I've been asked to give a presentation to the local city government here in Taichung, the Desert of the Real, on how to improve the city to make more foreigner-friendly, more accessible. IMHO Taichung is already a pretty nice place to live, just like Taipei, but without anything, but I have been here so long that I cannot imagine what it must be like for people who don't read Chinese or who haven't been here very long. So help me out here! Leave a few suggestions in the comments.[Taiwan] [Taichung]
31 comments:
More accessible for foreigners? Rather than wasting more taxpayer's money on token gestures to foreigners, how about improving accessibility for everyone?
Dog crap, cars and scooters off the sidewalks please.
Let the tow trucks go out and do their job. English signs on streets that are choked with double-parked cars are like tits on a bull.
How about moving all the vendors trucks from the street corners, and get those billboards and betelnut stands out of the motorcycle lane while we're at it.
We don't need any new initiatives. We just need the existing laws enforced.
Oh well, we can always hope the poison dwarf has another stroke...
I have to agree with you that Taichung is a pretty nice place to live. I lived in Taipei for about 15 months and moved down here in October. The people are friendlier, the weather is better, and it's much easier to get around.
But tits on a bull aren't very practical.
I agree with Mr. Angry about the parked cars. I'm not sure what else I can say about improving the quality of life for foreigners specifically. Please don't put the signs in English! I moved down here to learn Chinese and that is one of the daily obstacles/hurdles that I like having to face. At least when I look at a map and have to distinguish a character, it is some kind of interaction with the language.
- el spencer
"[J]ust like Taipei, but without anything..."
LOL!
A foreigner whose Taiwanese spouse's family registry is outside of the Taichung area cannot take advantage of the free Chinese-language classes offered by the government (if they still exist). Helping such people to become more self-sufficient would be most welcome.
Oh, and what Mr. Angry says about "improving accesibility for everyone" -- that's the ticket!
加油, Michael!
Don't put signs in English!
Oh please keep them in Chinese, I want to learn Chinese! I moved to Taiwan to learn Chinese!
That's the gayest shit I've ever heard.
I moved to Taiwan due to yellow fever. Yellow females fever.
Micheal, this sounds sooo much like, "I tried and failed to get an expensive white elephant, the Guggenheim, in Taichung to help in my make-believe achievements in internationalizing the city. So, we're going to have to make some other purely cosmetic changes around here to try and acheive same".
The dwarf is taking a lot of plays from Ma Ying-jiou's book, but hey, it works for him...
Three words: better public transportation. Taichung is way behind Taipei & Kaohsiung in this regard...No excuse for a city of this size not to AT LEAST have a decent bus network. (And no, I don't mean a cpl buses with English letter-lights). They don't want their laowai running around lost on the streets, bitching about the traffic (as we apparently do everywhere we go) all the time, do they?
Yeah, the traffic. They need to get the private tow trucks back out on the street, with a nice, fat bounty for double parked cars.
What I would really like to see is a application you can download onto your Nokia where you can take a few pictures of a misbehaving car with a time/date stamp, SMS them to city court, and the bastard gets a ticket in the mail the next month. That would clear up the problem nice and fast.
Yes, the buses are a huge screw-up. I remembering taking the right number but wrong colored bus and ending up in DaLi instead of FengYuan. Unforgivable.
People in Taichung always ask me what's my view of Taiwan as a foreigner. To which I respond: How do you feel about Taiwan as a Taiwanese?
1. terrible traffic
2. punishing education
3. brutal competition
4. foul air
Everyone knows.
Ask Hu to
1. Remind people in Taichung repeatedly that they are part of the Pacific Rim, which includes cities like Tokyo and Seattle.
2. Ask Hu to not set up a city, like Seattle, as a model; conformity to models was the consiousness taught by the Chiang regime.
3. Finally, remind him, therefore, that Taichung is unique but nonetheless a part of something much bigger. And if the city can't get its basic services together, it will end up part of the third world Pacific Rim.
NP
How should we improve Taichung for all it's people?
Like some of the people above, I would love to see an army of tow trucks wiping the streets clean of double and triple parked cars.
Like some of the people above, I would love to see the sidewalks cleared of scooters and stands and walls and garbage. It must be possible, even in Taiwan, because they accomplished it in Taipei.
(My favourite thing about going to Taipei is being able to walk around on the sidewalks without constantly having to walk out onto the street.)
