Taiwan Tips #4

Photos from our morning walk:

MY QUESTION: Regarding Taiwan and its culture, would you say there are any "must knows" for an adopted child? Anything that you would consider the thread of the culture that our son should have knowledge about?

HER ANSWER:

To me, I think the 'common' threads are:

1)Taiwan is the melting pot of China and East Asia and Taiwanese. You might find this funny, because most Westerners have the misconception that there is a monolithic Chinese culture. China actually has a very diversified cultures of difference 'peoples' (Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Hui, Tibetan, Mio, Yioa and etc..) However, due to geographical limit, these diversified peoples didn't mix much until KMT retreated to Taiwan after losing the civil war. Of course Han Chinese from Fujian immigrated to Taiwan first and built a dominant culture and language that is more Southern Fujianese centric. When KMT armies arrived, many of the soldiers from all over China brought their hometown's traditions, dialects, and food. Over the years Taiwan has blended these different cultures in the food, and people. This mix is most obvious in a variety of Chinese cuisines that you can get in Taipei.

2) Taiwanese are very hospitable and friendly.. much more so than mainland Chinese or people from Hong Kong. We are just very "busy body" but I love that about Taiwanese. (Even though there is a cruel side of Taiwanese culture, but now I feel this balances it and that is why I still hope to move back to Taiwan one day.)

3) Taiwanese are proud that Taiwan is the 'first' democratic Chinese society. :)

4) Taiwanese are adventurous and very entrepreneurial (after all we are descendants of explorers who crossed oceans or the Taiwan Strait to look for a better life in an unknown Island:). That is how we achieved the economic 'miracle' despite constant military threat from China. Our economic miracle was built by millions of small businessmen who often had very little education and they just knocked on [the doors of] Western companies with a suitcase of samples. If you think about it, Taiwan's situation is very similar to that of the Palestinians: both up against a stronger 'country' next door and is not recognized as a 'country' by the majority of the world. Yet, Taiwan has been practical and were able to find creative and practical ways to co-exist with China which is no small feat. Instead of sinking into a cycle of violence and fight against the stronger 'enemy', Taiwan is a now a thriving democratic society, even though not officially recognized by most nations. Under China's threat, Taiwanese has churned out companies that manufacturing shoes, Tennis racquets, high tech companies that for computers (Acers, BenQ), computer chips (TSMC) and foundry manufactures. A big part of China's current economic development was from direct/indirect investments and factories built by Taiwanese businessmen. Taiwan has one of the highest foreign reserve in the world. I am very proud of Taiwan's economic achievements, also considering that Taiwan is only 1/2 the size of CA! :) Can you actually see that Americans and Taiwanese are actually very similar in our entrepreneurial spirits..:)~
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_20/b3933011.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_in_Taiwan

Taiwan Tips #3

MY QUESTION: We were told by many sources that if our son kept dual citizenship if he should happen to travel to Taiwan between the ages of 19-40 (I think those are the correct numbers), he could be held in Taiwan and forced to serve in the military. Do you know if this is true? Can you share any benefits to a child for keeping his Taiwan citizenship?

HER ANSWER: Yes, there is one-year mandatory military service requirement in Taiwan for man at 19 (or postpone to attend college), then all men between 19-40 are in reserve to fight if a war breaks out which is quite unlikely. However, Taiwanese with expat status on their Taiwanese passport gets a 90-day relief. Therefore as long as they leave Taiwan in 90 days they won't be drafted when they live in Taiwan using their Taiwanese passport. My brother lived in Taiwan for 3 years under this status. He had to travel to HK quite often, so he never had issue with that 90-day rule and was never drafted. My brother wanted to live in Taiwan and enjoy the almost free health care under the National Health Insurance, so that was an obvious advantage to use his Taiwanese expat/citizen status. I can't really think of other tangible beneifts, unless you consider his right to vote and work freely in Taiwan as benefits. :) Taiwan actually makes it very hard to obtain a Taiwanese citizenship for the new immigrants, so the benefits of citizenship will be more for people from less developed countries to be able to live freely in Taiwan.
If the citizenship laws are not changed in Taiwan, your son's Taiwanese expat status can be applied and renewed at anytime. There has been talks of repalcing the mandaory military services with an all-volunteer military, so the draft could be a non issue a few years down the road.

Taiwan Tips #2

MY QUESTION: Which Taiwanese holidays do you feel are most important for us to study and celebrate with our son?

HER ANSWER:
For Han Chinese and my family, here are the most important ones we celebrate (but not limited to), but Aborigines have different holiday celebrations:
a) Chinese New Year- most well known Han Chinese holiday.
b) Tomb Sweeping Day- Christians might have issue with this particular holiday, because you probably see it as ancestor "worship". For Han Chinese it's very important to pay respect to our ancestors. I see it less as "worship" but more as a special time to pay respect to people who gave us life. http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/qingming/qingming.html
c) Dragon boat festival- Taiwanese love the Dragon boat festival for the boat races and the food, even though the origin of the holiday doesn't seem to be that relevant in the modern Taiwan. :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Boat_Festival
d) Moon Festival (aka Mid-Autumn Festival)- this is a holiday that started with a romantic story, but has evolved to become a family holiday. Modern day Taiwanese family "reunites" on this day and sit around the table to eat together, just like the moon becomes "round" (round is the same sound as reunite in Chinese.) There are a lot of old Chinese poems about the significance of reuniting on the 15th day of August of the lunar calendar.

MY QUESTION: In regards to extra-curricular activities, like martial arts, are there any you would suggest he learn? Anything that every Taiwanese kid knows how to do?

HER ANSWER:
No, not really. When I was growing up, we had to study so hard for the high school and college entrance exams that most extra-curricular actitivies were stopped as soon as we entered 7th grade. I don't persoanlly know anyone who has studied martial arts when I was in Taiwan, especially when it didn't help with getting better grades at school! Kids nowadays learn a variety of things like piano, English, speed reading and mental math. Because Taiwan in the past 10 years has adopted a college admission system that is similar to the American system, therefore most extra-curricular activities are geared towards helping kids get ahead at schools and improve their chances of being admited to top senior high schools and top colleges. In Taiwan, all these cost money, so kids from disadvantaged families rarely have access to extra-curricular actitivies. I honestly can't think of anything that every Taiwanese kids knows how to do- perhaps playing computer/video games and watching TV...this really shows how Westernized Taiwanese have become!! :)

Taiwan Tips #1

I was extremely fortunate to "meet" a wonderful Taiwanese lady who has been living in the US and who is also an adoptive mama! She has been so gracious to answer my questions about Taiwan...and I ask A LOT of questions...so I thought I would pass on some tidbits for those of you Taiwan APs/PAPs. As I post from our conversation, I will remove sections of her answers that I consider "private".

MY QUESTION: As we consider language classes for him, would you suggest Mandarin? Our Taiwanese guide mentioned other languages in addition to Mandarin, so I wasn't sure which would be best for him to learn.

HER ANSWER: Mandarin is the official language, so that is a must learn language for all Taiwanese nowadays. Only uneducated people...still don't speak much Mandarin. All the other "languages" are "dialects" spoken at home. My mother tongue is Fujianese (very often referred to as Taiwanese), but I had to learn Mandarin as soon as I entered elementary school. The great thing about Chinese is that there is basically only one writing system (whether it's simplified or traditional) so that no matter what dialect one speaks at home we all read and write the same Chinese characters. The writing system in mainland China is the "simplified" version, but in Taiwan we still learn the more complicated traditional writing system. If your son learns at least one whether it's simplified or traditional, he should have no problem picking up the other one fairly fast.