Understanding Taiwan

Taiwan on world media (台灣躍上國際新聞) ; ● News about China-Taiwan-US war ― to click English version, Chinese version

★ New York Times, 2021-11-18 ("What makes people happy" ): Most people in a Pew Research Center survey said that family made them the happiest. The Australian(56%), New Zealander(55%), American(49%), English(46%), Swedish, Italian, Canadian etc surveyed ranked family first, their percentage is about 3-4 times of that (15%) in Taiwan, the % of Singapore and Japan is about 2 times of that in Taiwan. Taiwanese ranked Material well-being above family.

★ NY Times, 2022-5-24: the US is trying to walk a fine line between deterrence and provocation... risk pushing President Xi Jinping of China to order an attack on Taiwan ★ NY Times, 2022-5-24: Former presidents have hinted that the United States would fight for Taiwan but have otherwise remained studiedly vague...Taiwan's defense budget... remains scandalously low ★WSJ, 2021-11-17: Beijing’s arms buildup and menacing of Taiwan make U.S. directionlessness dangerous for the world. Rather than risk a less feckless president after Mr. Biden, Mr. Xi may feel he has three years to act. ★ WarOnTheRocks, 2021-11-18: Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense has abandoned asymmetric defense reform, Washington ought to step in to get Taiwanese defense reform back on track ★ FoxNews, 2021-11-17: Hannity: China 'bullies' Biden in meeting, "Basically his weakness guarantees Taiwan will be taken over by the Communist Chinese and Joe won't do a thing."★ NY Times, 2021-11-15: Biden and Xi meet amid tensions in an effort to keep “communication lines open” and avoid military action — American officials remain concerned that the chances of avoiding conflict may be diminishing. click military for details

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★ Seattle Times, 2021-8-14: In Taiwan, big data turns pig’s blood and century eggs into hot pizza toppings / In 2019, Domino’s Pizza created the boba — a pizza served with sweet tapioca pearls as an homage to the popular bubble milk tea. ... ramen and spicy hot pot pizza. It even made a pizza topped with durian — a thorny fruit ... The latest invention — featuring a street delicacy made of sticky rice and pig’s blood, and preserved eggs — broke Pizza Hut’s previous sales record set by the durian pizza. “Every now and then, Taiwanese will go crazy over a new popular, well-talked about food” . “Taste does not seem to be their top priority.” seattletimes.com/nation-world/in-taiwan-big-data-turns-pigs-blood-and-century-eggs-into-hot-pizza-toppings/

pic. : No.1 "understanding Taiwan" on Microsoft Bing, 2022-5-29, 2022-3-22, 2022-1-30, 2021-12-27, 2021-12-17, 2021-9-23, 2021-8-24, 2021-8-5, 2021-6-24, 2021-6-3, 2021-5-15, 2021-4-22, 2021-3-30, 3-14-2021, 3-2-2021, 1-28-2021, 1-4-2021

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Taiwanese superstition

★ Guardian, 2021-8-30: Covid changes Taiwan's Ghost Month - “many temples are closed ... This year the ceremony is not open for humans!”theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/30/not-open-for-humans-covid-changes-east-asias-ghost-month-but-free-spirits-remain
Some suspicions are still common among younger generations. A recent survey of Taiwan office workers found a third of respondents avoid working overtime during Ghost Month. The poll found 40% of office workers had reported strange encounters in the late hours. More than 70% reported “eerie sounds” from office corners, while others said they heard footsteps, saw windows open on their own and elevators arrive on their floor without being called, or heard toilets flushing in an empty bathroom

★ BBC, 2021-4-14, Crisps have a sacred role in Taiwan's office culture. ‘Kuai Kuai’, this savoury product end up assuming near-mythical protective properties... on or around vital machines in many of the island’s laboratories, banks and even hospitals to ensure the machines continue to do their jobs. the crisps, whose name means ‘listen to me’ or ‘obey’, ‘behave’ or ‘be good’ in both Mandarin and Taiwanese...The bags also cannot be used as amulets beyond their expiration date, so...usually swapped twice a year – Lunar New Year, and the Ghost Festival . Those in the tech world say the snack shouldn’t be consumed, otherwise you technically void its protective warranty. Kuai Kuai can even be found at Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s premier research institute. (Chinese: 在台灣，一種鹹味零食在辦公文化中具有神聖的作用，且呈現出近乎神話般的保護性，許多實驗室、銀行甚至醫院的重要機器也放置這種袋裝的“乖乖”，以確保高科技機器繼續運作。“乖乖”中文意思是''服從'，但食品到期後神奇功能便會消失，因此通常每年更換兩次-農曆新年初、及七月“鬼節”。而且科技界人士說，不要吃這種零食，否則其保護性也會失效。“乖乖”甚至出現在台灣首屈一指的研究機構: 中央研究院。bbc.com/worklife/article/20210414-the-good-luck-snack-that-makes-taiwans-technology-behave

