Pasta'ai 2010

Yesterday we went up to our 2nd Pasta'ai - a festival held by the Saisiyat tribe of Taiwanese aborigines. The festival is held in two locations: "North Side" in Da'ai Village, Wufeng Township, Xinzhu County, and the other in Nanzhuang, Miaoli County.

While the event in Nanzhuang is more accessible for those without private transportation, we always make the effort to go to Wufeng as, being harder to get to and less well-known (most people assume we're going to Nanzhuang until we tell them otherwise), it's almost certainly less touristy.

My first post incorrectly stated that it was held in the "Jhu Family Village" - it's near that village, but actually in Da'ai village (大隘), about an hour or less from Zhudong, and maybe an hour and a half from HSR Xinzhu Station.

Last year, we met the owner of our homestay, Ah-Q Mama, in Zhudong and drove up with her. Her husband does all the driving. This year, her husband was laid up with recovery from surgery and they were unable to help us get to Wufeng. As we've been doing recently whenever we want to go somewhere, we've been lucky enough to have friends with Taiwanese or international licenses who are also eager to go (not that we invite them because they have licenses - we've been fortunate that they've been happy to drive). So this time, we took the wonderful HSR down and rented a car at CarPlus.

Before leaving we got directions from the tourist info desk at Taipei Main Station, and I printed out a series of maps from Google between the HSR and the site, as well as the site and the homestay.

We got a little lost in Zhudong, but not anything too serious. The drive up was pleasant, as Eduardo, our friend behind the wheel, is a conscientious driver who, being Venezuelan, is used to crazy traffic. His skills are equal to that of our friends Emily and Drew, though he's less aggressive on the road and isn't one for high speeds. The road up from Zhudong is narrow and windy, but not very high up.

There seemed to be more attempts at tourism to Wufeng this time - fabric flags lined the road up from Zhudong with "PaSta'ay" written in Papyrus font.

We arrived just after dark and parked next to a "house" that people apparently lived in, despite it not having a roof. Oookaaay...all in all parking seemed to be much more difficult to come by this year, and we had to drive quite a ways from the site before we found a suitable spot. Maybe it was just as bad two years ago, but we weren't driving ourselves so we didn't notice.

Before we could even get into the building where spirit-protecting grass is tied around your head or arm as well as all cameras, a group of dancers and torch-bearers came out of the main site, singing a chant-like melody.

First the torch-bearers came through..

Then a line of dancers, some with back accoutrements with beads and metal chimes, came out, moving and chanting in unison.

I covered the origins of this festival in my post two years ago by linking to an online site on the Pasta'ai - you can read it here if you are interested. Basically, a long time ago there was (or may have been) a tribe of dark-skinned pygmies called the Ta'ai living near the Saisiyat. The two groups were intially friendly, but after some time, the pygmies began taking the Saisiyat women for reasons you can guess at, as well as stealing food. The Saisiyat attacked and killed the Ta'ai...but it turns out the Ta'ai knew sorcery and cursed the Saisiyat, who now have to hold the Pasta'ai as an offering at the end of the harvest season to atone for the massacre.

Anthropologists agree that the Ta'ai may well have been a real tribe in ancient Taiwan, and that the Saisiyat may well have killed them. Clearly they were not magical beings as the Saisiyat legend claims, but there is quite likely a historical basis for the story.

I asked a local if the designs had any special meaning: she said they did not, just anything the owners found aesthetically pleasing. Buddhist swastikas (a Buddhist symbol before it was a Nazi one), curved mirrors and embroideries of surnames are common design elements.

Making the chimes tingle in unison looks very painful for one's backside. Tired dancers with chime plates could often be found sitting gingerly with the audience while on break.

Then we entered the sacred grass-tying area.

...and waited in line with tourists and Saisiyat people alike. This year we saw more children than last time in traditional costume and encouraged to participate in their tribe's customs. We also saw more foreigners than two years ago - apparently a foreigner who married into the tribe sent out a large Facebook invitation and many people did end up coming. How they get to Wufeng, I have no idea.

Then we all got our sacred grass...

...and watched the festival from above the main area for awhile. As you can see, the dancers go in an arc or circle, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. When they go quickly, they often rush to the middle and chant excitedly before fanning out again. The dancers themselves don't seem to know what they're doing - I learned from one participant that any Saisiyat in traditional clothing can join, not just experienced or trained dancers (the chanters and people with chimes on their back plates clearly know what they are doing however - and the chime beaters dance separately from the main group).

The facilitators in yellow vests clearly knew how it was all supposed to work and were guiding the dancers, many more of whom were young Saisiyat children this year.

Before heading to the main area, we went to the row of food stalls nearby to get dinner. We started with a traditional Saisiyat dish...

Ah, nothing like old fashioned aboriginal food!

...of grilled muaji (rice gluten) covered in chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. (I was being sarcastic about the "traditional" bit).

Then we got our main dinner of mountain pig, cabbage and "rice wine chicken soup", which was so potent with rice wine that I'm pretty sure it had more alcohol in it than broth. As Joseph said, "it's like eating a bottle of vodka". I liked it, but none of us could finish it.

This year the rules about taking photos of the front of the dancers (thereby standing in front of them in what I had thought was a "sacred area") were relaxed.

I also noticed an investment in Christmas lights to decorate around the area (look above the heads of the dancers).

