Taiwanese Efficiency
January 12th, 2007 by MarkThere are some times when the whole 差不多 attitude here drives me nuts. Now is not one of them.
The Suffering of a Web addict
Since my recent move, I’d been going through serious web-withdrawal. I couldn’t write anything on my blog, except from work. I couldn’t check my email. I couldn’t call my friends or family back home on Skype, and I didn’t have a land line either, for that matter. I couldn’t look up Chinese characters in my favorite multi-radical dictionary. Worst of all, I couldn’t read Reddit. Barred from my limitless source of online news, I was in bad shape. I was nearly to the point of jumping random teenagers on the street and asking them if they’d read technology related news in the past six hours.
Zhōnghuá Diànxìn to the Rescue!
Had I been in the US, it would have probably taken a couple weeks to get my phone and DSL installed. The phone company here, Zhōnghuá Diànxìn, only needed three days. When they arrived, there was a serious problem, though. I live in a 加蓋房子. It’s also pretty clear that the builders just decided to “wing it”. Unfortunately, they made a few oversights, such as providing a way to get a telephone line inside the apartment.
Confronted by such an obstacle, a workman from a US telephone company probably would have scheduled another time to come back, I would have had to wait another week, and it would have cost a ton of money. Well, this dude from Zhōnghuá wasn’t like that at all. Barely pausing, he opened the door to my apartment, whipped out a hammer and bashed in the upper-right hand corner of it!
Bash! Hosted on Zooomr
Then, he used a screwdriver to scrape a groove into my door frame, and he set the phone cable inside it.
door wire Hosted on Zooomr
Next he dug a hole through the wall.
outside door Hosted on Zooomr
And now I’ve got a working internet connection!
door Hosted on Zooomr
Total cost: $700NT
Scheduling time: 3 days
Installation time: 20 minutes
Sometimes, living here just rocks.
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January 12th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Yes I have noticed this as well. Taiwan is efficient, if maddening sometimes.
My example is a lot less hardcore than yours. We were having lunch at the Lakeshore hotel in Hsinchu. Since my wife has to pay fees there for her gym membership, part of it is that we get credit for any restaurants we use at the Lakeshore.
The food was pretty good. My favorite, raw red tuna, served sushi style. When I had eaten all that was available on the serving plate in the buffet, the managers immediately served some more from behind the counter.
January 12th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Basically, some of the things I love the most about Taiwan would not exist without the 差不多 attitude. Night markets, for instance. When the old Yuanhuan night market burnt down, the city decided to rebuilt it “better” than before by constructing a whole new brick and glass housing for the market that cost millions and millions of NTS. The thing was a complete flop — the massive project sanitized away the original character of the place. Yet there are other places in Taipei, like the MRT, where I’m very glad that the 差不多 attitude does not prevail. Most Taiwanese people think it’s great that you’re not allowed to eat and have to line up neatly in the MRT…it’s its cleanliness and orderliness is what makes the crush at rush hour tolerable and riding it at other times a real pleasure.
I think it’s all about figuring out when it is appropriate to be 差不多. For instance, your place, as suitable as it is for your needs, is pretty much a 差不多 structure to begine with, so quick and dirty shortcuts are entirely suitable. On the other hand, I almost had a heart attack when my mom instructed workmen to make the air conditioner slot in my apartment bigger by banging on the mortar in order to accomodate the model she had picked for me. It looks alright now because they covered the ragged edges with white tape, but I dread the way when I have to move out with the AC unit and the dreadful mess beneath is revealed.
January 15th, 2007 at 2:05 am
Hmm… the MRT is actually one place where I think they’re obsessing about the wrong stuff. There’s no reason to not have any food, or especially drinks on the subway. Both are allowed on the subways in Shanghai and Beijing, and neither were messy in the slightest when I visited. On the other hand, I wish the MRT hadn’t been made with quite such a 差不多 attitude with regards to some aspects of it’s construction. It really shouldn’t have been as vulnerable to flooding as to have made it necessary to shut it down so long last time.
Also, the orderliness you’re talking about is a pretty recent thing. Four years ago, people were constantly cutting me off on the way in, and barging in before letting the other passengers get off. It really has become a lot more civil than it was.
January 17th, 2007 at 1:56 am
Also, the orderliness you’re talking about is a pretty recent thing. Four years ago, people were constantly cutting me off on the way in, and barging in before letting the other passengers get off. It really has become a lot more civil than it was.
That’s a really hopeful sign actually — it is possible for things to gradually improve from a state of chaos.
On the other hand, I wish the MRT hadn’t been made with quite such a 差不多 attitude with regards to some aspects of it’s construction. It really shouldn’t have been as vulnerable to flooding as to have made it necessary to shut it down so long last time.
Obviously, flooding is Not A Good Thing and i hope that improvements have been made meanwhile to reduce the vulnerability of the system. However, I have to say that that’s the first criticism I’ve heard of the running of the MRT, which is generally punctual, clean and comfortable.
As for the food, it’s a trade-off I’m willing to make. Yes, beijing and shanghai have clean trains too even though they allow food and drink, but remember, all three systems are very new and still have that immaculous quality that makes people careful. In the long run, I think banning food and drink within the travelling areas will help keep the trains cleaner longer as will a zero tolerance policy on graffiti and other form of creeping chaos.
