In Taiwan, formal greetings are the norm with the oldest individual in a group greeted first.Īll festivals in Taiwan have music and dance playing a critical role. Guests start eating after the host begins and chopsticks used in the process need to be returned to their rests while talking or drinking and after a few bites. Otherwise, restaurants offer entertainment venues for visitors. Taiwan’s traditions allow entertainment of guests in homes to only those who have an existing or developed relationship with homeowners. Lack of such is considered impolite and rude. Taiwanese communication involves broad contextual messages, which give a better understanding, as well as facial expressions and gestures. Values and ethics in Taiwan follow Confucianism, which advocates for respect for elders, loyalty, and responsibility towards one another. People give this offering to their dead ancestors, to spend in the afterworld. Similar to in China, people in Taiwan follow the Hell Bank note tradition, which is a significant practice involving the burning of paper money called Hell Banknote. Other faiths in Taiwan include Christianity, Islam, and Mormonism. In Taiwan, there is a blend of Taoism, Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, and ancestral worship, which make up the prevalent religious belief in the country. Tea making is an art in Taiwan with Pearl milk tea being a favorite. Chinese immigrants introduced tea to Taiwan, and in the present world, the country produces some of the world’s best teas. The Buddhists in the country do not eat beef, making it unpopular, although a large portion of the population enjoys the Taiwanese beef noodle soup. Seafood, such as fish, squids, and various crustaceans, as well as meat, especially pork, are an essential part of Taiwanese cuisine. Foods widely eaten in the nation are rice and soy with seasonings including soy sauce, peanuts, sesame oil, and rice wine. Taiwan has a variety of cuisine attributed to the different cultures in the country. Some words have different meanings with others having the different pronunciation in China and Taiwan, for instance, the word for potato in China stands for peanut in Taiwan. All levels of school in Taiwan teach English with the official language being Standard Chinese. Approximately 2.3% of the island’s residents are Taiwanese Aborigines of the Formosan dialect. About 13% of the citizens of Taiwan, which consists of immigrants from mainland China, speak Mandarin Chinese, while the Hakka who are also about 13% speak the Hakka language. Taiwanese Hokkien is the most spoken language in Taiwan with speakers comprising 70% of the population. The Republic of China has different languages. The presence of America in Taiwan led to the resumption of Taiwanese culture politically. By the late 1940s during the KMT era, the people of Taiwan resumed the cultural activities outlawed in 1937 by Japan. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) realigned Taiwan from Japanese imperialism to Chinese nationalism, with influences from the American culture.

Taiwan’s elite learned the Japanese culture and language, without interfering with their religion, in Japan’s bid to Japanize the island nation. During the Japanese rule in the country, Taiwan’s culture started to shift to a contemporary global one from local, due to Taiwan’s location along the trade routes of East Asia.

In 1895, the Qing Empire surrendered Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan’s Cultural HistoryĬolonization and imperialism shaped Taiwan’s cultural legacy. The symbol for cultural change spanning the past twenty years is Taiwanization, a movement that began in the years after 1975 in a bid to achieve the independence of Taiwan. The Stone Age period saw the beginning of a Taiwan’s cultural history, which was witnessed with the development of written languages. The culture of Taiwan also includes influences from Japanese and elements of western values. The island nation of Taiwan, which is known officially as the Republic of China, has a culture with aspects of traditional Chinese culture.

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