The dancing and chanting is to call forth the spirits of the Ta'ai, and appease them. The big tinsel and light-up things are made by different families - each family makes one. One woman told me that usually, the children will help decorate it, so as to teach them about their culture and heritage. I couldn't determine any pattern for the holders of these giant talismans, though they did dance and did seem to somewhat follow the arc of dancers. When the dancers would rush to the middle and excitedly chant, these were always in the very middle.

I was told that the semi-conical shape was...well, I couldn't really understand the woman clearly but either to bring the Ta'ai spirits down like water through a funnel, or to broadcast the families' participation to the Ta'ai, like a reverse satellite dish or suntanning mirror. It had something to do with calling souls. Note the sacred grass affixed to the top of each.

This was the friendly woman who answered my various questions about the event details to the best of her ability and to the best of my limited understanding.

Another view of the conical things.

By about 9pm, people were starting to get seriously wasted on traditional millet wine. As it was with the last Pasta'ai, you don't just buy and drink your own millet brew. You buy some, share it with others, and get glasses of others in return. We tried to minimize this, or at least sniff what we were about to drink this year, but it can't be helped to some extent. The two non-drinkers among us managed to actually not drink, though - which surprised me. It was impossible to avoid two years ago by the time 10pm rolled around. Forget teetotalling. By 9:30 we had plenty of new 酒肉朋友 (drinking buddies).

Who's this guy? No idea. He invited us to cone stay with him in Zhudong, though, and treated us to much of his millet wine - which had an aftertaste redolent of gasoline.

Some random people dressed up Brendan and Eduardo in traditional clothing - I had a touch of grease from *something* on my lens but still wanted to post these.

This year, the participation rules were also relaxed, probably in another attempt to promote tourism. Last year you could not participate until midnight. This year, you could join the dancers at 10pm.

With an election looming, even though Xinzhu isn't an election hotspot this time around, we expected a bigger showing of politicians. A few members of the DPP showed up, looking...well, like quintessential members of the DPP.

As usual, there was a not-too-quiet place for exhausted dancers to rest.

This guy'd been drinking for awhile.

Loving the Christmas lights.

Plenty of traditional aboriginal food was on offer - including these roasted birds (tiny quail? Pigeons? We had pigeon in Egypt and this tasted different.) They cut it up for you so it's easy to eat, but I'd forgotten that they give you the head with everything else. Before I knew what it was, I'd bitten into the brain. EWWWWW. I am pretty openminded about food, but I do not do innards or brain. I chucked it at a pile of accumulating garbage, missed and hit some poor woman's coat.

Oops.

What happens at Pasta'ai stays at Pasta'ai is all I can say.

We also got some amazing sweet potato fries and one drunk guy gave us stinky tofu (YUM!) and onion pancakes.

More dancing above, and a detail shot of the conical family talisman things below. The carrier had been hitting the betel nut pretty hard. Along with millet wine, buckets of energy drink in brown bottles and betel nuts were for sale everywhere.

So, at 10pm we all started dancing - not that we knew how. Last time, women would come around with wooden buckets of millet wine and ladle it into your mouth as you danced. This year that was not so common, and they had plastic pitchers of wine with shot glasses for dancers - but there was less going around. Boo.

On the upside, I didn't get heinously drunk this year (yes, I know my family reads this thing, but I gotta be honest. I got really drunk last year. It's an aboriginal festival - you can't not get drunk the first time or, for that matter, any time). Fortunately the homestay owners were not drinking and could make sure we all got back safely. It was the worst hangover I've ever had - you don't want to know the full story about the next morning. Let's just say that when the worst of it hit, only my sister was awake to hear it, and she'll never think of me the same way again.

But that was last year - when I would drink whatever was offered without making sure it wasn't, you know, grain alcohol, paint thinner, energy drink and Coca-cola mixed together...or maybe not that but not tasting much different from what I imagine that would taste like.

This year I kept my head on a little better - partly because I didn't want to feel half-dead today (I'm writing this the next day even!) and partly because we didn't have Ah-Q Mama to get us home safely. I had to help Eduardo navigate, though Mark (another friend who came with us) had biked the route and took over for me.

At one point while I was dancing, though, someone gave millet wine to Mark, Joseph and Brendan, who all surreptitiously threw most of it out as it was "not fit for human consumption" according to Brendan.

I felt bad for the woman walking around selling it from a basket on her back. She was selling it for cheaper than the stands, and clearly making money for her family, but we had some from another spectator who bought it, and it really did have a gasoline-y aftertaste. Ew.

Anyway.

We stayed and danced until about 3am before walking back to the car, after which time the eminently sober Eduardo drove us to Ah-Q Mama's with Mark's help (as Mark had biked there earlier and knew the way).

I recommend Ah-Q's homestay, "A-mue", as highly as I did last year. With a delicious homemade breakfast, great view, friendly owners, warm blankets, adorable pets and rustic setting not far from Guanwu (entrance to a national park), the residence of Zhang Xueliang, Dabajianshan and the Pasta'ai, it's a great spot for a rest if you have your own transport.

We got there at 4am - they'd left the rooms open for us - and collapsed into bed.

I awoke at 7am with a headache, took some Panadol and slept again until about 10 or 11. The coterie of dogs from two years ago was nowhere to be seen, but in their place, they had a pile of kittens.

