In Germany, you can’t congratulate a person before their actual birthday; If you see a magpie in Great Britain, you better greet them politely; Tuesday the 13th is considered unlucky in Spain and Friday the 17th in Italy; French believe that if a bird looks through your window something bad will happen… There are tons of thousands of superstitions in every country. Please make sure you are aware of them when you visit a foreign country, or you will put yourself in a “cultural gaffe” situation!
Kuai Kuai culture
Kuai Kuai culture is a Taiwanese phenomenon, which means workers tend to put snacks of the brand Kuai Kuai (乖乖) next to or on top of machines. “Kuai Kuai” – stands for “obedient” or “well-behaved” in mandarin. Especially green package one, it is believed that will make a device function without errors. Even police officers like to put Kuai Kuai snacks to wish for a peace day.
Being experienced their production line damaged by the earthquake, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company engineers ordered a special edition of Kuai Kuai after they repaired the production line for the company staff. The customized words on the bag “FAB14A 222K limited edition” (FAB14A 222K限定) and the mascot of the factory Black-faced spoonbill represent TSMC. After this, other companies also commissioned the Kuai Kuai company for custom editions.
Taipei’s Easy Card Corporation has also teamed up with Kuai Kuai Company to produce 10,000 limited edition Easy Cards. The special Easy Cards is a key ring with a mini version of green bag attach to it. Easy card is essential to Taipei citizens’ life, or even for every tourists having Taipei day tour. (Read more: The Ultimate Guide of Easycard (Yōuyóukǎ)
Fruits aren’t just fruits
- Pineapple & Mango
Pineapple in Taiwanese language means “prosperity arrives”, it has a lucky meaning. Nowadays, Pineapples have become a common symbol of good fortune and increased prosperity. Baseball players usually put pineapple on the field to wish more scores.
However, Medical personnel, police officers and firefighters avoid eating pineapple and mango while they are working. For some industry, it means getting more patients, victims and crimes, which is not a good sign. Mango in mandarin sounds similar to “busy” that is also been prevent from some working places. (Read more: How Much Do You Know About the Mangos in Taiwan?)
Some gift is not givable!
Taiwan is a nation with a culture of “like giving gifts”, you can see Taiwanese gifting in every occasions. Unlike Western countries, Taiwanese are not used to open their gift in front of people. Moreover, there somethings couldn’t be gifted! If you don’t want to irritate you Taiwanese friends or embarrassed yourself, please avoid the list below:
- Shoes
- For elderly, giving shoes means you want them walk to heaven; for general, it means you want them to go away.
- Clock
- Giving clock in Mandarin sounds like “attending funerary”, which means you wish the person die!
- Umbrella
- Umbrella in Mandarin sounds same as “apart”. For couples it means “break up”.
- Pear or plum
- Pear and plum in Mandarin sounds just like “leave”.
How to make it right? Just give them back with little amount of money (ex. NTD.1) to “buy” them, instead of just receiving them. It’s not taboo anymore!
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