Don’t try to discuss China in Taiwan.
The topic spoils parties. Conversation stops. Laughter turns to grimaces. Best to drop the subject.
China fired on Taiwan for years to stop it from breaking away after civil war in the 1940s, and the Communist government still threatens to use force, Taiwanese will say if a China discussion gets going.
Many locals who don’t travel to China believe the masses all spit in the streets, shout in restaurants and cheat people out of their life savings.
Don’t most Chinese still live in drafty brick huts clustered around public outhouses, they ask, and how fair is it to Taiwan that the Chinese economy is booming?
The term “Commie bandit” rolls off the tongue in Taiwan as smoothly as chaws of betel nut.
The 2008 Olympics should change Taiwan’s intolerance, says Sisy Chen, 50, director of the news programme Sisy’s World News. She says the hyper-televised two-week event will leave Taiwanese with an indelible impression of Beijing’s “rise.”
Then the discussion can start.
“To me, I want to know what will be the impact on Taiwan identity,” Chen says, hinting that sovereignty-obsessed Taiwanese may be more open to Beijing’s line that they, too, are Chinese people.
Expect debate on what to do next, Chen adds.
Politicians will talk more about letting in China’s tourists, most of whom are barred entry today for political reasons or for fear they’ll overstay visas to escape poverty at home.
“They can bring more money to Taiwan,” Chen says. “Of course we’ll get more money.”
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I find use of the word “intolerance” a bit exaggerated, and the portrayal of Taiwanese electorate as thinking China hopelessly backwards laughable. There are almost 1 million Taiwan expats doing business in Mainland China after all. They recently held an election, giving 75% of the vote to the pro-China KMT. Hardly an indication of irrational intolerance.
Finally, though you may anger your guests when discussing topics such as Mainland China in Taiwan, at the very least you won’t be taken away by the People’s Armed Police for discussing Taiwan Independence in Mainland China. How’s that for exaggeration?
- Posted by The EconomistI kidd you not, I dropped my jaw reading this stoy. Your obervations are extremely different than my own.
I know hundreds, if not thousands, of Taiwanese in person from all lines of life in all parts of Taiwan (I used to live there for 20+ years and still visit back every now and then), and I have never had the same impression as you described.
First off, as opposed to Taiwan’s ignorance of China’s rising, what I know is this– Taiwanese know China. Period. With one in every 22 Taiwanese living in China and a even greater number visiting China on a frequent basis, no other society in the world has a better collective knowledge of China. Taiwanse had realized that China was on the rise in the ’80s when the rest of world was still obscessed with Japan’s economic prowess. So here’s my take: Taiwanese know China as Canadians know the U.S.
Your observation of conversations stop when it comes to China is also far from reality. Taiwanese talk about everything Chinese all the time– their business partners in Guandong, new restaurants in Shanghai, improted mushrooms from Fujian, etc. The only time the coversation about China would come to an end is when it’s about whether Taiwan should merge with China, which Taiwanese know their is a good chance the person(s) they are having a conversation with might hold a different opinion than theirs. This is an Taiwanese etiquette not much different from being wary about talking about pro-life or pro-choice values in the U.S.
And this is where you are perticularly wrong– political tolerence. Two decades of democracy, although quite short compared to the West, Taiwanese had developed amongst themselves an understanding that others have the same right to believe what they believe, and they had started learning how to handle different political values so it doesn’t hinder their relationships with their family members, friends, or business partners.
Talking about China would never get you in trouble, talking about politics would, as it would everywhere in the world. And again, since Taiwanese know so much about China, there’s six million non-political subjects about China you can talk about with Taiwanese without running the risk of making your Taiwanese friends awkward and wanting to switching subjects. Good luck.
- Posted by Kyle