Plenty Taiwan youths have ducked fashions from Japan and the West and shunned speaking the standard Mandarin version of Chinese in favour of local clothing styles and dialects to show they're Taiwanese. This dress and behaviour code, known loosely as "tai-ke", has been a minor rage for about 20 years as Taiwan youths seek a distinctly local identity in the face of China's threats to declare the whole island Chinese.
The word “tai-ke” had a very bad reputation during the 1950s and 1960s as the word literally means “Taiwan Guest” or “Tai Guy”. Gangs of second-generation immigrants from the mainland would use it as a slur against Fujianese and Hakka people whose families had already been in Taiwan for many generations. It carried a sense of superiority against what the gangs saw as the unfashionable, unworldly country bumpkin locals who couldn't speak "proper" Mandarin.
Though the term "Taike" was loaded with prejudice against local ethnic groups and people from the countryside has come to be seen as positive and full of character. "Taike" has gradually turned into a positive term denoting someone who dares to make a statement and who doesn't beat around the bush. It used to connote bad taste, but now it's the in thing. Ironically, after it came to refer to a certain aesthetic style, members of the more economically privileged urban middle class have embraced it as well.
They treat this "local yet exotic culture" as a game of dress-up in which they put on night-market flip-flops otherwise known as “bathroom slippers”, a loud Hawaiian shirt, and bright shorts, or loose-fitting pants and T-shirts, borrowing from the down-market fashions of working-class elders. Females wear large hair clips, thick-soled boots, and super-short skirts--in all seasons. Loud motorcycles and betel nut chewing that produces blasts of red spittle are often part of the act, and it is hip to study the Taiwan dialect of Chinese.
"Tai-ke" was once an insult used by post-Civil War Chinese immigrants who looked down on Taiwan old-timers. Then it became popular among the youth. These days Taiwan youth are embracing the "Tai-ke" culture, while at the same turning their noses up at the clothes of country folk, with their connotations of poverty. "Tai-ke" has recently taken on an upscale look with fashion from Tokyo's Shibuya district and the Western-style baggy rapper fashion taking over. These days any individually styled, colourful and clashing wardrobe is seen as a statement of "tai-ke".
A Guide to the Media-Manufactured "Taike" Image
-Always smoking--favorite brands are Longlife Premium and Seven Stars.
-Speaks Mandarin with a heavy Taiwanese accent. Sprinkles the occasional English word in--with each syllable stressed.
- Loves Taiwan-style cocktails like Kaoliang and plum juice or red-label rice wine and Vitali soda.
- Mobile phone has a light-up antenna, glowing stickers, and clear, flashing buttons.
- Applies bumper stickers to car with slogans like "Speed Demon," "Ride Like the Wind," or "Hot Chicks Only."
- Loves customized cars, with the stereo blasting out the driving rhythms of Taiwanese-style trance music for all the world to hear.
- When riding a scooter, keeps knees jutting out to the sides.
- Loves counterfeit fashions and rapper-style thick gold chains, attempting to copy the Hip-hop style.
- Wears oversize shirts--in loud colors or white--bought from the night market, along with surfer shorts.
- Wears white socks--if any.
- Bleaches hair.
- Wears rubber "bathroom slippers" out, and puts his stuff in a cheap plastic bag from a roadside food stand.
- Covered in wild tattoos.
- Mobile phone hangs from belt. Ringtone is a deafening pop song.
- Often thinks others are "so Tai!"
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2 comments:
As I always have a strong affinity towards the Taiwanese culture, I absolutely loved how the writer of this article presented the strong culture of Taiwan.
Ever since I started watching Taiwan dramas and variety shows, I grew a strong interest towards the way Taiwanese presented themselves. Their Taiwanese language was always a mix of Mandarin Chinese and "Min Nan Yu", which is the indigenous language of their country. This is partly because I understand Hokkien, which makes up majority of the "Min Nan" language. In Singapore, Hokkien seems like a vulgar language to many due to the frequent use of Hokkien profanities. In Taiwan, Hokkien is more than just vulgarities.
I also like the way Taiwanese are open-minded to certain stuff. Taiwanese tend to be less conservative and are more straightforward in commenting about others or giving playful nicknames. As far as I know, not only do "tai ke(s)" like to do that, even typical teenagers who are more westernized do it too. They do not have any shackles about it.
I agree that "Tai ke" may sound negative, as it portrays a person as having an out-dated fashion sense and being loud. Yet this further enhances the root culture of Taiwanese and does not drift them away to the foreign cultures.
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