Week 3 (The Final Days)

The last week of my Taiwan study abroad is coming to a close and I can't help but feel like I have so much more to see and experience. These 3 weeks were like a whirlwind with so much happening in such a short span of time, and yet that first week seems like it happened ages ago. Even in such a short time, I feel like I quickly adjusted to many aspects of Taiwanese culture and life. One specific aspect of Taiwanese culture was the politeness of the people around me. It seemed like the Taiwanese were always saying 不好意思 or "I'm sorry," or "Pardon me." If a waiter was setting down food or if a cashier took a while to get your change they would undoubtedly say “不好意思！” After about the first week, whenever I was walking around I would also start to say “不好意思！” for small things, like moving out of someone's way or if I was taking a bit to get money out to pay. In America, I would never have apologized for these small things, but after being in Taiwan for 1 week, I already adopted some of their mannerisms.

Throughout this trip, I was also surprised by how different Taiwan was from China. Before going on this trip, I didn't really know what to expect from Taiwan and just assumed it would be similar to China. However, I quickly learned that Taiwan is very different in almost all aspects. One of the main differences that surprised me the most was how much the Taiwanese seemed to like Japan. Walking around Taiwan I would constantly see Japanese restaurants and imports from Japan such as make up, toys and clothes. When we went to Taipei 101 and had our opening ceremony at Tamkang University, we watched to videos made by the Taiwan's tourism government agency. In these videos, they would show foreigners coming to Taiwan from all parts of the world including America, Europe and most surprisingly, Japan. When I was in China, I would rarely see anything from Japan or at least, no store would openly advertise that they were something from Japan. Even the government and many of the older generation did not seem to like Japan. However, in Taiwan, I would constantly see huge advertisements for Japanese products and ads that featured Japanese models. People also seemed to want to buy things specifically because those products were originally from Japan. For example, when we went to 西门 (Ximen), a popular shopping district in Taipei, there were huge banners for advertising Japanese products outside almost every store.

The Taiwanese people are also much more polite than Chinese people. Although I talked about this in the briefly in the beginning, the Taiwanese do many more polite things than just say “不好意思." For example, when I buy something in a store in Taiwan, they always wait for me to put my change away and get all my belongings before moving on to the next person. However, in China, as soon as they gave me my change, if I didn't leave fast enough, they would say, "快点儿！" When we went to the National Palace Museum, there were a lot of mainlanders walking around in tour groups. The museum was very crowded and there were certain display cases, which housed very popular artifacts such as the jade cabbage and ivory carvings. The mainlanders were very aggressive and would often bump into me or try to push me aside in order to see these display cases even though there wasn't really any room and I was in front me. This is very different from the Taiwanese people because even when it was really crowded, people would either apologize for bumping into me or at least try not to push and shove too much. For example, when we were coming back from Taipei 101 and tried to get on the subway, there were masses and masses of people. However, it was still very orderly and there was no pushing and shoving to get onto the subway.

Another interesting cultural point I noticed was that it seems like people in Taiwan really trust their fellow Taiwanese. Outside lots of stores and restaurants there would be a rack where people can leave their umbrellas when its raining. Most of the Taiwanese would put their umbrellas in this rack before going to the store even though there was no lock and someone could easily just steal their umbrella. I was very surprised by this because in America, people are always afraid of leaving their stuff out in public without anyone watching them. If we had this system in America, many people's umbrellas would probably be stolen. 

It was also very interesting to see the different types of innovations Taiwanese people came up with to suit their needs. For example, I went to Hi-Life and bought a take-out meal there to go. Instead of just putting it in one of their regular plastic bags, they used the bag shown below.

I thought this was an incredibly useful and practical invention for a plastic bag. By putting my take-out box in this bag, the whole box was very secure because the bag conformed to the shape and length of the box. This would prevent any the food from moving around, and any of the sauce from accidentally leaking out of the box. Many times when I go to restaurants, I have to purposely hold the bag with my leftover steady and often don't even use the handles of the bag because if I do I know the box will shift and my food might spill. This bag solves all these problems and is also environmentally friendly because it uses less material than a plastic bag.

