»Everything you ever wanted to ask about Asian culture...«

I have been wanting to start an Asian Q&A thread for sometime with N/A and Sangu like I did w/ Mymla.

Now that I have typecasted both of you two, first off, how do you feel about that? Do you think of yourself as more "American" than "Asian"?

I know a fair about about China's and Japan's history, but not too much about other eastern Asian countries and there cultures. i.e. Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia etc etc

I guess I would like to focus on the present in these countries and not specifically the past. I can do research on the past on my own, but it's hard to know about the present there w/o being there or knowing someone who has been there.

From Sangu's profile, she lists Malaysia as her nationality by heart.
From N/A's profile/posts, I am getting China.

Hmmm, I am really not even sure what round of questions to start with.

As a starting point, would you two be willing to tell us more about how you view China and Malaysia today? How different are China and Malaysia from the USA today? How often do you visit there?

Hopefully, we can get some back and forth going and have an interesting discussion like we did with Russia.

posted by volonteshiva

in-my-opinion.org -> Misc -> Anything that doesn't fit in any other category -> Everything you ever wanted to ask about Asian culture...

volonteshiva:

From N/A's profile/posts, I am getting China.

I don't think I wrote China...

My heritage is Taiwanese - thus, the language spoken is Chinese. Don't worry though, I'm not one of those indignant "GOOGLE LISTED TAIWAN AS PART OF THE ROC AND I AM PISSED OFF ABOUT IT" people.

sangu is actually not a native Malay... she is probably of Chinese origin as well.

volonteshiva:

Now that I have typecasted both of you two, first off, how do you feel about that? Do you think of yourself as more "American" than "Asian"?

I would say half and half. My sisters and I are the first generation in my family that has been born in the US, so we are still brought up with Chinese/Taiwanese culture. However, I am a US citizen, and I certainly know more about American politics and other issues in the US than in Taiwan (except for the major elections). So I think I am truly a Taiwanese-American.

volonteshiva:

As a starting point, would you two be willing to tell us more about how you view China and Malaysia today? How different are China and Malaysia from the USA today? How often do you visit there?

I think I will just imagine the words 'China' as 'Taiwan' and answer your ?s.

I would say Taiwan is a developing country. It has gotten better over the last couple of years. I usually go to Taiwan maybe once a year, when there are inconveniencies, maybe once in two or three years. My grandparents live in the more rural parts of Taiwan, and I personally think it is fantastic. For example, my grandparents on my mom's side lives in a house right next to shops. Many houses are shops/houses - they sell merchandise right in their garage.

So basically, once you step out the front door, it's the road. When my family first arrives at Taiwan and is experiencing jetlag, we often wake up and 4 in the morning and walk out to buy breakfast - there are already little stands that are set up and ready for business. A little 7-11 type shop is probably less than a minutes walking distance from my grandparents' house, so when we are dying of humidity and the hot weather, we just walk over, pay the equivalent of around 50 c ents in USD for an ice cream bar, and run back to the house (or goof off in the store which has nice A/C).

Everyone rides motorbikes. Obviously cars are still used to travel long distances, but everything in Taiwan is so convenient and usually within walking or riding distance that they are unnecessary. Also, the roads are narrow and it is extremely hard to find parking spaces - you have to have MAD driving skills to be able to drive in Taiwan.

As for competition in school - it is brutal. My cousin, who is the same age as me, has to take a train to get to his school everyday. He leaves at 6 in the morning and comes back to the house at 9, and then he has to stay up and do hw. It is absolute madness, and now we all tease him that he looks like an old man because he is so skinny. Everyone takes tutoring or prep classes at every available oppurtunity when they are not in school. And even after so much competition, and even after getting into a good college, you still might not have much of a future of getting a good job.

Speaking of homework... I have to go...

posted by nocturnal_anonymous

"NO CAPES!"

The time now is 22 August 2008, 04:16
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