Albert Shihyi Chiu (邱師儀) gave an impassioned opinion on the spiritual and philosophical immaturity of the Taiwanese, citing qigong masters, temple rituals, doomsday prophets and other eclectic hustlers of heaven, hell and every ghost in between (“Breaking through Taiwan’s babble,” May 19, page 8).
I respectfully disagree with his opinion, not because it implicitly supports secularism — as an agnostic, I am also inclined toward secular philosophy — but because my impression from talking to Taiwanese has been that they are practical about their beliefs. While a few people still surround themselves with superstition, the vast majority are able to separate the possible from the ridiculous. Every opinion I have heard of Wang Chao-hung (王超弘), who “predicted” the nonexistent May 11 earthquake, has been wryly dismissive or humorous (“Are you sure I have to practice my presentation? Don’t you know the world is going to end tomorrow?”)
Furthermore, dealing in the ephemera of folk belief and spirituality is hardly unique to Taiwan. Why single out Taiwanese as philosophically immature when around the world, people are doing the same things with different names and aesthetic trappings? Why criticize Taiwanese when a good portion of the US believed that the world was going to end on Saturday, or when Westerners make, sell and buy “spell rings” and “magic crystals” on the Internet, pay for tarot readings and ascribe supernatural causes to everyday occurrences?
Taiwanese are also hardly alone in other spiritual beliefs: spirit mediums, firewalking and processionals also exist in India, and you’ll see similarities in saint’s day parades in Mexico. You can find an Evil Eye charm in any Mediterranean country for every ba gua mirror and amulet in Taiwan, and if you whittle yoga and taichi down to their spiritual core, you’ll find similarities there, too. For everyone in Taiwan who prays to Confucius or Wenchang (文昌帝君) for a good test score, there’s a kid in some other country begging their own chosen god for some literati luck.
I cannot say that people who believe in these things are intellectually inferior or use religion as an opiate. I believe they have a way of looking at the world that, while I might not agree with it, works for them. To criticize Taiwanese for this is to criticize most of the world. If Taiwanese are not philosophically mature, then nobody is.
In fact, I’d say that Taiwanese spirituality is a part of what I love about this country. I see these beliefs as a window into one culture’s traditions and world view and as artistic expression. Would Mr Chiu prefer that Taiwan become more like China, turning out the “old religion” in favor of ... what? Nothing at all? “Nothing at all” might be my philosophy, but I find learning about the myriad beliefs and traditions in Taiwan to be deeply enriching. Whether or not you burn ghost money or throw fortune blocks, these things do provide the open-minded with a chance to see life and philosophy from a fascinating perspective.
Brendan's hawk eyes noticed this sign before I did.
So.
Ummm...excuse me? Leaving aside the horrible phrasing of "After a century, Taiwan celebrates its 100th year anniversary" (as opposed to celebrating what? What else do you celebrate after 100 years?)...
...I would dearly like to know what happened in 1911 in Taiwan that would cause Taiwan to celebrate its centennial. Something happened in China 100 years ago, for sure, and not one but two governments celebrate it. Nothing, however, happened in Taiwan. On October 10th, 1911, the Taiwanese and Japanese woke up and went about their day as usual. In a country on the other side of the Taiwan Strait a lot was going on, but that has nothing to do with Taiwan. The sentence makes it sound like Taiwan didn't exist before 1911 - as though the KMT, despite the fact that they didn't arrive for several decades more, founded the country in 1911, or discovered the island, or something.
The Republic of China, sure. And yes, the Republic of China is the name of the sovereign government of Taiwan (which I do think should be called the Republic of Taiwan, but that's a whole 'nother rant) now, but it wasn't then. The sign would be correct to say "The Republic of China celebrates its 100th anniversary".
Which it did.
In China.
I'm sure this was written as it was to appease some douchebag from the Chinese government, or the Chinese artists listed as having worked on the corresponding sculpture (which is this one - the side is of Taipei 101 and Spongebob from my previous post):
...or maybe some douchebag in the KMT. The latter actually makes the most sense, considering that the phrasing as it is makes no sense at all. Or it was some sort of compromise that made everyone roll their eyes.
Not only should the government not be giving in to such demands, whether they are internal or international, but they should lay ground rules for these events along the lines of "you respect the reasonable language we use to express our sovereignty, you respect us and our dignity, or don't bother coming to, sponsoring or participating in our festival."