On Tuesday we went to a vegetarian buffet in Taipei. I was really surprised by how expensive it was. The cost for each person was NT$600. Apparently most vegetarian buffets in Taiwan are quite expensive and are usually display the food in very unique ways. Although I was skeptical at first, the food was actually very tasty and I really enjoyed going there. There were some very unique food like this vegetable that looked very small tree branches, as well as fake sashimi. I also got to witness another instance of Taiwanese hospitality because Dr. Liu's older sister not only payed half the cost of the meal but also gave each of us a 红包 (red envelope) and a very nice pen. In America culture, unless that person is very close to you, they probably would not be so generous. However, even though Dr. Liu's sister barely knew us, she was still very generous and treated us like we were close family friends.

For our last culture class, we painted Chinese masks. I learned that the different colors on the mask mean different things. For example, red, black and purple all represented good people while white, yellow, green and blue represented bad people. The way they assigned meanings to the colors was interesting because in American culture we usually associate black with evil and white with good. Also, blue usually isn't considered an evil color in American culture, but usually used to represent something calming.

I will really miss being in Taiwan and hope that I will have another opportunity to return. On our last day, we will be attending a Farewell Ceremony from Tamkang University and then visit Dr. Liu's mother at her house and attend her elder brother's company party.

Ilan & Hualian

This weekend we visited Ilan and Hualian, which are two cities in the Northern part of Taiwan. In order to get to Ilan and Hualian, we had to travel across and through the mountains. Before getting to Ilan we had to go through a long tunnel that cut through a mountain. The tunnel is about 13 km and takes about 10 min to drive through. It was really amazing how the Taiwanese built the tunnel because they started digging at each end and then met each other in the middle. In order to get to Hualian we had to travel across mountains on a small and winding road the Taiwanese had built that swerved up and around the mountain. It was kind of scary making such sharp turns on a large tour bus when the road was so small. I also found it strange that most of the vehicles driving on this road were large trucks or other tour buses. Only a few of the vehicles were small, personal cars. I am assuming this has to do with the fact that there is no highway on the east side of Taiwan where Hualian is located and so they must travel on this small road in order to get back and forth.

Even through traveling on this road was scary, there were some incredibly breathtaking views of the mountain and the sea. The road we traveled on was built along the side of Taiwan’s mountains and so we were traveling right next to the sea and could see the Pacific Ocean. The ocean was incredibly blue here and as we drove, we could see fishing boats far out in the distance. As we traveled along the mountain, I was surprised by how many factories I saw. There were many factories along the foot of the mountain with one side facing the mountain and the other side facing the sea. It made me wonder how they were able to transport enough materials and machinery in order to build these factories, considering the only road through the mountains is incredibly small and definitely couldn’t fit any large semi-trucks full of building materials. I was also surprised to see this many factories so close to some of Taiwan’s most environmentally diverse habitats because I know that Taiwan is very environmentally conscious and having factories this close to the mountain seemed like it would be detrimental to the environment.

Ilan and Hualian were both very different from Taipei. Taipei is a very modern and metropolitan city, whereas Ilan and Hualian seemed much more rural. When we drove into Ilan, we could see many open fields that looked like they were used for farming and there were no tall buildings like in Taipei. Hualian was more city-like, however it didn’t seem as modern as Taipei and also did not really have any tall skyscrapers. As we driving into Hualian, we also passed some very poor parts of Taiwan. There were some very small towns built around the mountain, which looked had houses that were made of mismatched parts and looked like shacks. Most of the people working outside were very old and it didn’t seem like there were many young people in these towns. The standard of living also seemed a lot lower in these rural towns and it looked like they didn’t have the same modern amenities that were available in Taipei. During my time in Taipei, I have yet to see extremely poor areas like this and it was incredibly interesting to see the contrast between city life and rural life in Taiwan.

 

On our first night, we stayed at Toucheng Leisure Farm, which was a farm on a mountain that focused on agriculture and the environment. They also had DIY classes (do it yourself) in order to teach people how they could use nature in order to make things. The farm was quite large and we went on a tour through the mountain and saw some of the vegetables they grew as well as some of their livestock. They grew and took care of many different things from cumquats to pigs and much of the food we ate there was actually grown on the farm. We also did a couple of DIY activities at the farm such as decorating a T-shirt or a bag with leaves and making a sky lantern. I really liked staying at the farm because it felt like we were very close to nature and I liked how it emphasized using natural products and making things for yourself instead of buying them. Being on the farm was like taking a breather from city life because it felt much more relaxed and there weren’t as many distractions. 

