example, the way the theme “I love you” relates to how 2014 sounds in spoken Chinese is different from in English, where the words wouldn’t be similar enough to make such a theme. We also learned earlier in our trip that Taipei 101 is divided into eight sections composed of eight floors each because the number eight is considered lucky in Chinese culture. The architecture of Taipei 101 demonstrates the spirituality that exists in the Chinese culture, which is quite different from that of American culture.

Tomorrow after Chinese class, we will be learning how to carve stamps. We will also be going to Tainan and Kaohsiung over the weekend to learn more about the history and religion of Taiwan.

1.

For our first excursion in Taiwan, we took Taipei’s Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT) to the Discovery Center of Taipei. Before coming to Taiwan, I had extensive experience with the metro system in Washington, D.C., as well as some recent experience with various European metro systems (in France, Belgium, and Spain). Although the metro systems all functioned similarly, I noticed a few differences in Taiwan’s metro in particular that stood out.

One immediate difference that struck me was how clean Taipei’s metro stations and trains are. In both the U.S. and Europe, many of the metro systems do not look as well maintained as Taipei’s metro. The difference may be partly due to the fact that the rules forbidding food and drink on the metro are more strictly enforced in Taiwan than they are in the U.S. and Europe.

Another difference that stood out to me was how orderly Taipei’s metro system is.  On the train platforms, boarding passengers queue in clearly delineated sections to ensure that passengers exiting the trains have a clear path and that people don’t jump ahead of those who arrived on the platform first. This system differs greatly from all of the other metro systems I’ve experienced, where people wait in crowds on the platform and push and shove in order to board the trains. I found the very orderly system in Taipei more effective than the other systems because it seemed to decrease the stress of boarding and exiting the trains.

A final difference I noticed was that, inside the trains, the passengers strictly respected the rules involving priority seating. In the U.S. and Europe, able-bodied passengers take seats designated as priority seating and often make their own choices regarding whether or not to give up their seats to older passengers or passengers more in need. In Taiwan, the priority seats are always left available and empty for those who need them, even when all the other seats are taken. The fact that passengers more strictly observe priority seating rules in Taiwan again demonstrates the orderly nature of the metro system and may indicate an increased level of respect for the elderly in Taiwanese society.

It is almost time for the New Year’s celebrations in Taipei. I’m excited about going to Taipei 101 to see the fireworks and to explore more of the culture and the food here in Taiwan.