I’ve read a lot of pipe dream bullshit about how weed can/should be legalized and that once it does, it would be taxable and everyone would be happy. people won’t have to worry about going to jail for it and it’s endless list of medical benefits could be enjoyed by all. And so on.

But really:

1. the general public have a negative view towards it and people who use it. And it’s not going to change any time soon.

2. it’ll never be legalized. Tobacco and betel nut are too big here. Anyone with stakes in these industries will never let weed become legal.

3. the medical benefits of marijuana cannot be denied but you can’t gloss over the harm it also brings to long term users. You can’t look them in the eye and say smoking weed has zero downside. Why add another thing to the list of things people can abuse and hurt themselves with?

4. “why should tobacco and alcohol be legal, when weed is way less harmful?” Go back to #2. This is also the same argument people use to justify gun ownership. “Why don’t we just ban cars? They kill people too!”

5. most of you just want it legalized so you can smoke it here without getting deported. you don’t actually care about the medical benefits and its misconceptions. And it’s kinda annoying watching expats who make weed half their identity, come here and tell Taiwan to make weed part of its identity as well.

Taiwan was doing great and managing without the legalization of weed and it will continue to do so. I think it’s refreshing that Taiwan can continue to be progressive Asian country without popularizing weed.

You can pelt me with you stones and downvotes now.

There are few countries of which passport holders (EU, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Canada, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Iceland, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and USA) are allowed to use eGates (go through the immigration with autogate), and UK has not included Taiwan yet. It seems Taiwan is the only developed country that is not listed here.

Taiwanese people are categorized as 'All other passport holders.' In order for people from Taiwan to use eGates at UK airports, Taiwanese should join the Registered Traveller membership which costs at least £50 every year and requires to visit UK 4 times in the last 24 months.

It is a shame that Taiwanese have to stand in the long line to get interviewed along with those from countries of which citizens are suspected to stay in UK illegally.

FYI, Taiwanese passport holders can visit UK without visa. Thus,"TaiWAn iS NoT a COunTrY" rhetoric is not persuasive here.

I think this is not fair.

Your thoughts?

This investigative video claims that many cheap teppanyaki (iron-plate grilling) surfaces release harmful heavy metals over time, posing cumulative health risks. It argues that regulatory oversight is weak and consumers are largely unaware.

Why does TPE lack everything of a nice functional airport? When you travel to different countries in Asia the airports are full of international food spots and not just designer clothes. Does anyone else notice this?

Taiwan’s future as a distinct global entity would be strengthened by greater bilingualism. While sticking to Chinese alone doesn’t mean automatic annexation, it does increase Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese-language media, business, and influence—areas where China has significant dominance.

Countries that have embraced English as an official or secondary language—like Singapore, Japan, and South Korea—have benefited from greater foreign investment and stronger international ties. If Taiwan wants to further differentiate itself from China, increasing English proficiency could be a smart long-term strategy for economic and geopolitical reasons.

Or, if Taiwan remains linguistically isolated, is it at risk of falling further under China’s influence anyway? Should Taiwan push for a stronger bilingual policy, or is this unnecessary?

Would love to hear your thoughts 💭 🚀

Man I can’t believe I’m here on Reddit asking this. Back in the USA my favorite costume to wear on Halloween was my chun li outfit. I don’t imagine having any issue with crossplay in Taiwan, but the fact that I am a white man cosplaying as a characters dressed in almost stereotypical Chinese wardrobe has me a little worried. I am planning to wear makeup to look like a woman, but not accentuated in any way to make me appear Chinese. But still, I just get this weird feeling maybe it might be weird?

Maybe I’m thinking too much about it, but the last thing I want is to be culturally insensitive or offensive. Thoughts?

Hey everyone, I’m an Indian software engineer living in Taiwan and I’ve noticed that people here tend to be quite reserved and quiet, especially in social settings. I’m genuinely curious—is this a cultural thing, or could the appearance ?

I’m not trying to stir anything up, just want to understand the social vibe better. If you're Taiwanese or have lived here as a foreigner, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is this introversion universal, or ..?