In Hualian we visited 慈濟(Tzu Chi) temple, which is one of the four schools of Buddhism. The慈濟are a very altruistic branch of Buddhism and have pursued many philanthropic endeavors, such as creating the first free hospital in Taiwan. They are also always one of the first people to provide aid during crises all around the world. Their main school is located at the foot of the mountains and includes the temple, 慈濟Hospital and慈濟University. There was an incredibly stark contrast between the way the慈濟followers designed their buildings in this area and the Buddha Memorial Center we saw earlier. All of the慈濟buildings were incredibly modest and understated. There were no bright colors or carvings, just very simple buildings. Even the temple, which looked very impressive, was still very modest. The慈濟seemed to make their buildings compliment the nature around them. When walking up to the temple, it didn’t feel like we were walking into a man-made building. Instead, it felt like the temple was simply another part of its surroundings. On the other hand, the Buddha Memorial Center was almost like an intrusion into nature and stood apart from the forest around it. In my opinion, I think the慈濟did a better job designing their buildings and making the design fit in line with the practices of Buddhism. Instead of trying to attract people with gimmicks and flash, the慈濟seem to be more concerned with their actions and making sure they continue to uphold their philanthropic practices.

The 2nd Week

This week we went on many MRT trips to various places in Taiwan. On Tuesday we visited龍山寺 (Longshan Temple) in Taipei, which was a Buddhist temple built in the 1700’s. The temple was decorated with very intricate carvings and statues. On the roof, there were many statues of dragons and I learned that all of the scales on the dragons were individual pieces that people used to glue on by hand. I also learned that the architecture of the building was done in the southern style because the roof was concave and the trimming on the top of the roof curved up. The tour guide called this the “swallow tail” design because the trimming looked like a swallow’s tail.

The inside of the temple was just was intricate as the outside and was divided into three sections. In the front, there was a fairly basic altar that people where people could pray. The middle of the temple housed the Goddess of Mercy, which had an incredibly intricate altar that was overflowing with carvings and painted with gold. The Goddess of Mercy in this temple also had a very interesting story attached to her. During WWII, this area of the city was bombed and the temple burned down. However, although everything in the temple was destroyed, the statue of the Goddess of Mercy was still intact and standing. Because of this, the people especially revere this statue. More scientifically, we learned that the reason the statue didn’t burn down was because it was made of porcelain and porcelain doesn’t melt of burn even in extreme heats.

In the back of the temple, there were many altars for various Gods such as the God of Literature, the God of Maritime Voyages, and the God of Justice. Although the temple was originally Buddhist, this section also housed Taoist Gods. I was surprised that the temple would be willing to house Gods from another religion. In my experience, religions typically are very separate and do not intermingle in any way with each other. In fact, most of the time, it seems like religions tend to argue with each other about which one is actually true. There have been many violent historical events that were started by religions that did not want to accept other faiths, such as the Crusades and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. The fact that this temple was willing to incorporate Taoism and encourages people of all faiths to come is a very new concept for me when it comes to religion. I personally think this is a very progressive idea and this idea of acceptance should be present in more religions.

On Wednesday we visited 淡水 (Tamsui), in order to visit 淡江大學 (Tamkang University). The University was situated on a mountain and overlooked the 淡水河 (Tamsui River). It was a very beautiful campus and had great views of the city below. When we got there, we received a very warm welcome from the Dean of International Affairs, who gave us a very nice pen from the University. We ate lunch with the Dean and then had a tour around their campus. We visited their library which was incredibly large and had many resources for the students. Each floor focused on a specific genre of literature and on the 5^th floor they had a large media selection. I liked how they had places in the library where students could watch media assigned by their classes and group rooms that students could reserve in order to watch movies and other media with other students. Their library seemed much more organized than McKeldin at UMD and seemed much easier to use. I was also surprised by how quiet the library was. Even though libraries are supposed to be quiet, McKeldin is never very quiet. There are always groups meeting in the library and people studying with friends so it is also quite loud and you can always hear people talking. However, at淡江大學 the students completely respected the no talking policy and it was completely silent. Even our director was whispering when he was explaining the history of the library.

