An overview of Taiwan

In the 16^th century, the Portuguese name Taiwan as Ihia Formosa which means the beautiful Island. Therefore, Formosa became the origin of Taiwan’s name. The name “Taiwan” was not originated from Chinese. The Siraya aborigines who lived in the region of Tainan called the people from other places as “Taian” and it had been misheard as “Taioan”. After that, Ming government started to call this Island as “Taiwan” like what we call it now. 

Taiwan is a beautiful island that located at southeastern part of Asia, in between the Mainland China and Taiwan Straits. It comes under the government of the Republic of China. The total land area of Taiwan is about 35980 square kilometers. The climates in Taiwan can divide into two; there are tropical monsoon and subtropical monsoon. 

The population of Taiwan is around 23,286,065 on 7^th of December 2010. Taiwan is make-up of 84% of Taiwanese which including Hakka, 14% of mainland Chinese, and 2% of the indigenous people in Taiwan. The capital of Taiwan is Taipei. In Taipei, the most popular national park is the Yangmingshan National Park.

The Cultures of Taiwan

1.    The religions

There are many types of religious beliefs in Taiwan. There are thirteen registered religions in Taiwan that practiced by the residents of Taiwan. These encompass Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hsuan-yuan Chiao, Islam, Li-ism, Tenrikyo, Baha’I, Tienti Teachings, Tien Te Chiao, I-Kuan Tao and Mahikarikyo.



The religious calendar



However, the three main religious traditions are Buddhism, Taoism and Catholicism. Most of the religions have priests that check the religious calendar and carry out the respective prescribed rituals. The Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism are known as “three teachings” or sanjiao. Every religion has their history and their own temples. 



The Buddhist temple



Buddhism is the most generally practiced religion of Taiwan. It is originated from India and brought in to Taiwan in the late of 16^th Century. Taoism is born several decades before Confucius which recognized by Lao-tzu (Laozi). The central idea of the religion is the fulfillment of divinity. His words passed down to us in the Dao De Jing and his philosophy is known as Dao. Catholicism introduced to Taiwan during the Spanish Settlement. A Catholic priest began this mission to introduce the Catholic assurance to people. Taiwanese believe in the Buddhist heaven and hell. They believe that a good life will be reward in heaven after died and bad life will in hell.



 

Buddha



Catholic





Taoism



2.    The Foods

The food cultures in Taiwan are very strong as they have many different ethics in Taiwan with their own culture. Due to the wide varieties of food cultures in Taiwan, it emphasizes the country’s identity and increased the local awareness.

Taiwan xiao-chi in Chinese (“small eat”), which are the most popular foods (snack) that can be found in any night market in Taiwan. Some of the examples of the xiao-chi in Taiwan are o-a-tsian (oyster omelet), gong-yuan (meatball), and o-a-mi-suann (slender noodles with oyster).

Different ethics have its regional cuisine. The Taiwanese style of cuisine is best famous for its ti pang (stewed pig trotter) and san bei ji (three-cup chicken). For Hakka, the most famous cuisine will be the niang doufu (stuffed bean curd) and tieban doufu (teppanyaki bean curd). 

Sun cakes

Some of the well-known pastries in Taiwan are taiyang bing (sun cakes), fengli-su (pineapple tarts), guancaiban (coffin burger) and Fuzhou hujiao bing (Fuzhou pepper bread). 

  

3.    The people

The majority of the people in Taiwan are from the mainland of Fujian and Guangdong in China. Most of the people in Taiwan have their traditional values depends on Confucianism. This is the recognized by a scholar and philosopher who called Kong Fu Zi. His words passed down to us in the Dao De Jing which teaches the younger generation to be filial, loyal, sincerity and well-behaved. This is the system that stress the responsibility of people towards five relationships which are the ruler and subject, the husband and wife, the parents and children, the brothers and sister, and lastly the friend and friend.

Due to the globalization, these values are being threatened. However, some of these traditional values are well protected and preserved by the indigenous people in Taiwan. For instance, the well-behaved towards elderly and ancestor worship.

Before this, the women in Taiwan do not have the chance to study or work in higher position. However, the Taiwanese are now more open-minded so the women in Taiwan can enjoy freedom whereby they can now have higher education and higher position in their work.

The Traditions of Taiwan

The traditions in Taiwan are still exists as the Taiwanese still practices these traditions in their life. The traditions values in Taiwan are the relationship among each other, the practical understanding which is come from the Confucianism concept.

The traditional Chinese writing system still used in Taiwan. However, the current education system in Taiwan only accepts the simplified Chinese in their written language. The traditional characters are simplify to simplified form which easier the people to read and write.

chinese character

In every Taiwanese home, the guests are required to remove their shoes right at the door before they go in the Taiwanese house. This is because, Taiwanese like to maintain the floor at their home clean. Taiwanese do not like odd numbers and number four. They think these numbers are will bring bad luck to them. However, Taiwanese likes number eight very much as they think number eight will bring good luck to them and the pronunciation of eight in Chinese is Ba which is very similar to Fa which means to become rich. 

Shoes are removed outside the house.

 

The Chinese name in Taiwan usually has three names which are the surname and one or two personal name. The children’s surname is following the father’s surname. They are not allowed to change their surname. Normally, the personal names have their meaning which the parents believe will bring good luck to their children.

Gift giving receiving gift are very common in Taiwan society especially during Chinese New Year, weddings and birthday. Taiwanese people love foods very much therefore they will very happy if receive any chocolates or pastries. One are not allow to give scissors, knives or cutting utensils as this means that you want to break the relationship with the that person. When you present the gift, it is encouraged to present it using both hands. This also the same when you receive the gift. It is rude to them if you open the gift right after receiving it.

Gifts

When you attending the wedding in Taiwan, you have to bring money and place the money in a red envelope which call ang pao to give to the bridegroom or bride and wish them. Throughout the wedding party, you will served with 10 course meals and sometimes they will give a small gift to everybody as a thanks you gift to thanks everybody who attended their wedding party.

Wedding Party

10 courses are served