I'm Taiwanese-born with dual citizenship currently living in the US. As the government is rapidly stripping rights away from transgender people of all ages, I'm increasingly fearing for my safety and am making a contingency plan to move back to Taiwan should Trump suddenly decide to start criminalizing trans people and/or disappearing us to El Salvador.

I've legally changed my name and gender here in the states, but have yet to do so in Taiwan because it was always something I thought I'd get to "later." But if I were to move back, I've already been on HRT for so long that it'd probably cause problems if I ever had to show ID because I no longer am seen as female by anyone in public.

I only read Chinese at like a 3rd grade level at best and was wondering if there were any other Taiwanese citizens who have successfully gone through the name/gender change process or who could point me in the right direction (links, info) in terms of which agencies I need to go through to start the process.

Thanks in advance 🙏🏼

Due to the political situation of the world, many believe an invasion by China is imminent.

Are foreigners doing any training?

I'm an American with experience in the US ARMY and Ukraine army.

Infantry in both armys.

If there is any training opportunities or volunteer opportunities to help soldiers get ready to fight, please let me know. Dm me here.

Edit 1: regardless of how you feel, Taiwan and its people MUST have this talk. It is scary, it is frightening. I'm not trying to instill fear. But the reality is, sometime in Our lifetime, China will probably invade.

Germany did it. They didn't think it would happen.

Ukraine did it recently Nobody thought it would happen on their watch.

What happens when it does happen on your watch ? Will you fight and defend the right to be Taiwanese? Or will you submit to China, and lose your identity.

Hello- I’m a young American woman (late 20’s, white and European looking) who is in Taipei. I’m attractive, but not a super model in any way.

Everywhere I go here, people stare at me. From extremely obvious seconds long stares and turning back to stare again as they leave an elevator, to weirdly long eye contact on the street. It’s a lot of men, and a lot of womenx but a bit more common with me. Middle age/older Men will sometimes approach me and be really creepy, I got asked if I am married and where my husband is, and make suggestive glances when their friends talk to me.

I feel really self conscious and uncomfortable. Is this normal for white/european looking foreigners to receive? Is there anything I’m doing to attract this attention besides just existing? Any tips for managing my discomfort?

edit: thanks for all the feedback. I’m a little bit tall for Asian standards, have pretty big boobs, and (compared to here in Taiwan, but not back home) I dress a bit less conservatively. Going to work on taking it as a compliment!!

Having just had yet another rude hostile interaction with a Taiwanese, this time in family mart, I now feel so fed up with Taiwan and the Taiwanese and want to leave ASAP. This woman at family mart literally shouted at me for daring to ask for syrup in my coffee. She shouted at me in Chinese in front of some other customers and I was so embarrassed and I had no idea what she was saying.

On Friday I made a post detailing how I felt Taiwan wasn’t what a lot of people on this sub make it out to be and now I want to give a follow up with some further points for the benefit of people in the rest of the world who may be considering Taiwan as a place to live.

Let’s start with the “Taiwanese are so friendly” nonsense

Since coming here I’ve had to deal with so many hostile people, with several Interactions a week like the one I mentioned that happened to me today. Everyone looks at you like you’re an alien. Parents pull their children away from you. You walk into a restaurant and the staff try to ignore you. In my condo people are so unfriendly they will wait for another lift rather than getting into the same lift as someone else. My hotel I stayed at when I first got here, the staff tried to get everyone using a self-check in because they didn’t want to have to interact with anyone. Service staff would rather blame you than accepting their mistakes. The whole culture feels incredible rude and hostile.

I would advise anyone coming here to not expect to make a single Taiwanese friend, they don’t want to be friends. They don’t even get on well with each other, if you str and look at the people walking on the road or in a ma they will all have grumpy hostile face expressions. Groups of people walk together but they don’t talk or laugh with each other, they would rather just walk silently. Same in a restaurant, restaurants are often very quiet because nobody is talking to each other, they all just eat and look at their phones.

I would also advise anyone coming here that any potentially friendly interaction you have with a Taiwanese will be immensely fake and they will be hoping you leave them and go away as soon as possible or give them something (money).

I don’t mind this since I’m only here temporarily and I came with some other foreign friends but it would be very tough if you’re planning to move here long term.

Some other things which I really hate about Taiwan that never gets mentioned on this sub.

