Ganbei (
As in the West, alcohol in Taiwanese culture is a social lubricant, the imbibing of which is seen by many as a measure of fortitude and spunk -- particularly if drinkers knock down a shot of hard liquor like kaoliang in one gulp.
Such a macho approach to alcohol may be fueling widespread addiction.
Lin Shih-ku (林式穀), director of the Taipei City Psychiatric Center (台北市立療養院), told the Taipei Times that 5 percent of Taiwan's population could be addicted to alcohol.
"Alcoholism" and "alcoholic" are still largely alien concepts in Taiwan, and the nation lacks adequate resources to treat people who are addicted to alcohol.
"Take a drunk driver hitting and killing a pedestrian, for example," an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) member in Taiwan told the Taipei Times. "The problem is not that the driver is a drunk; the problem is that he was drunk driving and killed somebody."
According to the AA member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, being alcoholic in Taiwan is itself unimportant.
Instead, it is the consequences of that condition that typically frame the general problem.
"A lot of what we do at AA meetings? -- the culture and language -- don't translate well," the AA member said. "The whole concept of recovery and disease [in the context of alcoholism] is very Western, and not well received [in Taiwan]." When asked why such concepts are not readily accepted in Taiwan, the AA member said that alcoholism is perceived as a disability, and people with disabilities are "swept under the carpet."
"When people call the AA here, they're never calling for themselves; they're always calling on behalf of somebody else," the AA member said, suggesting that the shame associated with alcoholism prevents sufferers from seeking help.
A Taiwanese AA member, who spoke to the Taipei Times on the condition that he be identified only as "Jeff," agreed that shame makes it difficult for Taiwanese alcoholics to face their condition.
Jeff also said that a lack of understanding of alcoholism as a disease translates into too few options for alcoholics in need of specialized treatment.
"A decade ago, AA meetings were mostly attended by Westerners," said Jeff, a longtime a member who attends meetings almost everyday. "Now there are more Taiwanese members than foreign members."
He said that the number of alcoholics in Taiwan is rising, and the average age of those with drinking problems is falling.
Applying the Western paradigms of disease and recovery to alcoholism initially posed a problem for Jeff.
"Some of what the Western AA members told me about drinking was difficult for me to accept at first. However, my being Taiwanese and they Westerners didn't change the fact that our experiences with alcohol and [the nature of our addiction] were very similar," Jeff said.
Realizing that his experiences were similar to non-Taiwanese alcoholics' helped Jeff to transcend cultural barriers and accept Western concepts in trying to cope with his addiction.
In a country with a healthcare system that pays scant regard to alcoholics' special needs, temples have been known to double up as unofficial detox wards, providing alcoholics with a place to dry out.
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