O.M.G. 好可愛喔!! How cute is this pile of adorableness?

Pretty darned cute.

They pretended to like Brendan because they were hoping he'd open the door to the kitchen area for them. We visited for a bit, drank tea, ate breakfast, enjoyed the view, played with the kittens and puppy, and they reminded me of how ridiculously hungover I had been last time. (Also, apparently they understand my Chinese now.)

The view from Ah-Q Mama's.

Because we don't know if or when we'll be back in that area or when we'll have our own transportation, we had a look a few kilometers down the road to the former residence of Zhang Xueliang who you can read about on Wikipedia. Pretty nice place to live out your days under house arrest...

...and anyone who managed to kidnap Chiang Kai-shek is someone I can't dislike too much, even if the Mainlanders think he's a hero.

The entire experience left me with four lasting thoughts:

1.) That picture of the nice older lady I posted above? She speaks fluent Saisiyat and Chinese, but surrounding her were her children and grandchildren (of which she had many). Not one of her grandchildren could speak the Saisiyat language, despite being in touch with their culture enough to participate in the Pasta'ai. The Saisiyat are not even the tiniest or most assimilated of the aboriginal tribes - if their own language is dying out to the extent that grandchildren cannot speak their grandparents' mother tongues, then this does not bode well for the future of aboriginal languages in general (which are commonly recognized to be dying out at an alarming rate).

On the other hand, it's fascinating to head up through these villages and realize that you aren't hearing even one word of Chinese or a Chinese-related language spoken. There are still more native speakers of Atayal, Saisiyat etc. who use it on a daily basis than one would expect.

2.) Every once in awhile I get a thought in my head that goes something like this: "What are you doing spending so much time and money traveling instead of saving, buying a home and working on a career? Haven't you noticed that people are people no matter where you go, that travel is a luxury that, when you're done with it, leaves you with no material gain? Anyway, haven't you traveled enough?" Experiences like the Pasta'ai remind me that no, people are not the same everywhere you go, and that while there may be no material gain to travel, there's a lot of gain in terms of cultural exposure, wisdom and knowledge of the world. I'm not one of those people who travels without trying to learn (and retain) something about the history, politics, economy, language and culture of a place or event - so I inevitably come away with new pieces of firsthand knowledge.

Sure, I could read about Taiwan in a book - it's pretty clear that many policymakers in the US State Department do just that. (Officers travel abroad, learn languages and have a wide scope of global knowledge, but I've noticed that actual policymakers and those who influence decision-making...well...don't - even representatives posted to the countries they're dealing with). If I had "stayed home", built a career and had a more settled life in the country of my birth, sure, I could read, watch TV shows, see movies and learn online about different people in different parts of the world, but I wouldn't really know anything tangible about them, and I would completely miss out on things like Pasta'ai. How many newspaper articles, websites, TV shows and school textbooks on Taiwan mention aborigines, let alone the Saisiyat, not to mention their festivals or really any pertinent information about them? Most people don't even know that Taiwan has aborigines to begin with.

And that right there is valuable, and it's one of the main reasons, if not the #1 reason, why I continue to travel even as pressure increases to settle down.

3.) Ten minutes at a festival like this will show any nay-sayers, fence-sitters and ignoramuses who get their opinions from scant news articles rather than real world experience to what very great extent Taiwan is not a part of China. How could anyone claim that a country with a rich mixture of heritages, which includes but is not summed up by Chinese culture? This is not only not Chinese, this is something you will never see in China, something that has never had anything to do with China. Something created and continued by people who are not ethnically Chinese and hail from an entirely different cultural tradition than anything East Asia could offer, let alone China. It's unique to Taiwan, and showcases how Taiwan is unique. And, if you'll allow me to expand on that, showcases how much a unique place like Taiwan deserves to be recognized as the self-governing nation and cultural unit that it is.

Though I would not judge anyone who says that Taiwanese culture is strongly influenced by Chinese culture, and much of it originated there, I stop short at accepting that the entirety of Taiwanese culture was imported from China. As you can clearly see here, it was not - at least not entirely. This goes beyond the case for the divergent cultural evolutions (and Revolutions, har har har) of China and Taiwan - this is at the core of things, a fundamentally Taiwanese cultural facet that evolved long before there even was a "Taiwan" and a "China".

4.) There is really something to be said for having your own vehicle and the skills to drive it. I wish I had those skills (or rather, I have them but I wish I had the experience and confidence to use them in Taiwan). The freedom of being able to visit these places and participate in these festivals - and one thing that sets Pasta'ai apart from the Taiwanese temple fairs is that the audience can participate - with your own transportation is a great feeling, and I wish we had more access to it. Which means more practice for me.

I *heart* Next Media

"Don't Touch My Junk"

Check out the Kung Fu Nun.

it's iPod Touch Photo Day on Lao Ren Cha!

Ahem. Uh. Guys. Yeah, guys? So. We need to talk. I hate to tell you this but...YOU ARE NOT COOL. You are not 'hip', you are not 'with it', you are not 'all that', and this is a 'fail', not a 'win'. Eric, you are not and never will be James Bond. "New Taipei City So Happy?" Really? Couldn't you have taken the money you threw away on those sunglasses and paid an English editor, perhaps?

Oh yeah. And guys? That stance and the sunglasses makes me feel a little too much like you're about to have me shot for political subversion. Y'all have kind of a *history* with that if y'know what I'm sayin'.

