ANGRY! Why do my parents always move to the WORST places?!

[Voice of Reason]

The past is the past, so you can't do much about that...I understand how that feels.

But now, why don't you move AWAY from your parents?

My personal growth has skyrocketed since I left my parents and moved overseas.

[Globus]

I am also extremely angry at my parents for moving to Canada. I used to live in South-Eastern Europe but when I was 12 my parents decided to move to Canada unfortunately. I had a lot of friends and I also knew girls that liked me back home, but in Canada I virtually have no social life and girls here dont like me and I cant get a date. It is extremely frustrating and depressing.

[celery2010]

that "cold wall" thing you are talking about is a chinese thing. it's not only in taiwan, but mainland china and hk. yeah and they are all walking zombies too. especially southern chinese people. quite a lot of people have this weird weird sleepy lazy mentality.

by the way, why are you still living with your parents? are you supporting them? they supporting you? do you have another other siblings that can live with your parents?

So you've experienced it and acknowledge it too right? It certainly makes approaching or starting up a conversation NOT feel natural at all. I hate it! It gives me a sick feeling too. Where does it come from? Is it genetic? How is it projected? From the mind?

If I grew up in Taiwan, would I have a cold wall around me too? It's so f***ing weird and inhuman.

I notice it around Cantonese people too, especially in the US.

So why do no travel websites or blogs talk about this "cold wall" around Chinese and Japanese people? All they say is "People are so friendly and helpful!" Blah blah blah. So full of shit. How can something so obvious never be talked about? WTF?!

Btw, can someone answer my 6 questions above? Why can no one answer them directly?

Winston, you're Asian and you don't even understand your own culture. Don't you understand the idea of in group/ out group?

Winston, I'm of Asian descent and found the Taiwanese to be noticeably friendlier than Japanese and Koreans.

In fact, IMHO Taiwanese are the friendliest of all the NE Asian (race) nations (I don't know about Mongolia/Central Asia), The only other place that people were also fairly friendly was HK. A girl even hit on me in HK (also in Thailand, but that's SE asia) People are also considerably friendlier in the South of Taiwan.

However, people are friendlier, IMHO in Thailand. And friendliest , in Indonesia and the Philippines (people will talk to strangers). And maybe the tibetans.

There was a thread on RooshV a few months ago asking which cultures were the most extroverted. The consensus was Latins-- Brazilians, Argentinians, Mexicans. And people from the Caucaucus and Middle East.

As I also wrote in my thread on the things you need to improve in your life, in India, people will be very very friendly and receptive. You can approach strangers even many times in big cities.

People in China will be friendly ONCE they realize that you are a FOREIGNER. If they think you are a local they will be less nice due to the overpopulation issues.

However, in every country (in Asia), if you make the effort to get to meet people and build a social circle, as someone of Asian descent, you should be OK (of course, notwithstanding your language skills, ability to assimilate culturally, your personality)

[Rock]

In fact, IMHO Taiwanese are the friendliest of all the NE Asian (race) nations (I don't know about Mongolia/Central Asia),

From my perspective, this much is so true. The Japanese and Singaporeans may be a politer in general but Taiwanese are often very friendly and helpful, at least to foreigners like me. And if I stop an a girl in the street by saying 'excuse me miss' more oftentimes than not, she will stop to see what I want, even if she is young and attractive. Same goes for Monkro.

Specific places where I felt I got less friendly treatment are S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo area), many mainland Chinese cities (with exceptions in some cases where people bent over backward to help me), SP, HK, and even Mongolia (that's where people seemed to smile and laugh the least by a long shot).

One thing is strange to me. The south of Taiwan by reputation is considered more friendly than Taipei, both by locals and foreigners. However, whenever I visit Winston down in Chiayi, all I see are a bunch of very serious and square local yocals or else people who have a poor SE Asian ghetto look. People don't smile much, seem very serious, and don't appear to be happy or enjoy life. Even in Taichung, I get that sort of vibe but to a lessor degree. But in Taipei where I spend most of my time, things seem more normal. I see people laugh and smile much more often, at least within their groups or with friends. People seem more content and prosperous. There's a lot more places to go for fun and girls appear to be a lot classier up there in general.

If I had to live in Chiayi, I'd probably be miserable too.

[lone_yakuza]

.

[Rock]

that "cold wall" thing you are talking about is a chinese thing. it's not only in taiwan, but mainland china and hk. yeah and they are all walking zombies too. especially southern chinese people. quite a lot of people have this weird weird sleepy lazy mentality.

by the way, why are you still living with your parents? are you supporting them? they supporting you? do you have another other siblings that can live with your parents?

So you've experienced it and acknowledge it too right? It certainly makes approaching or starting up a conversation NOT feel natural at all. I hate it! It gives me a sick feeling too. Where does it come from? Is it genetic? How is it projected? From the mind?

If I grew up in Taiwan, would I have a cold wall around me too? It's so f***ing weird and inhuman.

I notice it around Cantonese people too, especially in the US.

So why do no travel websites or blogs talk about this "cold wall" around Chinese and Japanese people? All they say is "People are so friendly and helpful!" Blah blah blah. So full of shit. How can something so obvious never be talked about? WTF?!

Btw, can someone answer my 6 questions above? Why can no one answer them directly?

Winston, you're Asian and you don't even understand your own culture. Don't you understand the idea of in group/ out group?

Winston, I'm of Asian descent and found the Taiwanese to be noticeably friendlier than Japanese and Koreans.

