Social Rituals :

Hello everyone, in my second article I will speak about severals significant social rituals.  

On the beginning, let’s me explain you differents currents habits from Taiwanese people. Especially in the subway there is few rules to respect if you don’t want to have reprobate looks :

•         Never drink water/tea and do not eat food because it is prohibited, you can even have a fine if an agent of the station see you with a chew gum (2000 Taiwanese Dollar).
•        To get inside the subway you must wait only in the delimited spaces (there is white line to follow, and if you don’t go on the right way, the other people will look you in a strange way and it is very disturbing)

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•          Futhermore, there is few priority seats (those seats have a color more dark so you can recognize it easily). There are destinated for pregnant women , old and ill people and even if the subway is crowded, those seats will be always empty. So don’t make the mistake to seat on those seats if you have anything :)

Finally when you are waiting for the bus, there is always two waiting line : one for the persons who want to have a seat and an other one for persons who can be standing an the bus. I have take few weeks to understand this system beacuse nobody explain it to me before.

In addition to that, the notion of illness is very awkward and sensitive for Taiwanese people. Illness persons are badly seen and are look with such loathing. Well anybody want to be infect, so that’s why, wearing a mask which cover the month is a current practice. Even if you just have a cold, you must wear this kind of mask. It is also a sign of respect for the others.

Secondly, let’s talk about the Taiwanese food ! It’s really different from the Occidental food. There is a lot of fish, fried chicken, fried pork, fried Rice (this are the staple food and after you mix it with vegetables, sauce, eggs, seafood…) Globally, it’s hard to eat everyday this kind of food and sometimes its is a bit disgusting.

Here it is few exemples of typical taiwanese food speciality that I particulary like and enyoy to eat:

•        Da Chang Xiao ("chinese hotdog", it’s a rice bread with a spicy sausage)
•       Dumplings  and Buns (with vegetables or pork)
•        Beef noodle soup
•        Wheels cake with read beans
•         Fried sweet potatoes

You can find all this food espacially in Nights market. There are a lot of Nights market in Taiwan. The biggest of Taipei is called : "Shillin Night Market". I have join some pictures that I have take to show you this special atmosphere. 

After have explain you somes cultural habits and customs, I am going now to discribe you few National Celebrations.

The most famous and important in Taiwan is the Chinese New Year. This celebration is very important for the locals. Every shops are closed because people are with their family. Locals make a lot of wishes (happiness, Job, Studies, money, family and good health), so they buy traditionnal little papers where it is written holy texts. It is for the gods, so they they burn it in the street to carry them luck.

After the Chinese New Year, there is the Lantern Festival which celebrate the end of New Year celebrations. It’s take place on the 15th day of te first lunar month. Everybody can buy a Lantern, writte theirs own wish on it and after in a special time, all the Lanterns are released in the sky. It’s really a beautiful and meaningful moment. The best place to be to enjoy the Lantern festival is in a little village located in the mountain. It’s possible to go there only for one day with a shuttle bus.

Finally, The Taiwan Nationnal Day is also very important. It is the same national day as the Republic of China. Festivities takes places in front of the Presidential Office Building in taipei : The public sing the National Anthem of the Republic of China, there are also military parades and culturals dances coming from Taiwanese aborigines. At the end, there is a wonderful fireworks to close the celebration.

To finish this article, I will speak about family habits in Taiwan. First, children are considerated as king and their parents will always want the best studies and education for them. They have to study and work a lot. It is also to get a good social roow. After, children take really care of their parents when they get older. Old people are very well respected and are put to a higher standard. Globally people enjoy to take care and stay with their family ;)