And like some of the people above I would also prefer being able to breathe the air instead of being able to see it. This is the biggest obstacle of all. No single solution exists to combat a problem this enormous, but a comprehensive solution including,
1. abolishing the sale and use of 2-stroke scooters,
2. running a lot more electric buses,
3. publicly subsidizing and requiring all taxis to convert over to LPG engines,
4. and planting trees everywhere there is space might get us part way there.
The costs are huge, but the economic benefits due to increased productivity through less sicks days for employers and lessening the strains on the healthcare system alone would greatly offset these costs.
Mayor Hu should throw all his weight, and some of that KMT gold, into creating parks and parking spaces...
And an army of rabid tow trucks and Bobcat sidewalk clearers, and public trash cans and recycling bins, and staggeringly high fines (and corporal punishments) for littering, and an MRT (with an arm out to the new airport that they decided to put in Miao Li for some reason), and a Taichung branch of the National Palace Museum.
And Michael, when you see him, could you please ask him to clean up the debris in the canal on Hwa Mei West Road that's been there since Super-typhoon Haitang left in July, and replant at least some of the trees that were torn up there.
Thanks Professor,
Sincerely,
Sean
Oh, yeah -- you ought to bring up the idea about community access TV while you've got his attention!
I would like to see a seating area added at the Taichung port fish market. There is an area near the seafood vendors where people go to catch the view but nowhere to sit down. Tables would be a nice touch as well.
A friend and I spent 2 weeks in Taichung in October, studying Chinese martial arts. We live in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Our main comment is there is no reason to come to Taichung compared to anywhere else. If we were just tourists we could have gone many other places. And Taichung is hard to get to. Why not just stay in Taipei?
There's also not a lot of promotion about Taichung.
Your blog and site about teaching is some of the best promotion out there! The English language magazine has the city maps and 10 top sites to see. That was our main reference. We went to the jade market twice.
It didn't look like there were many hotel options available in English on the Internet. Our teacher arranged our hotel for us. Otherwise we would have had problems.
We did not find many people who spoke English. Our hotel had one English speaker at the front desk. We did a lot of pointing at restaurants. Often a customer would help us out.
On the other hand, we felt we had a very authentic experience of Taichung, not the tour bus version.
Everyone was very friendly, helpful. Taxis were easy to use the couple times we used them. The special assistance windows at the train station helped us with train tickets. Walking felt safe (but not easy!). The street crossing signs with timers and the 'running man' are useful. Consistent street signs would have been useful for people not comfortable with matching characters (whether you can read them or not!)
You gotta get the people to Taichung in the first place, though.
Generally, I'd say, keep up the project of converting the sloppy signage there in Taizhong to correct Hanyu Pinyin. In this, Taipei is a model -- unfortunately for what not to do as well. InTerCaPiTaLiZaTion is bad, damaging, horrible, ugly, and one of the worst choices imaginable. Also, we should all hope that Taizhong doesn't copy Taipei's stupid "nicknumbering" system.
I have some examples and remarks on street sign styles. The basic additions I'd like to make to that page are that it's better to have all caps than to have things written too damn small. Too many signs going up these days have the Pinyin so small in relation to the Chinese characters that it would be near impossible to a driver to read it until it's too late to be useful. Also, omiting apostrophes is a bad, bad thing to do; and, anyway, they're seldom needed and don't take up much space, so there's no loss in using them correctly.
There's more to say. Michael, please write me if I could be of any assistance in this.
Clyde Said:
Michael, I think we both agree that Taichung has some great civil servants, if you can mention something that is already pretty good for foreigners. Tax and police are a couple I've always gotten the best service from, and some with pretty good English.
For sure, though, transportation needs the most work. Those living here for a long stay, as well as short, benefit from better bus service and better parking regulation enforcement.
Good luck!
While we're thinking of nice things to say, you might add that the bus service in Taichung has improved a lot over the past 15 years or so. I remember when the only way you could get from Xitun to Beitun was to take a bus all the way to the train station and then take another from downtown to Beitun. And now the buses are a lot better than those wretched, overpriced cockroachmobiles they used to be. (Now they're just overpriced...)
Anon:
RE: your call for help about how to improve Taichung for foreigners:
1. Settle on a single pinyin system for street signs. Even if its in
cyrillic, it will be easier than the current "4 names for 文心路"
system young Mr. McKenzie from Calgary has to deal with when he hits
town for the first time.
2. Publish bus routes and schedules in English and distribute them to
local foreign bars.
3. Set up an English hotline to report business fraud.
4. Sidewalks, sidewalks, sidewalks. It might even cut down on the
number of round-eyes who are forced to ride illegally through the
city (yeah, riiiiight...).
