Taiwan, the Cool Place Where an Adult Can be a Kid

I enjoy Taiwan. You rarely see men walking with a swagger, swaying side to side as they lift their head up and puff out their chest. Taiwanese tend not to have this false sense of masculinity.

The locals also seem to lack a few cultural misconceptions about maturity. Men and women show a genuine affection for cute things. Americans get to a certain age where the idea of being cute is seen as childish. But, why? What does it mean to be childish? Does it mean you have to hide what you like so you can fall into the norm? I would think the more childish person is the one afraid to express themselves truthfully.

Cute is an aesthetic. We acknowledge the pretty, bold, beautiful, and sexy. For some reason, however, cute is associated with immaturity. It's for children or irresponsible adults. It's also an insult to most men. You can't be taken seriously if you come off as cute, whereas any other aesthetic is perfectly acceptable.

In Taiwan, a thirty year-old woman may be an avid collector of Hello Kitty. At the same time, she can also be a successful manager at a respectable company. Cute does not equal stupid or immature. Likewise, men might dress in a cute and fashionable way on their way to the office or to head out at night. It doesn't suggest their gay or especially effeminate.

A culture without a false sense of maturity is a culture that encourages people to express themselves more freely. Taiwanese are more able to set their inner child free.

Great! Glad I'm here.

Sadly, Taiwanese children have no chance to let their inner child loose. Children don't just have to go to school during the day; they have to go to cram schools in the evening.

The competition is stiff. Children have to take entrance exams for high school. The quality of a middle school is determined by how many of their students get into good high schools. Kids who get into better high schools are better prepared for the next test they have to take – the college entrance exam. This exam is the sole factor in determining which college students can go to. The kid with the top score get first pick, followed by second and so on. I was surprised to hear a junior high student tell me that he would take a practice entrance exam for high school every single day he went to school.

It's true that the best way to prepare for a test is to practice. If other students are practicing at cram schools in the evening, the only way to keep up is to have yours do the same. Compared to the average US student, Taiwanese have less time to explore social and extracurricular activities. They have less time to think about what they're interested in and what's important to them. They have less time to have fun and be a child.

Now, are Taiwanese more mature because they are more in touch with their inner child? Or are they simply making up for the fact that they didn't have a real chance at a childhood when they deserved it?

Falling into the Forest

I wrote about how it is easier to study a culture through foreign eyes. I also read about this concept in Warren Bennis’s On Becoming a Leader. There is an interesting caveat I forgot to mention. If you truly immerse yourself in a foreign culture, you will find you are not observing anything anymore.

I have spent so much time improving my Chinese and jumping into the culture that I stopped noticing anything about it. I had no foreign friends, outside of work. My day-to-day activities became local; there were no thoughts about why things were different. I stopped analyzing the world I was living in and just lived.

I could no longer see the forest for the trees. I may as well have been living in my old home of upstate New York.

Having some old friends and family visit was helpful. Their culture shock brought me back into perspective, thankfully. It is important to look at the whole picture and examine your life. You do not have to be in a foreign place, it simply forces you to think about things because they are so different.

If you fail to take yourself out of your current perspective and look at the entire forest, you don’t actively live. Instead, you just respond to the stimulus of your environment. You live more like a machine than a person.

好方便！- Perhaps too convenient…

I was in college when I learned the term “方便.” It means convenient. I don’t often use this expression in English so I never paid much attention to it, and wondered if knowing it would even be worth while. It wasn’t until I came to Taiwan that I realized this is a very commonly used phrase. In fact, I heard it every day and began using it more and more. Had my perception changed, did I start to care more about what was convenient to the point where it entered my daily vocabulary?

Convenience is always on the mind of Taiwanese. They have built Taiwan to be a very convenient place. Modernization and innovation have been directed by convenience and, I have to admit, Taiwan is a very easy place to live. So convenient that Taiwan’s East coast feels like one large city. The cities, large and small, are all connected by standard rail lines as well as a high-speed train. You can travel through the major Eastern Taiwanese cities, spread out over a couple hundred miles, more conveniently than you can traverse the two miles from Harvard Business School to Boston University’s West campus. It’s truly convenient, but is there a downside to this?

When things are too convenient and life becomes too easy, we never have to work hard to get what we want. Always having what things at arm’s reach means we never learn to work hard to achieve our goals, or how to deal with things that are not immediately given to us. We become spoiled. Grown adults end up with a lack of appreciation; grown adults start to seem a whole lot more like spoiled children. Too many people expect instant gratification.