Visiting淡江大學 and淡水 was very enjoyable and I am very excited to visit Ilan & Hailian this weekend.

台南 & 高雄 (Tainan & Kaohsiung)

This weekend we went to Tainan and Kaohsiung, which are two cities in the south of Taiwan. We left Friday afternoon after class and took a 4 hour bus ride to Tainan. We visited many historical sites including Fort Provintia, Anping Fort and the Eternal Golden Castle. It was interesting seeing the transition in architecture, especially at Fort Provintia, which started out in traditional Dutch style but was then remodeled in the Chinese style. It also felt very odd to see palm trees next to such a traditional looking Chinese building since I associate palm trees with other cultures. The juxtaposition of the traditional Chinese building at Fort Provintia and the palm trees just served to emphasize all of the colonial transitions that occurred in Taiwan.

Fort Provintia

Fort Anping and the Eternal Golden Garden

We also visited a local temple in Tainan that was very small and considered to be a very “simple” temple. However, in my opinion, it seemed incredibly decorative and quite lavish. Every inch of the temple from the walls to the altars were covered in colorful drawings and carvings of dragons and other religious symbols of importance. All the carvings and drawings were painted with bright colors red and gold. There were 4 altars in total, each with a different God that was decorated with lots of different colors and fancy clothes. The temples were very different from the churches seen in America, which are usually pretty bare and minimalist. There are no bright colors and the only real decoration and stained glass windows, which are still much plainer than the temples we saw here.

The next day we visited Kaohsiung, which is a city that sits by the sea. While we were there we visited Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center, which houses one of three Buddha teeth relics. I was really surprised when I saw the center because I was expecting to see something very simple. However, the center was incredibly large and quite grand. There were 8 pagodas that lined a long pathway which lead to a giant, golden Buddha statue. The pagodas signified the different teachings in Buddhism and had reception areas at their bases. One pagoda could also be rented out for small weddings or birthday parties. Inside the main entrance I was surprised by all the commercialism. There were lots of souvenir shops and there was even a Starbucks. The temples inside the main building were also very lavish and designed in a very modern fashion. The center seemed sort of like an amusement park rather than a memorial and seemed to contradict the teachings of Buddhism which stress a very simple and minimalist life. While the center was very informative and entertaining to walk through, I think it strayed a bit too far away from the teachings of Buddhism with its incredibly grandiose design.

After visiting the memorial temple, we then went to the Dragon and Tiger pagodas. We started at the dragon pagoda and exited through the tiger pagoda which signified our passing through the underworld. These pagodas were also very colorful and decorated with lots of drawings. It seems like many religious and historical buildings in Taiwan are much more colorful and decorative than those in America. In America, our historical landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and religious places are usually fairly plain and use neutral colors. However, in Taiwan, they seem to really like to use bright colors like red and gold to decorate these types of places and make them stand out from the rest of the buildings. These historical sites and religious buildings all seemed much more flashy and it was easy to pick them out from the other buildings, whereas in America, these places tend to blend in with the city.

Right before we left for Taipei we stopped by a wedding rehearsal for Dr. Liu’s nephew, who was getting married that day. While there we met Dr. Liu’s extended family who were all incredibly hospitable. Even though we were complete strangers and incredibly underdressed, they made us feel very welcome and were very inviting. They even gave us all dinner boxes to take with us on the trip back. The Taiwanese seem much more hospitable than Americans because in America, no one would invite complete strangers to their wedding just so they could “experience” a different culture. While we felt like wedding crashers, Dr. Liu’s family treated us like part of the family and didn’t seem to mind that we came along. There were also a lot of differences between this Taiwanese wedding and American weddings. Firstly, the wedding rehearsal was done only 1 hour before the actual wedding instead of the day before. Also, the father did not give away the bride, instead she and the groom walked down the aisle together. It is also customary to give a 红包 (red envelope) to the bride and groom as well as say a traditional Chinese phrase at the wedding. My phrase was 祝你们多福多寿 which means, “Wishing you prosperity and longevity.”