★ BBC, 2-10-2021, "Why Taiwan has 'luck-improvement services' ": There’s a pervasive idea running through Chinese culture that things aren’t random, Stevan Harrell, emeritus anthropology professor at the University of Washington said, “There’s a belief in order: there’s some sort of order behind everything.” Many people believed in a simple maxim: “tian zhuding” (“heaven decides”). Some higher power has plans for each person on Earth, traditional Chinese belief also holds that “heaven never seals off all the exits” – there is always a way out. “We call [this attitude of openness] ‘youbai youbaoyou’,” (有拜有保庇)“, It doesn’t matter if you believe in gods. If you pray, you’ll be blessed.” So, even the upscale Eslite Bookstore has a cosmological self-help section chock full of do-it-yourself fate-improvement guides. People in the Chinese-speaking world seem particularly preoccupied with luck, from boarding gates to high-stakes baccarat tables and school exams to political races, (Even politicians are compelled to publicly try their luck, visiting temples to draw fortune sticks ...) yet while many countries have their own superstitions and rituals. brief (Chinese: 為什麼台灣人特別重視轉運? 雖然許多國家都有迷信風俗，然而台灣從登機口到學校考試到政治選舉，人們似乎特別關注運氣，有時連政客也被迫公開到寺廟抽籤試運。華盛頓大學教授認為: 在中國人文化中有個普遍的想法，事情不是随機的，沉迷於過去的歷史使 “人們相信一切背後都有某種秩序”，即"天註定''，但同時，傳統信仰也認為，雖然天命使臣民之間保持秩序，並進而維持和平，一些位高權重的人為升斗小民製定了人生計劃，但小民力圖掌握自己命運於是"有拜有保庇“，即使高檔的誠品書店都充斥著改運指南。有個台灣人曾前往大陸的大華興寺，迷信地認為將硬幣扔進一隻龍石雕的嘴中就會懷孕，不久後，他的妻子果然懷孕了，還是個男孩。 ) http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20210210-chinas-enduring-obsession-with-luck
　

★CNBC,3-8-2021:Taiwan faces worst drought in 56 years. China Times, 3-10-2021:Taiwan president prays for rain in temple. chinatimes.com/opinion/20210309006128-262101?chdtv Diplomat, 2021-3-12: Taiwan prays for rain as drought threatens chip production.

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★ BBC, 2021-5-6 : The case of a boy who is fighting for his life after being slammed to the floor 27 times during judo practice by his coach and classmate has shocked Taiwan - but it has also highlighted what critics say is a culture of turning a blind eye to abuse against children. The culture" leads many people to not fully respect children's rights. It's better now, but Taiwan really lags behind other developed countries in this aspect of human rights" . The judicial system also tends to side with teachers, Prosecutors in his son's case did not charge the teacher with causing injury, arguing the family had to prove his injuries were connected to the abuse. bbc.com/news/world-asia-56967974 (Chinese: 一名男童在教練與同學的柔道練習中被摔倒27次後重傷，為自己的生命而戰，這震驚了台灣-但也突顯了一種對孩童虐待行為視而不見的文化; “我們的文化導致許多人不完全尊重兒童權利。台灣在人權方面確實落後於其他發達國家。司法系統也傾向柔道教練，檢察官沒有指控造成傷害)

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★ Taiwan's chip industry
Axios, 4-9-2021	Taiwan is home to 92% of the world's leading-edge chip manufacturing operations ...That's because most companies that design chips today — Qualcomm, Nvidia and Apple among them — don''t actually do the manufacturing, instead relying on companies like TSMC. If Taiwan's chip production were permanently disrupted,...estimates it would take three years to build enough capacity to replace it. That's why many in the industry are calling for the U.S. to be clearer about its support for Taiwan and, at the same time, to encourage investment in domestic chip production (Chinese:當今大多數設計芯片的公司實際上並不製造，而是依靠台積電（TSMC）之類的公司如果台灣的芯片生產受到永久性破壞，估計，將需要三年時間建設來替代台灣。這就是為什麼業內許多人呼籲美國更加清楚其對台灣的支持，同時鼓勵國內芯片生產。 ) axios.com/threats-to-taiwan-nightmare-tech-847c1f30-d878-4eb9-b749-b2f17487dd91.html
WSJ, 2021-6-19	The World Relies on One Chip Maker in Taiwan, Leaving Everyone Vulnerable / Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.’s dominance poses risks to the global economy, amid geopolitical tensions and a major chip shortage wsj.com/articles/the-world-relies-on-one-chip-maker-in-taiwan-leaving-everyone-vulnerable-11624075400
Reuters, <



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Pew Research Center , 2021-11-18 Where People find Meaning in Life
country	Family	Material well-being	occupation
Australia	56%	22%	29%
NZ	55	19	29
Greece	54	13	25
US	49	18	17
UK	46	12	20
Sweden	45	22	37
Canada	42	22	26
Singapore	29	22	25
Japan	26	16	15
S. Korea	16	19	6
Taiwan	15%	19%	9%