Perhaps this is another reason for the rise of the Strawberry Generation in Taiwan?

There are very real consequences to having a more spoiled culture. Taiwan has the lowest birth rates in the world: people do not want to sacrifice their personal freedom and money to raise a family. The majority of Chinese parents I’ve questioned have all said their lives changed for the better, and had much more meaning, after having a child. The selfish desire for freedom and money thus inhibits most people’s chance to experience this kind of true and fulfilling happiness. It’s sad to see wealthy and otherwise successful people sit around and wonder why they “just aren’t happy.”

But the move to modernization and the rising quality of life is not unique to Taiwan. It’s a worldwide thing; it’s what we all work for. I’m an engineer and I’m wondering what the most beneficial thing I can contribute to this world is. Wouldn’t innovation, new designs, things to make our lives easier and at least more enjoyable seem like a good idea? But, if that just spoils future generations, that means I’d be working to cause more harm than good.

Growing Strawberries in Taiwan

A majority of Taiwanese children are spoiled. They audaciously address their parents, in public. Their behavior is unrestricted, running in the street, the supermarket, the mall, and yelling. Taiwanese, from their 20’s through their 80’s have criticized this piece of their culture. “Strawberry Generation,” is how they address the younger generations: they look and taste delicious, but spoil easily.

But why?

Children are spoiled by their parents. We have to rewind time, and look at what Taiwan was like when today’s parents were growing up (post World War II Taiwan).

Following the war, Taiwan was recovering from a taxing Japanese rule. As if the national idea wasn’t already vague, there was a large migration of mainland Chinese with the KMT party and Chiang Kai-Shek. Taiwan was not a developed country and they were not a well established Democratic-Republic. Taiwan would only get around to abolishing martial law in 1987. Its economy was just starting out and, although it would become the successful capitalist economy and tech island that it is today, this seemed far off. People were not able to live the kinds of lives they are able to now.

Children raised at this time had parents who experienced rough times – the Japanese occupation and the World War that brought it to an end. They didn’t have much to give their children. Families had to work hard to get by, most parents had no means of spoiling their children.

These children are the parents of today. They view their children as precious treasures and do for their children what their parents had done for them: give them everything they could. These parents also transformed Taiwan from a cheap labor island in Asia, to a “tech island” and an economic leader on the world stage. They have worked very hard to make all this happen and want to enjoy the fruits of their labor – and share them with their children.

But raising children in a prosperous economy is nothing like raising them during hardship. The parenting practices they learned from their parents were not applicable in this new age. This is parallel with the concept of “New Money.” The result is the “Strawberry Generation.”

What can be done? Even those self-aware parents are spoiling their children. Knowing is not enough.

Small Town, Big Success

I'm reading a great new book, one I recommend to everyone: On Becoming a Leader, by Warren Bennis. I don't recommend this book because we need a world full of leaders, but we should at least be able to recognize the characteristics that distinguish real leaders and true talent.

The book references a survey Victor and Mildred Goertzel conducted on successful people from a wide range of backgrounds. They found out a lot of interesting things, among them were that most successful men and women came from small towns or villages.

This reminded me of an interesting thought I came up with after moving to the city for college. I had made several friends, specifically a couple who had grown up in cities. We talked at great length about the differences in our upbringings.

Children who grow up in small towns or villages, like myself, have to create ways to amuse themselves. We are not faced with the pleasant distractions of city life. My childhood friends and I would often spend hours discussing what few things we could do. We were forced to be creative, and often weren't able to think of anything. We cursed our boredom, but many of us overcame this and found passions worth pursuing.

Bored? Why not make a gigantic snowman?

Conversely, some city friends were "blessed" with many more options. They didn't have the problem of boredom, being let down, or not having anything fun to do. In contrast, they were quite spoiled. They were less likely to use their imaginations, they didn't need to since there was already so much for them.

How does this relate to success? As a "small town boy," I was used to not getting what I wanted. I was also taught, that if I wanted something, like a good time, or a fun day out with my friends, that would require some effort or even creativity on my part. Even with effort, I might fail. So I learned two lessons: how to work hard to get what I want, and how to cope with failure despite earnest efforts.

