台灣人很保守嗎? Are Taiwanese Conservative?
The Oxford dictionary notes: “conservative” means to be opposed to great or sudden change; being cautious, moderate, and avoiding extremes. In that sense, instead of being a negative concept, conservativeness corresponds very much to Confucius’ teaching of moderation. Furthermore, conservativeness is a relative concept. Taiwanese may be more conservative than Americans, but compared with people in Mainland China, Taiwanese are much more open. In other words, social and cultural differences must be taken into consideration. And age, gender, tradition, family and social backgrounds are all possible causes of these differences.
Still, there are significant differences even among Taiwanese themselves. Those who tend to be conservative are often elder and parental. They probably came from traditional families, received limited education, and often value traditional Chinese virtues as their goals of life. For the most part, they uphold our patriarchal society and rarely think too much of the control and even oppression that have caused great pain in many people’s lives. In other words, it is easier for them to accept accomplished facts or customs instead of new concepts, and even if they do accept some new ideas, they seldom practice them. They expect their children to perform well in academic studies and demand that family members maintain an impeccable reputation; no disgrace must fall upon their family name.
In contrast, under the influence of western culture, the younger Taiwanese have become more open-minded and even rebellious in these years. They may have come from traditional families, but more often than not, they have received higher education. They do not consider traditional virtues as necessary. Being more individualistic and adventurous, they are willing to consider other possibilities instead of blindly following the old rules. They are also more sensitive toward social injustice and are more open-minded toward different ideas and practices. For example, acceptance of homosexuality or bisexuality is widespread among today’s youths. The success of the first gay pride march in Taipei on November 1st, 2003 attests to that.
As Taiwan becomes increasingly international, it is predictable that it will have to shed some of its conservativeness in order to be ranked as a developed country. And we the young people have the responsibility of working as the driving force behind this transformation.
The Oxford dictionary notes: “conservative” means to be opposed to great or sudden change; being cautious, moderate, and avoiding extremes. In that sense, instead of being a negative concept, conservativeness corresponds very much to Confucius’ teaching of moderation. Furthermore, conservativeness is a relative concept. Taiwanese may be more conservative than Americans, but compared with people in Mainland China, Taiwanese are much more open. In other words, social and cultural differences must be taken into consideration. And age, gender, tradition, family and social backgrounds are all possible causes of these differences.
Still, there are significant differences even among Taiwanese themselves. Those who tend to be conservative are often elder and parental. They probably came from traditional families, received limited education, and often value traditional Chinese virtues as their goals of life. For the most part, they uphold our patriarchal society and rarely think too much of the control and even oppression that have caused great pain in many people’s lives. In other words, it is easier for them to accept accomplished facts or customs instead of new concepts, and even if they do accept some new ideas, they seldom practice them. They expect their children to perform well in academic studies and demand that family members maintain an impeccable reputation; no disgrace must fall upon their family name.
In contrast, under the influence of western culture, the younger Taiwanese have become more open-minded and even rebellious in these years. They may have come from traditional families, but more often than not, they have received higher education. They do not consider traditional virtues as necessary. Being more individualistic and adventurous, they are willing to consider other possibilities instead of blindly following the old rules. They are also more sensitive toward social injustice and are more open-minded toward different ideas and practices. For example, acceptance of homosexuality or bisexuality is widespread among today’s youths. The success of the first gay pride march in Taipei on November 1st, 2003 attests to that.
As Taiwan becomes increasingly international, it is predictable that it will have to shed some of its conservativeness in order to be ranked as a developed country. And we the young people have the responsibility of working as the driving force behind this transformation.