Rock. Paper. Scissors. Is Winston the paper or the scissors? Maybe both.
Let me take a moderate stance here.
1) Taiwan is a very REPRESSED country with conservative values. ... Taiwan on the other hand, has a VERY strong repressed vibe/energy field, and that is definitely NOT conducive to flirting at all. ... Furthermore, the social personality of people here is to act VERY innocent. So you too have to act very innocent to fit in.
Taiwanese people are raised from childhood to be "guai hai zi" 乖孩子 (well-behaved kids), with parents using intense negative conditioning from birth way into adulthood. Furthermore, they are extremely concerned about "mian zi" 面子 ("face"), which is extremely valued all over the Sinosphere. This is why they have to behave innocently in public. I can have a lot of fun with Taiwanese people, but it's always well-ordered, well-behaved fun. In Mexico, everyone is free to literally howl like a wolf, laugh at the top of their lungs, and dance around like clowns when having good times with friends. Taiwanese people will see you as a freak if you do what the Mexicans do when having a good time.
Nevertheless, Taiwanese people do flirt, but either in subtle ways at the beginning or only after you get to know them well enough or get past their "shell" (which takes anywhere from several minutes to several days). It just takes longer to do so than in Hispanicized countries such as the Philippines, Colombia, or Mexico.
2) Taiwanese are generally conservative, despite the liberalism of the young generation. Girls are still closed, cliquish and not very social outside their clique. They are picky, think long term, and have a serious conservative mindset, not a "have fun and play hard/get wild" mentality.
I would put it as this:
Most Taiwanese people like to stay inside their comfort zones. They are not closed and cliquish the way Americans are, but rather are afraid to venture out into unknown social worlds due to the way they've been raised. How many times have you heard Taiwanese parents warning about people who are "bu shou" 不受 ("not familiar")? Nevertheless, they are curious, friendly, and very warm once you make them comfortable with you.
Also, Taiwanese girls always easily give me their contact info, since I always act innocent at first and do not ever try to act like I am hitting on them. If you do so, they will be wary of giving you their contact info. But still, that doesn't mean they are inherently unfriendly people. It's just that they have been raised by their parents to be conservative.
3) In fact, not a single credible Taiwanese person I know claims that Taiwan is an easy place to pick up or meet girls. Not one.
It certainly isn't easy as pie, where girls can be picked up like "snap." But it is far from extremely frustrating and frightening as it is in the U.S. It certainly is slightly challenging to pick up Taiwanese girls, but that is because you have take it slow and easy with them, and get to know them well. Urban Chinese women would be about the same.
4) Most white expats here are not attractive.
Many white people I've seen in Taipei are indeed middle-aged folks, but they are by no means unattractive. They tend to be the better educated kind than the white expats in Thailand and the Philippines, though, since the intricate Chinese language and culture probably appeal to the more intellectual types. Sure, maybe they're nerdier, but certainly not unattractive.
5) I'm a far better charmer and smooth talker with women than most guys are. ... Most guys have shitty social skills and don't know how to flirt with girls. They are cold and stoic.
It's not bad social skills, but rather their conscience (due to strict Taiwanese upbringing) that tells them it is inappropriate to flirt outright with girls in public. They make friends with them first, and take it easy. Many aren't cold and stoic, but are rather innocent and friendly.
On the other hand, men and women in Mexico can be very, very flirty the very instant they see someone they find attractive.
6) Most women in middle class countries don't give casual sex easily.
It has more to do with culture than with a country's wealth. Women in Western Europe and the U.S. give casual sex far more easily than those in poor Muslim countries.
7) If Taiwan was an easy place to pick up women, then AFA (A Foreign Affair) would have romance tours here. Simple logic.
Romance tours usually are not usually held in developed countries, but that has more to do with economics than with how easy it is to pick up women. And if women are actually very easy to pick up in whatever country for everyone, then no romance tours would even be needed for that country.
8 ) Taiwan girls are known to be very picky, materialistic, spoiled and westernized. They are nice, yeah, but that's usually as far as it goes. They aren't even marriage minded anymore, as Taiwanese people now talk about. And many complain that they act like divas now.
I agree that many are. They tend to be "little princesses" who are usually much more sophisticated than their mothers and grandmothers. I do get annoyed by plenty of Taiwanese girls who put on fancy clothes and try to emulate Asian pop stars and actresses seen on TV. But they certainly have not gone as bad as the U.S. women being talked about in this forum.
That is why I enjoy being around with the plainer-looking and plainer-acting ones - they are really wonderful people to be around with, and are far less "picky, materialistic, spoiled and westernized." It's quite easy to tell the "Asian divas" from the "plain Janes." Go for the latter. I have said exactly the same thing in
viewtopic.php?t=13523 about Type #1's and Type #2's. The "picky, materialistic, spoiled and westernized" women are the Type #2's ("sexy" ones, as opposed to the "plain" ones).
I did enjoy reading your opinions, Winston, as well as everyone else's responses. Just remember to be civil, and to make use of constructive criticism.
