The trouble with foreigners
Last month, one of your top front page stories was about a local man, surnamed Liao, verbally assaulting a white foreigner and his local girlfriend (“Abuse of foreigner on MRT sparks criticism of police,” Nov. 13, page 1).
Liao’s behavior in no way represents Taiwanese. The vast majority of Taiwanese are very nice to foreigners. Many foreigners have stories of being lost in Taiwan and a local person, speaking English, goes out of their way to help.
One of the despicable things Liao did was to call a local girl a whore, and that is what some people think: Taiwanese girls are easy, particularly if she has a white boyfriend. She only likes him for his money and his green card.
It is difficult to be a local woman. Local women are under societal and family pressure to be beautiful, thin, have a career, get married and have a son all before they reach the age of 30. If they are overweight, unemployed, single, childless and 35, they are judged.
One of the reasons some Taiwanese girls like white guys is because they do not feel judged by them, and if his family do not live in Taiwan then they do not have to deal with them. In other words, you can be yourself. That is the choice some Taiwanese women find themselves facing — conform or be yourself and be judged.
Liao’s actions are completely wrong. Why he did what he did is unknown. What is known is that it is difficult to be a local man.
Local men are under societal and family pressure to have a career, get married, have a son and be rich all before they reach the age of 30. If they are unemployed, single, childless, not rich and 35, they are judged.
They are less of a man. Taiwanese work hard and get paid little, and if men express their valid frustrations at this situation by crying then they are even less of a man. However, if they are angry and violent, at least they are being manly. Liao has since lost his job.
It can be frustrating to be a white man in Taiwan. Maybe you do not like teaching English, but that is the only thing you can do here. Maybe the street food makes you sick. Maybe the weather is too hot for you and the rain is too frequent for you. Maybe your girlfriend’s family do not like you.
However, it can also be easy to be a white man in Taiwan. Girls here like you. People are very nice to you. Teachers are respected in Taiwan. You do not have to work as hard as the locals, and you are free from the family and societal pressures that locals have.
Andres Chang
Taipei
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