Society

Pill-popping Practices

Daniel Wallace | December 1, 2006

Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, despite having been widely celebrated since its conception just over ten years ago, faced financial bankruptcy last year and had to be subsidized by $11bn NT of public money in order to remain operational. Some light investigation soon revealed that one of the lead architects of the system, William Hsiao (蕭慶倫), a professor of economics at Harvard University, believed that, “Taiwan NHI’s financial problems stem from two factors: people’s mindset and politicians’ intervention.” More

Dating in Taiwan

Daniel Wallace | November 17, 2006

The White Guy / Taiwanese Girl thing seems to be a powerful myth for straight Western men here, and I’d like to point out some of the fictional elements of this myth. More

The Cricket Test

Daniel Wallace | October 20, 2006

I’ve asked many Taiwanese people whether the foreigners who live here should learn Chinese. On the whole, people don’t seem bothered. “If they want to, they can”… I then ask whether foreigners need to learn about Taiwanese culture, or adapt to Taiwanese lifestyles, and on this, people’s responses are even more blasé. It would be a smart move, seems to be the majority opinion, but only very rarely will someone describe it as a moral obligation. In fact, many people act surprised if I display any local knowledge at all. More

Observing Taiwan

Daniel Wallace | October 6, 2006

Figuring things out about Taiwanese culture is a fascination of mine, and I love to ask questions, conduct surveys, and theorise about the strange things I encounter. It seems that all foreigners have opinions about their host country: I just try to test mine against reality. This article describes the techniques I use. More

Hakka Dreams

Steven D. Quinn | September 21, 2006

Some years ago at a popular restaurant in Xinzhu,* I joined a gathering of twelve business owners, all local Rotarians, for a feast featuring the local Hakka fare. Shortly after the first bottle of whiskey was opened, the backslapping and the joshing began. “Steven, this is Mr. Gao. We call him “Hotel”. He’s the richest man in our Rotary Club.” More

The Hard World of Buses

Daniel Wallace | September 1, 2006

Taiwan is a surprise - the place that they told you was “Eastern” and "collectivistic", seems actually better described as "every man for himself". On buses, people get on, find enough space to stand, and once they've done that, they will rarely move to make things easier for other people. If I’m standing near the front, and there is space at the back of the bus, then you will have to push me past to get it. Routinely in London, someone would cry, "Can you all move back, please?" but this kind of communal thinking is not common on Taiwan’s buses. More