Scooters are great. Cars are good. Too bad Taichung will never have an MRT and we have to share the same roads.
More streets should have no parking zones between 4 and 6 PM.
An underpass on Jung gong rd might make traffic to the freeway enterance move smoother.
Tow trucks are wonderful except when they tow my car. I wonder why they never get the car covered in dust that sat there for months.
If money is to be spent changing the street signs yet again, why not change some of the names too? I'm tired of all the streets named after cities and regions in China, let's give them more appropriate and local names!
Yes I have TWO words, I could not agree more that this city is the worst when it comes to Public Transit. You can't get anywhere unless you have your own private vehical. Definately a city for the elite. Good luck
As Taiwanese, I feel Taichung is a wonderful and beautiful place to live because of less traffic and more living space. However, the more and more night clubs growing up is not what I appreciate but that is part of Taichung. You guys are right about that Taichungers or people of south are more friendly and sincere. But you know, the opposite to the point is hot-temper. If you look those together, you will find why Taichung has problem in peace maintenance. That is what I concern.
Taichung Rocks. With the new HiTech Science Park near Dong-Hai Univ., you can't beat this city. Not to mention the real estate business. Guys, you are missing out. Taiwan is the place for racking up some serious loot. Dudes and Duddesses, listen up, you can't make too much money with real estate in the States; heck, who knows when the Dems are going to take over the White House and run economy into the ground. In Taiwan, real estate price can only go up and not down. If you are thinking about investing and making some serious "US-Tax-Free" money without Uncle Sam knowing it, do it in Taiwan.
And besides, you went to Taiwan, so learn the language. Move out of my freakin' country if you don't want to learn Taiwanese or Mandarin. So stop this crap of putting English signs up. Otherwise, should I go see George W. and ask him to put up TRADITIONAL Chinese signs all over every major airport? I learned your language when I came to your country, why shouldn't you learn mine when you go to mine?
Get real and get a life, or get the f--- out of my country.
By Jimmy the Stud @ Arlington, VA
Made In Taiwan
Modified In New York
Banished To Boston
Metamorphosed In Washington, DC
Born as a Taiwanese
Die as a Taiwanese
Rules for Taiwan Independence
Sidewalks, some decent sidewalks through out Taichung. People need to be able to walk around it in order to know it.
Mr Angry is right on the money. Existing laws need to be enforced and solutions such as parking lots, access roads, MRT system and more garbage cans need to be in place. Of course, if laws are to be enforced, they need to apply to all and on a constant basis. And finally, if there are to be improvements, the city needs to have a solid advertisement campaing to promote the changes and make sure everyone knows about them. The mayor sure had quite a big advertisement campaign for the Pavarotti concert, so why couldn't he promote changes and improvements the same way?...Let's hope it works.
personally, what the they should improve is the info accuracy of the map and transit system such as universal sytem of translation and clear street sign.
My suggestion comes from the Castro based dictator character in Woody Allen's Bananas. Succinctly, have Mayor Hu declare that everyone needs to wear their underwear on the outside of their clothing. It won't help at all with crowded streets, poorly parked cars, or shape-shifting street signs but at least we'll know who has clean underwear.
First of all, forget about my grammar of English, or you may read with un-pleasure. Well, I'm a Taiwanese has been lived 8 years in Taichung. Now, I'm living in Charlotte, N.C. almost 6 years. I totally understand your feeling, especially everytime when I went to Taiwan. The dog "gold" is still everywhere and lack of clear English sign. Although, I think it changed but too slowly. I thought the majoy Mr. Ho can do somthing good as his backgraound. He was a minister of Foriegn affairs of Taiwan.
I like Sean's comments and would add that traffic control should be handed over to the Swiss Guard. They will serve six month tours, speak no Chinese and be equipped with bilingual ticket pads that just need to be checked off and given to the violator. They will enforce a zero-tolerance policy and confiscate all vehicles that do not have proper registration and an accompying driver's license. But, that's just my idea.
yes i can't agree more,taichung is great,but sidewalks need to be sorted,it's very very dangerous
Use correct Hanyu Pinyin, including the name Taizhong itself.
I'm sure that the time of your presentation has come and gone, but if you ever get invited back, how about introducing the public trash can to the city? Other cities in Taiwan have them, and they are put to good use, but a quick look down at the street here indicates there is a market. The cost is twofold: you gotta buy the things, then you gotta educate the populace on how to use them. Worth a shot, though.
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