Uncultured behavior from Asians

There are fewer and fewer of them left, but some elderly Taiwanese can still speak Japanese because they were forced to learn it during the Japanese occupation. My wife's grandfather (who only died last year, strong old Porker) was drafted into the Imperial Army and forced to fight on Samoa (I think). A lot of the civic planning and regulations can be traced back to the occupation. Until the Kpop wave, Japanese pop culture was the most dominant, though I don't know how much that relates to having been a former colony.

 

As someone who lived in HK for 3 years, now in Taipei for 1.5 years and travelling back and forth to China on the regular, this sounds pretty true. Although I have to say it's not so black and white. HK people can be pretty rude and I would say compared to Taipei people in general they are less friendly (GENERALIZATIONSSS...).

 

Taiwan was ruled by Dutch, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Chinese again.

Basically the first time when Chinese ruled Taiwan there were major waves of Chinese Han (漢人) immigration.
From the Taiwanese aborigines' point of view, that's the only part where Taiwan was invaded.
After the immigration though, Chinese Han people become the majority population in Taiwan, and was a province of China for 200+ years.

Taiwan was then ceded to Japan by a war treaty between China & Japan.
Later on after WWII when Japan surrendered, Chinese got Taiwan back.
And the Chinese Han people in Taiwan actually cheered for the return of rule of China.
(That was until they found out China's civil planning & public constructions abilities sucks compared to Japan...)

And after that the Chinese government had its civil war and split into two and the defeated one (KMT) relocated to Taiwan.
Weird turns and odd results in Taiwan history...

 

I've met some damned rude Chinese taxi drivers in Singapore (but nothing like the Tamil ones in Kualalumpa. I thought, my wife speaks their language, we might not get ripped off. We got ripped off) but have been amazed at experiencing manners like I was brought up in 1950s Britain, from Chinese people there. Small stuff like opening doors for people, smiling and saying thank you.

But I still feel more at home in Little India... more of what I'm used to. I just let the cats in: even they couldn't manage an orderly queue!

But then, I'm in my dotage. Damn it, it won't be long before I'm dribbling without realising it.

 

The underlying principle in asian culture Lol.

 

In Shanghai I once saw a dad berating his child because she wouldn't squat and pee through her split pants... in the subway car. Even the kid knew better than that!

 

Chinese "diaper" I saw in Gansu, China on a trip in '94. I thought it was very practical and eco-friendly.

 

They've become less common. Yeah, real friendly though until you step in some kid's shit.

 

Let us not forget the car capital of the world. California.

 

I've seen all kinds of things written about our founding father, but this is a first.

Pretty apt, I must say.

I'm surprised by your observation of Taiwanese folks though. Having stayed there in stretches, I find mostly positive things to say about the average citizen there. Either I've been exceptionally fortunate to have found good company there, or you must have the unluckiest extended family ever.

 

Can't say any of this gives me a burning desire to travel.

 

Hey that's me. You're very much welcome.

Seriously though, whilst I think we are a small step above most SEA nations in this regard, our Western counterparts are still more civic conscious. The one thing I wish Singaporeans had more of is graciousness.

 

Most Taiwanese don't interact much with strangers (many people in my building pretend you don't exist in the elevator), but they're very friendly and hospitable towards foreigners. However, there is a significant minority of dickheads with a gangster mentality like the dude in the supercar Marv saw (possibly actually gangsters). There was a case of a car that was blocked by the car in front, and the guy in the car behind thought he was doing it on purpose. So he took out the watermelon knife he kept in his trunk (basically a machete), dragged the guy out of his car and hacked him up pretty badly. Rare case, but shit like that happens.

And then there's Las Vegas. I'll take the occasional watermelon knife over modified-into-automatic assault rifles any day.

 

There is plenty of truth here but this thread is heavily weighted to the negative. You could probably do a similar thread for just about any culture. Travel!

 

Just to add moar shit to this; next time you see a supercar, look through the window and take a good lOOk at the driver. Well, at least in SoCal.

 

The US is no better than a lot of what has been said in this thread. We can get mowed down by gunfire just walking out our front door (a somewhat unique position among developed nations).

There are assholes and good people wherever you go. Such is human nature.

 

My impression of Taiwan was that there are the most heart-stoppingly beautiful, emotionally stunted, gold-digging women there.

Possibly Taiwan's greatest resource.

 

You haven't been to Seoul or Shanghai, then, have you?