Many people living in mainland China have dreamed of going to Taiwan because it is China's territory and an inalienable part of our country. There, there are many relatives of the Chinese who went to Taiwan more than 60 years ago. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait have experienced ups and downs, and their relatives may have seen one or two in the past decade or so. Perhaps they have been missed and their lives are not goodbye, leaving lasting regret.
When I was young, Grandma told me once: In 1929, her brother went to Taiwan and never came back afterwards. I once asked: Do you want him? Grandma said: Where can I not want it? Now, grandmother has died for many years, life never see her brother again. According to age, her brother's chances of being alive are very small, but perhaps there is another blood in his grandmother's hometown in Taiwan, so it goes on.
First, here is China
This is the first impression coming to Taiwan: here is China.
1, see the Chinese characters are everywhere.
There are many Chinese characters in Japan, but the characters in Japanese are not the same as the traditional Chinese characters in Taiwan. In addition to Chinese characters, Hiragana and Katakana characters are not misunderstood. Taiwan, like the mainland, is full of Chinese characters - Chinese characters, Chinese signs, Chinese characters advertising, but it is only traditional Chinese characters.
For those of us who are young children of simplified Chinese, some traditional Chinese characters may seem difficult to read, but the slower ones are generally not problematic. Perhaps the bones are Chinese, will soon feel the traditional Chinese characters, read it hard.
2, I heard Mandarin everywhere.
There is a slight difference between Taiwanese Mandarin and mainland Mandarin, but they are all based on Beijing dialect. The difference is very small, and there is basically no situation that can not be understood. Perhaps we go to Hong Kong, Macao will have the problem of communication between Mandarin and dialect, Taiwan does not.
When I went to court in Hong Kong to listen to the courtrooms, I searched for a court in English. It was not my English that was good, but I could understand Cantonese less than English. However, in Taiwan, there is no such issue and it is free to enter a courtroom to hear the case.
3, bookstore in the book with us is the same.
This is the same, not only refers to the same language, that is, all Chinese characters, but also the types of books, the structure is similar. Natural science books are the same, social science books are the same: the history books are the same study of the problem, literary books are Tang poetry, Song Ci, Ming and Qing novels, etc., Guoxue are Confucius, Mencius, Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, four books Five classics and so on.
4, the historical figures we are talking about are the same.
When in mainland China, we also talk about some people in the Republic of China, such as Lin Yutang, Qian Mu, Hu Shih, Cai Yuanpei and Lu Xun, chatting about their articles and anecdotes. After arriving in Taiwan, I can still talk with my compatriots in Taiwan about how Lin Yutang, Qian Mu, Hu Shih, Cai Yuanpei and Lu Xun talked about their deeds and talked about their articles and communicated without any barriers.
Of course, we can also talk about historical figures such as Zheng Chenggong and Kangxi. In fact, much of the cross-Strait understanding of people is the same - if we say that there are some differences, we may not have as many differences as there are in the mainland or in Taiwan.
Second, here is more China
1, chat with Taiwanese, you will find their language structure is very interesting, it is deja vu that you know what he said, you can feel that it is more Chinese expression, but you can not say it.
I think Taiwanese's words are more similar to ancient China. For example, they called the deputies of the Executive Yuan "Gezhuo", and when they talked, they dropped their book bags and none of our natives would fall off. We could only speak vernacular and vernacular words.
2, many terms in ancient Chinese law are still preserved.
Court language on the mainland side has become Westernized, but Taiwan has instead found the shadow of some ancient Chinese laws - as a lawyer, it is very sensitive to this point. For example, Taiwan still uses "two forms" to express the meaning of "plaintiff and defendant." The term "two forms of construction" is the ancient name of "plaintiff and defendant" in ancient China. The term in mainland China has disappeared for many years.
3, a lot of place names more Chinese mood
When Beijing Dongcheng District merged with Chongwen District and Xicheng District merged with Xuanwu District, they left Dongcheng and Xicheng on the choice of geographical names, removing Chongwen and Xuanwu. Do not know why so named, some people say that because of the East Side, Xicheng economic development better, I do not know whether this is the case, but the East Side, Xicheng really no cultural connotation. Also, most of our primary and secondary schools use numbers to be named, such as the first middle school in certain districts, the second primary school and so on. Traditionally, China will not be so named.
Came to Taiwan, you will find a lot of interesting names, there is no "Dongcheng, Xicheng" similar names, such as: Yangmingshan, Hu Shi Park, etc., named or because of a celebrity, or because of a historical allusion, For example: West Lake, Xinhai; some place names themselves with beautiful poetic, such as: Kuting, Chuk Yuen, strange rocks, seamounts and so on. Schools are basically not the first secondary school, the second primary school like the name, but "Lishan National High School" "Sanmin National High School" and so on, more in line with the Chinese nomenclature.
Third, there are many bookstores here
In the mainland, perhaps because of the impact of online shopping, it is hard to see the bookstore. I remember that many years ago, there was a bookstore named "Fengshen Song" beside Peking University. Opened in the semi-underground, it operated some highly academic books. Later, the bookstore closed, there were many friends on the network sent out emotion.
In addition to the Xinhua Bookstore (Xinhua Bookstore closed in many places) encountered on the road by chance at airports and railway stations in recent years, rare bookstores are found. There will be bookstores next to the school or school, but often bookstores that are specific to the school's students. For example, bookstores next to secondary schools will run secondary school exams and test books, while university bookstores will be dominated by the books of the school's teachers.