(Photo by Brendan)

Considering the interesting comments on my last post about women and marriage in Taiwan, my next long post is likely to be about men and marriage in Taiwan. I'm no sociologist, but I have been asking around in a very informal, unscientific way (and a way appropriate for class: basically having them read a current events article on birth rates/marriage stats in Taiwan and having it be a discussion question) and am collecting a fair number of Taiwanese men's views on marriage here on the island.

I'd just ask friends, but I seem to have this thing where my expat friends are quite varied by gender (that is, I have some of both), but my Taiwanese friends are almost exclusively female.

Anyway. I'm still working on that because I have to do actual research so in the meantime, please enjoy some fun iTouch photos from around Taipei, including some of election-related gems.

Some of these were taken on Brendan's gadget, but only one was taken while I was not actually there.

Oh, and I cheated with two - the photos that are actually of decent quality were taken on a real camera. But they're still funny.

Domo is gonna eat the kitty. Clearly he likes his meat marbled and fatty.

Young boy on the stairs at an oddly deserted Taipei Main Station, around 11:45pm.

MONKEY! Monkey monkey monkey monkey. Took this one in Nicaragua.

"No Frills Seasoning" kind of scares me.

Jurassic Jewelry...home of the renowned T-rex tooth necklace.

Run of the mill campaign ad, but look at his little cartoon guy in the bottom left. He's Popeye! For real!

This is my favorite guy, the siphon brewin' coffee guy at Drop Coffee House (I mistakenly called them "People Say" but it's Drop). Go spend exorbitant amounts of money on their amazing coffee, and enjoy sitting in a restored Japanese house! Go now!

Taiwan overtakes Japan in living standards

http://www.economist.com/blogs/asiaview/2010/11/taiwan_and_japan

Fascinating article from The Economist on living standards. I agree with it for the most part. The Japanese make more, but thanks to high prices they can afford less. Neighborhoods look nicer (and are so clean you could eat off the streets) but living spaces are tiny and housing prices are so high as to make Taipei's somewhat shabbier neighborhoods* be a far better deal at a fraction of the cost...for more space.

And it's true that if you go out for a good meal in Taipei, even for Japanese food, you're looking at maybe $10 USD per person, possibly $15. The grand total for a bill for 3 is $30-$45. (We're talking a "good meal", not a "super expensive hotel buffet" meal, which isn't even all that good most of the time.) You'll spend that per person in Japan on a good meal, and get less food.

But I disagree with the swipe at stinky tofu. I love sushi but come on. Stinky tofu is WHERE IT'S AT. What-ever, Economist. You just don't know good food when you try it. The more like ripe gym socks it smells, the better it tastes. End of debate.

Also, sushi is not the main food staple there. Duh - most people eat noodles, rice-based dishes, seaweed, cooked salmon and tuna dishes, plus egg. Sushi is a special occasion food in Japan, so comparing proletarian stinky tofu to patrician sushi is ridiculous.

A few notes on comparisons between life in Japan and Taiwan, with a focus on the lives of female expats, if only because I'll be comparing myself and a female expat friend who lives in Japan.

Living Space

It can't be denied - Taipei residents, as much as they complain about high real estate prices, can afford more space than the average Japanese urbanite. We're talking mostly about urban life here because most Japanese now live in towns and cities and really, what is Western Taiwan but one giant unfurled length of urban areas, connected by skeins of towns and settlements? Both countries have rural areas, but urban life is the default for most residents of both countries, as is fitting for developed nations.

I live in an older apartment in a sixth-floor walkup (which I am fairly sure is illegal - shhh). It's not a "pretty" apartment although we've decorated it well. Look under the sisal rugs and you see peeling linoleum better suited to a 1950s elementary school. Look past the big rice paper lantern lights and you can see where we installed them with electrical tape, and how the ceiling above is plastic. The bedroom is quaint until you realize that it's an add-on; what was one big room was converted to a one-bedroom with, basically, painted plywood. Our kitchen is huge but is just as outdoors as in (don't ask). We did our best with the paint, using epoxy primer on tough spots, and still got wall cancer (wall cancer is that thing you see in Taiwan where humidity makes the paint and stucco bubble and flake like tumors).

My friend's apartment is comparatively nice, with a tatami floor bedroom, sturdier walls and a kitchen that can be confidently described as "indoors". She's said that, compared to most apartments in the Tokyo area, however, it's crap. It's old and ugly (I think it looks fine; clearly Japan has a different threshhold for "old and ugly").

That said, hands-down I have more space. My living room alone is easily the size of her entire apartment. In her own words, "I live in a shoebox. It drives me nuts". Plastic ceilings, ugly floors and all, my apartment doesn't drive me nuts (usually). There is more than enough space for me, Brendan and the cat. I am not sure a cat could survive in my friend's place - not that they can have one.

Her rent is stratospheric compared to Taipei rent - for all that extra space we spend a grand combined total of US $400 per month. I'm not sure that would pay for my friend's living room in Kawasaki.

I live within a one-minute walk of Jingmei MRT station in Taipei. She's a 20-minute walk from the nearest subway station in Kawasaki, outside Tokyo.

We both have convenience on our side - she doesn't have to walk up six flights of stairs, but restaurants, convenience stores and other shops abound in her neighborhood as they do in mine. I have a night market though...na naaa.

