Culture Shock! Taiwan [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION You have chosen a fascinating country to visit, a country filled with splendor, richness, pristine vistas, solitude, tradition as well as all their opposites! Taiwan is a place of contradictions begging to be explored, enjoyed, and contemplated. Few locations of such a small size can boast snow-peaked alpine mountains, bountiful plains, and tropical beaches, all within a few hours' drive of each other. And culturally it is just as diverse. On the one hand you can find yourself surrounded by the ancient traditions of the Chinese, as you visit temples and festivals, or watch the tai chi practitioners commune with the Tao in the park; on the other, you can be caught up in the bustle of Taiwan's state-of-the-art department stores and trendy boutiques, selling an international diversity of goods and designer products. Taiwan is the home of a Chinese-speaking population of hardworking, hard-playing people. The more you know about them and their country, the more you will enjoy your stay and the less will be your culture shock. In trying to introduce Taiwan and the Taiwanese to you, we have placed major emphasis on the subject of communication, which is usually a major source of frustration to any foreigner. This does not simply involve trying to cope with communicating in a foreign language. One must always remember that Taiwan is a 'high context' culture, in other words a culture in which much is communicated beyond the words that are spoken. Tone of voice, facial expression, physical proximity, body contact, hand action, eye action, and ritual all become part of the dialogue. A fundamental stumbling block in cross-cultural communications occurs when people from a low context culture and those from a high context culture try to communicate, or when the unstated meanings of visual cues and body language differ significantly between parties in the communication.