In fact, IMHO Taiwanese are the friendliest of all the NE Asian (race) nations (I don't know about Mongolia/Central Asia), The only other place that people were also fairly friendly was HK. A girl even hit on me in HK (also in Thailand, but that's SE asia) People are also considerably friendlier in the South of Taiwan.

However, people are friendlier, IMHO in Thailand. And friendliest , in Indonesia and the Philippines (people will talk to strangers). And maybe the tibetans.

There was a thread on RooshV a few months ago asking which cultures were the most extroverted. The consensus was Latins-- Brazilians, Argentinians, Mexicans. And people from the Caucaucus and Middle East.

As I also wrote in my thread on the things you need to improve in your life, in India, people will be very very friendly and receptive. You can approach strangers even many times in big cities.

People in China will be friendly ONCE they realize that you are a FOREIGNER. If they think you are a local they will be less nice due to the overpopulation issues.

However, in every country (in Asia), if you make the effort to get to meet people and build a social circle, as someone of Asian descent, you should be OK (of course, notwithstanding your language skills, ability to assimilate culturally, your personality)

Taiwanese are not NE Asian. They are a combination of SE Asian, Aboriginal Taiwanese, and Chinese. That's a big difference. Mainly Chinese though and very very few SE Asians. And then also the mixed Aboriginal Taiwanese + Chinese.

I would know and so would my family, because some of my family from Japan went there and stayed after WWII and the arrival of the Guo Ming Dang. Phenotype may be similar to Yamato Japanese/southern Japanese and Okinawan and Southern Chinese but definitely not similar to most NE Asians such as Manchu, Koreans, Hokkaido Japanese, etc. People could tell right away my family were not Taiwanese

Well how are you distinguishing Taiwan aborigines from SE Asians? The various aboriginal groups in Taiwan are considered to have genetic ties to certain peoples in Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, all of which are located in SE Asia. These groups, according to census data, make up some 2% of Taiwan's population and I'm not sure how much they have mixed with Han Chinese. I suspect it's more common on sparsely populated east coast as well as the deep south. But in greater Taipei, I don't encounter many people who claim an aboriginal blood in my normal dealings except when I take trips to special areas like Wulai.

Or are you referring to the trend in more recent years of Taiwanese men to import foreign brides, mostly Vietnamese, and procreate with them? Taiwan also has a lot of contract workers from countries such as Philippines but it's not too common for them to marry and have children with Han Taiwanese men. In any case, I see a lot more of these SE Asians in the industrial zones of the center and south or in some of the downstream tech factory areas of Taoyuan and Chungli.

You see a fair amount of northern Chinese looking people in Taipei city. In contrast, in southern China, especially southwest China, I see a high percentage of people who have more of what I consider a SE Asian look. But I defer to Falcon on this topic as he seems to have done a great deal of research and what he has written seems to click with my own impressions when visiting some of these areas.

[lone_yakuza]

.

[momopi]

From my perspective, this much is so true. The Japanese and Singaporeans may be a politer in general but Taiwanese are often very friendly and helpful, at least to foreigners like me. And if I stop an a girl in the street by saying 'excuse me miss' more oftentimes than not, she will stop to see what I want, even if she is young and attractive. Same goes for Monkro.
Specific places where I felt I got less friendly treatment are S. Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo area), many mainland Chinese cities (with exceptions in some cases where people bent over backward to help me), SP, HK, and even Mongolia (that's where people seemed to smile and laugh the least by a long shot).
One thing is strange to me. The south of Taiwan by reputation is considered more friendly than Taipei, both by locals and foreigners. However, whenever I visit Winston down in Chiayi, all I see are a bunch of very serious and square local yocals or else people who have a poor SE Asian ghetto look. People don't smile much, seem very serious, and don't appear to be happy or enjoy life. Even in Taichung, I get that sort of vibe but to a lessor degree. But in Taipei where I spend most of my time, things seem more normal. I see people laugh and smile much more often, at least within their groups or with friends. People seem more content and prosperous. There's a lot more places to go for fun and girls appear to be a lot classier up there in general.
If I had to live in Chiayi, I'd probably be miserable too.

The Japanese are polite and their word-usage in etiquette and in-group (身内) / out-group rules are more complex than Chinese today. Although Japan has modernized, it's still a Monarchy and elevator girls are expected to speak keigo, versus Chinese went through the revolution with replacing classical with vernacular. For those interested in reading a brief:

http://thejapanesepage.com/w/index.php?title=Keigo
http://thejapanesepage.com/w/index.php? ... _Out_Group

My Japanese level is about equivalent to a 1st grader watching Sailor Moon, so I'll provide the Chinese language examples instead. In modern Chinese, one might ask what province (省) you're from. When speaking to an elder, you might use the classical prefecture "府" and ask "你府上哪里", but rarely with young people. Also, modern administrative regions names tend to be used for both forms today, i.e. 遼寧 (Liaoning) instead of 奉天 (Feng Tian). See: http://www.zdic.net/cd/ci/8/ZdicE5ZdicBAZdic9C71996.htm


As for Southern TW, last time I was in Kaoshiung in 2008, I was taken to "Cash Box" KTV where the TV displayed the warning "...stabbing people with knives and shooting people with guns is illegal and not allowed at our facility...". I asked my ex-fiance's boss and he indicated that folks down South are more "emotionally driven" and that after a few beers, they might get into arguments and decide to stab each other. Keep in mind that I've never lived in Kaoshiung and this is only the opinion of one person (not mine).