Book Description
You'll never feel intimidated and awkward about the customs and etiquette of another country again. With the insights provided in this CULTURE SHOCK! Guide, you'll learn to see beyond the stereotypes and misinformation that often precede a visit to a foreign land. Whether you plan to stay for a week or for a year, you'll benefit from such topics as understanding the rules of driving and monetary systems, religious practices and making friends. There are tips on political traditions, building business relationships, and the particular intricacies of setting up a home or office.Great for the business traveler, the foreign exchange student, or the tourist who makes a sincere attempt to cross the bridge into a new and exciting culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

A Generous Four Stars
This book was... fair. It might be a great for, say, an American businessman planning on a one or two month stay in Taiwan, although it is doubtful whether what it has to teach will really apply. It barely scratches the surface, but I suppose it was never meant to. In short, it's a good start for those who don't know anything about Taiwan and/or Taiwanese culture and want to lessen the impact, as it were. As a basic guide it works, but don't expect the sun and the moon. Enjoy your travels in Taiwan.

Troy Parfitt, author

Fairly accurate cultural descriptions, but focuses on Taipei male businessmen's experience
Compared to the cultural sections in the Lonely Planet for Taiwan, this book was much more up to date (having been revised in 2005 verses LP being revised in 2000).The only drawbacks were the book's heavy focus on Taipei (I moved to southern Taiwan) and the books focuse on MEN in the business world and men's night ctivities like ladies' clubs etc.These sections weren't applicable to women at all.Not being any sort of feminist, I was still rather disappointed that there was not any similar commentary provided specifically for women in business and women's nightime activities!

Taiwan Culture Shock
This book provides an excellent introduction to the different culture in Taiwan.Since our son will soon be marrying a lady from Taiwan, we thought we should learn a little more about her cultural background.

Exagerates things a bit
I just want to throw my vote in with several others who have commented on how this book gives an impression that is more harsh than the reality. It tends to give the worst case scenarios regarding how Taiwanese treat foreigners, which I think gives people the wrong impression. In my experience the Taiwanese are mostly curious but friendly, except in Taipei where foreigners aren't a novelty and are pretty much treated like anyone else. Yes, a white person will be stared at quite a bit, and may get some blunt questions that would be considered rude elsewhere, but the types of really blatant disrespect this book describes is pretty unlikely.

Other than that, it is useful and informative as to customs, etc, though I don't think one has to be quite as picky about issues of "face" as the book suggests, especially with the younger generation.

Disapointing
I was disapointed by this edition of the Culture Shock series. Taiwan, as exotic a place as you can imagine, must be full of specific cultural behaviors. And the entire book only said to be alert and aware of them. There were no specifics. For those of us who are looking for specific do's and don'ts when traveling, this book was largely useless. ... Read more

Product Description
set of21 pamphlets in case on the following topics: 1- medicine, 2-food, 3- folk arts, 4- painting, 5- calligraphy, 6- study, 7- architecture, 8- furniture, 9- chop engraving, 10-clothing, 11- tea, 12- Chinese opera, 13- jade, 14- written language, 15- music, 16- festivals, 17- pottery and porcelain, 18- Chinese dance,19- Chinese bronzes, 20- Kung fu, 21- philosophy ... Read more

Book Description
Taiwanese society is in the midst of an immense, exciting effort to define itself, seeking to erect a contemporary identity upon the foundation of a highly distinctive history. This book provides a thorough overview of Taiwanese cultural life. The introduction familiarizes students and interested readers with the island's key geographical and demographic features, and provides a chronological summary of Taiwanese history. In the following chapters, Davison and Reed reveal the uniqueness of Taiwan, and do not present it simply as the laboratory of traditional Chinese culture that some anthropologists of the 1950s through the 1970s sought when mainland China was not accessible. The authors examine how religious devotion in Taiwan is different from China in that the selected deities are those most relevant to the needs of the Taiwanese people. Literature and art, particularly of the 20th century, reflect the Taiwanese quest for identity more than the grand Chinese tradition. The Taiwanese architecture, festivals and leisure activities, music and dance, cuisine and fashion, are also highlighted topics. The final chapter presents the most recent information regarding children and education, and explores the importance of the Taiwanese family in the context of meaningful relationships amongst acquaintances, friends, and institutions that make up the social universe of the Taiwanese. This text is a lively treatment of one of the world's most dynamic societies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Best Book
I liked this book very much.I thought that it was informative, and well written.I didn't think that the other review was helpful or made any sense.Thankyou Barbara E.Reed and Gary Marvin Davison for making such good book.