While I witnessed many cultural differences between Taiwan and America on this trip, there were also many differences between southern and northern Taiwan. Immediately upon entering the south, the atmosphere felt very different from Taipei. While Taipei feels very modern and metropolitan, the south felt slightly more industrial and not as modern. The south reminded me a lot of Beijing and felt much more Chinese. Just like in Beijing, Tainan and Kaohsiung were a bit dirtier and don’t have the same type of modern buildings and shops. Overall, there seemed to be more pollution and I noticed when we walked around there would often be strange smells from the sewage, which was also reminiscent of China. The people themselves were also more rambunctious than the people in Taipei. In the night markets, people would often call out as we walked by and actively try to make us come over by offering free samples. This felt very reminiscent of my time in Beijing, where many shopkeepers were very aggressive and would shout and sometimes physically pull you to their shop. On the other hand Taipei seems to have more of a Japanese and Western metropolitan feel. At the night markets in Taipei, very few people called out to us as we walked by their stalls and were much more subdued.

My trip to southern Taiwan was both entertaining and informative. I felt like I learned a lot more about Taiwanese culture and am excited for our next excursion. This week we will be going to another temple in Taipei which is supposed to be a very grand temple. I am excited to see how it is different from the “simple” temple we saw in Tainan. 

The 2nd Day

My second day in Taiwan was busy with excitement. It was the first day of my Chinese class and I was excited to meet my classmates and converse with my peers in Chinese. The class only had about 10 students who were all from different parts of the world. My classmates included students from Japan, Mexico, Korea, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. Some of the students were also a lot older than normal college students. There were two girls from Thailand who were both in their 30’s and another student who was married. During the break I talked to two students, one from Japan and another from Mexico. It was difficult to converse with them in Chinese because of the different accents they had when they spoke the language. I found out that people in the class were all here for different reasons. Some people, like the one from Mexico, was here to learn Chinese because of work and others were here because they felt Chinese was a very useful language in terms of looking more desirable when applying for jobs.

The class itself was a bit too easy for my level of Chinese because I had already learned all the grammar and most of the vocabulary that was in the textbook. However, my teacher (黄老师 Ms. Huang) spoke incredibly fast! I felt like she was speaking even faster than a normal conversational speed and it made understanding her quite difficult. I think her speaking speed will be very beneficial for my listening skills and help me to understand Chinese better.

After Chinese class, I went to a culture class where I learned how to write Chinese calligraphy. Doing calligraphy was incredibly difficult. I knew Chinese calligraphy was difficult, however I didn’t expect it to be as hard at it was. Holding the brush the proper way and making sure it always stayed straight when I wrote while also keeping my posture upright was much more physically tiring than I had expected. I also did not realize the amount of control that was needed to do calligraphy and how slow people wrote the characters. After practicing writing 永, we chose a phrase to write out on paper. I chose to write 大吉大利, which is supposed to bring good fortune and good luck.

Learning Chinese calligraphy was a really great experience and made me realize how much thought was put into creating the language. I learned that each stroke in a character has a meaning and that the way you draw each stroke is important. This is very different from America where writing the words themselves don’t have any kind of real meaning. I feel like the way the characters were developed adds another dimension to the language and the culture because each character by itself can tell a story through its strokes.

Later in the day we celebrated New Year’s Eve by eating 火锅 (hotpot) and going to 台北101 (Taipei 101) to watch the countdown and fireworks. I had never eaten 火锅before and really enjoyed experiencing eating a popular Taiwanese meal. The meal was a combination of many different cultural influences in Taiwan. 火锅is traditionally a Chinese meal and having it in Taiwan shows how some Chinese culture has been incorporated in the Taiwanese culture. The food we cooked in the 火锅was also very different. There were some Japanese vegetables like the mushrooms they used and a type of radish they use a lot in ramen. It was very interesting to see that Japan’s occupation of Taiwan and the influences they had on their culture were not just reflected in Taiwan’s architecture and cityscape but also in food that is traditionally from another culture. It makes it feel as though Taiwanese culture is a mixture of many different cultures, similar to how American culture mixes many different cultures. I find this openness in Taiwan to be a really great part of the culture. The way they have embraced various aspects of other culture has made them unique and different from China. I can see the difference when I walk down the streets and also taste in their food. There is something very Taiwanese about food that is traditionally Chinese and that uniqueness makes their culture fun and exciting to learn about.