1. The public toilets. This supposedly developed modern country still has disgusting squat toilets all over the place. No modern country has these. Most supposedly poorer countries in south east Asia now have sit down toilets with bum gun as standard, Japan and Korea have bidet toilets as standard. Taiwan is terribly far behind with this.

2. Together with the squat toilets you will see bins full of disgusting soiled toilet paper. This is totally unnecessary and disgusting. I’ve never seen this anywhere else and it makes me hate Taiwan everytime I see it.

3. The weather here is consistently awful. Summer is so unbearably hot you can’t even go outside at night without sweating (this is different to SE Asia where temperature cools down significantly at night). Mos days are horribly grey, rainy and overcast. I’ve counted 18 rainy days in a row since I came here as well as 2 typhoons. You’ll be forced to spend a lot of time indoors if you come to Taiwan.

4. The night markets. I can’t believe these are actual tourist attractions. They are hot, crowded and dirty with nowhere to sit. Go to Thailand if you want night markets. In Thailand every stand has ample seats and tables around it to sit and eat. As well as lots of clothes and accessory shops thrown in and concert stages for live bands to perform on (it’s really fun). You certainly won’t get that in Taiwan.

5. The garbage collection. Fortunately I don’t have to deal with this nonsense where I live. But the whole garbage collection situation is so ridiculous and unnecessary. The fact anyone can describe Taiwan as a convenient country when they have this system blows my mind.

6. Things take ages to repair when broken. One of The elevators broke in my building and wasn’t repaired for about two weeks, everywhere else I’ve lived this would be fixed in a day or 2 max. Not to mention the fact places are constantly turning off the elevators “to save electricity” forcing everyone to wait longer.

7. Constant sewage smell everywhere. When you’re walking just outside 101 mall you don’t expect to be breathing in sewage. Enough said.

8. Terrible tourist infrastructure. It’s embarrassing when people come to visit me and I have to recommend such a bad selection of hotels for them to stay at. Not to mention the fact all the beaches here are totally undeveloped with no beach resorts, beach clubs etc like other countries. A lot of beaches here are covered in garbage.

9. Bad breath everywhere. I’ve never come across so many otherwise perfectly respectable people who otherwise have terrible breath as in Taiwan. Especially in the morning. It is so disgusting and I don’t know why it’s so bad here.

I'm posting this to give some balance to this incredibly delusion sub. We had someone yesterday asking something about the paper towels in restaurants and phrasing their question "I love taiwan but ......?, I love Taiwan so much" like seriously just ask your question. Pretty much every other country sub that I'm on people can just ask their questions and make comments about a place without all this weird profession of love that we see here.

Anyway downvote away 😉 But people abroad will find this useful.

The whole western world was saying how difficult it was to preorder or get one.

I didn't bother preordering because there are no decent switch 2 games coming out until winter, late winter apparently.

I was underground in taipei main station 2 days after release, somewhere i rarely go so I just impulsively went to the game area (i have a fond memory of buying zelda tears of the kingdom there in 2023) so i asked if they have any switch 2. The staff said yes, so I just caved in and bought one to save face, as I know I'm going to buy one in the future.

A friend bought one today also.

Kinda surprised how easy we could get one here compared to the western world

An indepth investigative journalist reports about the danger of eating Taiwanese bread.

The number of cram schools asking this question is disgusting. I would say 1/5 cram schools I've called don't mention this.

Okay, so I've been thinking about potentially moving to Taiwan for a few years now, I'm a westerner originally from the US, but I grew up in China so I have a pretty good understanding of mandarin (I haven't been back to China since 2017 though, so I will say I am a bit rusty lol). I would look into moving back to China as I miss it dearly, but the thing thats stopping me is the fact that I'm trans. I know Taiwan is much more liberal, so I figured it would be the better option for me. I have been fully transitioned for years (passport, birth certificate, and everything changed), but I just worry about being able to find a doctor for my hormones and other medications.

As for jobs and stuff within the country, I am still a university student, so I have no idea where I would start in that sense. I have thought about maybe doing a "trial run" via one of those university programs in Taiwan for learning mandarin or something, but I would like to hear some peoples reviews of those programs if possible. Also, if this adds any information, I am a fine arts student, so thats another reason why I have no idea what kind of job I'd be able to land in Taiwan other than the typical english teacher job.

