# Taiwan? What do you know about us :P



## CrazyIvan

Just few days ago, I got a call from my friend living abroad. She told me that quite a lot of people misunderstanding Taiwan with Thailand. Her experiences actually make me laugh since that is exactly the same situation as I was abroad.

So, please tell me. What do you think of Taiwan. 

Here comes some information.

1. Recent years, Taiwan is famous for the production of computer related products. We used to be famous for keyboard, mouses, and other accessaries. Now, we have more focus on semiconductor foundry, memory chips and aslo laptop comptuer. The most recent development is on LCD panel production.  Some major brands, as ACER, ASUS, and, well, BenQ (it bought Siemens mobile phone division , and the sponsor of on Real Madrid uniform will be BenQ Siemens later.)

2. Baseball and Basketball are two major sports in Taiwan. For those who are in America, (especially in NY) you may notice one Taiwanese player on your rotation called Wang Chien Ming. 

3. Taipei 101 currently is still the tallest building of the world, though others keep building higher ones. 

Well, I would not mind political discussion here. ( I got there will be some people interesting in the cross-strait relationship) I would not mind to explain ( or let my fellow Taiwanese here to explain) but please remind calm. 

Thank you in advance..


----------



## tafanari

All that I really know about Taiwan I learned from doing a paper about its status for a Political Science course (all politics and nothing about the culture).

As a kid, I was under the impression it's where everything was made since there was a "Made in Taiwan" label on just about everything that said where it was made. Now everything seems to be made in China.


----------



## CrazyIvan

tafanari said:
			
		

> As a kid, I was under the impression it's where everything was made since there was a "Made in Taiwan" label on just about everything that said where it was made. Now everything seems to be made in China.


 
Yes, it was. In 70' to early 90', we were famous for producing, well, almost everything. Ranging from toy, stationary, umbrella, bicycle to clothes and shoes, we did make a lot of things. Since we are little, we have to rely more on international trade.

Nowadays, most of these factories moved to either China or other part of southeast Asia, where the labor cost is cheaper than Taiwan.Actually, it is quite interesting to see the economic progress in this way, swifting from one industry to another.


----------



## tafanari

I think many people in the US are sophisticated enough to see that Taiwan has made great strides economically and in terms of democracy. 

However, I don't know if we know much about Taiwanese culture. For example, we assume that the language of Taiwan is and has always been Chinese. Is that the case? What are the other languages spoken in Taiwan?


----------



## MonsieurAquilone

Like you said, I knew that Taipei is currently the highest tower in the world.  I want to go and see it!!


----------



## zena168

My family moved here decades ago in fear of the communist scare.  The tension remained unsolved even today.  I knew that there wasn’t any chance that its democracy was going to last forever.  I can only wish that it be done in the most peaceful way.  I really don’t care about the politics but I do mind if it means that people will loose more freedom under communist rules.  Chinese people seem to discriminate Taiwanese strongly, and vice versa.  I don’t understand why they hate each other so much, we all just want to live as freely and as “rich” as possible.  I mean, if they really think their country is all that great, why do their people still desperately flock out of their own country every year?


----------



## CrazyIvan

tafanari said:
			
		

> I think many people in the US are sophisticated enough to see that Taiwan has made great strides economically and in terms of democracy.
> 
> However, I don't know if we know much about Taiwanese culture. For example, we assume that the language of Taiwan is and has always been Chinese. Is that the case? What are the other languages spoken in Taiwan?


 
Since Chinese, or say, Mandarine is taught through the education system, it is still the most common language for Taiwanese people. By saying that I mean most of people in Taiwan understand it. However, we have more than this language.

They are two other major language in Taiwan, called Taiwanese and Hakka. And actually, 86% of population either speak Hakka or Taiwanese as their mother tongue. 

Language is a sensitive issue since we have been through different colonial period. Official languages are usually different from the actual languages used in the society.


----------



## CrazyIvan

zena168 said:
			
		

> Chinese people seem to discriminate Taiwanese strongly, and vice versa. I don’t understand why they hate each other so much,


 
Aren't we taught to "hate" each other, or, say, at least seeing each other as enemy?  

The propagenda in past 50 years makes lots of residence in Taiwan believe that communist counter part is vicious. True or not, some people still have the believe since the opposite side of the strait never give up to threat us with their missiles. 

However, the relationship between civilian is fine, as I  believe. At least personally I have quite a few Chinese friends.

Though that was already for a while, but not long enough for people to forget all propaganda it has been continuously brainwashing the people. Besides, given the current situation, there are some more misunderstanding happening as well.


----------



## CrazyIvan

MonsieurAquilone said:
			
		

> Like you said, I knew that Taipei is currently the highest tower in the world. I want to go and see it!!


 
Taipei 101 is design in shape of bamboo, and I do think it is funny to see it. ( some people like the design and some people think it is a bit wierd to put a building like that.)