Her neighborhood is better looking, though.

I can't compare real estate because I've never looked into it in either country, but it is safe to say that Tokyo real estate dwarfs Taipei real estate in price.

Salary

Not much to say here, and it's hard to compare as she's just finished grad school and that cost a pretty penny.

She makes more. Depending on the month (I work on contract, see) she makes between 30% and 50% more than I do.

I, however, can afford more. We don't worry about price so much when we go shopping. We don't come back from a day in Taipei wondering where all our money went, clutching a tiny bag of barely anything (ah, Japan, the great Money Suck). The article is just right here - prices are absolutely punishing in Tokyo. My salary is lower but prices, in general, are an order or two of magnitude lower than that, giving me higher purchasing power overall.

You can see it in our travels, though this is not really a fair comparison: we specifically work and save to travel, and she worked and saved to go to graduate school. We jet off to the Philippines or Hong Kong because we *can*, and she's admitted that traveling just for the sake of it isn't so much her thing; she likes to live in different places and experience them in-depth.

That said, this is not a fair comparison at all. She did just work her way through graduate school at Columbia's Tokyo campus. Regardless of relative salaries and PPP she'd have less money after that - I've had no such major expense.

Quality/Price of Goods

There is a misconception out there that women are bad with money, that we're out-of-control shoppers who need to be told how to manage our finances.

My friend and I, as well as any independent expat women out there who managed to get themselves abroad and manage their finances well enough to maintain life abroad with regular visits home are a slap in the face to this theory - as for us two, neither of us overspend on "stuff" - including clothes and makeup.

I recently bought a pile of new, high-end makeup for my wedding, but with that I learned how to use it and do use it for work. My friend doesn't wear makeup. Neither of us buys clothes in bulk; neither of us can, really. I have far too many curves to ever fit into clothes typically sold in Taiwan for slender-boned, boyish-framed girls here. My friend isn't quite as voluptuous but she is tall - taller than me, in fact, and I'm no shorty. Buying clothes in Japan is just as hard for her, doubly so because everything is that much more expensive.

So, given the fact that neither of us is a big spender, we've got a lot of cred for accurate reviewing when we do buy something.

In department stores, prices are almost the same, especially when it comes to high end goods that are popular with upper middle class women in both countries. Designer items are particularly expensive in Taiwan due to import duties. Outside department stores it's a different story.

Thanks to shoddy but cheap products from China flooding the market here, stuff is dirt cheap. When I wanted to buy a coffeemaker, I went out and bought one. It wasn't the best quality but hey, if it ever breaks I can buy a new one (not good for the environment, I know, but even the expensive ones here seem shoddy). When I need new clothes, I can go out and shop carefully, and if I find something I like I'll generally buy it without too much worry as to the price.

If I lived in Japan I wouldn't do any of these things - partly because stuff would last longer, and partly because "not worrying about price" is a recipe for disaster in Tokyo. You may as well drop your pants and bend over. I'd have to be very circumspect about what I bought and how much I spent.

So all in all - her stuff is of better quality and is longer-lasting. Mine is easy to come by and I have more leverage to buy it, but it won't last that long because it's all Made in China.

Transport

It's hard to compare transportation in Taipei and Tokyo, as both have their upsides. Tokyo is awash in transportation, with a web-like system of subways and trains that covers virtually every inch of the metro area. Public transit in the countryside and smaller cities is similarly good. Even in Shizuoka town I never had to worry about how to navigate without a car. In Taiwan, traveling to the countryside carries the question "once we're in the town, how will we get around?" You can get a bus to almost anywhere (with some notable exceptions), but once there it can be very hard to do anything. Ever tried to explore Taidong without a car? There ya go.

Transit in Taipei is cheaper though - I can afford to ride the MRT and buses because they don't cost a mint. It's easier to figure out with more English help and signage and is more logically organized in one clear system. Even the buses, which are run by different companies, are integrated. In Tokyo, without a SUICA card, you're at the mercy of the different private subway line companies. It's impossible to figure out and I've screwed up more than once trying to deal with the subways there.

There's also the fact that in Taiwan, taxis are exceedingly affordable. If the transit connection between buses or trains is too much to bother, you miss the last train for the night or you're running late, a taxi is a real option that won't break the bank. I wouldn't even try to take taxis in Tokyo because I like to not be poor.

This is the most painfully apparent in airport transit. Getting into town from Tokyo Narita costs easily $12 US per person. Getting into town from Taipei Taoyuan costs...$4 per person. For the cost of the train in Tokyo, you could get a taxi from the airport in Taipei. Lower salaries or not, this means that Taiwanese can afford to see Japan's offerings and go one better.

The cost of transportation in Japan is one of the main prohibitors for traveling around the country. Our high speed rail is half the cost of theirs. Our trains and subways, too. Our buses leave theirs in the dust cost-wise, and if we need a car, chartering a car and driver is within our budget in a way that doing so in Japan could never be, even with a higher salary.

Rural Life

As little as I can focus on rural folks in this post, it is true that the average rural Taiwanese person is still poorer on a very real level than the average rural Japanese.

Food and Nightlife

Hands-down cheaper in Taiwan, and just as good. It's silly to compare sushi with stinky tofu, but you can compare one of our favorite pub cafes (Zabu in Shida) with the little izikaya we had dinner at the last time we went to Japan.

