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.

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.

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

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.