The surrounding area is great, but some of my foregin friends told me that the shopping mall, tall building, etc. have little to do with Taiwan, we should promote something else, with more local taste....

mm..their suggestion makes me think a lot about "What is Taiwan" in these days.

By the way, the architecture itself is amazing, and the night scene you can see on top of the building is marvelous..Hope you can have a trip to Taiwan soon.


----------



## Outsider

I'm afraid I don't know much about Taiwan. Here's what I know:

- Many different languages, of several language families, are spoken throughout the island, although a Chinese dialect is the preferred one.

- Taiwan was formed when the Chinese nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek took refuge there after they were defeated by the communists of the mainland during the Chinese Civil War.

- Thanks to Western (especially American) support, Taiwan has managed to remain independent from mainland China in practice, although the People's Republic of China still considers it a province of China which has unlawfully rebelled. The political and military relation between the two is tense.

- Economically (and perhaps this is not independent from the political situation), Taiwan was one of the so-called "Asian Tigers" which showed great growth in the eighties and early nineties thanks to massive investment in the manufacture of electronic products.


----------



## Cereth

_Outsider wrote: Thanks to Western (especially American) support, Taiwan has managed to remain independent from mainland China in practice, although the People's Republic of China still considers it a province of China which has unlawfully rebelled. The political and military relation between the two is tense_

I agree with that but unfortunately, I don´t know much about Taiwan, but certainly I won´t confuse it with Thailand... 
I hope you won´t dislike what I´ll say but I think Taiwanese guys are really handsome  ...One of my favorite actors is half taiwanese and he is the sexiest man alive.
So thumbs up for you


----------



## CrazyIvan

Outsider said:
			
		

> I'm afraid I don't know much about Taiwan. Here's what I know:


 
Oh! Dear Outsider, you have known quite a lot about my country already.... 



> - Many different languages, of several language families, are spoken throughout the island, although a Chinese dialect is the preferred one.


 
The major languages are still hakka, Taiwanese, and Mandrine. I have friends speaking their own tribal language and he tried hard to make it last. I wish him then best and hope his tribe culture will therefore thrive!!! 



> Taiwan was formed when the Chinese nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek took refuge there after they were defeated by the communists of the mainland during the Chinese Civil War.


 
This one I have to argue a little bit further. It is a yes and no to say Taiwan was formed by nationalist. We did have different government from time to time.

It is right that CKS brought the current government system to Taiwan, however, as I mentioned in my introduction context, we have a long history of colonization. We are either someone's colony, or, a base for pirate. So, well, we did establish our own ground, but "the master" was usually not people from Taiwan.

If I try to trace back further, there are indigeous societies on this island. Please see this Taiwanese Aborigines as your reference. I would just point out that "Plain aborigines" part, which notified that the origin residence have a matrilineality society, plus in Qing dynasty no Han women would be allowed to come to Taiwan, so, ethnically everybody is hybrid on this island.... 




> Economically (and perhaps this is not independent from the political situation), Taiwan was one of the so-called "Asian Tigers" which showed great growth in the eighties and early nineties thanks to massive investment in the manufacture of electronic products.


 
This one is so true but we do have a problem to find the economic engine nowadays. Though electronic product is still our niche, we find the booming China is catching up with us therefore we need some adjustment in our growth pace.

Business in Taiwan is a funny situation. Most Taiwanese company are SMEs and they go wherever the profit is. ( Kind of the old pirate spirit.)so, there are actually lots of Taiwanese enterprises spreading around Asia, especially in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnan. Not even mentioning in China.(allegedly there are about half million Taiwanese living in Mainland for business.) They avoid the political difficulty and diversify their risks by investing different contries, however, it does make a tough time for local labors.


----------



## CrazyIvan

> I hope you won´t dislike what I´ll say but I think Taiwanese guys are really handsome  ...One of my favorite actors is half taiwanese and he is the sexiest man alive.
> So thumbs up for you


 
haha, I would not disagree what you said but we have to leave this for others judgement. However, it is still so happy to hear about that..

I think this have a lot to do with our "hybrid" history as I said in the other reply. While my family have Dutch ancestry, I believe some other fellow Taiwanese have similiar situation. At least, most of us are hybrid of Han people and plain aborignes.


----------



## vince

Outsider said:
			
		

> I'm afraid I don't know much about Taiwan. Here's what I know:
> 
> - Many different languages, of several language families, are spoken throughout the island, although a Chinese dialect is the preferred one.


It is very vague to say that "Chinese dialects" are spoken on Taiwan. Because it does not even specify any of the actual languages spoken there, kind of like saying that "Ibero-Romance dialects are spoken in Portugal". From such a statement one would wonder whether the dialect spoken in Portugal is the same language as the dialect spoken in Spain.

There are two language families spoken in Taiwan: Sino-Tibetan and Austronesian.