The food at the izikaya was spectacular (except for the weird mayo-relish-caramelized onion chicken thing) and we each had three glasses of sake/umeshu. We tried chicken sushi for the first time - yes, that's raw chicken. The bill came to about $35 USD per person. In Japan that's not bad. In Taiwan we could have enjoyed the entire meal with alcohol for that. At Zabu we regularly get a selection of good food (I particularly like the salmon flake citrus rice balls) and 2 high end imported beers each, and spend maybe $30 USD in total. With food and drink that much cheaper, it's no wonder that Taiwanese can go out more.

Anyway, there ya go. With a strong bias towards Taiwan as I'm writing this and not my friend, but that's my comparison of observed expat life in Tokyo as opposed to Taipei, keeping Purchasing Power Parity in mind.

*I don't mean that Taipei looks shabby. It's just that compared to Japan, if you don't have a shiny silver robot and hovercar, you look shabby. Next to Japan, America looks shabby.

The Low Marriage Rate in Taiwan: Part I

I mentioned that I'd like to share my thoughts on the link at the bottom of this post, about a girl in Taipei who's chosen to marry herself. Apparently at first her mother wasn't convinced but is now on board with the idea, and she's doing it not only to stick her tongue out at the pressure she's feeling to marry, but also:

"I was just hoping that more people would love themselves," said Chen, who will go on a solo honeymoon to Australia.

The short of my observation is that this is a wonderful thing - she's throwing a small party, frankly a party that's smaller than some birthday parties I've had. She's not wasting money or turning it into a Princess Day. She loves herself and is not afraid to say so. I think it's a bold step to publicly vow to be good to yourself, to love and cherish yourself, and to laughingly tell naysayers to shove off.

The comments in this article are, shall I say, mostly very unkind. It was reposted to a forum I frequent where there were no horrifying, imbecilic comments about her looks, weight and age there (I won't re-post any comments from the article here because they don't deserve the bandwidth) - a few people mentioned the Princess Complex and a few said she might be angling for gifts, but mostly there was a more positive reaction.

I tend to agree with this kinder take on things, because living in the same city as Chen, I've made a few observations about women and marriage expectations.

First of all, while it is true that many Asian women bear the brunt of a social stigma called "Christmas Cake" ("nobody wants it after the 25th" - UGH), I have to say that in Taipei city I don't really see this pressure; at least, it's not as strong as many people assume it is. It certainly exists, and I'll cover that below.

I have several good female friends who are between the ages of 28 and 35 and none of them are married. I've actually never been to a wedding in Taiwan because nobody I know well here has gotten married - they're all about 30 and all single! Some have boyfriends, some don't. All seem to be fairly content, although all do share a desire to find someone to share their life with - not because they're expected to, but because hey, who doesn't want love and companionship? (A few people, but that's a different debate). Several of my students and tangential acquaintances of students I've met have expressed a strong desire not to marry. Not "oh, it doesn't matter" or "I don't care" but I DO NOT WANT TO MARRY.

Now, on this other really excellent blog post on women and marriage in Taiwan, not just the post but the comments (especially David's) are really thoughtful: With regards to the lack of material on Google Scholar I will relate a small anecdote. A certain sociology lecturer at NCCU spent an entire semester presenting graphs and tables about marriage rates, fertility rates and female participation in the workforce. Yet she failed to offer a single theory or explanation for any of the trends. It's easy to draw the graphs and identify the trends, but not so easy to understand exactly why.

And Okami: I think the key part they really miss and I get this from talking with lots of Taiwanese women is the total sense of insecurity and lose of control that marriage entails for them.

And finally, in the post itself: In many of the articles I have read the unmarried young woman is typically portrayed as a sort of Taipei Career Girl independent, with her own income. However, authors above note that the reality is more prosaic -- the epidemic of non-marriage is silent and rural, the class that doesn't appear interviewed by researchers or in the media. Foreign brides aren't filling a gap but displacing Taiwanese women at the bottom of the ladder.

I'm focusing mostly on the Taipei Career Girl, because that's my observable reality. That's who my female Taiwanese friends are. And while Michael's post was very insightful, I did notice a dearth of actual Taiwanese females coming to weigh in on the topic (not Michael's or anyone's fault). However, I will try to drum up a few thoughts on the rural implications of this trend.

It's Not Work That's Dissuasive

In my observation, Taipei girls are a lot like Chen - a lot quirkier, more thoughtful and more interesting (and more mature) than one thinks at first glance, but stuck in a culture of "好可愛喔！" and Hello Kitty, trapped in office jobs they don't actually like - who would, given the long hours and dull projects handed to most Taiwanese office workers? - a culture very hard for them to throw off for a few reasons. First, on some level they actually like cute things, like Hello Kitty and those little bobblehead cartoons with very expressive faces (I used to know what they were called - anyone?), and genuinely don't realize that festooning their cubicles with 7-11 toys does, in fact, obscure the insightful and intelligent side of their personalities. Second, it's almost a double-pronged attack with those horrific office jobs. There's family pressure to get one (Mom: "Be an accountant. You'll always have an income. It's very safe." Daughter: "But I hate everything about accounting - the math, the forms, the long hours." Mom: "Just do it. You'll understand when you're older." Trainer: "So why'd you become an accountant?" Daughter: "Because my mother told me to.") Family pressure can be especially hard to shake in Taipei. There's also still a sense of work and work ethic that is starting to change in the USA and Europe but remains firmly embedded in Taiwanese culture: the idea that you are not supposed to *like* your job - it's what you do to earn a living and support a family because you *have* to, because it's just what's done and there is no other choice. It's a very Silent Generation mentality, one that we Gen X/Millenials (I'm on the cusp between the two and thus can be very confused at times!) are turning on its head.

