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[Chefintaipei]

I arrived in Taipei three weeks ago and after reading reports of how friendly and accommadating the people were I was surprised to find myself not being served at a food vendor in Snake Alley last night! I really fancied some dumplings after a stroll around the markets, and found a small vendor opposite the Longshan Temple MRT. I waited patiently to be served, but the lady doing the cooking wouldn't even make eye contact with me. She served another customer (who was a local), so then I tried my crap Mandarin and did the whole stupid foreigner pointy thing but she just muttered something under her breath and shook her head.

She obviously ignored me because I wasn't Taiwanese, and although I've had these kind of experiences in South Korea and Japan before I was hoping that Taiwan might be different, considering all the help and kindness that I have received from strangers so far.

I was wondering if any body else has had similar experiences and whether or not you think I'll have to put up with any more of this narrow mindedness during my stay here?

[TaoyuanSteve]

I do not want to come across the wrong way. I feel alot of empathy for your position. We've all been there. But I can almost guarantee if you had a Mandarin speaking friend with you--regardless of skin color--the result would have been different. The person was reluctant to deal with you because of the language barrier, likely little else.

I had a friend visit me from out of country. He tried to order some bao zi (steamed buns) and came home frustrated, claiming the merchant hated foreigners and laughed at him. I subsequently went down and bought the buns without incident. I explained to my friend that what he thought was the guy laughing at him was really just the way Chinese deal with awkward situations. The worse it is, the more the guy'll smile. And, of course, my friend not being able to speak Chinese created an awkward situation in which the merchant was not able to understand.

Put yourself in these peoples' positions. They are usually not terribly well educated and usually don't speak a word of English. They often aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer and may not be able to figure out what you want. It feels uncomfortable when people come up and start speaking a language they don't understand. In some cases, they'd just as soon not deal with foreigners unless the foreigner initiates the dealings in Mandarin or Taiwanese, in which case the merchant usually gives the person what they want along with a million and one questions about where the come from etc.

Unfortunately much of this place does not open up to expats until they get a basic grasp of the language.

[Sheep-Goats]

I'd say it was a face thing involved with her having trouble serving you becasue of the language barrier, rather than your skin. If she were alone (no witnesses) or if you had a translator there wouldn't have been a problem.

I'll have to say, though, that the shopkeepers here really lock up when faced with a foreigener. Go to any crap town in Thailand and point at the noodle vendor's cart and sit down and in a minute you'll have some kind of something ready to eat in front of you. I was trying to get some noodles out of a food court here (no Mandarin to speak of on my behalf, really, I'd picked up the little tag in front of the food and showed it to the cook lady) and faced a two or three minute delay becasue I hadn't specified whether I wanted noodles with broth or without.

Try getting your money out. That often speeds the process up -- perhaps by reminding them that it's not so hard to sling a few dumplings at a pale oaf afterall.

[Aristotle]

Racism on Taiwan is pretty much limited to the upper crust of Taiwan's corrupt society. Racism is seen as the responsibility of the government to ensure that foreign ideas about ethics and integrity do not seep into the local social structure.
Working class people on Taiwan have been the victims of their racist and corrupt government for so long they can't even identify it anymore.
Chances are that the woman serving the food had just been forced to pay more to the gangster overlord because she had foreign customers (making more money so she pays more).
Street vendors are not required in practice, to have licenses they just have to pay off both the cops and the local gangsters to do business.
You would be doing everyone a much greater service if you took your business elsewhere and asked all your friends to do the same.
Good luck!
A.

[TaoyuanSteve]

While I agree street vendors don't have licenses, that's about where we part ways, A. I doubt very much the incident described involved gangs or extortion in any way. The food stall woman didn't want to deal with a foreigner because of the language barrier. I've never encountered a vendor who's refused to serve me because it'd increase the bribes they have to pay. Silly nonsense. Where do you get this stuff, A. It's quite amusing. I'm a big fan of your fiction.

[Aristotle]

My point is that the more money street vendors are perceived to be making the more they have to pay off the gangsters and the police. Street vendors will get very nervous when foreigners stop by particularly when they are being monitored.
No doubt the language barrier plays a part in nearly every problem non Chinese have on Taiwan. Racism by the common people is unusual and for the most unintentional, born out of sheer ignorance. It is usually money related.
She may of just been having a bad day. With all the BS that people have to put up with here just to make a living on Taiwan, I can see why.

[clark.w.griswald]

To the OP, I believe that TaoyuanSteve got it right in his first post. This was not intentional nor was it really racist, it was just embarassment at not being able to understand what you wanted, or a unwillingness to try to understand what you wanted. If the market was busy at the time then this mutliplies this embarrassment factor many fold.

[DirtGuy]

You want to find out about racism? Talk to any of the mountain people (aborigines), especially if they are really dark skinned. They have faced unbelievable racism their whole lives yet are probably the nicest people you will ever meet in Taiwan.

Because of an ex-girfriend here in the States, I have spent a lot of time with aborigines (is that word OK to use????) in the mountains outside of Puli and near Hualien. I have always been treated like royalty and my Mandarin sucks. Language has never been a problem and we have always managed to communicate. Funny thing is, though, the more Taiwan beer we drank the better we communicated.('')

Don't read too much into the vender you dealt with. Just go somewhere else and waive money money under their noses. Communication will come as that is all most Taiwanese care about. And then go up into a mountain village and see how wonderful some people on that island can be.

Dirt Guy

[gregoryfromcali]

[TaoyuanSteve]

[gregoryfromcali]