Conversely, I was surprised to see city friends who, after working hard and coming up short on something would be emotionally devastated, then quit altogether. They had grown up where things they wanted had always been easier to reach. The idea of working hard for something and then failing was not something they were used to. Experiencing failure in college was devastating for them.

Previously, I had thought that the boredom of my small town childhood was a blessing because it enabled me to better enjoy life later on. It helped me deal with the stresses associated with college life at a competitive university. After reading the book, I realize this might actually end up doing more for me in the future. My vision, my determination to be great, and my will power are all things that I can credit to my childhood. They are all things that I will rely on to take me farther in life.

我有話説 - That's right, I've got something to say

I hate silly alarmists. That pretty much means I hate all forms of news. I'm in Taiwan right now. There's always talk of Chinese Vs. Taiwanese politics. A while back I read about a book stating that China was planning on taking over Taiwan by 2012, or something ridiculous like that.

My first comment is, if you're going to make such a bold statement, be careful about dates you put on it. This book, will become a serious joke in 2012 when history proves all predictions wrong. Now, I had a discussion with a few friends about why this would never happen. We're not politicians, we are not even well informed, but we were able to put aside our emotions and look at the situation objectively.

First, take a look at the plan, described by the author of this silly book (I'm not putting the name in this blog, I don't want publicize). China will move to make Taiwan more and more economically dependent on them, and then use this influence to control Taiwanese politics.

My first thought: not a bad plan, but what will happen to my residency status here... I better not get kicked out! I mean China has blocked Taiwan on the world stage several times, and it's basically been an issue of economics. Think about it, if China says to some small African country that you can only do business with us if you don't work with Taiwan... what will that African country say? "No thanks! Taiwan is a tech island, we need them to supply high tech products." I'm leaning more towards, "Well we want all of the cheap food, clothings, and manufactured products that China is producing anyway and we're not so concerned with advanced technology."

So at first glance, this seems like a reasonable idea. But hold on, what about motivation? Why does China want to re-assume full control of Taiwan? Because they're Chinese? Is it like why The US didn't want the South to break off? I mean, we were economically reliant on the South, and they hadn't split apart yet. But China and Taiwan have been ruled under separate law for a long time now. What about that economic desire? Well, if they can already make Taiwan economically dependent on them, to the point where they have enough influence to control their politics, then what do they actually have to gain? The only thing left is pride.

Now, let's take a quick look at the consequences of assimilating Taiwan. On the world stage, there is a delicate balance of power. No one wants to see the US, China... any of the major super powers, no one wants to see them continue to grow. We have a balance right now. China taking over Taiwan, a small democratic island, would not sit well with the other major countries of the world. And why in 2012!? Because of Chinas triumphant return to the world stage, they've been under an immense amount of criticism lately. US reporters are going crazy over in China, making more news than actually reporting.

I hate to read an article and feel the immediate sense of urgency that comes out of it. Feelings of intense anger are stirred up inside of me. Then I take a closer look at the article and realize, more often than not, 90% of the article is speculation pretending to be fact, and dressed in bright red screaming at you, trying to scare you. Why? Well, would you read an article otherwise. We live in a capitalist society, a capitalist world, even. Truth doesn't sell articles, fear does.

This is what China has to deal with. They're an easy target, and will continue to be for the next few years. If they make a move to take over Taiwan now, even if it is through a political strategy, they won't be gaining anything. They'll be giving the world actual news to report. They'll hinder their own reputation and important relations with the other superpowers of the world.

There could only be one reason for doing something like this: world domination. Yea that's right, China wants to take over the entire world - and they'll start with Taiwan. The US and European countries will be upset, but China doesn't care... soon they'll be a part of the Middle Kingdom, too!

--I'm disappointed with the news I read, to a point that it angers me. Not because I see only bad news and think the world is a bad place, but because I'm afraid other people are actually reading and believing these things.

A Little Red Book

Aren't you supposed to place a nice novel beside your bed? Something nice to read before you drift off into your own dream world? I think a nice fantasy could encourage better sleep and more interesting dreams.

Business Leadership in China, this is my current bedside book. It's written by a successful businessman, Frank T. Gallo, who moved to China late in his career. Very late in his career: he was considering retirement when given the chance to live and work in China. So he continued his career and faced an array of new challenges in the new culture.