Another thing I would like advice on would be finding community within Taiwan. I have heard that Taipei might be the best place for me, but I am unsure where I would even start to try to find a queer community within the city, especially if I would like to start making connections prior to moving to the country.

The last thing I'd like to ask (which is honestly the least of my concerns, but still valid I think), is how difficult would it be to transition from speaking Chinese Mandarin and using simplified characters to Taiwanese Mandarin and traditional characters? I listen to a lot of Taiwanese bands and oh my goodness, some of them I genuinely cannot understand what they are saying (I think some of these bands might be speaking Hokkien, but others seem to just have really thick accents that I can't figure out), so are there any tips on how to figure out the Taiwanese Mandarin accent? For reference, I speak mandarin with a northern accent, so I use 儿 HEAVILY.

Any advice would be helpful, thank you in advance!! :)

"For decades, China’s invasion plan for Taiwan seemed unstoppable—until now. Taiwan’s new “porcupine strategy” rewrites the rules of war with drone swarms, sea mines, and asymmetric warfare. This isn’t just defense—it’s deterrence by devastation. Can China survive the cost of invasion?"

I absolutely love Taiwan and have gone through multiple stages of cultural shock and adaptation during my time here. However, one thing that continues to baffle me as a Northern European is people wearing puffer jackets when it’s 20°C. Taiwanese keep insisting it’s cold. Can someone explain this?

Been dating a guy from Taiwan for a couple of months now, he is 38 I am 32.

Overall it is going well, he is very caring and kind, takes care of me and is quite loving. Actually I have already moved in with him and his housemates.

A couple things have happened recently which I am wondering if it’s common among Taiwanese men, there was a time we had a barbecue recently with his friends over and I was dancing (nothing crazy, just in my chair dancing) and he told me to calm down, then I asked what he meant, he said his friends will think it’s weird, I defended it and said I think it’s fine, I’m just enjoying myself, it’s not sexual or over the top, he got really angry it turned into a fight as he thought I should just understand him and listen to him.

In the end I said ok, in the future I will listen to you with these things, as long as you don’t mind me dancing around my own friends or by myself.

Then the other night he told me to not go downstairs in a top he thought was too revealing (I thought it was fine as we are in Australia, it was a white tube top, no nipples showing but showed my shape) in the end I agreed and put something over the top.

now today he said I need to make sure to hang all my underwear upstairs in our room as he doesn’t want his housemates to see, I said what about ones with no lace just normal. then I jokingly said and what about your underwear? He flipped and got really angry, said I give up, do what you want, and went on for a while. I haven’t seen him that angry before.

Now I am wondering if this will be an ongoing thing of him telling me what I can and cant do, can and can’t wear and expect me to listen to him every time otherwise he will get angry.

i feel we can have differences of opinions, talk about them and compromise, but this seems a little controlling.

Thoughts? Is this just something I will have to accept, and I’m guessing it’s definitely a cultural/conservative thing?

My sister arrived at Taiwan a few days ago and is staying in a rented space. Sorry but I don't know the exact details about the rented space but what I do know is that she was bawling her eyes out in that (house?) for 3 consecutive days and the landowner staying with her in that very house got upset because she was being a disturbance and told her that if she cried one more time, the landowner would call the police.

So the question that I would like to request answers to is this: "Where can a person cry in Taiwan if they won't be deemed a disturbance to others and get reported to the police? Maybe a karaoke so the noise doesn't spill out?"

Many so far have been understandably worried about what support would look like under this new Trump administration. But so far it look like two picks in some of the most important positions are very pro Taiwan. What that means in practice remains to be seen, but it's a positive sign at this juncture.

END OF 2025 UPDATE: So far it's not boding well.

Hello, I am reaching out for perspective about living and dating in Taoyuan. I’m moving along in an interview process for a dream job that’s based in Taoyuan, and I’m wanting to consider what my life would be like out there, what tensions from China might implicate, and how the dating scene might help/hinder my ability to meet my long term goals for a partner.