More happily, though, we also saw this sign:
The "正" should be read in Taiwanese (I believe it sounds like biang with a falling tone, but I don't really speak Taiwanese) and I suppose means "really" or "very".
A stand selling refreshing fig jelly drinks with lemon (愛玉檸檬汁) - I like this photo for the hanging limes.
After our tiring, sand-covered trip to Fulong to see the lovely sand sculptures, we hopped a long, heavily air-conditioned bus to Keelung to eat in the night market. More than half the night market is currently closed (road construction, I think) but the main eating area known as Miaokou Snack Street is still open.
Keelung is one of my favorite night markets, and I'd say the best in northern Taiwan (though I am also a big fan of Raohe in the far east of Taipei). I was devastated that my seafood lady - my dealer, as it were, for delicious sea urchin sashimi, was a part of the closed area. Good for my wallet though - sea urchins start at NT$100 an urchin and go up from there. As you can only eat the roe, not the innards, you don't get a lot for your money (but what you get is sublime, so I keep coming back for more. Mmmmm sea urchins).
Some schookids eating what I think is stewed pork rice
Some specialties of Keelung, besides seafood generally, are cream crabs (奶油螃蟹) - a whole crab cooked in cream and butter with onions and often basil, thick soup (羹) in its lamb, eel and crab forms (and possibly others), one bite sausage (below), tempura (below), and ice desserts of various kinds.
All the other stuff is tasty, too.
So...enjoy a pictoral walk through a busy night at the night market, with a few bonus pics of downtown Keelung - which is just this side of sketchy without being too dangerous!
A view of the night market from the temple's incense burner
Many night markets seem to have sprung up around temples, which makes sense if you consider the temple as a community gathering spot that has always had snack vendors outside. It is quite obvious that some of these might grow into full-blown snack markets or night markets. Not all night markets have a temple and not all larger temples have a night market, but many do.
There's a famous snack at Miaokou called "Nutritious Sandwich" - it's a piece of deep-fried bread filled with mayonnaise, tomato, cucumber, ham and boiled egg. Nutritious indeed.
Taiwanese-style tempura (甜不辣)
One Bite Sausage with raw garlic - yum! (一口香腸加蒜頭)
Lovers eating mba wan (肉圓 － Taiwanese rice gluten dumplings)
Crab thick soup (螃蟹羹) and chicken rice (雞絲飯)
I'm quite sad that this photo ended up a bit blurry (and no amount of Sharpen tool can fix it) - I love the expressions on their faces.
They look surprised, but believe me when I say that I asked permission to take this photo.
"Traditional" shaved ice toppings. The green stuff is "coconut" and is actually quite good.
Best photobomb ever! Well, not the best, but still pretty good.
I like Keelung because it's just...weird.
...and gritty with a side of seediness thrown in. It's those things too. That's what you get in an Asian port town.
We took a trip on an overcast but otherwise pleasant day to the sand sculpture festival at Fulong Beach. The sculptures were awesome, although some of them made me raise my eyebrows. The festival will apparently be going on until June (the sculptures are protected from the rain).
There are two beaches at Fulong, a slightly rocky public one that's free and popular with strolling people and folks with beach blankets reading, and a private one owned by the beachside hotel, which costs NT$100 to enter and is only accessible by a large bridge (something we found out the hard way).
In addition to the professional sculptures, which are made by teams of Taiwanese and international artists, there is a more "amateur" competitition with a clear "Taiwan" or "Taiwan tourism" theme. I'm not sure how some of them promoted Taiwan tourism, but they were still cool, if not as "polished" as the professional works. I liked this surreal one:
Some more of the pro sculptures below. They were divided into sections - one celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China, and around it were sculptures of Mazu, Guanyin etc.. Another focused on the art of ancient Babylon. One area had Arctic (and Antarctic, although maybe that was just due to poor research) themed works, and another was just odd (a rabbit smoking a hookah, among other things.
The "Arctic" themed works were especially popular. We wondered why they had this category - in Brendan's words: "to celebrate it before it all melts away?"
Just learning to windsurf - kudos for picking up a new hobby!
This sculpture celebrates the new Taiwan: Heart of Asia and ROC Centennial. I do not know why either of those necessitated a Spongebob.
