I've always wondered, how did friendliness & generosity get ingrained into the "#Taiwanese DNA"? What makes Taiwanese people nicer than, say, people from other East Asian countries? Here are a few potential theories that popped into my mind this morning: (thread)
(1) The necessity of cooperation & reconciliation in a multi-cultural settler society & new-world frontier. This is comparable to #Australia where settlers came together, put their old-world conflicts (ex. Irish vs English) & hierarchy behind, to build a more egalitarian society.
(2) The lack of an egoistic national identity due to its long history of being "culturally peripheral" to the imagined identity imposed by ruling alien regimes (Manchu, Japan, ROC etc.) This is perhaps why some Taiwanese don't think TW deserve as much & don't expect reciprocity.
A contrasting example would be another ex-Japanese colony, Korea, where people take more pride in their own culture, especially after the nation-building process that consolidated a more exclusive cultural identity. And also very different from the jingoistic Chinese nationalism.
(3) And the obvious legacy of Japanese shame & politeness culture. This is exemplary in the "submissiveness and hyper-decorum" of the phrase 'buhaoyisi' (不好意思). It shows a lot about the cultural "layers of modesty and shyness in Taiwan".
bbc.com/travel/story/2…
(4) The educational emphasis on "Good Confucius Chinese virtues" in order for ROC to position Taiwan as the "Real China" to distinguish itself from the communist PRC. This usually manifested in a more propaganda-like form (品德教育、標語) in Taiwanese classrooms.
(5) The relatively free and stable environment that fostered trust in society. The counterexample might be #China post-cultural-revolution, where some traumatised civilians are less inclined to trust people and share materials with each other.
(6) The alliance w/ the "Free world" that established a trust relationship with foreign countries and the (almost-) naive belief that people usually have good intentions. What other historical factors do you think there are in the making of the Taiwanese 'generosity' DNA?
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