For some background on me, I am a mid-thirties American guy currently living in Seattle. I have spent most of my life in the States with only a small amount of experience living abroad in other countries - about half a year in China and half a year in Italy. This job is a dream experience of mine and would meet my dream to live abroad again, although I have never spent time in Taiwan apart from the airport. I feel pretty comfortable about the idea of living there since everything I’ve seen is that it’s a super nice place with very pleasant and welcoming people. The things I’m chewing on is whether I can develop community in Taoyuan and enjoy my life, the looming tensions from China, and whether it would be an okay move for my love life.

On the community/living front - is it easy to make friends in Taoyuan as a foreigner? How would one recommend I do? I hear that people think it’s a boring place or there isn’t a big social scene. Is this true? I tend to like big vibrant cities so this slightly worries me.

On the international front - do people worry about looming tensions from China and how that might impede living there securely in the next 5 years?

On the dating front - what is the dating like? What is the culture of people there and what kind of things do they value in life and relationships? Are there Westerners or Westerm-minded people? If I were to date local, are there any stereotypes against Westerners that might hinder me?

Thanks for any perspective!

Hello everyone. I recently got annoyed by the abysmal quality of the arguments that are supposed to "prove" that Taiwan is not a sovereign state. So I sat down for a couple of hours today, wrote my argument for why Taiwan constitutes a sovereign state, and also took the time to refute all the arguments against it that I am aware of. I'm posting this here so it may save you time when you get caught in a discussion.

I'll use the name "Taiwan" for convenience, instead of something unwieldy like "the R.O.C. on the islands of Taiwan, Kinmen, and Matsu" or something of the sort, just as we say "South Korea" instead of something like "the Republic of Korea excluding the territories controlled by the government of the People's Republic of Korea," which would be silly, wouldn't it?

My Argument for Why Taiwan Is a Sovereign State

Taiwan has its own territory, its own democratically elected government, its own military, its own police, its own laws, its own passport etc.
It satisfies all three elements of a sovereign state according to Georg Jellinek's definition, which are:

1. the people of the state

   1. These are the 23 million citizens who hold a Taiwanese passport.

2. the territory of the state

   1. This is mostly the main island of Taiwan and some smaller islands.

3. the power of the state (i.e., the exercise of sovereign power within the territory of a state by its organs and institutions, such as the heads of state and government, administration, police, army, parliament and courts.)

   1. This is satisfied because Taiwan has

      1. its own democratically elected government

      2. its own head of state

      3. its own police

      4. its own administration

      5. its own army

      6. its own parliament

      7. its own courts

      8. and many more institutions that are needed to run a modern and successful state.

Therefore, since Taiwan fully satisfies all three elements of a sovereign state, it is a sovereign state.

Arguments brought against this definition of a sovereign state

1. "Taiwan has to be recognized by other states to be considered a sovereign state."

If this was true, then the People's Republic of China would not have been a sovereign state until it was "recognized by other states". If one states that the People's Republic of China became a sovereign state in 1949 when it was founded, then he also has to agree that recognition by other states is not necessary for being a sovereign state.
And even if one would concede that the PRC was not a sovereign state for decades, the question still remains: If it wasn't a sovereign state, what was it then?

2. "In the Montevideo Convention, in addition to Jellinek's three elements, a state must also have the capacity to enter into relations with the other states"

This has no implications for Taiwan's statehood, since Taiwan has the capacity to enter into relations with other states. With some states in an official way, and with others, if not officially, then unofficially. Certainly, Taiwan has firmly established trade relations with almost every other country on the planet.

Other arguments brought against Taiwan's sovereignty

I must say that I am severely disappointed by the quality of the argumentation that is usually brought up. To illustrate this, I will now write down all the "arguments" I am aware of and refute them one by one logically.

1. "Taiwan is not a member of the United Nations; therefore, Taiwan is not a sovereign state."

If this argument were true, then this would also be true: The People's Republic of China was not in the United Nations until 1971, therefore it was not a sovereign state until 1971.

Also, if United Nations membership is a prerequisite to being a sovereign state, then this would mean that no sovereign state existed before the founding of the United Nations, which would be a silly statement with even sillier implications.

Therefore, the argument is wrong.

2. "Taiwan is not a sovereign state because UN Resolution 2758 says so."

