In 2013, the Wall Street Journal popularized the Chinese word dama (大媽), meaning “middle-aged woman,” in a report about how Chinese dama were buying up gold while the price was low. The publishers of the Oxford English Dictionary were said to be considering adding dama as a new English word.
A reader’s letter about this neologism that was published on the New Tang Dynasty Web site brings to mind a news report that appeared in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) on April 24 about a female Chinese tourist who charged behind the counter of a frozen dessert store in Taipei’s Raohe Night Market and spat on the floor while calling Taiwan a “colony.”
The cellphone video that accompanied the report on the Liberty Times Web site has been widely shared.
It was strange to hear the Chinese woman screech: “I’m not from over here. How should I know that I can’t come in?”
Did she mean that when you visit a shop in China it is okay to barge into the back room?
Besides, the reason the shop owner, surnamed Kuo (郭), asked her to go back out was that he was boiling something and was afraid that she might be scalded.
Oddly, the woman responded by spitting on the floor several times.
“Is it okay to go spit like that in your country?” Kuo asked her.
“That is the way we do things in our country,” she said.
“In our country you can get fined for spitting,” Kuo said. “We are educated people.”
Frankly, the shop owner did well not to lose his temper.
After the incident, Kuo said: “I spoke in Mandarin as much as possible so that she would understand, but she complained about me speaking in a dialect.”
If she tried to stop a shopkeeper in Hong Kong from speaking in a “dialect,” the local people would definitely sort her out.
The woman made more nasty comments, such as: “You are dependant on China,” “You are a colony” and “a shabby province.”
Banging on a table, she sneered: “How many of you Taiwanese earn enough money to get by? You all depend on welfare payments from the mainland to support you.”
In the end, Kuo had no option but to call the police, but when they arrived, they just asked the woman to show her identity papers and told her to leave. Kuo chose not to press the matter of her tirade of insults. Are all Taiwanese as kind as he is?
The past few years have seen numerous incidents where Chinese dama have behaved disgracefully in other countries.
In Bali, Indonesia, a group of dama fought on the deck of a pleasure boat over who could get off the boat first. In Thailand, they shoveled platefuls of prawns in an all-you-can-eat restaurant, but left half of them uneaten. In Sweden, a family of Chinese tourists made a big fuss on the street, begging someone to “save us” because a hotel had no room available. While feeding swans in Switzerland, one woman grabbed a swan by the neck because it was trying to eat her friend’s money. In a Japanese airport, a crowd of Chinese tourists clashed with security guards when their flight was delayed.
With exploits like these, the new English word dama is sure to take on some unwanted connotations.
Li Dao-yong is director of the City South Culture and History Studio.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Congratulations to China’s working class — they have officially entered the “Livestock Feed 2.0” era. While others are still researching how to achieve healthy and balanced diets, China has already evolved to the point where it does not matter whether you are actually eating food, as long as you can swallow it. There is no need for cooking, chewing or making decisions — just tear open a package, add some hot water and in a short three minutes you have something that can keep you alive for at least another six hours. This is not science fiction — it is reality.
In a world increasingly defined by unpredictability, two actors stand out as islands of stability: Europe and Taiwan. One, a sprawling union of democracies, but under immense pressure, grappling with a geopolitical reality it was not originally designed for. The other, a vibrant, resilient democracy thriving as a technological global leader, but living under a growing existential threat. In response to rising uncertainties, they are both seeking resilience and learning to better position themselves. It is now time they recognize each other not just as partners of convenience, but as strategic and indispensable lifelines. The US, long seen as the anchor
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
The war between Israel and Iran offers far-reaching strategic lessons, not only for the Middle East, but also for East Asia, particularly Taiwan. As tensions rise across both regions, the behavior of global powers, especially the US under the US President Donald Trump, signals how alliances, deterrence and rapid military mobilization could shape the outcomes of future conflicts. For Taiwan, facing increasing pressure and aggression from China, these lessons are both urgent and actionable. One of the most notable features of the Israel-Iran war was the prompt and decisive intervention of the US. Although the Trump administration is often portrayed as
RSS