This is a replica of a real sculpture - the damage to the eye is done on purpose.
Bwahaha, look at the silly foreigners trying to wade from the public beach to the private one because they took the wrong turn. Whose dumb idea was that?
...oh.
It was mine. Ahem.
Carry on.
Standing in the surf, looking contemplative
Err, I guess the Little Mermaid is all grown up?
Child on the side of the Guanyin sculpture (below)
Guanyin sculpture
Move over, fools. This be my town.
Grandma's lookin' a little buzzed at lunchtime.
All in all an enjoyable day trip, though tiring to walk over the sand with so many people and small dogs about, kicking the finer sand into the air to create a dusty pall over the beach. We recovered at Mr. Brown Coffee before grabbing a bus to Keelung and having dinner at Miaokou night market (pictures of that coming up).
Golden Peacock Restaurant (金孔雀) - Burmese #48-1 Huaxin Street (Burma Street) Zhonghe, New Taipei City MRT Nanshijiao Exit 4, exit, turn left, keep walking, turn left again on Huaxin Street
金孔雀 新北市中和區華新街（緬甸街)48-1號）
捷運南勢角站4號出口
Just popping in to recommend this place - the food is excellent and while I've never been to Myanmar, I have traveled in that part of the world and I can say that it holds up as tasting authentic.
Other restaurants on this street are also excellent, but so far this place is my favorite. There are different dishes you can choose from already set out - get the chicken in curry gravy and the powdered or pickled mango rice flavorings for sure. Their noodles are great, too, whether you get the thicker or thinner ones.
Make sure to finish up with tea or coffee - we got iced coffee and it was delicious and very Southeast Asian. It had a lot more flavor than what you usually get at upmarket Thai restaurants here.
Golden Peacock is not even remotely high-end, but the food is fantastic!
At a Washington press conference on Wednesday, Chen [Bingde] said: “During my office call on Secretary Clinton this morning, she told me — she reiterated the US policy; that is, there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China.”
and
“The United States welcomes the recent improvement in cross-strait relations, opposes any unilateral actions by either side to alter the status quo, and believes that cross-strait issues should be resolved peacefully in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” the official added.
...
While the “clarification” seemed to go out of its way not to upset Chen, it also made clear — without directly saying it — that Clinton did not tell him that there was only “one China” in the world and that Taiwan was part of China.
OK...umm...
Does anyone else think that Chen was 100% clear on what Clinton said, and he made the first statement regardless? Does anyone else think that this is a not-so-subtle ploy by the PRC to start twisting around the language of what is said in meetings to more quickly get people to accept the idea that Taiwan is a part of China? Does anyone else believe that Chen knew exactly what he was doing and will get praise for it back home? I don't believe for a second that this was a misunderstanding or miscommunication - I honestly believe that Chen deliberately skewed Clinton's words to his and the PRC's advantage, betting on the "you can't unhear something" principle? Just as a witness whose testimony is stricken by a judge has still said what she said, and the jury can pretend to disregard it but really, they can't unhear what they've heard? Like that.
Saying that this was some sort of backdoor deal, and that Air China knew exactly what it was doing by creating confusion about what is a domestic and what is an international airline, sounds more conspiracy theorist, and I don't deal in conspiracy theories.
But still.
For as much criticism as this has garnered, you can't undo a first impression, and impressions like the are what drive many people abroad who are not cognizant of the Taiwan-China political situation to believe that they are one and the same. It creates an impression in the mind. It makes implications that can't be un-implied. While I don't deal in conspiracy theories, I have to ask - was this done on purpose?
I was excited about reading and reviewing this book once I heard about its launch in May (no, I was not paid for this review) – I enjoyed reading it and considering throughout how it might be of use to those who read this blog and expat women generally.
The pink cover and whimsical title font of Expat Women: Confessions might lead you to believe it’s written along the lines of a bubblegum girlie book – you know, like the Shopaholic series (I’ve never actually read one, mind you).
It’s not.
The format is Question-and-Answer, and inspired by the Confessions column featured on the site from which the book originated. The issues discussed are not bubblegum in any way – they’re the tough, rarely aired in public issues that many women feel nervous about discussing in the insular expat communities one finds in most countries. I wouldn’t call myself “connected” to either end of the expat spectrum in Taiwan but even I know how quickly gossip spreads in these communities.
