Taiwan: Encyclopedia II - Taiwan - Culture of Taiwan

Taiwan - Culture of Taiwan

Main article: Culture of Taiwan

Taiwan's culture is primarily derived from traditional Chinese culture, with some Japanese and American influences. Taiwanese aborigines each also have distinct cultures which are thought to share the common ethnic origins with the Pacific Islanders.

Most Taiwanese adhere to a mix of Buddhist/Taoist religions and Confucian teachings. Traditional Chinese holidays such as Chinese New Year, Lantern Festival, and Dragon Boat Festival are celebrated regularly. One especially important deity for Taiwanese people is Matsu, symbolizing the seafaring spirit of Taiwan's ancestors from Fujian and Guangdong.

Many Japanese style houses can be found in Taiwan as relics of Japanese colonial rule. Common usage of Japanese words such as "obasan" and almost all baseball terminology can also be seen as lasting Japanese effect on Taiwan.

Taiwanese culture also has influenced the West: Bubble tea and milk tea are popular drinks readily available around city centers in Europe, Canada and the United States. Ang Lee is the famous Taiwanese movie director of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Eat Drink Man Woman, among other films.

About 80 percent of the people in Taiwan belong to the Holo ethnic group and speak both Mandarin and Taiwanese. Mandarin is the primary language of instruction in schools; however, most spoken media is split between Mandarin and Taiwanese. Speaking Taiwanese under the localization movement has become an emblem of expressing Taiwanese identity, and the language has undergone a resurgence since the early 1990s. The Hakka, about 10 percent of the population, have a distinct Hakka language. Aboriginal minority groups still speak their native languages, although most also speak Mandarin.

The Taiwanese localization movement continues to be a major driver of Taiwanese culture, as a reaction against both the previous repression by the previously Kuomintang-controlled government and the hostility of the PRC. Thus, identity politics, along with the over 100 years of political separation from mainland China, 50 of which were under Japanese colonial rule, has led to distinct traditions in many areas, including cuisine, opera and music.

One of Taiwan's greatest attractions is the National Palace Museum, which houses more than 650,000 pieces of Chinese bronze, jade, calligraphy, painting and porcelain. The Kuomintang government moved this collection from the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1949 when it fled to Taiwan. The collection, estimated to be one-tenth of China's cultural treasures, is so extensive that only 1 percent is on display at any time.

Taiwan - Convenience store culture

Boasting 8,058 convenience stores in an area of 35,980 km² and a population of 22.9 million, Taiwan has the Asia Pacific’s and perhaps the world’s highest density of convenience stores per person: one store per 2,800 people or .000357 stores per person (2005 ACNielsen ShopperTrends). With 3897 7-Eleven stores, Taiwan also has the world’s highest density of 7-Elevens per person: one store per 6200 people or .000161 stores per person (International Licensing page of 7-Eleven website). In Taipei, it is not unusual to see two 7-Elevens across the street or several of them within a few hundreds of meters of each other.

Because they are found everywhere, convenience stores in Taiwan provide services on behalf of financial institutions or government agencies such as collection of the city parking fee, utility bills, traffic violation fines, and credit card payments. Eighty percent of urban household shoppers in Taiwan visit a convenience store each week (2005 ACNielsen ShopperTrends). The idea of being able to purchase food items, drink, fast food, magazines, videos, computer games, and so on 24 hours a day and at any corner of a street makes life easier for Taiwan’s extremely busy and rushed population.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Culture of Taiwan", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki