A survey published earlier this year ranked Taiwan as the third-safest country in the world. As a repeat visitor to Taiwan and, having just spent two weeks traveling through the island with my Taiwan-born wife, I wish to explore and illustrate what “safe” means in Taiwan. As an aside, I am a Chinese American who lives in northern California and grew up in New York City.
At its simplest, safety is the lack of danger. Feeling safe means no energy needs to be wasted to remain vigilant, to be aware of danger and to react to it. When you feel safe, you feel unencumbered. You relax; you enjoy wholeheartedly, like a child blissfully unaware of their environment.
That is how I feel when I am in Taiwan: child-like.
I should not make this essay about the US, but it is my scale of comparison. I spend most of my time in the US. My area of northern California, Silicon Valley, has a large Asian population. Many of the cities in Silicon Valley rank among the safest in the US. However, we are surrounded by cities that suffer from high crime rates — Oakland in particular. Our safer cities are not insulated from crime. It literally bleeds over. Just last month, a shoplifter in a Home Depot in Pleasanton fatally shot the store’s security guard when the latter intervened. During the heights of the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Asian attacks ran rampant throughout San Francisco, Oakland, New York City and other US cities.
One could say mental and race issues, coupled with the highest per capita ownership of guns in the world, contribute to higher crime rates in the US.
However, it is more than these factors. Safety, in its essence, goes to the heart of societal values, cultural norms and personal responsibility. While at Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) in Nantou County, we rented e-bikes from our hotel. When we arrived at the architecturally impressive Xiangshan Visitor Center, we wished to explore it. I felt no hesitation whatsoever to leave the two fairly new e-bikes parked among the other parked bikes, which were, as far as I could tell, unlocked and unguarded, and some with helmets in their baskets. My wife, although she is originally from Taiwan, expressed some hesitation. I said: “Come on, this is Taiwan.” She relented and we proceeded to spend an hour wandering the complex. By the time we finished, most of the other bikes had left. Our two e-bikes were standing there, untouched.
Could we have done this anywhere in the US? I doubt it. There, even if a bike is locked, parts would be stolen. A wheel would go missing, a helmet, or a battery. It happened to me at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park when I was young.
While walking around in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) looking for a certain cafe, my wife, on my advice, finally approached three young area workers on the sidewalk. These three young adults not only took the time to research her question, but also helped her use the map functionality on the Safari map, something that she still has to master.
Could this have happened in the US? Yes, probably.
However, there, a note of caution might have gone off, since we were handing over an iPhone to a complete stranger who could run off with it. While we often do this when we travel (asking people to help take photographs), there is an inherent “trust” factor in that request.
However, in Taiwan, no alarm, no question, no precaution. Why? It is not within the realm of probable. Yes, possible, but not probable.
A fancy hotel lobby shop was left completely unattended in Alishan (阿里山). All the merchandise was completely open to shoplifting. An attendant was present only in the front shop, not within viewing distance and meters away, but was anything missing or stolen? No.
The fourth example illustrates safety, but from a societal standpoint. We took a bus from Sun Moon Lake to return to Taipei. It was a two-and-a-half-hour trip. When we arrived in Taipei and unloaded our luggage, I suggested to my wife that we give the driver a tip, since he diligently and safely drove the bus to our destination. She handed the tip to the driver and he was aghast. He declined to accept it and said it was not necessary.
In most countries and in most situations, the tip would have been accepted. Indeed, in some countries, the driver might even hint the tip was not enough.
However, in Taiwan, people take responsibility for their job and try to do it as well as possible, without wishing to be further compensated. This is personal accountability at its best.
Taiwan is unique, especially for a Chinese person. Taiwan might share a lot of similarities with Japan, which is natural since Japan was its colonial ruler for 50 years. Each individual in Taiwan is inherently trying to do good. They are, for the most part, not trying to steal, injure or hurt another maliciously. When these ethics pervade a society, they beget a safe society and every member of that society benefits — and so do visitors to that society. When these ethics do not prevail, each member of that society pays the price and safety palls.
Finally, as a Chinese of American descent, it is breathtakingly refreshing not to stand out in Taiwan. Not to have to worry about racial issues and animosity. Not to have to stand with your back against a wall in a subway station for fear of being pushed into the path of an oncoming train. Not to fear being made the brunt of the widening wealth gap in the US, but simply to blend in, and be among one’s own.
I am now in the US, but my heart is in Taiwan.
Vitus Lau has lived and worked in several East Asian countries. He grew up in the US and has benefited from its academic institutions.
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