Easy to read.
I am still waiting for another nice book ... Read more

Book Description
The "one China" policy officially supported by the People's Republic of China, the United States, and other countries asserts that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it. The debate over whether the people of Taiwan are Chinese or independently Taiwanese is, Melissa J. Brown argues, a matter of identity: Han ethnic identity, Chinese national identity, and the relationship of both of these to the new Taiwanese identity forged in the 1990s. In a unique comparison of ethnographic and historical case studies drawn from both Taiwan and China, Brown's book shows how identity is shaped by social experience--not culture and ancestry, as is commonly claimed in political rhetoric. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The Description of this book is Misleading.
"The "one China" policy officially supported by the People's Republic of China, the United States, and other countries asserts that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it." The Description of this book is Misleading.

United States acknowledged China's claim but do not agree with "Taiwan is a part of China". United states position is the resolution shall be peaceful.

The answers I was looking for !
If- like me - you are interested in the title's answer, Ms.Brown's is the book! Quoting some of her words: " Many events are completely unknown to us, many events are known only through extremely biased perspectives, and many events are so contradictorily reported that is difficult to reconstruct even a chronological sequence of what occurred". And - believe me! - Ms. Brown interviewed people- in Taiwan ( living there) and interviewed people- in China !!! We are talking about an Stanford University Professor. Congratulations and thanks to Amazon .

Very insightful !
I'm a Taiwanese myself. Even though the content of this book is not new to me, it still provides a fantastic read for me personally and I can imagine it'd be more fantastic for someone wishing to know more about Taiwan. Because Taiwan is so isolated in the international arena, books such as this one is highly recommended for the average person. The only aspect I did not like about this book is the first part of this book's title: "Is Taiwan Chinese?". I'd just like to inform readers that all the population in Asian countries (east, north and south east) all originated from China. So basically everyone is Chinese, so it doesn't just apply to Taiwan. It is like saying: Is Australia British? Nevertheless, a rather informative book for all.

Been Waiting For This!
At last, a book that covers an aspect of Taiwanese history and culture not often discussed until recent years: the Taiwanese people are a hybrid people.Many have some Plains Aborigine blood (traced on the maternal side).But, with cultural stigma, many Plains Aborigines and part Plains Aborigines forfeited their identity and were absorbed by "Han" identity.I've been waiting for a book in English to discuss this area and am glad Melissa Brown published this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Oustanding comparative sociology of emerging "civil society"
By comparing civil society in contemporary China to that in Taiwan before and after the lifting of martial law in 1987, in Alternate Civilities Boston University professor Robert P. Weller shows that democracy can grow out of Chinese cultural roots and authoritarian institutions. Both the Chinese communist party leadership and the similarly geriatric authoritarianism of Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew have justified their rule by some essential Chinese need for paternalist domination and claimed that human rights are a form of neocolonial and ethnocentric meddling from the West, and should not be allowed to disrupt the splendid Confucian subordination of individuals to collectivity. This view of necessary passivity -- an extreme version of cultural determinism --is belied by the recent history of Taiwan. After half a century as a colony of Japan and half a century under brutally repressive Kuomintang martial law, democracy and civil society have blossomed in the last fifteen years. These days Taiwan is more democratic than its former tutor, the United States: there are election campaigns going on seemingly all the time in Taiwan, there is more real freedom of the press, and the candidate with the most votes in the 2000 election there became president.

Weller's comparison of civil society in Taiwan and in the PRC focused onbusiness organizations, religious groups, environmental movements, and women's networks, synthesizing a wealth of detail about "horizontal associations" (i.e., associations between equals in contrast to vertical relationships to the state apparatus or the deference to and domination by elders within families).