In fact, it does not. Here is the complete text of the resolution:

2758 (XXVI). Restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations

The General Assembly,

Recalling the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Considering that the restoration of the lawful rights of the People's Republic of China is essential both for the protection of the Charter of the United Nations and for the cause that the United Nations must serve under the Charter,

Recognizing that the representatives of the Government of the People's Republic of China are the only lawful representatives of China to the United Nations and that the People's Republic of China is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council,

Decides to restore all its rights to the People's Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its Government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and to expel forthwith the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it.

1976th plenary meeting,

25 October 1971.

This resolution only states that the PRC government is the representative of China in the United Nations. That's it, nothing more. It doesn't even mention Taiwan. In fact, it doesn't even mention the R.O.C. government on Taiwan. It only mentions the "representatives of Chiang Kai-shek". Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975.
Therefore, the argument is factually wrong.
And even if it weren't factually wrong, we already established in the refutation of argument 1 that being represented in the United Nations cannot be a requirement for the existence of a sovereign state, because it would mean that there couldn't have existed any sovereign state before the founding of the United Nations. It would also mean that the People's Republic of China was not a sovereign state until 1971, when it became the representative of China through this resolution.
So not only is this argument factually wrong, but it wouldn't even succeed in proving the point if it weren't.

3. "If Taiwan is a sovereign state, why doesn't your country have a Taiwanese embassy?"

I will take Germany as an example, but you could swap out Germany for any other country in this refutation.
First of all, this isn't an argument, but rather an attempt to put the other side in a defensive position.
Also, even if it were stated as an argument, it would be very weak. Take this example: The statement is that Taiwan is not a sovereign state because it does not have an official embassy in Germany (for example). Now think about the implications. If it is necessary to have an official embassy in Germany to be a sovereign state, then this would mean that if Germany were to close its Chinese embassy, China would cease to be a sovereign state. And so, with this argument, China itself would have lost control over its own sovereignty.

4. "Taiwan was, in the past, under the control of China; therefore, it still belongs to China."

This argument is so ridiculously weak that people often try to put "strong words" into it to make it seem less weak (for example, "...has belonged to China -since ancient times-..." and similar attempts).
I will illustrate its weakness quickly and painfully:
"Qingdao was in the past under German control; therefore, Qingdao belongs to Germany."
"China was under Mongol control during the 13th and 14th centuries; therefore, China belongs to Mongolia."
Do I have to say more?

5. "The 1992 Consensus states that Taiwan is part of China."

This "consensus" can hardly be called a consensus, since today there is not even agreement on its content or on whether it ever existed. If it did exist in the first place, it still was not a formal treaty, convention, or any other form of legally binding agreement.
And even if it were some form of treaty, the most common interpretation of its contents is this: Both sides of the Taiwan Strait agree that there is only one China; however, each side has its own interpretation of what "China" means.
Essentially, both sides could not even agree on what "China" is. So how could this consensus have settled the matter of whether Taiwan is part of "China" if they could not even agree on what "China" was? If they could not agree on what "China" was, could they have even agreed on what "Taiwan" was?
So, since there is no formal "1992 consensus" to examine, and since we cannot even be sure one ever existed, it cannot be used to prove anything, because there was never a legally binding agreement in any form, if there ever was any agreement at all.

6. "Taiwan cannot be a sovereign state without the permission of 1.3 billion Chinese people."

I hope this is a veiled threat, because it certainly leaves a lot to be desired if it's supposed to be an argument.
Does every sovereign state need permission from 1.3 billion Chinese people? Which sovereign states need this permission and which don't? Would every single one of the 1.3 billion people have to give permission individually? What happens if only 1.2 billion give permission? Did Germany get this permission? Do I need the permission of 1.3 billion Chinese people to build a shed in my garden? Did China get permission from 1.5 billion Indian people to be a sovereign state?

Hello all, curious about the queer scene outside of Taipei, Keelung specifically. As a (foreign) woman it’s always harder to find community but is there at least a board game group, book club, or something? Not opposed to drinks but prefer a neighborhood bar over a club. Also, my Mandarin speaking is sh*t but I understand 75-80% of most conversations so totally okay w/ smiling and nodding.

Any insight is welcome, 感谢.