Chiang said their decision to write about "new taike", as they call it, was based in part on the many Web sites that discuss the stereotypes.
"Some [of the Web sites] say it's discriminatory and other say it's still a little bit insulting," she said. "But at the same time there are celebrities who imitate taike." Rather than making fun, she said, they're emulating attributes they find cool.
Advertising, too, has targeted the stereotypes to sell everything from energy drinks to banking services.
"Taike is being released from its stereotypes and becoming a lifestyle term," Chiang said. "To embrace it, you maybe accept a more liberal lifestyle or you are bolder or braver. ... It's about the power of naming and identity," she said, and the fact that we control what words mean.
Still, there are places where plastic slippers aren't seen as a fashion statement. Signs outside nightclubs often proscribe chewing betel nut or blowing whistles and warn that anyone wearing slippers will be refused entry.
Chiang prefers to see the current debate in a broader context. Despite Taiwan's 400 years of history, she said, colonization and political upheaval have made for interesting times.
"Everything has happened here very quickly," she said. "The essence of being Taiwanese is change. Taike, too, is changing in context."
△ Look for the Taike Rock and Roll Concert (台客搖滾演唱會) to take place on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20 at the Taipei International Convention Center, with headliners Wu Bai and China Blue, MC Hotdog, Zhang Zhen-yue (
△ For more information on tickets and what it means to be taike, visit http://www.bcc.com.tw/all_net/news/tsong/tsong.htm.
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