January 17th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
That just doesn’t make sense. I lived in Japan before coming to Taiwan. Unlike the Chinese, the Japanese do NOT have a “good enough” attitude. They shoot for perfection in their cars, in their clothes, in their electronics, in their interior decorations and in their manners. People drink on the train all the time, though. Even beer!
The Japanese trains are so much cleaner, quieter and more orderly than the Taiwanese ones that I can barely put it into words. When I first got here, it felt like I had left civilization and entered some weird barbarian land where people don’t get the concepts of lines or yielding seats to the elderly. The trains make squealing noises too, especially from Guting to Dingxi. But they have stupid rules about drinks on the MRT. It’s just missing the point, entirely. Like many other Taiwanese things, the MRT is a cheap knock-off of the Japanese version. Don’t even get me started on scooter drivers!
It is a heck of a lot better than the mainland, though. People there are ANIMALS. I have no desire whatsoever to see what the subways in Shanghai are like.
January 17th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Though I’ve never been to Japan, I was a Japanese major and I had more Japanese friends than American friends my last two years in school. I can see where you’re coming from about Japanese culture not embracing the 差不多 (”good enough”) attitude, but sometimes I like that attitude.
If I’d gotten the same work on an apartment like mine done in Japan, could it have been done for about $20 USD, and done within 20 minutes? I highly doubt it. If I’d been in Japan, it probably would have cost ten times as much and been a pain.
The commuters on the subway in Shanghai were pretty obnoxious, and I’m also frustrated from time to time by those here. I suppose a lot of drivers here are a bunch of selfish jackasses, too. It’s not that bad, though.
January 17th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
The point is, there wouldn’t BE an apartment like yours in Japan. It would have been properly designed to begin with, and installing a phone line would have been simple.
January 18th, 2007 at 3:14 am
… and I wouldn’t have had anything to blog about!
January 18th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Although Taipei’s MRT system is “punctual, clean and comfortable”, some of the rules are simply draconian. A Taiwanese friend of mine was caught drinking mineral water at a station and fined $1000. Is that really necessary in a city where summer temperatures reach 40 degrees? Other countries’ subways (eg. Tokyo, Korea, Toronto, New York, London) were very clean when I rode them, despite allowing drinking and eating. Why are Taiwanese commuters any different? Is the 差不多／ 隨便 attitude is so ingrained that without a zero-tolerance policy, commuters would leave garbage on the floor, and spill food and drinks all over the seats?
The Japanese represent the antithesis of 差不多. But while the cleanliness, civility and perfectionism are admirable, you pay for them. Want to get an internet connection? They won’t bash in your door, but you will have to wait weeks if not months to get it installed. If you move into an apartment, you are guaranteed a certain quality - as Howard noted, “There wouldn’t BE an apartment like yours in Japan.” But it will cost you indirectly in the form of “key money,” a non-refundable deposit to the landlord, often equal to 3 or 4 months rent. Their perfection, like the MRT’s, comes with a significant cost.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Hmm. I wouldn’t say that New York’s subways are very clean at all. I take your point about the water. It does seem draconian.
I think it’s the food part that bugs me. I really do think that inevitably someone will start to bring in messy food even if chewing on some gum or a chocolate bar won’t really do much harm.
January 21st, 2007 at 1:09 pm
I have to say that that is one of my favorite things about living in Taiwan. I have to make it clear that I’m saying that not as an American, rather as an American who lived in France — where nothing gets done without a rally, a protest, two strikes, a referendum, and an enquiry in to whether or not anyone will be offended by said action.
When my girlfriend and I changed our internet companies in Paris, it took TWO MONTHS to get up and running. They don’t even have someone come and install it. They mail it to you, and get you to do it yourself!
Moreover, tech support isn’t free. So when you’re internet, phone, and cable aren’t working, you have to call on your cell phone and pay while you’re on hold!
God! My blood is boiling just thinking about it.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:40 am
RE: Howard…I’ve used the subway in Tokyo and it’s old and not as modern as the subways in HK and Taipei. That’s understandable since Tokyo got their subway first. Also how are the trains(subway) cleaner or more orderly in Japan that “you can’t put into words”. The MRT in Taipei is very clean and I always saw people lined up to enter the trains. “weird barbarian land where people don’t understand the concept of a line”. In Taiwan you can see lots of line ups especially for food…for that dumpling restaurant or for noodles at A-Chong etc; without anyone cuting in. My Father who is a senior always had people offer him their seats on the MRT. “Like so many things the MRT is a cheap knock off of the Japanese version” Taipei needed a subway system so they built one and it was built by the French. Some MRT cars have the exact same layout as the subway cars I saw in Paris. You also decribe the people in China as “animals” wow. You have a lot of bias no doubt influenced by Japan. I think it’s sad to travel to all these incredible places that you’re fortunate enough to do with a closed, arrogant and ignorant mind. What a waste.
March 27th, 2007 at 3:01 am
I live in san francisco and our MRT , called “BART’ Bay Area Rapid Transit forbids drinking and eating too, and its over 30 years old.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
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