Michael A. Turton
An electric scooter picks its way through traffic. |
Michael A. Turton |
An electric scooter picks its way through traffic. |
| Crime and Safety | |
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 The Yuan Shan Hotel and Club in Kaohsiung, a playpen for the wealthy. |
The vast majority of foreigners do not experience serious crime, and a few of the more naive even deny that it affects foreigners, as evidenced by this indignant letter:
How long did you live in Taiwan to be so knowledgeable on the matter? I have lived here for many years and cannot agree with your report on crime. I think Taiwan is one of the safest nations in the world. I have never encountered not even one foreigner who has been a victim. I don't even live in a nice area. I live in Ximen Ding and I have never been a victim of anything nor heard anyone being a victim. I have, however, lost umbrellas, money, and many items and have always been phoned up to be told that they are being returned to me. |
 Dusk on a gorgeous spring day. |
The reality is that foreigners can encounter crime, and many are aware of how pervasive it is, as this discussion at Forumosa shows. One poster summing up crime in his northern Taiwan county, nailed the situation in Taiwan in general:
Petty theft is rife here, so are kidnappings etc. However somehow foreigners tend to be kept out of the action. |
 Mountains of refuse next to a morning market. Taiwanese have a strict waste-not-want-not ethic, and it is certain this pile will be put to good use. |
The English teaching world is a little slice of unreality, a floating Cloud City of harmless, pleasant businesses where everyone speaks some English, interactions are largely with deferential females, and people almost understand foreigners. Do not mistake that easygoing and apparently navigable world for the real Taiwan. It is purely a hothouse for foreign English teachers. |
 My kids pose in front of the East Coast port of Suao. |
 A side street in northern Taichung. Note how windows and doors are either barred or caged |
Sadly, crime is a huge problem in Taiwan. Taiwan is far less safe than Western countries for its citizens. The upside is that foreigners will rarely, if ever, be bothered by criminals and will hardly be aware of the rampant crime and corruption that colors Taiwanese society. |
 The new highway outside of Nantou as it ascends into the hills. |
Of course crime is a way of life for political figures. Most public officials are mildly to severely corrupt. The former ruling party, the KMT, has long been in cahoots with organized crime, so reforms are difficult to implement. Just recently a gangster was elected to the legislature while still in jail after a conviction for murder and various forms of corruption. In many cases local officials are major investors in illegal businesses. |
 A group practices dancing in the large space afforded by a public building. |
A good introduction to the corruption that colors Taiwan's local politics can be found in longtime Taiwan-watcher Lawrence Eyton's article on the Kaohsiung City Council election that was bought by Chu An-hsiung |
 Housing under construction. Taiwanese contractors are proverbial for skimping on materials. |
Tax evasion is higher in Taiwan than probably anywhere else (yes, even Italy, an economy which is eeriely similar to Taiwan's.)
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 The flower market in Taipei. |
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 Illegal dumping in a rural area. |
Many foreigners who happily participate in various forms of tax evasion do not really think about what such commonplace contempt for the law might mean about other aspects of society. |
 Because "4" sounds like "death" in Chinese, many buildings have no fourth floor. |
This system allows foreigners to work illegally with little fear of getting caught, and many find it exotic and romantic. It is not. It is sordid, scary, and authoritarian. Like all authoritarian systems, it is underpinned by violence. |
 A back alley in a Taipei suburb. Note the barred windows. You might think no one could climb up to the fifth floor, but I have actually witnessed it done. |
This violence is often one aspect of a more fundamental social phenomenon: social control through reprisal. Reprisal is an important mode of social interaction on Taiwan (since the police do not enforce the law), and no significant hurt will go unavenged, regardless of whether the avenger is in the right or not. |
 Like you, he's making a new home in Taiwan. |
It is important to realize that the reason the policeman you see on the street do not enforce the law is not that they are corrupt (though corruption is widespread) or because they are lazy. It is because that is not their job. Policing in East Asia is very different from what we know in the USA. To understand how the police in Taiwan really work, read this chronicle of anthropologist Jeff Martin's account of his three years studying the local police: Jeff Martin's Presentation on the Police |
 Customers wait to bank at the local post office bank. When you come in, take a number and get in line. Note the utter lack of English. |
| This is why it is so important to remain close-mouthed about things in your personal life. Although reprisals are uncommon against foreigners, they do occur. |  Pylons for the new high speed rail system flank an expressway in Taichung. The project is a Japanese-style development program that will saddle the island with a useless economic stimulus project and Japanese-style debt. |
| Furthermore, since we are from societies where people do not avenge every slight and the police actually enforce the law, we are at a disadvantage in this childish game of tit-for-tat. The less people know about you, the safer you are from reprisals. |  A small local nightmarket. Beware of pickpockets. |
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Remember, you are a FOREIGNER and don't know jack shit. Confidence is no subsitute for experience. I can't emphasize that enough. You don't know anything, and if you don't speak Chinese, you know even less.
