Taiwan is making some (minor) news lately. They are hosting the World Games in the city of Kaohsiung. Honestly, I had never heard of the World Games until I looked it up. The World Games is made up of sports that aren't played in the Olympics. So you have such events as: bowling, frisbee, handball, artistic rollerskating, surfing, and tug of war! Okay, not the most exciting games, but at least Taiwan has something. I've heard they even built a pretty nice stadium for the games, too.
China, naturally, is boycotting the games. They don't seem to like anything that makes Taiwan look like an independent country, and with President Ma Ying Jou overseeing the games, China would have to acknowledge that Taiwan does indeed have a president (which they won't do.)
My wife Christy has been reading the Taiwan news about the games, and she mentioned something I thought was kind of funny. The mayor of Kaohsiung has asked the residents who live there to not hang their clothes outside during the games. Apparently us foreigners would be offended if we saw some dirty clothes. Okay, so this is a good start, but I think the mayor can go a little bit further with the requests. How about....
1. fixing all the signs with the horrendous English (good luck there)
2. asking people not to drive like homicidal maniacs (again, good luck)
3. reminding people that the streets are not open trash cans
4. stop spitting anywhere and everywhere
5. accept that foreigners do occasionally visit your country, and not to treat them like they're some zoo exhibit.
6. finally, realize that you share the country with 23 million other people and don't always be so self-centered. Treat your fellow citizens the way you would like people to treat you.
China, naturally, is boycotting the games. They don't seem to like anything that makes Taiwan look like an independent country, and with President Ma Ying Jou overseeing the games, China would have to acknowledge that Taiwan does indeed have a president (which they won't do.)
My wife Christy has been reading the Taiwan news about the games, and she mentioned something I thought was kind of funny. The mayor of Kaohsiung has asked the residents who live there to not hang their clothes outside during the games. Apparently us foreigners would be offended if we saw some dirty clothes. Okay, so this is a good start, but I think the mayor can go a little bit further with the requests. How about....
1. fixing all the signs with the horrendous English (good luck there)
2. asking people not to drive like homicidal maniacs (again, good luck)
3. reminding people that the streets are not open trash cans
4. stop spitting anywhere and everywhere
5. accept that foreigners do occasionally visit your country, and not to treat them like they're some zoo exhibit.
6. finally, realize that you share the country with 23 million other people and don't always be so self-centered. Treat your fellow citizens the way you would like people to treat you.
There, that isn't too hard, is it? If these simple changes could happen throughout the whole country, Taiwan could easily be a much more popular tourist destination, even after the games are over.
Foreigners should not expect Taiwan to change the very nature of their culture just to make visitors feel at home. If you do not want to be surrounded by the most selfish people in the world, stay out of Taiwan.
ReplyDeleteWhy should Taiwanese not drive like the Rapture is near? They don't need to demonstrate any ability to drive in order to get a license and no police will ever do anything when they break the laws they know nothing about.
Also, you saw the new stadium while it was being built.
ReplyDeleteAnd the games are being played at three or four different stadiums.
Reading your blog; it seems you almost need to keep bashing Taiwan to justify your decision to move back to the US.
ReplyDeleteI could list as many negatives about the US, but I don't see the world that way.
Taiwan isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
Regards,
an expat who chooses to live in Taiwan.
We went to the World Games Plaza at the True Love Harbor and Glory Pier. It is basically an outdoor market with vendors selling animal parts on sticks, but it was supposed to have "Culture Pavillions" where participating countries could introduce their cultures to the Taiwanese and sell their own stick-based cuisine.
ReplyDeleteAfter visiting the "Market of Delicious", we went to the "Culture Pavillions", which was a parking lot filled with tents. Each tent represented a participating country, though few of the countries that participated in the games had a tent. Generally, only the great Olympic powerhouses were represented, like Oman, the Marshall Islands and the Philippines.
Most of the tents were very small and said nothing about the country. The New Zealand tent was nothing more than a stall selling kiwi and the Vatican tent gave out free coffee, since everyone knows the Vatican is best known for its drinks. The French tent only had comic books for some reason and the Australian tent had wine for sale. Some actually from Australia.
The only foreign tents operated by people from those countries were the American tent and the Turkey tent, of course. The American tent was three times larger than the others (except Taiwan) and actually said something about the country. Most tents had travel posters and something you could buy (not necessarily from that country). The American tent had monitors and posters of "Disreyland", astronauts, Marilyn Monroe and Hawaii. There was also a small station to play made-in-China video games (a great American cultural achievement) and they gave away free made-in-Taiwan Oreos (a great example of American cuisine).
There were also tents for the sponsors. These were larger than the country tents (except Taiwan) and sold whatever that company sold. Most had drawings to win free crap and some gave away free samples. Except the Heineken tent. There was no free beer.
And China did indeed participate (not in the tents, but in the games). They say Taiwan is part of their country, but their athletes had to get visas, have their passports stamped in the foreigner line and exchange their currency to come here.