Taiwan was where the Austronesian language family originated. It has the most Austronesian languages in the space of such a small island. Austronesian languages spread all the way to Madagascar, Hawaii, and Easter Island from Taiwan.

Starting in the 1600's, European countries such as the Dutch tried to colonize the island, but the Chinese government eventually prevailed. People from southern China, mainly Minnan-speakers from Fujian and Hakka-speakers started to settle the island. These two languages are now the second- and third- most spoken languages in Taiwan after Taiwanese Mandarin.


----------



## CrazyIvan

Outsider said:
			
		

> People's Republic of China still considers it a province of China which has unlawfully rebelled.


 
Winners write the history. It is funny if we image that CKS had won the civil war and Mao had fleed to Taiwan, that would be a completely different story.  



> The political and military relation between the two is tense.


 
There are parties take more friendly approaches to PRC government, so as some take hostile ones. Some of our political figures visited China this year, and lots of our MPs do pay visit to China. So, to some extent, the relationship is not as bad as before (in 60s-early 90s)

Military relation is tense since everybody knows in mind that there might be a war happen. (Missiles pointing to us is REALLY annoying, and also the military maneuver almost every year.) However, business ties make the situation more complicated. I would say oridary people do have the understanding that a war should be prevented, but the military race cannot be stopped since we are in lack of confidence on each other.


----------



## Outsider

vince said:
			
		

> It is very vague to say that "Chinese dialects" are spoken on Taiwan.


But that's not what I said, Vince.



			
				CrazyIvan said:
			
		

> Winners write the history. It is funny if we image that CKS had won the civil war and Mao had fleed to Taiwan, that would be a completely different story.


I think it would be the same story, only with different characters.


----------



## almostfreebird

CrazyIvan said:


> Just few days ago, I got a call from my friend living abroad. She told me that quite a lot of people misunderstanding Taiwan with Thailand. Her experiences actually make me laugh since that is exactly the same situation as I was abroad.
> 
> So, please tell me. What do you think of Taiwan.
> 
> Here comes some information.
> 
> 
> 
> 2. Baseball and Basketball are two major sports in Taiwan. For those who are in America, (especially in NY) you may notice one Taiwanese player on your rotation called Wang Chien Ming.


 
I'm rooting for *王建民*(we call him Oh KenMin), I hope he'll get the greatest number of wins!


----------



## pedro0001

CrazyIvan said:


> Just few days ago, I got a call from my friend living abroad. She told me that quite a lot of people misunderstanding Taiwan with Thailand. Her experiences actually make me laugh since that is exactly the same situation as I was abroad.



Once a chinese asked me if Brazil was the Capital of Argentina. I also laughed but that's the current situation in this world. 

Can you imagine how would all had been before the Globalization, before Internet?


----------



## maxiogee

pedro0001 said:


> Once a chinese asked me if Brazil was the Capital of Argentina. I also laughed but that's the current situation in this world.
> 
> Can you imagine how would all had been before the Globalization, before Internet?



I don't see how globalization or the internet relate to the state of people's ignorance of other nations.
When I was a child we had geography lessons. They taught us where countries were and what the capital cities were. (Then the British and other colonial powers went and gave their colonies independence and they changed their names!)


----------



## pedro0001

maxiogee said:


> I don't see how globalization or the internet relate to the state of people's ignorance of other nations.
> When I was a child we had geography lessons. They taught us where countries were and what the capital cities were.





maxiogee said:


> (Then the British and other colonial powers went and gave their colonies independence and they changed their names!)



I do see how, but that would be a topic for another thread.


----------



## almostfreebird

maxiogee said:


> I don't see how globalization or the internet relate to the state of people's ignorance of other nations.
> When I was a child we had geography lessons. They taught us where countries were and what the capital cities were. (Then the British and other colonial powers went and gave their colonies independence and they changed their names!)


 
I agree with maxiogee but vote for Pedro.
Sorry I couldn't resist, Napoleon Dynamite.


----------



## don maico

_Baseball and Basketball are two major sports in Taiwan. For those who are in America, (especially in NY) you may notice one Taiwanese player on your rotation called Wang Chien Ming_

you mean to say you havent adopted a civilised sport such as soccer yet?


----------



## CrazyIvan

don maico said:


> _Baseball and Basketball are two major sports in Taiwan. For those who are in America, (especially in NY) you may notice one Taiwanese player on your rotation called Wang Chien Ming_
> 
> you mean to say you havent adopted a civilised sport such as soccer yet?


 
 Baseball is pretty civilized though...

I just learn from a local movie called "summer miracle," talking about the development of football sports in Taiwan. Surprisingly that we had football time over the past 12 years and they did win trophy in 14-15 age group. However, in lack of further training or economic support, they just turn into some construction work.

I feel so sad after seeing that movie.>.<


----------