When we went to 台北101 to watch the countdown and the fireworks, I was surprised by the amount of people that were there. I felt like I saw a different side of Taiwanese culture there. Normally, I felt like Taiwanese people were very polite and did very orderly things like wait in line at the subway. However, at 台北101, people were pushing and I heard some arguments break out between people. I was also incredibly surprised about the amount of people that were there. After the countdown I saw that the subway was crammed with the people. There were masses of people just waiting outside the subway to get in and the workers were only letting people in in waves. This orderly conduct was very different from what I saw in Beijing. In Beijing, no one controlled how many people got on the subway. As a long as you could push yourself in through the door, it was fine. However, in Taiwan, they controlled the number of people and made sure the subway trains weren't too crowded despite there being so many people waiting to get on. Perhaps this has to do with some part of Taiwanese culture that prefers to create more orderly conduct or maybe it simply has to do with the fact that Beijing has many more people.

I was also very surprised by the lack of trash. Even when we were walking along the streets after the countdown, and I saw people eating and drinking, there was barely any trash on the ground. This was very surprising because Taiwan barely has any trashcans and yet people still did not litter. This is very different from America, where at events like New Year’s Eve celebrations and the Super Bowl, the city must spend millions of dollars on a cleanup crew because there is so much trash everywhere. I think Taiwanese people may be more concerned about the environment and care more about public spaces than Americans because they take it upon themselves to keep it clean, rather than relying on the government.

Although the day was very long and busy, I felt like I got to see many different sides of Taiwanese culture. I hope the rest of my trip can be this exciting and I am looking forward to my next culture class where I will be painting fans, as well as the weekend excursion to Tainan and Kaohsiung. 

The 1st Day

After a good night’s rest, we started our first full day in Taiwan bright and early at 9am. We all went to meet Dr. Liu in her room and received our schedule for the next three weeks. She provided us with some fruit, including a traditional Taiwanese fruit. After meeting with Dr. Liu, we walked around Taipei in order to get familiar with the area and to find good places to eat. 7-eleven seemed to be very popular here as there was at least one 7-eleven every two blocks. On the side streets that lead away from the main road there were lots of restaurants and small clothing stores. The whole alleyway was filled with the smell of good food and we could see long lines of people waiting to be served at various street stands.

In the middle of the city amidst the tall buildings and bustling crowds, there was a park that brought nature back into the city. It stood apart, like a world on its own, with trees indigenous to Taiwan and some statues that reflected their traditional culture. The style of the park felt very much in tune with nature, with winding paths going through the trees and brought a sense of antiquity to the modern city. Even though it was so different, the park didn’t feel out of place. It blended in perfectly with the modernization, showing how nature and industry could coexist.

Later in the day, we visited Taipei 101 and the Discovery Center of Taipei. We learned about the history of Taiwan and how various colonial occupations lead to many different cultural influences in Taiwan’s architecture and traditional values. In one of the exhibitions there was a display of shoes from different periods of Taiwan. The shoes were all designed differently depending on which country was occupying Taiwan. It really showed how Taiwan is made up of so many different cultures and has incorporated different cultural influences throughout its history.

Walking along the streets of Taiwan, I was surprised by how metropolitan it felt. After going to Beijing on a study abroad trip last semester, I was expecting a similar type of city landscape. However the city’s modernization, with its tall buildings and orderly etiquette, gave it a very western feel. I could see the influences of western cultures as there were many coffee shops and bakeries that sold western styled foods. However, unlike America, Taipei still seemed to hold onto its tradition. The side streets of the city blended the modern with the traditional in a seamless way. Along each side street there were mom-and-pop shops that sold traditional food right next to the more modern coffee houses and bakeries. This juxtaposition of the old and new showed a balance between change and tradition that is very different from America. In America, the old is always being replaced by the new with large corporations shutting down small mom-and-pop businesses and historical sites being redeveloped into shopping malls or new residential areas. However, in Taiwan, I would see chain stores and mom-and-pop stores doing business side by side. Seeing the modern trends and traditional culture coexisting showed how Taiwan has been able to embrace both change and tradition. The fact that both can coexist so seamlessly in a society was a new idea that I didn’t think possible.

After exploring Taiwan and learning more about their culture, I feel much more comfortable in the city and am excited to become more acquainted with its customs. Tomorrow I will be starting my Chinese class and be celebrating New Year’s Eve. After class we will go to eat hotpot and visit Taipei 101 to see the fireworks.