Taiwan Culture & Language

Taiwanese culture is a genuine composite — southern Chinese in its base, Japanese in several of its habits, Austronesian at its root, and American in much of its post-war popular culture.

Temple culture

There are more than twelve thousand registered temples on the island, and they function as neighbourhood centres: fortune-telling with crescent-shaped divination blocks, incense, opera performed in the forecourt, and food stalls outside. The annual Mazu pilgrimage from Dajia carries the sea goddess three hundred kilometres over nine days, with hundreds of thousands walking part of the route and households along it feeding everyone who passes.

Night markets and eating

Eating out is the default rather than the exception, and the night market is where it happens: Shilin and Raohe in Taipei, Liuhe in Kaohsiung, Fengjia in Taichung. Stinky tofu, oyster omelettes, pepper buns, beef noodle soup and shaved ice are the standards, and bubble tea was invented in Taichung in the 1980s.

The Japanese layer

Fifty years of colonial rule left wooden houses, hot spring bathing culture, a fondness for Japanese food and design, and a relationship with Japan that is unusually warm for the region.

Indigenous culture

The sixteen recognised peoples maintain languages, weaving, carving and harvest festivals, mostly in the east and the mountains. Their music reached a wider audience when an Amis elder’s recorded singing was sampled, without permission, on a global hit in the 1990s — a case that changed how Indigenous recordings are handled.

Tea and cinema

High-mountain oolong from Alishan and Lishan is among the most sought-after tea in the world. Taiwanese New Cinema, and Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang and Ang Lee, gave the island a place in world film out of proportion to its size.

Mandarin is the official language and is what you will hear in public life, written in traditional characters rather than the simplified set used on the mainland. Taiwanese Hokkien is widely spoken, particularly in the south and among older people, and Hakka and sixteen Indigenous languages have official status.

English is taught in schools and is common among younger people, in Taipei and in anything connected to tourism, less so in the countryside and the south. Signage on transport, roads and at major sights is bilingual throughout, which makes independent travel straightforward.

Romanisation is inconsistent — the same street may appear as Hsinchu or Xinzhu — because different systems were adopted at different times. Match the characters rather than the spelling when in doubt.

A few words help: ni hao for hello, xie xie for thank you, duo shao qian for how much, and hao chi for delicious, which will earn you a genuine reaction anywhere food is sold.