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 A fruit seller hawks his wares on a Taipei suburb street corner. While you will be ripped off from time to time, in the main, most transactions will be honest and friendly. And don't worry, the locals get ripped off just as often. |
| As a foreigner, you can be the target of several kinds of crime. |
 Longans for sale in a local market. |
| In addition to getting killed in the usual ways -- auto accidents, jealous spouse, every two or three years here foreign tourists and newbie teachers disappear (2005 update here). Until you know what you are doing, don't be stupid. Go with a friend. Take only public transport. Do not go to remote areas alone. |  Betel nut vendors watch the road for customers. |
 Unloading watermelons at a local fruit dealer. |
| Try and remember that at least some of the nice, deferential, polite people you meet are thugs sizing you up for a con or worse. In Taiwan, paranoia, not prudence, is the proper attitude. |  Taliao outside of Kaohsiung. Small towns like this are rife with crime. |
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In addition to the usual dangers, taxis are dangerous for unescorted females. More than two-thirds of taxi drivers have criminal records (what else can ex-cons do?) and there have been many cases of unescorted women killed by drivers. The driver may also be a thug sizing up your home for a crime -- try and avoid being dropped off directly in front of your house. If you can, establish a relationship with a taxi company. Their drivers are usually a cut above. |
 The meat section in the supermarket of a popular local volume retailer. Stores like this will not give or take bad money, and the prices will not be rip-offs. We often shop here. |
| Additionally, NEVER accept anything consumable (food, gum, cigarettes, etc) offered to you in a taxi. You might be drugged and robbed. If it can happen to locals, it can happen to you. |  A taxi pulls out into the street. Taxi drivers are usually trustworthy in that they will deliver you where you want to go and will not rip you off on the price. However, they may be casing you out for some other crime, so use common sense. |
| Involvement in drugs is a good way to die. So is pissing off the local mob. If you run into someone you think is a gangster, do not look or make eye contact with them. If a car with flashing blue lights around the license plate hassles you, leave the scene immediately. It's a probably a gangster or a wannabe. |
 Fireman work to fight one of Taiwan's most annoying crime problems: illegal trash fires. A friend of mine created this bitter video about one particularly stupid incident across from his house. |
| Another way you can avoid crime is not to be out after midnight in bars or on the streets. Certain bars are gangster haunts and violent encounters are common. Further, gangsters will sometimes hassle people out on the roads in the wee hours. Many foreigners stupidly feel that they are exempt because they are foreign or because they are tough. Wrong. There is only one way to deal with violent gangsters and that is don't be where they are. |
 Cars race away from the light. |
 Morning traffic on a Taichung Street. |
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| Those of you who doubt this should read this thread at Segue on gangster violence in the Hsinchu Pig & Whistle. Also, see John's account of his first day in Taiwan at the popular blog Sinosplice, Taiwanese Men Bite -- John had many years of experience in China under his belt. |
 Police adjudicate an accident. |
| Another thing that happens to foreigners who go out to bars is having run-ins with locals who don't like foreign males interacting with "their" women. Read Feli's account of one such experience at a local dance club. Note this: So the five of us ended up going to a local dance club, located behind the Sogo and Mitusoki Department Stores in downtown Kaohsiung. I haven't been there in about six months because I'd heard about a number of incidents involving Caucasian foreigners being beat up or hit over the head with a beer bottle for simply talking to, or dancing with a local Taiwanese woman. |
 Even though the light has long since turned red, vehicles continue to pour into the intersection. |
| The moral of the story? If someone hassles you in a bar, leave immediately and don't linger in the area either. All it takes is a cellphone call to summon a gaggle of roughs who can make your life miserable. |  Food fakes: the light colored oil is not extra virgin olive oil. |
| IMPORTANT: When you hand people a copy of your passport, ARC, or other ID, write something like: "job application use only" on the copy of the passport, across some area of the passport copy itself (not on the blank paper next to it). Criminals frequently use copies of ID documents to steal identity, and this will spoil it so they can't use it. See the picture on my page on protecting yourself for further information. |  A betel nut girl prepares nuts for sale. |
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 My family coos at the birds display in a market. As we sat there, a "stranger" wandered up and began to ask leading questions of the vendor. In many markets the vendors work with each other to divert and pressure potential buyers. The set-up is similar to that of three-card monte games in the states, where the 'spectators' are actually working with the con man to pressure and distract the mark. In traditional Taiwan "let the buyer beware" is the prevailing ethic. Markets may be exciting and interesting, but for far too many vendors the underlying premise is that the customer should be treated as no more than a mark in a con game. |
 Taipei 101, currently the world's tallest, so ugly it is practically a crime. |
The Newspaper Con A common con for Taiwanese is for you to be told you have won prizes worth several hundred dollars. They ask for your address and then the next day you discover you have "subscribed" to a newspaper and you get some coupons for products worth several hundred dollars. If you refuse to pay up for the subscription, out come the thugs. Since you don't speak Chinese, you probably won't encounter this one. |
 The interior of a local Pizza Hut. |
