Quote:
Originally Posted by giallo
Taiwan very much has its own unique culture. It's a mixture of Chinese, Hakka, Aboriginal and Japanese. It's almost nothing like Mainland Chinese when you start to peel back the layers. After spending almost 20 years in East Asia, I really started to understand how unique Taiwan and its culture is. It's nothing like other Chinese heavy cultures (Mainland, HK, Singapore) around the eastern continent. It's definitely got its own flavour.
As far as Taipei not being cosmopolitan or "worldly", I mean, I guess I can see that. It's not a massive country, and doesn't deal in financial services like HK or Singapore. It's a regional economy that is heavily involved in microchips and processors. Taiwan has always been really bad at marketing itself as a tourist destination, so that doesn't help its international pull.
I will say that many of those foreigners that do end up in Taipei, stay. That goes for Taiwan as well. I have many 'lifer' friends there that are never going to leave.
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Taiwan definitely has its own culture, and many Taiwanese don't consider themselves "Chinese." Ethnically however, it is overwhelmingly Han Chinese (specifically Hoklo) with very little admixture with the aboriginal population, unlike much of Austronesian Southeast Asia.
For the most part, Taiwan is seen as an offshoot of Chinese culture. That in conjunction with the close proximity to Hong Kong and Shanghai, the absence of electronic/tech/automotive companies with household-name recognition as well as a major skyline, relegates it to Osaka-like status.
Most people probably think that Taiwan is just another island off the mainland that China wants to annex. Imagine if mainland Japan and Okinawa were faced with a similar situation. That's how I think most view Taiwan. In other words, they have absolutely no idea that it's a developed, prosperous country of 24 million that produces over 90% of the world's most advanced semiconductor microchips. Or that it's an amazing place in its own right.