Perhaps, now we are all mobile reading, using Kindle, mobile phones, iPad reading; living in the mainland we read the paper version of the book is indeed less and less. Books could have been pastimes as a treatise. We no longer read books as entertainment, but prefer to watch the drama; we no longer treat books as talk, but more willing to talk about prices. In addition to non-read books, such as lawyers, I want to read a law book, as a student who wants to read textbooks, we may be reading less and less.
In Taipei, I actually found many bookstores. Some of these bookstore in the semi-underground, some occupy the ground floor, and some in the suburbs, more in the city center. The items operated by these bookstores are also different. Some of them tend to be popular novels, others tend to be academically academic; others are biased towards young people and others tend to be middle-aged or elderly. Eslite bookstore needless to say, there are several Eslite bookstores in Taipei, endless nights.
Eslite bookstore too famous, temptation I also went to see. However, after visiting the Eslite bookstore is not my dish. I like Sanmin Bookstore more. The Sanmin bookstore where I went was a total of four levels: one for law and economics; two for computer and medicine; three for Chinese, novels and biographies; four for textbooks; and the other for underground Simplified books, mostly for the writings of mainland scholars. My eyes mainly stay in legal books and Chinese studies, prose books.
I bought a "Reading King" - this book is a unique design, such as jumping from a row of books to my eyes, opened, it is leisurely, with the philosophical essay, This is in line with my mood now. Time in Beijing, living in a variety of daily excitement, anxiety among them, to solve the problem, there is no performance, there are endless pursuit of desire - woke up every day a forensic lawsuit, night with a forensics sleep . When I arrived in Taiwan, I was able to enjoy an unhurried life. I was chatting with people who did not panic and I was in a soothing mood. I just suffered from the other members of the team, and they resisted the pressure from work for me.
Fourth, the night market is very hot
Night market is a major feature of Taipei. More famous is Shilin Night Market, Ningxia night market and so on. The night market is mainly a variety of food stalls more, in addition to eating something, there will be some other gadgets will sell, but the crowd still stay in a variety of snack stalls.
I went to the birthplace of the night market - Ningxia Night Market. Ningxia night market many people, rub shoulders one after another. Many stalls lined up in front of a long queue, to see through to see what happens, to be a comprehensive experience is not easy.
Think about it. In a cosmopolitan city like Taipei, a capital city in a region should allow this kind of night market with its own set-up - which is inconceivable on the mainland. Beijing has long canceled this open-air night market, set up a stall outside, set a point, selling pancake fruit, will be chased by the city run the streets. Other cities outside of Beijing, there are very few such night market, right? At least I have not seen it yet.
The cancellation of such a night market by the mainland may come from various considerations, such as health issues, public order issues, tax issues and so on. However, less this night market is really a lot less happy. Grand Hotel has a large hotel to eat dinner needs, small stalls to eat on the fun meal, there is a lot of demand, little fun.
At the night market, I deliberately observed the hygienic situation and found that the hygiene in the night market was pretty good. There was no such kind of rubbish and plastic bags everywhere. Although there were many people, the ground was clean - probably Taipei One of the reasons the night market can go on - there's no problem with poor hygiene.
Five, public transport here is very developed
In the days of Taipei, I rarely taxi, because public transport is too developed, not only developed, very comfortable.
There are several MRT lines in Taipei, just like Beijing's subway and suburban railways, which run in all directions like the arteries and veins and are seamlessly connected to the public transport and railways.
Compared to Beijing's MTR, Taipei's MTR stations are much shorter and do not have to go too long after reaching MRT. There are fewer people on the MRT and generally have seats, no one is in the queue or crowded Go; quieter on the MRT, everyone quietly watching a cell phone or reading a book, whispered to communicate, rarely loud voice, rarely heard the loud voice answered the phone. In this environment, no anxiety, peace of mind.
Compared to the MRT, the bus more features:
Taipei bus booth has a two-dimensional code, scan the QR code to install an APP, the APP can see that you have to take the bus there are a few minutes to arrive, it is estimated that good time can be quietly go out;
Taipei's bus stop is no smoking, smoking will be fined NT $ 10,000, Beijing's bus stop smoking a lot, can only continue to evade;
Taipei bus stop is not stopped, if no one will say hello rejection station away, so be sure to see the bus you want to take to beckons;
Taipei bus do not have to brush a card, get off and then brush the card, but only brush a card, most of them get off the credit card, there are some on the car credit card, there are tips on the bus, but prompted to get off Swipe, brush on the car there is no problem, get off is not brush it wants;
Taipei bus start and stop is still very smooth, especially in the case of the elderly, will certainly wait for the elderly to sit down or get off and then drive;
Taipei special bus up and down the bell, each seat above, if you get off, you need to press the bell in advance, otherwise the driver may not stop;
Taipei bus is very quiet, we are sitting silently, or whispered to communicate, or watch mobile phones, reading books, few people will make a lot of noise;
Taipei bus drivers are gentlemen, basically no loud orders, are soft-spoken language, several times I saw each passenger credit card, the driver will gently say "thank you", every one!
For the first time to Taiwan, feeling is quite a lot. Many feelings are fragmented, more intense, systematic feeling is mainly the above five points. Taiwan is our treasure island and an important part of the Chinese nation's culture. Everyone has the opportunity to experience it in person.