Things you might not know about Taiwan... (part 1)
So, since many of you, I would imagine, may not have traveled to Taiwan yourselves or studied much about Taiwanese history, culture, etc., I hope to enlighten you regarding tidbits of info you mayn't already know about this land here. I'll be learning lots of new things myself as the semester progresses, so the list that follows is by no means an exhaustive one.
DID YOU KNOW???
1) In Taiwan, it is currently year 102.
In addition to using the Western calendar and dating in terms of A.D., the Taiwanese follow the "Minguo" calendar (meaning country of the people). This dating system uses the founding of the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) in 1911 as year one. So, if you wanted to know the current year, or any year after 1911, in terms of the Minguo calendar, you would simply take {year} and subtract {1911}. For example, 2013-1991=102.
2) Ice cream trucks don't play music as they drive around; garbage trucks do.
Usually when Americans hear a truck outside their home playing a familiar kids tune, they associate that sound with ice cream - myself included. You may understand, then, that when I follow this tune outside in hopes of a sweet treat, I will find, much to my chagrin, not ice cream, but garbage in the truck. The Taiwanese government uses this system to let people know when it's time to bring down their trash and recycle. It works quite well, but the tunes can be rather annoying after a while. I remember as a kid hearing a few different tunes, "Fur Elise" being the most notable. My family eventually became so accustomed to hearing another tune around dinner time that we made a prayer/song to go along with it to use at meal times.
3) There are many ways to spell Chinese words using English letters.
In order to help non-Chinese-speaking people read signs that are in Chinese, many signs here are translated into English. However, a consistent system of transliteration has yet to be developed. Some spellings are "older" and others "newer," and though they may seem to be completely different, they are really pronounced the same. Example:
And that's all for now. Some more pictures will be coming soon.
But one last thing. I'm planning to join some friends to go to a Chinese lantern festival in a place called Pingxi on Sunday. From what I hear it looks a little something like this:
DID YOU KNOW???
1) In Taiwan, it is currently year 102.
In addition to using the Western calendar and dating in terms of A.D., the Taiwanese follow the "Minguo" calendar (meaning country of the people). This dating system uses the founding of the Republic of China (aka Taiwan) in 1911 as year one. So, if you wanted to know the current year, or any year after 1911, in terms of the Minguo calendar, you would simply take {year} and subtract {1911}. For example, 2013-1991=102.
2) Ice cream trucks don't play music as they drive around; garbage trucks do.
Usually when Americans hear a truck outside their home playing a familiar kids tune, they associate that sound with ice cream - myself included. You may understand, then, that when I follow this tune outside in hopes of a sweet treat, I will find, much to my chagrin, not ice cream, but garbage in the truck. The Taiwanese government uses this system to let people know when it's time to bring down their trash and recycle. It works quite well, but the tunes can be rather annoying after a while. I remember as a kid hearing a few different tunes, "Fur Elise" being the most notable. My family eventually became so accustomed to hearing another tune around dinner time that we made a prayer/song to go along with it to use at meal times.
3) There are many ways to spell Chinese words using English letters.
In order to help non-Chinese-speaking people read signs that are in Chinese, many signs here are translated into English. However, a consistent system of transliteration has yet to be developed. Some spellings are "older" and others "newer," and though they may seem to be completely different, they are really pronounced the same. Example:
The photo above show a place in Taipei called Danshui 淡水, but spelled three different ways in three different places.
4) I am ~186 cm tall.
They use the metric system here in Taiwan. Height in centimeters or meters, Weight in kilograms, Temperature in celsius, Distance in kilometers, and so forth. It takes me a bit to get used to it.
5) General info about Taiwan:
- it has traditionally been referred to as "Formosa," taken from "Ilha formosa," meaning beautiful island in Portuguese.
- over 23 million people live in Taiwan, roughly a quarter the size of North Carolina. Over 2.5 million people live in Taipei.
And that's all for now. Some more pictures will be coming soon.
But one last thing. I'm planning to join some friends to go to a Chinese lantern festival in a place called Pingxi on Sunday. From what I hear it looks a little something like this:
Thanks for letting us look into the window of Taiwan! I am really enjoying your photos and descriptions!
ReplyDeleteWe love you!
Aunt Ranae