Weller justly claims that "by comparing China with the vibrant democracy that has developed over the last decade in Taiwan, I show how civil society can grow out of Chinese cultural roots and authoritarian institutions. "He is not so rash as to argue that a vibrant civil society and democracy will necessarilyblossom in China, only that the often invoked essential need for authoritarian rule has been disconfirmed.It seems to me that, like most American social scientists who look through Taiwan to see China (whether a past or future one), Weller underestimates the extent of non-Chinese influences on Taiwan, including not only 20th-century Japanese and then American ones, but that Taiwan was incorporated into production for export in the early 17th century by European footholds (on an island never completed controlled by any imperial Chinese dynasty).

South Korea provides another comparison of a society for which earlier authoritarian rulers claimed a Confucian duty to repress the "disorder" of public criticism. Like Taiwan, Korea was a Japanese colony (1910-45) and a flowering of civil society and democratization occurred during the 1990s.

Weller discusses material on voluntary associations from Taiwan and China interestingly, and his book is an important contribution to the comparative study of post-authoritarian sociopolitical transformation. ... Read more

Book Description
Whether you travel for business, pleasure, or a combination of the two, the ever-popular "Culture Shock!" series belongs in your backpack or briefcase. Get the nuts-and-bolts information you need to survive and thrive wherever you go. "Culture Shock!" country guides are easy-to-read, accurate, and entertaining crash courses in local customs and etiquette. "Culture Shock!" practical guides offer the inside information you need whether you're a student, a parent, a globetrotter, or a working traveler. "Culture Shock!" at your Door guides equip you for daily life in some of the world's most cosmopolitan cities. And "Culture Shock!" Success Secrets guides offer relevant, practical information with the real-life insights and cultural know-how that can make the difference between business success and failure.

Each "Culture Shock!" title is written by someone who's lived and worked in the country, and each book is packed with practical, accurate, and enjoyable information to help you find your way and feel at home. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Easy to read....really useful!
This is an excellent summary of the basics of building business relations in Taiwan. It can be read on the airplane on the way to Taiwan, or at home while you are planning the trip. Foreigners would be greatly benefited bytaking the helpful hints that Kevin Chambers provides in this fact filledlittle book. ... Read more

Book Description
The Republic of China on Taiwan is the last nation in the world to be excluded from the United Nations. The world's seventeenth largest economy and Asia's most vibrant democracy, Taiwan has continually to convince the world of its historical independence from the People's Republic of China. At the same time, however, forces of history and contemporary economics make Taiwan's intimate cultural and economic ties to the mainland another crucial reality. Yet somehow under these singular conditions, the people of the island go about their daily affairs, making themselves a remarkable font of creativity and cultural innovation. The Minor Arts of Daily Life is an account of the many ways in which contemporary Taiwanese approach their ordinary existence and activities. It presents a wide range of aspects of day-to-day living to convey something of the world as experienced by the Taiwanese themselves. What does it mean to be Taiwanese? In what way does life in Taiwan impart a different view of Chinese culture? How do Taiwanese envision and participate in global culture in the twenty-first century? What issues (cultural, social, political, economic) seem to matter most? What does "China" mean to them today?

Focusing on such broadly appealing topics as baseball, movies, gay and lesbian identity, television shows, and night markets, the contributors seek to introduce Taiwanese culture to a broad readership. In lively, non-technical prose, they approach their topics from a variety of disciplines in ways that will not only give students a comprehensive view of Taiwanese life, but also provide them with a range of theoretical perspectives with which to explore this fascinating nation. ... Read more

Book Description
Robert Weller's richly documented account describes the extraordinary transformations which have taken place in Chinese and Taiwanese responses to the environment across the twentieth century. The book focuses on nature tourism, anti-pollution movements, and policy implementation to show how the global spread of western ideas about nature has interacted with Chinese traditions. Inevitably differences of understanding across groups have caused problems in administering environmental reforms. They will have to be resolved if the dynamic transformations of the 1980s are to be maintained in the twenty-first century. ... Read more

Book Description
Since the mid-1990s Taiwanese artists have been responsible for shaping much of the international contemporary art scene, yet studies on modern Taiwanese art published outside of Taiwan are scarce. The nine essays collected here present different perspectives on Taiwanese visual culture and landscape during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945), focusing variously on travel writings, Western and Japanese/Oriental-style paintings, architecture, aboriginal material culture, and crafts. Issues addressed include the imagined Taiwan and the "discovery" of the Taiwanese landscape, which developed into the imperial ideology of nangoku (southern country); the problematic idea of "local color," which was imposed by Japanese, and its relation to the "nativism" that was embraced by Taiwanese; the gendered modernity exemplified in the representation of Chinese/Taiwanese women; and the development of Taiwanese artifacts and crafts from colonial to postcolonial times, from their discovery, estheticization, and industrialization to their commodification by both the colonizers and the colonized.

