Culture Shock! Taiwan

This book provided tons of facts and very useful information about Taiwan and its culture. I spent a few years in Taiwan while I was young but my husband (fiance at the time) had never been to Taiwan or any part of Asia. To prepare him for his first trip to Asia (Taiwan), I got him this book. I of course read / scanned through it before I purchased it and found that this book included the facts that I can vouch for and more. I highly recommend this book and a trip to Taiwan!!

While I haven't visited Taiwan, I did work for two years for a company owned by Chinese folks from Taiwan. From what I have been able to observe, culturally speaking, this book is right on.The breadth of topics covered is impressive. A bit of language, enough history to teach you why things are as they are, information on doing business and entertaining, what you should worry about and what you should not, climate, traffic, politics, religion, philosophy, the culture of the small business owner, and even varieties of food are addressed. I would recommend it strongly, not only for the traveler to Taiwan but for anyone with close friends or co-workers who hail from it--if I'd had it years ago, I'd have committed fewer faux pas and had a better time.

I recently spent Thanksgiving week in Taiwan, visiting relatives, and brought my American fiance along. We both enjoyed this book because of its humor and usefulness.I liked the fact that it pointed out certain things/practices/habits that are exclusive to the Taiwanese culture. For example, it talked about the traditional "wet market" (a.k.a. farmer's market). So, my fiance asked if we could go to one, which turned out to be very fun. It basically gave me some ideas of places to show him for tourist spots.This book helped him to be better prepared for adapting the Taiwanese style of living for a week. As for me, it helped me appreciate my own roots more. I truly recommend this book. The usual sight seeing tour guides are dispensable. This one is just the opposite.

I am living in Taiwan and bought the book to better understand the people here. I really enjoyed Culture Shock Taiwan. It's informative, balanced and funny, and is much better than the Insight guide, which although interesting and beautifully illustrated, but it reads like a travel brochure and takes too reverential a tone with everything connected to Chinese culture.

An excellent intro to the Taiwanese; much of it also applies to the mainlanders as well. I only gave 4 stars because it's a little out-of-date: the traffic in Taipei has much improved recently (altho it hasn't yet elsewhere). And the book is not perfect: "mandarin" originally meant official.