*Disclaimer: Once again, it’s impossible to generalize a group of 23 million. The following reflects only what I’ve learned from my experiences.
In my 8 months as an interviewer for Reachtoteach, I’ve been asked a wide variety of questions by potential teachers. I’ve answered in detail about everything from cultural faux pauses to the Taiwanese attitude towards homosexuality. However varied these questions are, there’s always one that inevitably comes up.
“I’ve heard the Taiwanese are really friendly people. Is this true?”
My answer has become as standard as the question itself.
“Indeed, the Taiwanese are unfailingly friendly.”
If they probe me for more information, I proceed to give concrete examples to illustrate this point. For example:
On my first full night in Taiwan, I got lost (me?? go figure) trying to find my way back to my hostel. Knowing absolutely no Chinese, and not having a clue on the layout of the city, I began to panic. Lo and behold, a young Taiwanese xiaojie comes to my aid. Using her best English, and being very patient with my lack of communication, she somehow manages to get me on the right bus. How does she do this? She takes the bus with me until I know where I am. If that’s not hospitality, I don’t know what it is.
In my first month in Taiwan, I frequented a breakfast place near my house almost every day. Not only was the food pretty tasty, but it also sported a huge flat-screen HD TV—which during playoff baseball time, provided a welcome taste of home. Before long it soon became apparent to the laoban that the reason I was showing up was for the entertainment. So even if the channel was set to something else, the moment I walked in baseball suddenly appeared on the screen. And as if that wasn’t accommodating enough, every morning I ate there I was given one (sometimes two) complimentary cups of coffee. Why? Because they’re that damn nice.
About 2 months ago, my computer bit the dust for the second time in only 10 months. Naturally, I was pretty livid. And unfortunately the target of my anger was the computer store manager where I took my computer to get repaired. I was an especially unhappy camper when he informed me of the $150 bill. But then he did something that was completely shocking and unexpected. Knowing I would be without a computer for 2 weeks, he offered me a loan, completely free of charge. It didn’t take me any time at all to realize that this was something that would never happen back in the states. Once again, the Taiwanese had proven their generosity.
When I got home that night, I happily posted a FB status declaring how impressed I was with Taiwanese people. My Asian friend Jenny then quickly pointed out that they’re only friendly to me because I’m white. While this provided a laugh, there’s also some harsh reality to this statement.
As I’ve mentioned before, the Taiwanese love white people and being white. If the sun is shining at all, the locals here are quick to throw up their umbrellas in self-defense. At first I didn’t understand this phenomenon. Was it trying to keep cool? Fear of skin cancer? As it turns out, the Taiwanese just like being white, and they avoid tanning like it’s the plague. Whereas Americans embrace color, and some even spend several hours a week in tanning salons to this end, the Taiwanese are of a completely different attitude. Unfortunately, this has very troubling implications for their attitudes towards people of darker skin colors…
In my first month at Hess, I was teaching an older class of 12-13 year olds. The topic for this level was “free time”, and the day’s lesson concerned sports. After the students finished reading an article about the almighty Michael Jordan, I elicited a discussion. The first question I asked was: “Do you want to be famous like Michael Jordan?”
Without hesitation, my student Max raises his hand and says “I do not want to be like Michael Jordan because he is black man.”
To worsen this already deteriorating situation, I had him repeat this answer at least 3 times. I was so shocked at his answer that I couldn’t believe my ears. “Did you just say….what??” After the 3rd time, my Chinese Teacher rebuked the hell out of him. But at that point the damage had already been done. This was only the first of many examples of outright racism I would witness towards peoples with darker skin.
Wanting more of an explanation on my student’s response, I asked one of my Taiwanese friends why the locals are more racist against darker people. The response here wasn’t more encouraging…”because we can’t see them at night.”
One of my co-teachers recently explained that her mother would never allow her to marry a black man. Why? “Because she says ‘our babies would always look dirty.’” WOW.
But the interesting thing about this racism is that it isn’t all that hateful. Sure, it’s definitely racist. But it doesn’t seem very prejudiced. As my students have explained to me again and again, they just prefer being white and think that being white is prettier. It doesn’t appear that there is any overt hatred towards darker people. And to them, this very apparent discrimination is neither a cause of shame nor is it looked down upon socially. And frankly this last part makes a little sense. After all, the Taiwanese certainly do not share the same painful history us Westerners have in regards to treatment of people of darker skin color. To them it’s hardly even racism—it’s just stating a preference.
But now I know that the “unfailingly friendly” connotation needs an asterisk. Perhaps the reason I am treated so kindly is indeed because I’m white. I’ve been introduced to the darker (literally) side of the Taiwanese hospitality.