In fact, when looking at office workers - in general, even though my intention is to focus on female office workers, I see a lot of similarities between them and the attributes commonly ascribed to the Silent Generation. This turning-on-the-head of the notion of the silent hard worker whose goal in life is to make enough to support a reasonable lifestyle and nothing more just hasn't made it to Taiwan yet, and I see it affecting women more than men. Why? I can't put my finger on why, but my intuition leads me to embedded cultural sexism. Sons have greater autonomy in what they study as long as it's adequately remunerative. Daughters are told to study accounting, and not really expected to be anything more than OLs (Office Ladies - think gophers and low-level managers or coordinators). In fact, in my observation, to make it from Office Lady to Manager, a woman has to basically be a bitch by Taiwanese cultural standards.

Side note: it's been really interesting, in this cultural milieu, to see the reaction of my students to the ideas presented in this TED talk about the need for autonomy, mastery and purpose in a career.

So what I have found is that my friends (generally in their early 30s and generally Office Ladies) aren't dissuaded from marriage by lofty career goals. Their non-married status has little to do with the jobs they work every day and generally do not like. So I don't buy into the idea of the Taipei Career Girl who doesn't get married because she's got high-flying career ambitions.

Of course there are always exceptions, and I can name a few of my own. I have had several very high-ranking female students who are unmarried by choice or necessity (as in, they'd be married if they met the right guy and could keep their career going, but that didn't happen). One who is corporate counsel, another who is an HR Director. Etc. etc. Those are the women who don't marry because of their career - not the average Office Lady.

I should note here that career prospects for Taiwanese women, before and after marriage, are much better than the rest of Asia - it's still not a perfect situation but then the USA has a problem with glass ceilings, salary disparities and skewed expectations, too. Compared to women in Japan, China and Korea, Taiwanese women have a good thing going and are clearly enjoy greater equality.

That's a topic for a different post, though.

Could it be the men?

Among my female friends in Taipei, it has a lot more to do with men they'd want to marry vs. men who are eligible, and their own selves compared against the Taiwanese Female Ideal is maybe a little less than favorable -which I find ridiculous, but I find all Ideals - male, female, any culture, ridiculous. Unlike the commenters in the article, I agree with the rationales of these friends: there is something to be said for "the world is changing and the men just aren't keeping up". I've heard of mothers urging daughters to be "quieter - no man wants a blabbermouth. Men like quiet girls". I've heard of dates in which the man pulled out a calculator to split up the tab exactly down the middle. (For the record, I am not against going Dutch even on a first date. Just that bringing out a calculator to do it? Really? Seriously? That's just sad and cheap.) I've been told about breakups instigated because the boyfriend wanted his girlfriend to be more demure, to not appear smarter than him in public, to never one-up him, and ultimately to be a good wife who would continue to work and yet still do all of the housework and raise the children.

Unlike commenters on the original article who said that a woman of 30 with a checklist and no boyfriend ought to look inward to see the problem, I think having standards that necessitate avoiding such men is crucial, and a laudable step in the progress of women's rights. No woman should have to put up with those expectations. Much better to hold out for someone who loves you for you, not to change yourself into something you don't even recognize so you can marry before 30.

This is one reason why I love the Chen article - she is who she is. She's doing something brash and ballsy, she's not horfing diet pills in an attempt to resemble a 5'3" Bic pen the way many Taiwanese girls do, and she loves herself. She's not buying into those sad, worn-out sexist ideas. She's not being fake-quiet or self-loathing...if anything, she's doing a great thing by making vows to herself, to love herself and stay true to herself. I've just got to love that.

I think a lot of women in Taipei feel similarly, even if they don't express it in such a public stunt. There is a slowly awakening awareness in women that they shouldn't have to change who they are to fit an outdated ideal, and I can only regard that as positive. The idea that more people should love themselves really hits home - if you need to change who you are to find a man, how can you love yourself if you don't even act like who you are? The fact that Chen is willing to publicly, semi-tongue-in-cheek-but-not-really buck this trend is, if anything, a good sign.

Societal Expectations of a Married Woman's Responsibilities

One thing I do have to say - at least in Taipei there are still issues regarding household chores and child-rearing, as well as of living with and kowtowing to in-laws - but the issues of drinking, abuse, binlang-chewing etc. are minimal. I do, however, believe that these are huge issues rurally (especially domestic abuse - it's a much bigger problem in rural areas than Taipei City).

Taiwan has done an excellent job, compared to other Asian countries, of integrating a feminist perspective into society. Women here have more freedom, more leeway, fewer expectations piled on them and more choice and earning power (and respect) than in pretty much every Asian country. When you compare Taiwan to Japan, Korea or Mainland China, it just kind of makes one sad for Japanese, Korean and Chinese women when you look at all they don't have that Taiwanese women do. There has been a huge change in parental desires to have daughters/sons - daughters are now usually welcomed. They get the same or similar education as their brothers. Nobody finds it odd, at least in Taipei, if they continue to work after marriage. They're not expected to be baby machines except by their grandparents.