The central theme of this volume is "refracted modernity"--the recursive and transferable nature of modernity--in the context of colonialism. Modernity and identity in Taiwanese visual culture emerged in the cross-cultural complexity engendered by Japanese colonization. Their formation involves a range of interdependent cultural transfers and appropriations between Europe, Japan, and Taiwan. Viewed in terms of refracted modernity, the state and product of localization/appropriation appears in an eclectic manner and is often characterized by the term "hybrid." The notion of hybridity describes the complex state that results from the continuous dissemination and translation of cultures in colonial situations, thus revising the one-dimensional historical analytical models of colonialism. The model presented in this volume instead stresses original and creative aspects and renounces the notion of imitation, a judgment often imposed by the Eurocentric view.Offering many examples of hybrid expressions that render Taiwanese visual culture unique and attractive, the case studies collectively make a strong argument for revising the traditional positioning of colonialism while offering a thought-provoking perspective on Taiwan's surge forward as a major force in contemporary art today.

Refracted Modernity: Visual Culture and Identity in Colonial Taiwan will be of substantial interest to historians of Taiwan, China, and Japan; art historians of Chinese and Japanese art; and scholars of colonialism, decolonization, modernism, and modernity in general. Readers in the fields of anthropology, cultural studies, visual culture, and women's studies will find its essays timely and highly informative. ... Read more

Book Description

With monumental changes in the last two decades, Taiwan is making itself anew. The process requires remapping not only the country's recent political past, but also its literary past. Taiwanese literature is now compelled to negotiate a path between residual high culture aspirations and the emergent reality of market domination in a relatively autonomous, increasingly professionalized field. This book argues that the concept of a field of cultural production is essential to accounting for the ways in which writers and editors respond to political and economic forces. It traces the formation of dominant concepts of literature, competing literary trends, and how these ideas have met political and market challenges.

Contemporary Taiwanese literature has often been neglected and misrepresented by literary historians both inside and outside of Taiwan. Chang provides a comprehensive and fluent history of late twentieth-century Taiwanese literature by placing this vibrant tradition within the contexts of a modernizing local economy, a globalizing world economy, and a postcolonial and post-Cold War world order.

Customer Reviews (1)

An encompasing socio-intellectual history of TW literature
I greatly enjoy this new book. It offers me an encompassing social-intellectual historical overview/analysis of Taiwan's literature.

As a stranger to the Taiwanese literary scene, this book
would be better to me if Chinese characters would accompany the English transliteration of Mandarin proper names. ... Read more

Book Description
An ethnography of the leather-tanning industry in Southern Taiwan, Tanners of Taiwan examines what it means to be Chinese.

Tanners of Taiwan is an ethnography of identity construction set in the leather-tanning communities of Southern Taiwan. Through life history analysis and ethnographic observation, Simon examines what it means to be Chinese - or alternatively Taiwanese - in contemporary Taiwan. Under forty years of martial law from 1947 to 1987, the Chinese Nationalist Party tried to create a Chinese identity in Taiwan through ideological campaigns that reached deep into families, schools and workplaces. They justified their rule through a development narrative that Chinese culture and good policy contributed to the prosperity of the Taiwan miracle. These ideological claims and cultural identities, however, have never been fully accepted in Southern Taiwan. This ethnography is the first to document from the ground level how those claims have been contested, and how a new Taiwanese identity has been constructed since democratization. Tanners of Taiwan provides more than a description of workplaces in Taiwan. Looking at the different perspectives of tanners, women managers, and workers, it demonstrates how cultural and other identities are constructed through dynamics of power and political economy.

