Two Young Girls And One Old Woman

Most Taiwanese women at my age grew up in a “de-sexualized” environment. I still remember when I was still a teenager university is a place for “competition of being ugly.” Girls went out without any makeup and dress-up, and nobody has ever taught us how to take care of the appearance or express ourselves while being interested in a guy. But it doesn’t mean that there aren’t beautiful girls on campus. A lot of Taiwanese guys like thin girls with long hair and big eyes; furthermore, they got mean mouths. When guys saw an ugly girl trying to wear some makeup and a mini skirt, they laughed and exchanged strange sight with each other. Once a guy even told me: “you got fat legs and how dare you wear miniskirt?” Sometimes I wonder if girls in Taiwan are too nice to stop this kind of comments.

However, when coming to Taiwan this time I was surprised to find that girls have changed a lot. One of the informants I interviewed with for my fieldwork, who is a feminist activist, told me that women’s rights have been paid a lot of attention during the past decades, and she proudly said: "the congressmen and congresswomen are glad to cooperate with us.” I can tell women are active and brave, and it shows by their appearance: girls in miniskirts are everywhere regardless the size of their body. In addition, a lot of TV shows and magazines are teaching girls how to dress nicely, and of course, how to be confident when either being in a relationship or single. Looking at these changes, I’m so happy for girls in Taiwan. When visiting the Fengjia market in Taichung I saw two girls in anime style of makeup, and I asked them: “can I take a photo with you?” They were kind of shy, but immediately went to me and smiled in front of the camera.

The divorce rate is increasing rapidly in Taiwan now. One girlfriend of mine- Amanda- told me that she got divorced after being married for 10 years. I was kind of shocked, but after one-day chatting I totally understand her choice. Divorce is not a great thing; on the contrary, it could hurt a lot and stop a man/woman from believing in a relationship anymore. But compared to the past which a lot of Taiwanese women got married simply because of the pressure of the family or the society, it’s encouraging to see that women nowadays make every decision by themselves.

The "West Gate Town" (Ximending) where young girls go shopping and to the movies in Taipei.

Shopping in Taiwan: Department Stores

Department stores are somewhere we go either when we have a lot of money or when there is a big sale. It’s a lot of fun to go to the department stores, not only because of the high quality of goods they got, but also the nice decoration of the buildings. I went to some department stores at the end of August since summer sale was going on everywhere. I like Sogo’s new plaza on Zhongxiao Fuxing, the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi across from the Taipei Main Station, and another Sogo in Taichung. I bought some cute dresses and shoes. There were wool coats and pelerines left since last year and were sold at great price, and of course I got some for winter in Montreal!

Best sellers in Taiwan: how to eat healthy?

The Japanese garden on the top floor of Sogo

The cosmetics counters in Sogo

Roots in Taiwan

Inside the Taipei 101 Mall

People lined up to get free Minute Maid juice

Shopping in Taiwan: The Fengjia Market

The other place I shopped my fieldwork uniforms is the Fengjia Market in Taichung. The market is named after the university where it’s beside. Honestly it’s not a good place to live- too crowded and noisy-, but it’s a great place to shop since it’s a students’ neighbourhood and there are a lot of cute clothes with good price.

Shopping in Taiwan: The Wholesale Market of Wufenpu

I didn’t bring a lot of clothes with me coming back to Taiwan. First, I don’t want to carry a big and heavy luggage; second, Taiwan is a great place for shopping and I can always get beautiful and inexpensive clothes here. During the first two months I went to cheap places to shop the clothes for fieldwork. I need something easy to wear and easy to wash. In Taipei, the wholesale market of Wufenpu is a great choice.

Wufenpu was originally the market for retailers to purchase their goods. However, it has been getting more and more famous and popular among common people during the past decade. Now when I go to Wufenpu I can see a lot of individual consumers like me. I’m like located in the mountains of clothes and people and don’t know where to start (so sometimes got kind of angry). One friend of mine- Chengyi- who was working as a shop attendant in the department store told me as an individual consumer never try to bargain in Wufenpu, because those shop owners need to offer retailers with a better price. I got a lot of clothes in Wufenpu, and they are called “fieldwork uniform” by me.