He had previously worked and lived in Japan, so he had prior experience learning about foreign cultures. But he had only first moved to China in 2004 and this book was published in 2008. I don't know how long it took him to get this book written and published, when you consider that, he may have only worked in China for a very short time before starting work on the book. There's no way you can consider him an expert on China, or even the specified regions in China, after living there for such a short time. But he does compensate for this by first having over 30 years of business and management experience to bring to the table and then include a lot of outside sources. It's obvious that he consulted many Chinese-business professionals while writing this book.

Gallo is a business expert and is knowledgeable about Chinese business. He's also interviewed a lot of other experts and is quoting them throughout the book. It's full of examples and is really a fun read if you're into cross cultural business or even just psychology. I've learned some interesting things.

Leadership is really about psychology, after all. Why do leadership strategies that work well in the US fail in China? He describes exactly this and suggests workarounds. What does it come down to, basically human transduction - how and why different cultures interpret things differently.

I recommend the book for those interested in understanding Chinese culture and psychology, especially if you have an interest in taking on a leadership role on the continent. But it's nothing profound. I've also never lived in China - no need to get into politics, but from a business perspective Taiwan is a different country and has a very different business culture. This is true regardless of your political standing.

Why Study a Foreign Culture?

Transduction is the process of transforming one signal type into another. Take a car’s speedometer; the speed is the output of a transduction system. The input, or source, is the wheels’ number of revolutions per minute. This is linearly correlated with the rotation angle (the position) of the dial on your speedometer. It is then tuned and this is how you get a reading in miles per hour. This is a simple example taking one reading of revolutions per minute and converting it into miles per hour. Complex systems are made up of several layers of transduction between a variety of inputs and outputs.

Transduction plays a large role in making measurements, such as the speed of your car. Therefore, it’s important to note that when taking any measurement there’s an associated uncertainty. For example, you can use a ruler to determine a bar is 5.25 inches long. Using a set of calipers you find the bar is 5.2445 inches long. Which number is correct? The calipers, they have a higher degree of accuracy? No, both measurements are wrong. Using the ruler, with divisions at every 1/16th of an inch, the measurement is 5.25 +/- .06 inches. Likewise the micrometer’s measurement is 5.2445 +/- .005 inches. These measurements do not contradict each other like the previous set: they are both correct. Any number, especially statistical data, is meaningless unless it has an attached uncertainty. This uncertainty is affected by the transduction methods and thus the transducer.

Forgive me, I majored in mechanical engineering. But wait, I’m not lying to you with my title: this is surprisingly relevant to culture and the role it plays in all our lives. Transduction isn’t limited to the scientific world. It is involved in any instance where an input of one kind is converted. Replace that speedometer in my first example with the words that I’m typing, now. They started out as thoughts in my head: a combination of things I’ve learned from different sources. They’ve gotten mixed up, rearranged and combined. That is the first level of transduction. They were combined into a new thought that I contemplated for some time. They were written on paper, another level of transduction: the transformation of thoughts into handwritten words. Then they were read over and critiqued for accuracy as I thought, “Are these words clearly expressing my thoughts?” They were edited accordingly, transduction again. I typed them into my computer and again ran through the editing process. Finally, you are reading and converting my words into information, thoughts, opinions, and ideas inside of your own head: the final layer of transduction.

Your thoughts are not identical to my original thoughts. This is what is lost in the transduction process; this is the associated uncertainty. I can only hope that you get a “good enough” impression of what I’m trying to explain. There was an element of uncertainty in the words I originally wrote down; each layer of transduction affected the uncertainty. The more you know about my writing style and me in general (the transducers at work here), the better you will understand my thoughts and the lesser the uncertainty. The more I know about my readers, the more I can anticipate their reaction to my words; the more I can control the thoughts that enter their head while reading. Knowing your audience is the first step when writing: it enables you to adjust your transduction methods and reduce uncertainty.

Communication is a transduction process. Our words, verbal and written alike, are transducers – transferring my ideas to yours. Culture is a transducer: it filters everything we interpret. Behaviors seen as polite in some cultures are seen as rude in others. Despite the same input our cultural transduction systems output opposite responses.
This extends much farther than culture. This is the key to understanding what people feel, why they feel that way, and how they communicate.

Human transduction is specific to each individual, but an understanding at the cultural level is the first step to being able to understand individuals, and more importantly yourself.

“So why study foreign culture?” is a naïve question. You may as well ask: “Why would you learn how to speak?” or “Why would you learn how to read?”

