Social Customs in Taiwan

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If we enter a country, follow the customs. Like many countries, the Taiwanese have their own customs, they will of course, often pardon foreigners who make social mistakes. However, no one wants to do the wrong thing and offend people by mistake so it is well to understand some of the important social ideas and its meaning in Taiwan.

For an example, Taiwan is a place where people often give gifts. We can be given on many different occasions not just birthday. In Chinese New Year, children are given gifts of money. In the weddings, the happy couple is also given money. Money is given in red envelops as red is thought of as the color of good fortune. However, you must not give certain numbers about 4 as this is the number of death. In the West, it used to be that people avoided the number 13. In Taiwan, many people avoid the number 4. Even today, hospitals in Taiwan have no fourth floor. Some people don’t like the car number and cell phone number as 4, too.

For other example, in our culture, having lots of food symbolizes abundance for the New Year during the Chinese New Year. If a foreigner have a Chinese New Year dinner with you, you should tell him that we can't eat all of them. Leaving some on the plate means that we'll have more than enough in the New Year.

Today, perhaps not many young people believe in the old ideas about good and bad fortune, etc. But I think I would follow the old traditions. As I said before, whether though people believe the old ideas or not, we should tell the foreigners about that. We all might respect our customs.