Taiwan Society is inhabited by people from all religions and ethnic groups, including a handful of aboriginals.
Over centuries, this Asian country had been under foreign rulers who administered it according to their individual whims and policies.
For a considerable span of time during ancient times, Taiwan Society was under the rule of the royal Chinese bureaucrats and the colonial administrators of Japan. In recent times, Taiwan Society is governed by the Nationalist Party of Taiwan called the “Kuomintang”. Members of the Nationalist Party ruling Taiwan, are not natives of the land but belong to the Chinese regions. Their rule indeed has immense effect on the overall Taiwan Society.
People from varied religion, racial groups and clans reside in Taiwan Society. The native Taiwanese form a significant part of it, exerting immense influence on the culture and lifestyle of other residents. Reflections of aboriginal impact are well displayed on the art, literature, culture and ways of living of the overall countrymen.
Other than the indigenous population residing in Taiwan Society, mention must also be made about other people who play considerable role in the social structure. These people comprising the aboriginal Hakka, Mandarins, Malays, Taiwanese, Han Chinese and Polynesians, with their diverse thoughts, feelings and culture affected the national life extensively.
Taiwan Culture
Taiwan Culture reflects the customs and traditions of Taiwanese people. It is in fact a perfect combination of Confucianist Han Chinese cultures and European, Japanese, American, global, and local traditions. There is no doubt in the fact that the culture of Taiwan merges and blends modernity with traditionalism. The economic, social, political and other important aspects affecting the people of Taiwan get reflected through the Taiwan Culture.
Taiwan’s culture has been largely formed by the processes of imperialism and colonization. In 1895, before the Qing Empire ceded Taiwan to Japan, Taiwan Culture was shaped by Qing frontier societies of Han farmers and highland Aborigines.
During KMT era (between 1960s and 1980s) the culture of Taiwan represented the contrasts between Taiwan and communist China. At that time the main focus was given to the official view of traditional culture of China and involvement in social and community events and the Confucian ideology twisted with the thought of Sun Yat-sen.
Thereafter came the era of Taiwanese localization. During this period too, a significant change was seen to be affecting the culture of Taiwan.
Religion in Taiwan
The traditional religions include Buddhism, Taoism and folk beliefs. Taoism has originated from China, while Buddhism has originated basically from India. Though Taoism and Buddhism are worshiped in different ways in Taiwan, during the Japanese invasion Taoists were persecuted as a result they secretly started to worship their deities in Buddhists temples. After World War II when Taiwan came under the administration of China, both the religions blended and the Taiwanese worshipped the Taoists, Buddhist and folk deities together in the Buddhist temples.
Christianity was imported into Taiwan in the early 17th century by Spanish and the Dutch Missionaries. Numerous other religions find prominent places among the Taiwanese such as Bahanism, Islam, Tienlichiao (Japanese religion) and some more.
A wide diversity of religions are noticed due to its multicultural history and the provision of religious freedom. Almost 24% of the population follows Buddhism and 20% of Taiwan’s population follows Taoism. The next popular religion followed in Taiwan is Yi Guan Dao, Protestantism, Catholicism and Lord of Universe Church. All the religions count upto thirteen registered religions in Taiwan.
Languages in Taiwan
Mandarin Chinese is the official Language of Taiwan, education and mediations language is being used by the vast majority of people of Taiwan. It is the dialect used to learn written Chinese characters, and the one most studied by foreign students. Taiwan Language is a dialect of the Fijian province and is spoken as a mother tongue by most of the people. The Hakka dialect is spoken too by a minority group of people.
Taiwan’s indigenous people share many customs and practices with other native groups of Southeast Asia. At least one group, the Yami (Tao) of Orchid Island, a smaller island off Taiwan’s southeast coast, can be traced back directly to the Batan Islands of the Philippine, where members of their ethnic group still live. Each of the ten indigenous peoples continue to speak their own languages, many of which have been rendered in written form, either based on the Roman alphabet or Mandarin phonetic symbols. But because indigenous languages vary even from village to village, anthropologists and others seeking an intimate knowledge of Taiwan’s indigenous culture may still want to learn Mandarin as a helpful bridge language.
The sub-ethnic group in Taiwan for which Taiwanese is considered a native language is known as Hoklo. The correspondence between language and ethnicity is generally true though not absolute, as some Hoklo speak Taiwanese poorly while some non-Hoklo speaks Taiwanese fluently.
Taiwan Food
Taiwan Food represents the typical food culture followed by the people of Taiwan. All the dishes of Taiwan have something unique to offer. They are diverse in nature. Generally in most of the time the restaurants of Taiwan offer quality food to their customers. Taiwan Food is very tasty and is quite popular among all the food-lovers across the world.
Taiwan Food dishes usually remain available at comparatively cheap prices. So food-lovers from all financial status can have Taiwanese food at any time they want. In one word Taiwanese dishes are highly delicious as well as cost-effective.
The most popular food of Taiwan definitely include:
- Noodles
- Shrimp rolls
- Chicken thighs
- Soup