Catherine over at shu flies had a great post a while back about one of her blogging pet peeves – people who generalize and stereotype about every Taiwanese person based on the actions of a few. This also happens to be one of my pet peeves and something that I, being a foreigner, have to deal with every now and then. That is to say, as a foreigner, it’s easy for me to see a Taiwanese person or a group of Taiwanese people do something and create a stereotype about all Taiwanese people. It’s something that I have to watch myself for.
However, I have an answer.
I have previously blogged on how bad Taiwanese drivers are. This is a prime example of me labeling all Taiwanese as bad drivers, even though it isn’t true. Some Taiwanese are very good drivers. Taxi Drivers, for example, even though they are perhaps the craziest drivers, also tend to be the best – I’ve never seen them crash, they know the best routes through the cities, and if you need to get somewhere fast, follow the cab. Mrs. Expatriate’s father is also a very good driver. But I digress.
It’s easy to drive through Taiwanese traffic a few times and label all Taiwanese drivers as bad. This simply isn’t true. I’ve been thinking about this lately, however, and I believe I’ve come up with a solution that answers pretty much all the “problems” that Expats have with Taiwan.
Population Density.
You see, Taiwan is a small island packed to the gills with people. According to WolframAlpha, Taiwan’s population density is 712 people/km^2 (1844 people/mi^2). This makes it the 16th highest in the world. This means that no matter where you go in Taiwan, you’re going to run into people (OK, most places).
Where I’m from, South Dakota, the population density is 9.9 people/mi^2. Yeah, big difference. If you are from a bigger city, like Manhattan (25,850/km^2), then this is nothing new to you, but it’s still a lot of people.
I guess what I’m taking the long way of saying is that, for most expats, it is a matter of all Taiwanese drivers being bad drivers. It’s simply a matter of having a higher population density and therefore running into bad drivers more often. Taking Catherine’s example, it’s not a matter of Taiwanese women being shallow; it’s merely that you are running into shallow Taiwanese women more often. I’ve met plenty of good Taiwanese drivers and plenty of non-shallow Taiwanese women. However, you simply don’t meet them often enough to people being packed into the island like sardines.
I’ll finish off this post with Catherine’s own quote, which also goes for this blog. Some days in Taiwan are just those kind of days. As foreigners, it’s very easy to cast a wide net over Taiwanese culture and generalize about the people. Therefore, it’s even more important that we are aware of what we are doing and take steps to avoid it. Taiwan is a great place and we should do well to welcome more foreigners here by sharing our great impressions of the island.
I don’t want anyone stumbling upon my blog and leaving with an erroneous impression of Taiwanese culture — and people — just because I had a bad day and needed to vent. I don’t always succeed in this, but I am always conscious of it.
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