Oh Taiwan, I love you despite your odd aversion to Korea

[uisceros]

It's well known to me that the Taiwanese aren't exactly fond of Koreans in general. I'm not sure why. All I know is that it's almost impossible to find anything Korean related there. (I've also read some articles about the perception of Koreans in Taiwan. Not generally good)

There are exceptions: They enjoy their kdramas (dubbed into Mandarin of course). They love Super Junior and SS501 (SuJu and SS501 are some of the few foreign bands that actively seek a market in Taiwan. They're acknowledging Taiwan as a major market share, and Taiwan appreciates that), but in general if something is Korean in Taiwan, it first came through Japan (Big Bang, Kim Jeong Hoon, DBSK...). We did find a very small Koreatown outside of Taipei one time, but it was mostly 阿姨 clothes (clothes suited to the 50+ woman).

Anyway, I was watching a drama/movie thing starring my one of my 183 Club boys (and one of my favorite actors), Ehlo Huang, and saw this awesome bit of awesome.



Oh yeah.

I want to start watching more twdramas though. I'm watching this one, and getting so nostalgic. I'm missing Taiwan more and more. Yesterday I found myself missing the constant hoards of scooters. Wtf? Who misses that?! But speaking of...



Taiwanese dramas often show the prettier side of Taiwan. But people, THAT is Taiwan, a random alley in Ximen that's lined with scooters and signs (oh God, I can ever see the "oven mitts" on the scooter handles! 我想你台北. 我也想摩托車. 真的!) A lot of Taipei isn't beautiful, but that's okay, because it's interesting and wonderful.

Comments

[biases.livejournal.com]

I love your insights into these countries and cultures - it's so interesting because you've been there, you've lived it, you've seen those alleys and scooters and know it for truth. I've never been overseas so I just gobble these sorts of posts up and add them to my knowledge of the world.

...and I didn't know SS501 sought a Taiwan marketshare! Granted, the only thing I know about SS501 is Kim Hyun Joong is in it, but still!

And WOO, I looked at that guy and went, "Holy crap, he looks exactly like the main chick's deadbeat ex-boyfriend in My Lucky Star" and dramawiki'ed him and YAY IT WAS. Also, hot bodyguard/assistant guy in PTtF? I am pleased to see that my twdrama fu isn't as bad as it could be.

Also, it seems the Ella drama has been pushed back to Jan 30? I went to viikii to check it out and that's what it had on the DTL channel. Sadface!

[uisceros.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! *blushes*
I like seeing the real Taiwan. Seeing stuff that's been prettied up is nice and everything, but it doesn't give you a sense of reality. Like, I don't know if it's just me, but everyshot they ever showed of Miramar (think Why Why Love... it's where they worked), they made it seem like it was separate from everything. It's not. I think it's important to know the nitty gritty about somewhere, because then it's less jarring if you ever do go (I learned that the hard way about Dublin...)

SS501 is really popular in Taiwan because Boys Before Flowers is really popular. REALLY popular. They took advantage of it, and the Taiwanese loved it! (I know nothing about them besides Kim Hyun Joong either ;P )

I LOVE it when I randomly recognize people! In twdramas especially they use a lot of the same character actors, so I'm always like "... is that ___?!"
I didn't know Ehlo was in "My Lucky Star"! Awesome! I DID know he was in PTtF (along with the rest of 183 Club), and totally fell in love with him there. (In that drama he has the BEST name ever: 大偉 (Da Wei) - the Chinese version of David. For some reason that amuses me a lot.

As far as I can tell, Down with Love is still on schedule. They're airing a Behind the Scenes thing today, and the first episode next week. While I can't find a concrete schedule on CTV's website, I did find this. I translated it a bit. It's a promo for the behind the scenes thing, and it's basically saying "Want to see a different side of Jerry and Ella? Want to know how they filmed (...something about some details, I'm not sure)? Don't miss it!"... pretty boring.

[uisceros.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I know! I was like "SNAAAAP Ehlo!"... Plastic surgery isn't that big in Taiwan, especially not in 2002 when the show was made.

Cool! I wish I had a channel that showed Taiwanese shows! OMG, do they show Pili (aka the best Taiwanese show IN THE WORLD)?!

Chinese/Taiwanese dramas are always subbed so that speakers of different variants of Chinese can understand (like, Cantonese and Mandarin are obviously different languages, but they share the same written language. All Chinese languages do). I don't know why they need to dub them too, but whatev.

Koreans in Taipei

[(Anonymous)]

You should come back to Taiwan! I know that we have several Korean populated areas here in Taipei, in Keeling, TaiChong and Kaoshiung. I'm not sure where Koreans are in Taipei though, maybe you can help me with that? I can never find any Koreans... :-\

I won't leave my contact info here, but will come back to check and see what/when you'll reply me with. :-)