Skip to content

Tag: Taiwan

Published on

By minhsuanchen

    A few days ago, there was a piece of news in Taiwan that shocked all the Taiwanese and Americans, for a Taiwanese exchange student was accused of threatening a shooting at his high school. Although he later said he was only joking, he was arrested on a charge of making terroristic threats.

    When the incident broke out, tons of news overwhelmed social media and platforms instantly partially because it was such a serious issue and partially because  of the teenager’s special identity. Therefore, the case provoked a lot of discussions on social media. For example, many people re-emphasized the importance of home education and they criticized the teenager’s parents of spoiling the kid. Others warned people that terrifying to shoot at a school was nothing merely a “joke” especially when people in the United States were furious about gun violence and calling for action against it due to the recent massacre at a South Florida high school.

     When I read the news, I felt extremely ashamed of the teenager’s behavior because as a Taiwanese, what he did represented “Taiwan.” As a result, though it was an individual case, he created a negative image of Taiwan internationally without a doubt. Also, I felt quite disappointed about news personnel, for they did not comply with journalistic ethics and justice when they were making the coverage. As a responsible journalist, they were supposed to be a bridge that conveyed objective and authentic information to their readers, but some journalists were too eager to draw readers’ attention that they began to make terrifying headlines or reveal information about the individual’s identity that had nothing to do with the issue itself.

     To sum up, it was an opportunity for all the Taiwanese to reflect on the responsibility of news personnel and the importance of home education. Most importantly, people need to bear in mind that it is not funny at all to make this kind of joke. For those people who lost their beloved family members at such massacres, the disrespectful words may tear their hearts.

 

Published on

By minhsuanchen

   Last week, I talked a lot about the professors’ teaching styles and how students interact with them in class. This week, I would like to introduce the environment in both GWU and NCCU.

Campus

    The most obvious difference between the two campuses is that GWU is an open campus, but NCCU is a relatively closed one. To be more specific, in GWU, you do not have to go through a gate that indicates the entrance of the campus. The campus is in between other stores, residence halls, and so on. Therefore, it is a huge area where two campus buildings could be as far as a few blocks away. However, in NCCU (or I can say almost all of the universities in Taiwan), we have a specific closed area designed only for the campus. Thus, you will have to pass a gateway to enter the area and all the buildings inside the area belong to the university. In other words, people (if not students or professors) living off campus could not drive their cars or walk into the campus at their will.

Dormitory

    Here in GWU, we live in the dorm that is similar to an apartment. That is, we four people live in two separate double rooms and we share the living room and the kitchen. I really like this dorm because it makes me feel that my housemates, roommates, and I were just like a family living together. Besides, I love the kitchen because the appliances are so complete that I could cook or make almost everything I want by using them. In my home university, however, it is not the same case. In all of the dorms on campus, we have to share the restrooms and kitchens with other people who also live there. As a result, we seldom cook for ourselves because it is too inconvenient. Instead, we buy food from student cafeterias on campus or restaurants outside. Hence, those who do not feel satisfied with the environment will choose to rent a house off campus. But obviously, they have to pay a lot more if they do so because the price of the dorms on campus might be the cheapest (especially in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan).

  In addition to the courses and environment, I would also talk about the students. For the personalities or behaviors of students in GWU and NCCU, I did not find a significant difference. We all work hard, play hard, and find interns during winter or summer vacation to have some working experience. I think one of the most different part is that students here really enjoy parties. They will dress beautifully before they go to parties and they enjoy drinking alcohol. On the contrary, we do not really have the concept of “party” in Taiwan (perhaps partially because the space in the dorm is limited, so it is inconvenient to find a place to throw a party) and we do not drink so often (perhaps because of the warm and humid weather). Take myself for an example, when I want to relaxed or have fun with my friends, we will either go shopping, watch movies, or go to KTVs to sing overnight, but not throwing a party. Anyway, it is just the cultural difference as I mentioned in my previous post.

    It is really interesting to observe how people live differently in different countries, so I am glad that I have the opportunity to study abroad and share what I have observed with you. I hope you like the series of posts in this two weeks!

Unless otherwise indicated, the content and opinions expressed on this web site are those of the author(s). They are not endorsed by and do not necessarily reflect the views of the George Washington University.
Viewing Message: 1 of 1.
 Notice

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. Visit GW’s Website Privacy Notice to learn more about how GW uses cookies.