Just kidding! What fun are facts? If you want facts, you go to the internet, right? Well, I guess technically, if you are reading this blog you are ON the internet, but find a better site for FACTS. Below area few things about Taiwan you may not have known, according to Steff.
You hopefully knew (though may have accidentally confused the two) that Taiwan and Thailand are two different places. (If you have confused the two in the past, I am embarrassed for you. More so because before my mission, I probably confused the two.) I know better now, probably because I know Taiwan better, and hopefully this post will help you in that area too. (Also American friends, Switzerland and Sweden are different. But that is for another trip.)
Taiwan is a small island off the southeast coast of China. They do not speak Thai there. (They DO speak Thai in Thailand. Also, I do not speak Thai.) If you have referred to the language or people as Taiwanese, you are just fine. The people in Taiwan do identify (especially to us foreigners who don't know better) as Taiwanese. AND there IS a language that is Taiwanese. It is not the most common language spoken in Taiwan. And I do not speak it.
In Taiwan, the official language is Mandarin Chinese. Mandarin is one of many, many dialects of Chinese, and the language I learned on my mission. A dialect is somewhat like an accent (think of how you might struggle to understand someone from the deep south in the United States, or how we all have crushes on the English accent) in that the dialects are often regional. Unlike an accent, the words are completely different. Native speakers of the various Chinese dialects can sometimes understand one another in a limited way, but it's less like understanding someone from Kentucky and more like Spanish speakers being able to understand some Portuguese. Using that as a comparison, it would make sense to think of the various dialects as entirely different languages, but they use largely the same characters, or written language. So it's all Chinese.
But speaking of characters, Taiwan uses the traditional characters (which means they look more complex) than China, which has simplified their characters somewhat. And while we're on the subject, a character is like a picture that has meaning in itself. One learns how to read and write characters by memorizing the parts of the picture. You can't sound out a character. I think this is partly why the Chinese are SO good at memorizing: so much of their language is based on memorization. This is also why I am Chinese illiterate - memorization is not my forte.
But here I am using the word Chinese to describe the people in Taiwan, and I should probably take a moment to explain that as well. The people in Taiwan ARE Chinese, at least the large majority of them. You might ask ,"So is Taiwan it's own country, or part of China?" The answer is yes. Depending on who you talk to. If you ask someone 'fresh off the boat' from China about Taiwan, they will be quite insistent that Taiwan is a state, or province, of China. Quent's response (when I'm not there to encourage him to drop the subject) is: What do you call a place with it's own government, it's own money, and it's own military? A country.
Politics aside (for one sentence), Taiwan is actually the name of the island. The country (or rogue province) is officially the Republic of China on Taiwan. Interestingly, as a missionary, I got a huge kick out of the declining view point that China was actually a part of Taiwan rather than Taiwan being a part of China. (How could such a tiny island OWN or run such a large land mass?) It wasn't until I returned with Quent that I comprehended enough history (instead of looking at the geographic size of the two) to see the legitimacy of this claim. Without going too deeply into it (or referencing anything to make sure I'm right) I explain it this way: Communism was imported from Russia. When a communist government took over China (making it the People's Republic of China), the government China HAD (Republic of China) fled to Taiwan. For decades that government of Taiwan had plans of retaking the mainland. Nowadays, most Taiwanese are very ambivalent about it. They don't want to take over China. But they don't want to be part of China either. But they don't want to make a stink about it and call down China's wrath upon them. The U.S. used to be a strong ally of Taiwan's independence. As such, Americans in Taiwan enjoy left-over feelings of good will. Currently, the U.S. is proving to be a terribly lousy ally all over the place, and considering China pretty much OWNS our government's soaring debt, when push really comes to shove, Taiwan will likely be on it's own if China decides to be aggressive.
So many have romanticized going to China, and to be sure, it is an amazing country with a beautifully diverse people. Having been to both, I am biased towards Taiwan. You get ALL of the incredible Chinese history and culture, and even a whole country's worth of amazing places to see (though Taiwan is a much smaller country), but without the communism. So not only can you GO to Taiwan without proving to it's government you aren't a bad guy (as long as you are there for less than 90 days), but you can also checkup on Facebook while you are there! (Yes, China blocks facebook.) Actually, communism has taken it's toll on China's people in ways that may seem imperceptible to the people there, or to people who have only been to China and not been to Taiwan. I explain the difference this way (and remember this entire post is MY opinion): Taiwan's people, as a whole (recognizing exceptions on both sides of the strait), are more open, trusting, and optimistic than the people in China.
Now, go dig into a better (more fact-dependent) site about Taiwan or China to find out why! :)
PS: Food in Taiwan is better too. MY OPINION again. Sadly, you can't get great Taiwanese food in Utah. So if we're talking about going out for Asian, let's do Thai! :)
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