Expat Women: Confessions never really clarifies if the questions are fictitious, “inspired by” or real, or whether they are unique to the book or culled from the popular column. My guess, given the range of issues and different voices of those asking, that they are at least based on real, submitted questions, with some details changed to protect submitters’ anonymity. Edited to add: reading other blogger reviews of this book, it is clarified that these are real questions from real women living abroad, and are taken from the eponymous column on the Expat Women website.
The questions themselves – which range from adjustment issues to affairs and infidelity and abuse abroad to medical issues abroad to substance abuse to job loss and repatriation – are answered brilliantly (for the most part – I’ll discuss the answers I disagree with below) and in such a way that the specific question is not only addressed, but the answer also has broader appeal to those dealing with similar situations who might see a little of themselves in some of the queries. The questions are categorized into chapters: Settling In, Careers and Money, Raising Children, Relationships, Repatriation etc.. Each chapter has a few questions that (I assume) were selected as they would be likely to have broader appeal and be a basis for advice - questions on topics such as a husband asking his trailing spouse wife for a divorce while abroad, a woman who reacted to her husband's high-travel role and contract extension in Bangkok with an affair, issues children who grew up abroad face especially when moving "home" (wherever that is), alcohol abuse abroad, reverse culture shock after twelve years in Mumbai, long work hours in Taiwan, and someone whose friend has admitted that she is physically abused by her husband. There are many more, but these are some of the questions that caught my eye.
I do believe this format is one of the book’s strengths. It is also written in a strong, clear voice, the writers have empathy but also detached common sense for all of the expat women whose issues they tackle, and the tougher questions are clearly fielded by a pro.
For these reasons, I would recommend that any woman living as an expatriate buy and read this book. I would say overall that my reaction was quite positive.
That said, you guys know me. I wear my cynicism on my sleeve. I never think anything is perfect and I over-analyze everything. Here are some things I didn’t like – keeping in mind that these issues are minor and my overall “thumbs up” still stands:
Marketing Demographic –
Here’s the thing about me: I don’t fit in to any one particular expat circle. I would say overall that I am not connected to either spectrum of the expat community – I’m too young for the cram school teachers and most students at the language centers and too young, hippie-ish and critical of the business world (even though I work in it!) for the older folks who are here on company assignments. I have my assortment of expat friends of different backgrounds and a bevy of local friends. I don’t say this with much pride: I don’t feel that having a lot of local friends and being connected to the expat community are mutually exclusive. I am not one of those “I am better than you because my friends are local” types. Those people annoy me too. It’s just how I am – I’ve always had “assortments of friends” rather than a “community”.
As such, it was immediately clear to me who this book is marketed at – not all expat women are identical, and they chose to go for the women sent abroad for business or “trailing spouses” – women living abroad due to their husband’s overseas assignment. If I had to narrow it down further, I’d say it’s mostly aimed at those women living abroad as trailing spouses, as the authors admit several times that most overseas assignments go to men, and that more often than not the “trailing spouse” is the wife.
In that sense, the book didn’t entirely apply to me, although I found a few of the questions and answers interesting and relevant - there was a question about loneliness and making friends that resonated with me, and as someone whose entire relationship-now-marriage has taken place in Taiwan, the section on relationships was interesting.
There are a lot of asides about contract negotiations, what your company is giving you as a package, whether or not you have a company car and corporate culture abroad. A lot of the discussions center around family and children abroad, something I have no experience in. I'm not saying that to criticize - plenty of women abroad do have those issues and it's worth it to bring them up. I mention it as supporting evidence that the book is marketed to a demographic that I don't belong to. There's nothing wrong with that, of course!
I came here, taught kids for a year, took a few classes at Shi-da, got fed up, quit to study on my own, and started focusing more on my job as a corporate trainer. I moved abroad alone and my now-husband moved here later. There was no “package”, there were no contracts to review. I was in my twenties and made it happen for myself. I would have liked to see more advice aimed at women who did not come over on a corporate contract or as the spouse of someone who did, and more references to and advice for women who would raise their eyebrows at the idea of a company car or relocation package – women like me. I realize that books need to be marketed to a demographic, but as an expat woman who moved abroad independently, I’d like to see more advice for my demographic.