A small, affordable case studies book to be assigned with a core textbook in introductory anthropology courses. Shows how the US reader is connected to the seemingly distant lives of Taiwanese tanners. Simon follows hides from the US to tanneries in Taiwan, then elsewhere to be made into shoes and other leather goods, and then back to the consumer in the US - demonstrating concretely the notion of "global interconnectedness."

Anchored in personal observation and ethnographic detail, the book makes very tangible such otherwise abstract notions as "national identity" and "global integration." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive look at Chinese auteurs
Fascinating interviews from virtually every prominent Chinese director working today, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Ang Lee, Hou Hsiao-hsien, and Edward Yang.Although, curiously, missing perhaps the most influential and "hip" auteur of all, Wong Kar-wai, it also includes some young up and comers like Jia Zhangke, Zhang Yuan, and Li Yang.The question and answer sessions, conducted by the author over the past several years from around the world, ranging from their home turfs to various promotional visits in New York, etc, show detailed research and preparation aforehand.The interviews delve into the personal histories of the filmmaker to see what cultural and historical experiences, especially during their adolescence and developing years, influenced their works (eg. parents dying during Mao's Cultural Revolution, social turmoil during the Taiwanese revolts against Nationalist hegemony).Interviews then follow into their filmographies, with their key works (eg. Tian Zhuangzhuang's "Horse Thief", Edward Yang's "A Brighter Summer Day") questioned in depth.

The filmmakers were usually very forthcoming about their works, such as the effect of censorship by the government, regrettable choices in project selection (eg. Chen Kaige's foray into Hollywood with "Killing Me Softly"), and the difficulty in trying success in Asia with the poorly developed distribution system and rampant piracy.Extensive bibliographies following each chapter offer more analysis if the reader is interested.Overall, a comprehensive and illuminating look into the minds and works of the most prominent auteurs in and around China.

Those interested in the prominently featured "Fifth Generation" may want to take a gander at Memoirs from the Beijing Film Academy: The Genesis of China's Fifth Generation (by Zhen Ni). ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, published by Thomson Gale on November 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1184 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Scott Simon, Tanners of Taiwan: Life Strategies and National Culture.(Book review)
Author: Susan M. Belcher
Publication: The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 43Issue: 4Page: 474(3)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Taiwanese Legel Culture
Legal Culture And System of Taiwan by Chang-fa Lo (Kluwer Law International) With a special place among the world's important trading countries, Taiwan presents the international practitioner with its own particular legal issues and problems. Among the world's most many-sourced legal systems, the law of Taiwan sustains major elements from Chinese and Japanese sources as well as its own indigenous and traditional rules and strong influences from both civil and common law traditions.
This convenient guide, written by a scholar-practitioner who is both Dean of Law at the National Taiwan University and a panelist in the World Trade Organization's Dispute Settlement Body, is an ideal introduction and practical handbook for anyone involved in a transaction that raises issues in Taiwanese law. After detailed summaries of Taiwan's system of government, its court system, sources of law, and administrative law and procedure, the author covers practice and procedure in such fields of legal activity as the following:
contracts;
torts;
consumer protection;
property rights;
family law;
law of succession;
alternative dispute resolution; intellectual property law; trade;
government procurement; labor law; and
criminal law and procedure.
International lawyers will find all the legal situations most likely to arise in the course of transactions connected to Taiwan covered expertly and knowledgeably in this very useful book. It is also valuable to students and scholars for its special insights into issues of comparative law.
The legal system of Taiwan is unique from many perspectives. There is a mixture of Chinese and Taiwanese traditions and western legal values. When introducing the western legal system into the society of Taiwan, there were always modifications and adjustments. The modifications and adjustments are to reflect the local perceptions of law and the local values. These adjustments could be positive for the purpose of making the law-transplantation more smoothly. However, there could be negative implications arising from the modifications. In addition to introduc¬ing western systems, there are also very important locally developed systems which have remarkable implications. The book tries to identify these and makes its observations so as to allow readers to make their own judgments.
Since this is only an introduction of Taiwanese legal system, the expla¬nations are rather general and are not designed to give advice on specific legal issues or problems.
... Read more