臺灣文化「譯」起讀

Origin

The origin of the celebration for “sixteen-year-old adults” is related to the workers in the harbor of Tainan. In early times of Taiwan, there were many shops near the harbor of Tainan. The business was very good. The boss employed less-than-sixteen-year-old children to carry goods. But their salary was only half of the salary of adults. When these children were 16 years old, they got the same salary as adults. Their family was happy, so they invited friends and the boss to celebrate the birthday of the “sixteen-year-old adults.” They took the opportunity to announce that their children have grown up.

【圖1】取自Google

Introduction

In Taiwan, wedding is very important in a person’s lifetime. Different countries have different traditions of wedding. Different traditions have different cultural meanings. This article introduces three important traditions of wedding in Taiwan, such as 1) throwing a paper fan, 2) playing the games on the wedding day, and 3) returning to the bride’s home.

【圖1】取自Google

Death is inevitable in a person’s lifetime. After a person’s death, his/her family will hold a funeral. The purpose of the funeral is to show our respect for the dead person. Different countries have different types of funerals. This text will introduce procedures, taboos and traditions of funerals in Taiwan, as follows.

1. Procedures of funerals

In the first 10 hours after a person dies, the members of family gather together and chant the scripture. The purpose is to help the soul of the dead person move to a happy place. Afterwards, the company of funeral will place the body of the dead person in a coffin or in a freezer. During the period of seven-day-mourning, the family will prepare a room or a partition, so other relatives and friends can come to mourn the dead person. After the funeral, the members of the family will transport the body of the dead person to the local crematorium to cremate it. The ashes will be stored in an urn. The members of the family can choose a day to bury the urn or store the urn in a tower.

【圖1】取自Google

Background of History, Society and Culture

In Taiwan, after child-birth, women need to rest for one month. The month is called the period of “postnatal recovery”. If women get enough rest, they can be healthy. In the society of agriculture, the living condition is difficult. After childbirth, women do not eat enough food and cannot have enough breast milk to feed babies. The babies are unhealthy and are often sick, so the children cannot grow up well. Thus, if we hope that children can be healthy, women need to be healthy. This is the origin of postnatal recovery.

Since ancient times, the formation of festivals is related to people's everyday life closely. People used these festivals to show the piety and gratitude to ancestors. Furthermore, these festivals remind people that traditional virtue is very important.

Baseball is one of the most popular sports in the world. It originated from America. Afterwards, baseball was popular in Asia, Taiwan and other countries. This article will introduce the baseball history in Taiwan.

Taiwan's information and communications technology (ICT) companies play a key role in the global supply chain for electronics products. Taiwanese companies account for about three-quarters of the world's production of PCs. Also, Taiwanese companies take up half of the world's liquid-crystal displays (LCDs). Taiwan produces about a quarter of semiconductors and about a fifth of mobile phones around the world. Overall, Taiwan has created a huge niche in the global ICT industry.

No matter if you are from a low-latitude or high-latitude country, Taiwan is your best choice of tourist destination. If you are from a low-latitude country, you will enjoy the cool air in Taiwan. In contrast, if you are from a high-latitude country, you can enjoy Taiwan’s all-year sunshine all year round.

Convenience stores may be common in many countries; however, Taiwan’s convenience stores are different. I will explain different features of the convenience stores in Taiwan.

No one knows exactly how many gods and goddesses there are in the Taiwan. Among the “Gods” in Taiwan, some are saints, demons or ghosts. Many Gods were once mere mortals on Earth. I will introduce 3 major famous Gods in this article.

Taiwan is a small island with a lot of high mountains. Taiwan is also surrounded by seas. Therefore, people in Taiwan can drive to enjoy various beautiful sceneries in just a day. Sometimes people don't travel to a far place on the weekend. The reason may be bad weather, or people’s laziness. So, what do people do to spend their free time in the city? Let me introduce Taiwan's three popular urban entertainments to you.

Taiwan is a very small island. The total area of Taiwan is only 36,193 km2. In the past, people in Taiwan had few options in transportation: bike, bus and train. Thanks to the growth of the economy and the advancement in technology, now there are a lot of options. Next, I will introduce three common ways of transportation.