Why Taiwan?

It's not what you think

I grew up in a Catholic family, not a terribly serious one. My father was a regular church goer. My mother was hit-or-miss, more often miss than hit. I had religious education classes and was confirmed. In high school I attended church religiously. I also prayed nightly – confessing my sins and counting my blessings.

I was a pretty good Catholic! Maybe that was why I started to doubt my religion. There were a lot of people in church, and I was a teenager. I felt like I was judged by some of the fellow church goers. Few and far between, but I lead a more honest and Catholic life than almost everyone I knew. But the feeling in Church, the atmosphere, it led me to some doubts. No one’s perfect all the time, but it often felt like people let that be an excuse. It wasn’t the last straw, but it was a start.

Then I went to college – Boston University (BU). What a great place! I found myself studying mechanical engineering and meeting people from all over the world: Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, China, Taiwan, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, and Massachusetts. It was great to explore other cultures. I loved learning about different lifestyles (did you know its common practice for German men to pee sitting down – not just common practice, but good manners!). Now, fully removed from my Church, I began to think more and more about flying independent. I continued to pray, although probably not every night. I didn’t feel like I needed to hear the moral lectures and the stories anymore. I didn’t feel the need to profess my faith or go to Church. I found myself more interested in culture.

I began exploring Japanese culture. I had studied Karate and the ideas of discipline and martial arts were really attractive. I talked with my Japanese friends more and more. By studying culture I thought I could figure what parts of the way we live are cultural and learned, and which parts are more naturally human. Comparing and contrasting how different cultures perceive different things and express the same emotions is a great way to get started.

As I dove more into cultural study I found myself farther and farther away from the Church. Then, I thought about history more than before and found myself upset. The idea that when the savior came to Earth, came to us, he came to one spot. Okay, in the Middle East. At that time a central location, but, the most advanced civilization was China. Couldn’t more people have been saved; couldn’t the word have been spread faster and farther? Certain people were chosen to receive salvation? Others were damned, despite ignorance. That’s not cool. The forgiving and understanding God, a father figure, he would not select only a few of his children for salvation. Especially not when he’s omnipotent and all powerful. He could easily spread the world to all civilizations.

A serious lapse in faith.

Not reason to denounce God, or the chance of a higher power. But reason for me to leave my Church (it’s easy when you’re Catholic; we have a great policy on forgiveness). Is there a god? I don’t know, but I’m comfortable not knowing. At this point in my life I asked myself: “What do I really know?” Seriously, ask yourself, “What do I really know?” Now anything that’s second hand experience – you don’t actually know (ever seen Jim Carrey inThe Truman Show?). The only things you can be sure of are first hand experiences. Do a little research; I encourage you to look up the Rashomon effect. Soon you’ll realize that you can’t even trust your own first-hand experiences. There’s a bias. Fortunately, once you’re aware of a bias, you can take corrective measures and get a good estimation on the truth. There’s always a degree of uncertainty (I’m a big critic), But some things are more certainty than others. Knowing this I began my venture – my quest for knowledge, for truth that I could be sure of based on my own experiences.

Suddenly foreign cultures were more than interesting: they were a way to learn about myself. What things: actions, behaviors, even thoughts and feelings – how much is taught through culture? How much is natural? Language is a key part of culture; to study the culture you’ve got to study the language and vice versa (blogged on this).

So, why Taiwan?

Well, I was initially steered in the direction of Japan, even started practicing with Pimsleurs Japanese. Then I met a Chinese girl from Taiwan studying at BU. After a while I decided to change to Chinese, her parents couldn’t speak English and if I were to travel internationally it seemed like I’d go to Taiwan with her before I went to Japan. I also made a promise to myself to not change languages again, and to continue studying Chinese until it was good. Regardless of my personal life, I was committed to the language.

After graduation (BSME Class of 2009) my Chinese was not fluent. Job hunting, well I blogged about that. It was time for me to move to Taiwan or China and continue studying. The best opportunity came in Fengyuan City, Taichung County, Taiwan.

Now my original goal remains very much the same. But another goal has come up. I’m not here studying the language and culture just for self realization anymore; I’m doing it to build a career. My goal is to combine my technical strengths and knowledge with the cultural expertise I’m developing: to serve as the technical expert on Asia – specifically Taiwan and China. It’s early now, but so far so good.