However, expectations regarding housework and child-rearing are still a problem - it is apparent in my observation that a lot of women are not marrying for exactly that reason. They may not love their jobs but neither do they love housework, and at least working outside the home entails independence and a salary. Who does, really? They may well expect to live with parents-in-law who expect her to do all the cleaning and a husband who does not help. They often see themselves with a baby that they get little assistance with.

One student of mine said that he'd steer his son towards a well-paid career because he'd have a family to support, but encourage his daughter to study "art, or whatever she likes" because "she will probably get married and have babies". There it is right there.

For women who are beginning to gain a more egalitarian view of the world, is it not excruciatingly obvious why they would choose not to take that path? I would say, far more so than the "Taipei Career Girl" myth, that this is why women in Taipei are hesitant to marry. Would any women reading this right now feel like doing anything other than running the other way if confronted with that set of expectations - you can keep working. In fact, you should keep working. But cleaning the house is also women's work. And taking care of the kids. Oh and my mom is going to come live with us. No, she's not going to help you clean and neither is my dad. (I have to say to this that I have the best in-laws ever and I can only wish others are so lucky).

So the question here is - why haven't Taiwanese men caught up? (More on that below).

Expectations of Appearance

At least one friend has commented that being of darker skin, having very "Asian" eyes and having a figure - a really great figure by Western standards, with all the right curves - instead of being a stick insect has made it hard to find interested men. This just makes me sad. Another friend, whom I happen to think is gorgeous, is a little thicker-waisted but is kind, sociable and intelligent enough that I just refuse to accept that this should be a problem, is also judged harshly by the impossible standards of appearance for Taiwanese women.

All I have to do to conclude that those standards are horrific and, honestly, stacked against most women is look in the beauty section of Cosmed or check the average sizes in boutiques. When Size 8 is "XL" and you need skin bleach, fake eyelashes and glitter gloss to even compete, something is wrong. Then again, where in the world is this not true?

Yet another reason why I love the Chen article - despite the ridiculous comments that she's "overweight", I think that unlike many of the women here to starve themselves (some really are naturally that thin, btw. I don't mean to deride all skinny women in Taiwan) she looks healthy and natural, and she's not letting any expectations about her appearance get in the way of her happiness.

Foreign Brides and Xiao Taitais

This is also an issue, and I think may be the central one on why Taiwanese men just plain have not caught up to the feminist, equalist reality in their own country. To be fair, many have. In the course of my job and social life I've gotten to know quite a few Taiwanese men in a range of ages, careers and backgrounds. A large number of them are, in fact, quite enlightened and receptive to women's equality. I do not mean to tarnish all Taiwanese men...the population I mean here is, if anything, in the minority in Taipei.

This is one issue that I think is split between rural and urban. Taiwanese men who have a Xiao Taitai (a second wife/family in China, where he travels frequently for work) tend to be urban, as they are the ones with the types of jobs that send them abroad on business. I don't see many foreign brides in Taipei, but I know this is a huge issue rurally. (Foreign brides meaning Southeast Asian or Chinese women who come to Taiwan to marry Taiwanese men).

Simply put, if you are a Taiwanese man who is not disposed to or educated to appreciate women's rights, if you can go to China to visit your more traditionally-minded wife or import a wife from abroad who will be basically a maid who shares your bed, there is no push, no necessity, no impetus to gain that respect or at least investigate why Taiwanese women act the way they do, and look inward on your own beliefs vs. those of the modern world.

Does the pressure to marry really exist?

With articles detailing how more and more women not persuaded that married life is better than single life, mothers not encouraging women to marry etc. I'd say no...at least in Taipei the pressure is not that strong. I actually view this as a good thing - in the long term, not feeling pressure to marry means that if you actually do marry, you'll be marrying someone you truly want to be with (like me! heee) instead of a "He'll do". No person - male or female - should feel "pressure" to marry. Ever.

There's also my whole cohort of anecdotal evidence - my single, 30-something Taiwanese female friends don't show any outward pressure. One has been with her boyfriend for ages and is clearly not rushing to the altar. One goes on dates and says she gets flak from her mother and boss, but doesn't seem to feel any intrinsic pressure. None feel compelled by the Christmas Cake myth.

It's there, for sure, but like Chen, while they may feel extrinsic pressure, they don't feel intrinsic pressure. They take their mothers and grandmothers, if those older relatives are pressuring them, with a grain of salt.

Thoughts

What I'd like to see is more general education and public awareness on gender equality - not just aimed at reducing domestic abuse, homewrecking alcoholism and the Xiao Taitai culture. It should also cover the things that get to the root of the problem: the need for equality, gender issues (both related to stereotypes of men and women - there's anti-male sexism too, y'know), the importance of respect and shared housework, shared child-rearing, and good communication with extended family...as well as a basic respect for equality in the workplace.

Heck, I'd like to see this stuff in the USA, too.

Then, and only then, do I think Taipei will see an increase in the marriage rate.

As for rural Taiwan, the post at The View from Taiwan is exactly right - it's the same problem but with very different consequences and very different roots. I don't live in rural Taiwan and don't have female friends who grew up in rural Taiwan (I do have a few students who did, mostly male, and females who are in fact married) so I don't feel comfortable delving into that, given a dearth of experience and observation.