Debunking the LIE that Taiwan is "friendly". Everyone ignores you. No one wants to make friends with you.

I know I'm going to take heat from the politically correct crowd for this one, but it's one of those things like "The Emperor's New Clothes" where no one wants to admit something obvious for fear of condemnation and ostracization. So they say what they're supposed to.

Taiwan being friendly is one example. In reality though, Taiwanese may be friendly to those they know if they like them, but they are very closed, stone faced and cold to strangers. In Taiwan there is no eye contact or smiling to others in public. No one talks to you if they don't know you. To them, that's normal. But in the rest of the world it is not. 

Taiwanese are extremely shy and introverted, to the point where if you are outgoing, you will feel awkward and out of place, like you should not be outgoing when everyone else is not. Thus that part of you will feel "suppressed".

The only people that talk to strangers in Taiwan are the elderly/senior citizens. Not young adults and especially not young adult females. No way. Hell no. That makes Taiwan an ice cold place. And it tells you that since the older generation is more friendly, it must have been friendlier in the past. If you are White though, Taiwanese can sometimes be friendly to you, but if you're Asian, they treat you like you don't exist and always show you that repressed, self-hating face with a negative vibe. Especially the women and girls. 

In fact, there is no social energy at all in Taiwan. Zilch. Nada. If you've never left Taiwan, you might not understand what that means. But if you live in high social energy places like Latin America, Russia, parts of Europe, the Philippines, Southeast Asia, etc. you will know exactly what I mean.

In Taiwan, people only work, work and work, 6 or 7 days a week. There is no passion, no excitement and no social energy. The events that go on have very weak social energy in them. The people are simply stifled, turned into robots, giving away 80 percent or more of their lives to slavery in order to make money and work. It's a sickening existence where you basically give up your humanity, life and mind in order to conform to their repressive system. 

Mainstream Taiwanese do not deny any of the above. They admit to it and say that it is their culture, and that they are not like foreign countries. They even consider America, one of the loneliest and most isolating countries in the world, to be open and friendly. What does that tell you?!

The only people who deny the above are certain groups of expats who somehow claim to be unusually lucky in Taiwan's social and dating scene, hippies and backpackers who always say that people are friendly in every culture no matter what, politically correct folks, and of course Travel Channel hosts like Janet Hsieh, who are PAID to say how wonderful, exciting and friendly Taiwan is.

But those who are unbrainwashed and who sees things as they are will find the above to be obvious. Few people will admit and see things as they are. Many only see what they want to see.

This is a sick world of illusion, propaganda and lies. And I'm glad to be one of the few who are free and liberated of that.

For more observations about Taiwan, click here

PS - Check this out. A Taiwanese girl I emailed, who told me that Taiwan was friendly because it was the popular cool thing to say, was sent my observations above. Upon reading it, she admitted that I WAS RIGHT! See what she had to say below. It's quite revealing coming from a mainstream Taiwanese girl.

"hi,winston,
what a long letter! haha
actually, i admit i feel a little offended when i read ur mail first time...(sorry)
but then, i thought u r right. :D
if we compare taiwan with other countries, i know, our people r colder and more shy. it is truth. i think it is because of our culture and traditon. we r not so welcome to strangers, just most people want to protect themselves first.
i totally agree u that people affect each other. so when your surrounding is a close space(people just chat or talk with their friends),u will be a member of them, no doubt.

but i still notice sth different between our sentences,
i think why u feel so disappointed about taiwanese,maybe one reason is just cuz of u r a male. people r usually more freindly to female than to male. :)
another reason is maybe u go to wrong place, for example,if on the road,maybe most people don't want to talk to u because they r busy or they are teached don't talk to strangers. but if u go to social places, like pubs,concerts,night markets,restaueants,shopping streets, etc. u might find sth a little different.
and i said that people in chiayi r kind and friendly,
i mean people who live in southern part of taiwan r more friendly than northern part of taiwan. :D (every taiwanese knows this.)
ofcourse we can't compare with USA,europe and other western countries i know... but heyhey i am very sure that we r better than china! :D
so how is ur trip in taiwan? maybe u can try other couchsurfers!
enjoy!

