A bride-to-be using the name “K” on Monday last week posted a series of anonymous complaints regarding her wedding plans on a Facebook group. After the groom’s sister replied with her side of the story, along with screenshots of private chats with the groom, the incident went viral and drew criticisms that escalated over the week, resulting in a backlash against the bride-to-be.
In the first post, K said the groom’s parents wanted to hold a traditional “roadside wedding banquet” of 50 tables in Kaohsiung, with each table priced at NT$9,000. Considering roadside banquets to be “low class,” K wanted to hold the wedding at a hotel. She took to Facebook to vent her frustration, asking if it is true that “country folks” still enjoy roadside wedding banquets. She called the food at such events “inedible.”
K continued her criticisms over the following days. Saying she had been raised in the US, she found night markets, food stalls and roadside wedding banquets “unhygienic,” and she found it a “crass” and “lowly” custom for guests to pack leftovers from such celebrations. Many people online accused the bride of displaying a bad case of “princess syndrome,” and included stereotypes of northern and southern Taiwanese in their remarks.
That a private affair between two people triggered such a controversy reveals several aspects about Taiwanese culture, including conflicting marriage values between generations, northern and southern Taiwan stereotypes and caring too much about what other people think.
In traditional Taiwanese culture, marriage has been a matter between two families, often based on the pursuit of “an even match.” However, marriage is now more of a matter between a couple. Couples often choose to keep weddings simple, sometimes foregoing banquets altogether.
Parents from older generations often want to have a large say in their children’s marriages. From deciding the form of the wedding banquet to placing a deposit on a new house, perceived meddling is often a source of conflict for both families. Taiwan remains deeply influenced by traditional Confucian culture, making many people feel obliged to cater to their parents’ wishes.
Roadside banquets have been a central custom in Taiwanese culture. From funerals, deities’ birthdays to celebrations of any kind, the events are often accompanied by loud singing and gaudy performances. As large quantities of food are often served, guests are encouraged to pack leftovers.
However, as social customs and culinary habits have changed over the years, roadside banquets are becoming less popular. They tend to be more popular in southern Taiwan, while those raised in Taipei are more likely to find the practice outdated or “lowly.”
There is no denying that people such as K have not broken from the shackles and ideologies of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), whose members often regard anything of Taiwanese origin as low class, including local languages and culture.
As Taiwanese tend to judge others on a long list of personal traits — such as occupation, income and university ranking — they have come to care too much about other people’s opinions. For a bride-to-be, a wedding banquet’s form, price and guests could end up conveying the groom’s social status, wealth and image, and that is likely the root of K’s aversion to roadside banquets.
As times are quickly changing, perhaps the best plan for a happy wedding is to let go of old prejudices, embrace the diversity found in Taiwanese culture and pay no heed to the frivolous opinions of others.
When US budget carrier Southwest Airlines last week announced a new partnership with China Airlines, Southwest’s social media were filled with comments from travelers excited by the new opportunity to visit China. Of course, China Airlines is not based in China, but in Taiwan, and the new partnership connects Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 30 cities across the US. At a time when China is increasing efforts on all fronts to falsely label Taiwan as “China” in all arenas, Taiwan does itself no favors by having its flagship carrier named China Airlines. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is eager to jump at
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
Liberals have wasted no time in pointing to Karol Nawrocki’s lack of qualifications for his new job as president of Poland. He has never previously held political office. He won by the narrowest of margins, with 50.9 percent of the vote. However, Nawrocki possesses the one qualification that many national populists value above all other: a taste for physical strength laced with violence. Nawrocki is a former boxer who still likes to go a few rounds. He is also such an enthusiastic soccer supporter that he reportedly got the logos of his two favorite teams — Chelsea and Lechia Gdansk —
RSS