Air pollution remains a significant concern for most people, a survey released yesterday by the Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation showed.
Among respondents in the nationwide poll, 74.7 percent said air pollution from scooters and restaurant exhaust fans was “very serious,” with the rate being 81.3 percent among respondents in Kaohsiung, and Pingtung and Penghu counties.
The survey asked respondents whether they would confront a person who was “harming the public interest,” with 1.9 percent saying that they would.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Today’s society has too few busybodies, but for a society to be good, there needs to be more nosy people, more virtuous and courageous people,” foundation chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said.
Eighty percent of those polled said that Taiwanese are “friendly toward strangers,” including people from overseas.
A refined moral character among the majority of the population is necessary for a nation to be great, poll committee convener Kuo Sheng-yu (郭生玉) said, adding that the survey was conducted to measure the nation’s moral character.
People in the US are nosy about small things, even telling strangers to take home leftovers from restaurants, Kuo said.
However, in Taiwan when he confronted a driver who ran a red light, the person was completely unapologetic and even defended themselves, he said.
This was why people in Taiwan prefer not to stir up trouble and get involved in issues, he said.
On areas where society could be improved, 67 percent said environmental protection needed the most attention, followed by “respect for others” and “respect for the law,” the survey showed.
On other behavioral issues, 64.7 percent said they felt satisfied with how often Taiwanese use “polite language” such as “please,” “thank you” and “sorry,” 50 percent said they felt Taiwanese spoke at a respectable volume in public and 67.3 percent said they felt Taiwanese dressed “appropriately for the occasion.”
On the issue of driving behavior, respondents were largely unsatisfied, with 70 percent saying Taiwanese often change lanes without signaling, block lanes while parking, fail to yield to pedestrians and run red lights.
The survey showed that 66.5 percent said Taiwanese are likely to break rules if they were sure they would not get caught or fined, while 77 percent said they believed Taiwanese “expressed a moral attitude more often than they acted morally.”
Regarding environmental issues, 56 percent said that a shift to green energy was not being given enough attention, with the rate rising to 66 percent among respondents in Tainan, and Yunnan and Chiayi counties — while 67.3 percent said that littering was a serious problem.
Nearly all of the respondents said they believed a perceived lack of morals was due to poor upbringing, misinformation in the media, a lack of attention to the issues in school curricula and the influence of poor behavior among famous people.
University of Taipei professor Tan Chao-wei (但昭偉) said Taiwanese should be commended for improvements to their public spirit over the past few decades, despite the nation being crowded and bustling with commercial activity.
The cleanliness of parks near his home were evidence of that civil spirit, he said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS