We don't live in Taiwan now and probably won't again. But we miss it and try to stay in contact with our friends from there. The following is some of our experiences.
We lived in Taiwan the second time from 9/2002 to 2/2003. I was woking for an international manufacturer of VCM (Voice Coil Mechanism) parts. We lived close to where we did the first time we were here; in Changhua. The second time we are facing different challenges as the kids were going to school and Angel was prenant with another one arriving in Jan '03. We had a car and that maked a world of difference.
The first time we were here was from June 98 to April 99. I was an English teacher at Hess Language Schools. We lived in a little town called Changhua about 15 minutes by train south of Taichung (a huge city on the western side of the island). It was both a good and a bad experience. I’ll only go into small detail on this page. If you want more details, check out the Ginnettic Link archives. In fact, the archives hold a great discription of our families experiences there. I started this page to talk about the culture, the people and the food of Taiwan. This is in no way a comprehensive guide to Taiwan.
If you want to know about working in Taiwan as an English Teacher you should look at Mike Turton's website. (address forth coming) Or simply search the web. There is a plethora (yes, I know what it means) of websites dedicated to living in Taiwan as an English Teacher.
Taiwanese people are Chinese and they are not. Natives lived on the island before Chaing Kai-Shek and his forces took control of the island after WWII. For a long time, the Taiwanese language and culture were suppressed by Chaing’s military government. Military rule was lifted only 10 years ago. The Japanese controlled Taiwan for 70 years prior the end of WWII. There are still many grandma’s and grandpa’s who can speak Japanese. So you see, the Taiwanese people don’t have one clear cultural heritage. From what I saw, they are trying to define their own culture. The president of the country Lee Tung-Wei is Taiwanese or of native birth. His administration has encouraged traditional Taiwanese culture and speaking of the main Taiwanese dialect, Tayu. Taiwanese people claim to be different from Mainland Chinese, yet still Chinese. They have combined Mainland rituals and beliefs with Taiwanese ones. They hold themselves above the Mainlanders. I think that western prosperity has had a lot to do with that.
The people are a mix between Chinese and Taiwanese. Pure Taiwanese look remarkably similar to Polynesians. Their skin pigmentation is the same, they have a similar build, the hair and eye color is the same, etc. We heard some stories from the Natives about their origins. One story said that they came from east of Taiwan in boats and populated the area. Some anthropologists have concluded that this meant from Malaysia or that area. What we were told was that they came from a lot farther away than Malaysia: they came from The West (meaning the Americas by way of the Pacific Islands). The flip side of that story was that they came from the main continent and then went east and populated other areas. The first story is the one that’s most favored.
Regardless of where they came from, they are there and they are nice people. The city we lived in was small and no one there had seen white children before. They went ga ga over our two blond, curly-headed, blue-eyed children. We got a lot of preferential treatment, but also a lot of unwanted attention. We couldn’t go anywhere without drawing a crowd. I distinctly remember going to the night market, that was already overcrowded and being followed by a gaggle of people. Everywhere we stopped, they stopped. They all wanted to touch our children’s hair. We were polite at first, but had to be more forceful when they wouldn’t stop. The children were terrified.
The people there are very friendly. We were invited to many BBQs and dinners, even from people we didn’t know or had just met. For a Chinese person, to have a friendship or some kind of relations with a white foreigner (yes, they do judge by color), especially an American gives them prestige and honor (it's called face). They called us Wai Guo Ren, which translated means person from a foreign country. It also means white devil or ghost. Yes, we were treated differently because we were different and because our children are so adorable, but it’s still nice to be treated nice.
Contrary to popular belief, not all Chinese food is the same. Most Americans only know Cantonese food. The province of Canton is on the mainland near Hong Kong. Most of the emigres from China came from the Canton area and they make some very delicious food. We were introduced to a startling reality in Taiwan: Taiwanese food doesn’t taste at all like Cantonese food, some of it tastes very bad, and most Taiwanese people don’t like the taste of Cantonese food. We were dismayed until some friends showed us how to make some great tasting Taiwanese food. I won’t tell you what we thought was good because you’ll have to decide that on your own. I will however tell you some things not to eat.
Don’t eat anything raw, except for sushi or sashimi. The water isn’t drinkable and thus everything is contaminated.
Don’t drink the water unless it’s been boiled.
Don’t eat Cho Tofu. It smells like poop. I’m not kidding. They say that it tastes good, but it has a severe drawback. It permeates your skin and makes you smell like poop, too.
Don’t eat 1,000-year eggs. They are small and black and not very appealing.
Don’t eat tea eggs. If you like tea, then try them. They boil in an open crock pot full of tea all day and they turn brown.
Don’t eat the blood sausage. It is what it says it is.
Don’t eat the chicken feet. Though the Taiwanese are fond of picking their teeth with them and chewing the skin and fat off of them, Westerners will surely find them repulsive.
Don't think that the frosting on pasteries is frosting. It's butter. No kidding.
Do try all of the noodle vendors. The food is good and inexpensive.
Do try all of the seafood.
Do eat the fresh fruit. My wife and kids loved the Mango and Papaya. You can get all the coconut you want for free. They just crack them open to take the juice. If you hang around a fruit stand and ask the vendor for the coconut after someone's just bought the juice, they will probably just give it to you.
Do try all of the Sushi and Sashimi.
Do eat the seaweed that comes in individually wrapped packages. You'll be suprised at how good it tastes. I still buy it where I can here Stateside.
Do try all other foods that weren't listed in the "don't" section. Most of the food is very good.
Asia Dragons- News, Business, Travel, Jobs
History- a great page on Taiwnese history and present issues facing the island nation
A visitor's guide to Taiwan -also contains history, government info, geography, and other vital info for someone who wants to visit Taiwan.
Republic of China Information Office -News, History, Government Services, International Involvement, etc.