Everyday when I walk to work, I come across with these elderlies who do their morning exercise routines in this public space under the metro. It's perfectly shaded and convenient. At night, the space would turn into a kids' mini-soccer field, or dance practice arena for youths, and of course, like many cities with Chinese populations, there would always be aunties who do group dances.
The routines don't change as coronavirus hits the world. Yes for once the group gatherings were minimalized, but as soon as we knew that the situation is well controlled in Taiwan, people start gathering with reasonable distance and masks.
People always care about being healthy as a community
Yes, in many other places in the world people also exercise in public spaces. What is special here is that staying healthy is not just one's own business but a community practice. It is a group of people around you that keep the health habits with you. It is your friend who would always share health tips on chat apps (Line, for example in Taiwan), or it's our TV news, magazines, and newspapers that would always have a column about health tips that keep you informed (though inevitably there would be scams & misinformation).
In essence, staying healthy is everyone's business here. We keep each other healthy, and give warm reminders to our loved ones on what to eat, what to keep as "good habits", etc.
We are a culture that is already well prepared for what nobody would expect to happen-a global pandemic.
We chose a government that parents us
As you can imagine as the pandemic first breaks out in China, our government immediately act like everyone's mother, telling us to wear masks, measure our body temperatures, and banning all passengers from China and then other countries from entering Taiwan, and put the people coming from abroad in a 14-day quarantine if they do end up here, whether it's a citizen or else.
Our government is so strict, so much that it's gotten quite annoying. For example, now the situation is controlled with zero confirmed cases for more than 30 days straight, we still have quarantines if we travel overseas, and we still have to wear masks in metros in 36-degree hot days. Many pubic place still take your temperatures and register your name just in case if anything happens they can trace the source.
Yes it's annoying, but everyone accepts it. Just like you would take your moms advice reluctantly because you know it's "good for you".
There are no limits for personal advice
I remember having a reverse cultural shock where when I first came back from the US back in 2011, one of the relatives told me that I had gained weight and I should look out for it. In the US, almost no one would give such a comment to anyone because it is too personal and it would be considered as minding other people's business too much.
In Taiwan there's no such a thing. Because you have to know where those advice are coming from. Senior people love giving all kinds of advices to youngsters, from what you should study to who you should marry. This is how they express care and love.
As much as young people like me hate advice like these, we knew from the bottom of our hearts that these advice are well intended and that we should take it. We might not take it eventually, of course, but we would politely accept it because it's a well intended advise from a senior.
When our governments imposes rules on pandemic restrictions, everyone follows. We give our government our personal data on health so they can track it with our travel history. We would line up for masks, because we knew tens of millions of them, made by our super efficient supply chain, are donated to countries like USA, Holland, Poland, Australia, France, Japan, etc.
We are a small nation that is desperate for international recognition and support for our shrinking space to participate in anything globally. We are not part of the World Health Organization, nor are we part of the UN. Because of the pressure from China, Taiwan needs to work hard to find our place in the world.
Caring for each other, especially on health is an important value for Taiwanese. This is how far we are filling to go for it, and how we would like to be recognized in the world.
Indulgence VS abstinence on health
When we look at the ways the world behaves or acts around the pandemic, we get confused. We don't understand why people would not take precaution very early on. For instance, when coronavirus spread to Italy, the Spanish weren't even concerned, and the officials in Italy mocked at the the ones that got nervous and wore masks everywhere. Our TV news mentioned these stories like fictions because it's simply not comprehensible for us.
To stay healthy, people are willing to take on habits that are not always "enjoyable". There's a Chinese idiom that goes "take bitterness as betterness." If you have eaten Chinese medicine you will understand. It is so bitter, but people would still eat it for that it is good for us!
If you have met Taiwanese women you would know that we drink very little alcohol. Unlike Japanese or Koreans, few Taiwanese women rarely have the habit of drinking or smoking. We also have lots of other good habits to take care of ourselves during menstruation such as not having cold drinks or take cold showers. It's all because we grew up getting much health advice from our moms (and we take it).
I'd like to point out that in some other things such as driving habits, we are not as well mannered as in for instance European countries. But on staying healthy, we keep our good habits.
Will I become a Taiwanese mom?
We have a joke to call those who love giving people advice to have the "auntie personality". From my intimate interactions with foreign friends it does seem like I give more advice to people than they normally would with each other. For example, I have already asked my boyfriend to quit smoking cigarette, though it's a common practice among his friends in the filmmaking industry. I also would put on sunscreen always when I go out during the day, because it can block UV and pollutants so my skin doesn't age so fast.
Besides health habits I also have all these habits to be environmentally friendly from BYOB to not buying coffee or beverages if I don't bring my own mug.
It can be annoying, so overtime I try to learn how to be caring in a nicer and more acceptable manner. Many of my Taiwanese lady friends are quite self aware of the "auntie personality" we may grow up to have, so we take precautions not to annoy people around us while we want to give good advice.
So I started this blog. Hope I can share good tips in a fun and interesting way :)
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