Amber"

See also:

Taboo Observations and Truths About Taiwan

Critical Observations about East Asian Mentality and Culture

Missionary confirms my observations about Taiwan

Swiss Journalist concurs with my observations about Taiwan

Winston vs. East Asians - Differences and Similarities

Taiwan vs. America: Differences and Similarities

Chinese translation by Google Translator:

Chinese Translation:

我知道我會為此從政治上正確的人群中挑釁，但這是“皇帝的新裝”之類的事情之一，沒有人願意因為害怕受到譴責和排斥而承認明顯的事情。所以他們說了應該做的。

台灣友好就是一個例子。儘管實際上，台灣人可能對他們喜歡的人很友好，但是他們非常封閉，面無表情，對陌生人很冷。在台灣，沒有公開的眼神交流或微笑。如果他們不認識你，沒人會和你說話。對他們來說，這很正常。但是在世界其他地方卻並非如此。

台灣人非常害羞和內向，到了外向的地步，您會感到尷尬和不適，就像在其他人都不外向時不要外向。因此，您那部分會感到“被壓抑”。

在台灣與陌生人說話的唯一人是老年人。不是年輕的成年人，尤其不是年輕的成年女性。沒門。一定不行。那使台灣成為冰冷的地方。它告訴您，由於老一輩更加友好，因此過去一定比較友好。如果您是白人，台灣人有時對您會很友好，但是如果您是亞洲人，他們會像對待您不存在一樣對待您，並始終向您展示那張帶有負面情緒的壓抑，自我討厭的臉。尤其是婦女和女孩。

實際上，台灣根本沒有社會力量。齊爾奇娜達如果您從未離開過台灣，那麼您可能不明白這意味著什麼。但是，如果您生活在社會活力充沛的地方，例如拉丁美洲，俄羅斯，部分歐洲，菲律賓，東南亞等，您將完全明白我的意思。

在台灣，人們只工作，工作和工作，每週工作6或7天。沒有激情，沒有興奮，也沒有社會能量。發生的事件具有很弱的社會能量。人們被扼殺了，變成了機器人，為了賺錢和工作而將80％或更多的生命獻給奴隸制。這是一個令人作嘔的生活，您基本上會為了適應他們的壓制系統而放棄人性，生活和思想。

主流台灣人並不否認以上任何一個。他們承認這一點，並說這是他們的文化，他們不像外國。他們甚至認為美國是世界上最孤獨和最孤立的國家之一，是開放和友好的。這告訴你什麼？

唯一拒絕上述說法的人是某些外國人，他們以某種方式聲稱在台灣的社交和約會場合中是幸運的，嬉皮士和背包客則總是說，無論哪種文化，在政治上正確的人，當然，人們在每種文化中都很友好，當然Travel Channel主持人謝珍妮（Janet Hsieh）表示，台灣是多麼美好，令人興奮和友好。

但是，那些沒有洗腦並且看到事物原樣的人會發現上述顯而易見。很少有人會承認並看到他們的真實狀態。許多人只看到他們想看到的東西。

這是一個充滿幻想，宣傳和謊言的世界。我很高興成為少數幾個自由自在的人之一。

有關台灣的更多信息，請單擊此處

PS-看看這個。我通過電子郵件發送了一個台灣女孩，她告訴我台灣很友善，因為這是流行的很酷的說法，上面給我發了評論。閱讀後，她承認我是對的！請在下面查看她要說的內容。來自台灣主流女孩的故事頗有啟發。

“嗨，溫斯頓，

多長的信！哈哈

實際上，我承認當我第一次閱讀您的郵件時，我感到有點冒犯...（對不起）

但是，我認為你是對的。 ：D

如果我們將台灣與其他國家進行比較，我知道，我們的人民會變得更冷，更害羞。這是事實。我認為這是因為我們的文化和傳統。我們不歡迎陌生人，只是大多數人都想首先保護自己。

我完全同意你，人們之間會互相影響。因此，當您的周圍是一個封閉的空間（人們只是與朋友聊天或交談）時，毫無疑問，您將成為其中的一員。

但是我仍然注意到我們的句子之間有些不同，

我認為您為什麼對台灣人感到失望，也許一個原因就是您是男性。人們通常對女性比對男性更友善。 :)

另一個原因可能是您去了錯誤的地方，例如，在旅途中，也許大多數人都不想因為忙碌或不想跟陌生人說話而與您交談。但是如果您去社交場所，例如酒吧，音樂會，夜市，餐廳，購物街等，您可能會發現有些不同。

我說嘉義人民友善友善，

我的意思是，住在台灣南部的人們比台灣北部更加友好。 ：D（每個台灣人都知道這一點。）

當然，我們無法與美國，歐洲和其他西方國家相提並論……但是，嘿，我敢肯定，我們要比中國更好！ ：D

那麼您在台灣的旅行怎麼樣？也許你可以嘗試其他的沙發衝浪者！

請享用！

琥珀色”