That said, this blog has no such target demographic. I would suppose that many of my readers are younger and I hope at least half, if not more, are female (as I do focus on women’s issues as much as I can). If there are any women in Taiwan sent by their company or trailing spouses reading, this book would be of greater use to them.
I guess, I felt that the book targeted women older than me (although not all women abroad due to a work assignment are older), with a different lifestyle, different reasons for being abroad, and more of an interest in meeting other expats than spending time with locals (questions about friends tended towards friendships with other expats and less was said on local friendships, which is a very complex issue). I feel as though it was written for the women I see in Tianmu, the ones in their mid-thirties to fifties, with a kid or two trailing behind, whom you'll meet if you attend an event at the American or European schools. That's great - and I have nothing against those women or a book for them - but they don't represent me.
A dearth of discussion on issues of sexism in expat life -
I would have also liked to see more of a discussion on the reasons why more “trailing spouses” are women and more people sent abroad for work are men, rather than a blanket acceptance of this inequality. It is addressed, but only in a few sentences. I would like to see someone really pick this apart. As someone who has never been sent abroad by a company, I’m not sure I’m the person to do that (though if nobody does, I sure will give it a go).
There was also a discussion of sexism in the workplace, which while valuable, I felt didn’t delve deeply enough into this issue – an issue that I do feel is the catalyst for many women abroad to pack up and move home. The sexism can be psychologically difficult to deal with both at work and in the every day life as an expat woman, and yet it was only just glanced over. I feel an entire chapter could be dedicated to this issue alone. If we discussed it more, perhaps we could come up with a canon of solid advice that could help struggling women feel better about life abroad, handle the sexism issues they face, and perhaps fewer would end up going home for this reason.
Workplace realities -
There are a few other areas where I would not give the same advice as the book – one questioner wrote in from Taiwan, where the long working hours were killing her. The advice was to scale back her hours to something more reasonable, and if it was reasonable, the company and her colleagues would accept it. I do feel that this is inaccurate: a deeper knowledge of Taiwanese – or even East Asian – work culture would reveal that this is in fact not always (or even usually) possible. “Reasonable” work hours are different here – locals regularly work ten or even twelve hour days – and a more appropriate answer would have acknowledged this fact, and the expectations that come with it. Scaling back to a more reasonable schedule, such as eight or nine hours, would not be respected.
This is, by the way, one reason why I am so cynical of the business world in general, and business in Asia specifically.
The realities of resources -
Finally, there were many calls to visit a “life coach” or talk to a counselor or therapist. While this is admirable advice for several of the issues for which it was mentioned, the reality surrounding language issues and taboos about psychological problems and their treatment abroad was not discussed – the entire issue of therapy abroad was treated as it would be in the USA. That is, as a service readily available and while still stigmatized to a certain extent, not as frowned-upon as it is in many foreign countries.
Take Taiwan for example – good luck finding a talk therapist here (although one resource was posted in the comments - thanks Catherine!). A psychiatrist would be easy (through work, I actually know two who speak excellent English, although one is currently a clinical researcher and the other specializes in rehabilitation, so not much use for someone with psychiatric issues that are not related to brain injury), but a therapist? Who speaks English well enough to help you through complex issues? Good luck with that. There are Chinese-language resources – many churches offer counseling (but most will assume you are Christian or put a Christian bent on their advice, which is fine if you are Christian, but if you’re not it may not work for you) and therapists do exist, but generally speaking the stigma surrounding depression or other psychological issues is so great here that you are not likely to get far in your search (if I ever do find a licensed talk therapist who speaks good English, I will post a reference. I don’t need therapy so I haven’t exactly been looking). Life coaches abound, but you have to speak Chinese to avail yourself of most of them.
I did briefly search for premarital counselors at one point – we had no issues, but it’s better to do a spot check when things are great to make sure your foundation is solid, right? – and found quite little (although a Google search does turn up some leads – most of them religiously affiliated, which I didn’t want).
Conclusion –
Despite everything above, I do think this book is worth reading for any woman abroad. Even if you dismiss everything about contracts, children and spouses and you take advice about therapy and work hours with a grain of salt, there’s a lot of good stuff in here. Chances are that you’ll see a little bit of yourself in some of the questions, and even if you don’t, it doesn’t hurt to be mentally prepared for issues you might face.
