In a book of reminiscences of Taiwan life by resident expatriates, published recently by the Taipei City government, one topic rears its head with remarkable frequency. It is the fact that, as little as 40 years ago, ox carts could be seen being driven along the city's main streets, overflowing with agricultural produce, and even rickshaws were not uncommon.
Reflections on Taipei: Expat Residents Look at their Second Home contains essays by five Americans, three Canadians, and one each from Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Holland, Germany and France. A wide range of topics is covered, but references to the ox carts are more common from the longer-term residents that one might have expected.
In general, Taipei locals prefer not to be reminded of just how recent the city's rise to metropolitan grandeur really is. When long-established expatriates mention the ox carts they probably intend it as a compliment to Taiwan's hard-working progress and achieved economic prosperity. Locals, by contrast, may see it as an impolite reference to an underdeveloped past.
This difference in cultural perspective does not prevent Taiwanese and resident foreigners getting on well together, however. Yet it remains the case that people in emerging societies generally dislike being reminded of their recent history. The European cast of mind tends towards a free-and-easy nonchalance, falling back where necessary on pride in long ancestry.
The Chinese can claim a much longer civilised history, of course, but progress was interrupted in the 19th and early 20th centuries by a perceived period of ignominious domination by foreigners, a situation from which recovery has been spectacular.
It was not so long ago that foreigners in Taiwan, invariably assumed to be American until proved otherwise, were greeted as if they were gun-toting stars from Hollywood westerns. Today, the resident expats form a rather more mixed collection. Numerically, Indonesians and Filipinos predominate in the Taipei area, followed by English teachers originating from every corner of Europe and the US.