The Gas Con Another common con is for two men to come to your door and tell you that they are inspecting the gas lines (I know foreigners who have encountered this one). After looking them over, they will then announce that you need several thousand bucks worth of repairs (which you don't, of course), and will either do it themselves or farm it out to a buddy. Real gas inspectors don't give a damn about the lines (they check the meters) and will not ask for money. |
 Pickpockets are common in night markets. |
Pick-pockets are common, especially in the crowded markets. Watch your wallet! |
 Cars choke the North-South highway during Chinese New Year. Prior to the construction of the new highway and expansion of the old one, the gridlock could extend for more than 200 kilometers down the highway to the center of the island. |
Credit Card number theft is very common. A variation on this con is the "You Owe 100,000...." in which the "bank" calls about a credit card charge and cons the mark into giving up all their personal info. |
 A fruit vendor awaits customers on a Taipei street. |
The Fake ATM Con Never use ATMS except at banks, chain stores and post offices. Fake ATMs that download the info off your card do exist. The card comes back with an apology for being out of money. Criminals will then steal your data and empty your bank account with inside help from your bank |
 The pious leave donations and prayers at a temple. |
A new and dangerous variation on this con is when the ATM is inside a room for safety, but the criminals have modified the card scanner on the door so that it reads your card, whose data they then match to a recent card usage, again with inside help. It is best to use a different card for the door. Fortunately the ATM cons appear to be on the wane. |
 The unrelenting hideousness of Taiwan's urban infrastructure should probably be considered a crime too...this picture is a two-for-one on planning disasters: here ugly apartment blocks are mated with a destroyed river. Looking at pictures like this, one can understand those misanthropes who believe that humans should pass from the earth. |
| Latest nightmarket scam As you are walking away from a table, the owner suddenly rushes up, reaches into your pocket and pulls out an item. He says you stole it. Magically, gangsters appear and demand fifty times the worth of the object in order to avoid charges. Whatever happens, don't touch the object, and insist on calling the police. Stand your ground. Do not provoke them. Foreign skin does not confer immunity from baseball bats, chains, and fists. |
 A perfectly ordinary side street. |
| Tax refund con This one is incredibly common and many, many of my friends have encountered it. A person claiming to be from the Tax people calls and tells you that you have a refund due. Can you check your account and see if it is there? They pressure you to do it now and when you rush out to the ATM, they cleverly talk you into giving them your account information. Then, with a confederate at the bank, they clean out your cash. |
 A heavily guarded cage of.....pigeons. Pigeon racing, one of Taiwan's most lucrative and bitterly-competed sports, is dominated by organized crime. Theft and 'napping of pigeons is common. |
| Cellphone Cons Cellphone cons are now so numerous I couldn't begin to list them all. If you receive a call and no one answers, hang up immediately. Through a confederate at the cell company, the criminals can use the time the phone is on to hijack your account. You won't find out until your next bill is several thousand dollars.....you should basically avoid answering calls that show no origin, or whose number you don't recognize. |
 A common crime: this black car simply parks here, in the middle of an off-ramp for a highway rest stop, because it is closer to the bathroom. People with expensive vehicles often act as though they own the road. |
| Highway Cons Do not stop to help people who have had accidents on the highway. They may be crooks trying to lure you into stopping. There have also been cases of people helping accident victims and then being blamed for the accident. This particular scam has resurfaced recently and is enjoying a new vogue. |
 Kenting Road on a busy summer night. |
| Break-ins are common too (all accessible windows MUST be barred) and once in a while foreigners get mugged. |  Vehicles jam a market entrance. |
| Delivery people In Taiwan many delivery people are part- or full-time muscle for local crime gangs (note the tatoos). They will probably not directly bother a foreigner, though many Taiwanese, especially females, are careful about having a man around when they let them into their house. |
 Do you like your chicken burned or fried? |
| If someone is delivering to or working in your house (air con, cable, natural gas, furniture, etc) be sure to check the entire house after they leave to make sure they have not "accidently" left open a door or window to allow a brother thief access. Valuables should be out of sight when they come and it would be better if there were more than one person in the house. |  A pay phone in a downtown covered with the phone numbers of prostitutes and call girls. |
| Kidnapping Cons A con that has emerged recently all over Asia is fake kidnappings. The mark gets a call from a brute who says that her child has been kidnapped, and a sum of money must be paid immediately or else. The mark rushes out to pay, only to later find out that their child was OK all the time. In Taiwan criminals add verisimulitude to this con by taping your child's voice off their cellphone telephone through a confederate at the phone company, and then playing it in the background while they make their demands. Both my family and many of my friends have experienced this one. |
 Veggies in a morning market. Market rip-offs are more of an annoyance than a serious problem. |
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 The heavily developed landscape of "rural" Taiwan. |
 Because almost all gas stations are chains, rip-offs are rare and service is good. |
If you witness a beating or a crime, leave the scene immediately and do not report it. Criminals can easily get hold of your name and address from the police and pay you a visit. For the same reason, if violence is occurring in your neighborhood, do not go outside to look. Remain indoors. No matter how obnoxious those fireworks are or how loud the howling at the funeral is, do not bother the perpetrators. |
 A stray dog guards a government office in Taichung. The large characters exhort the people to re-unify China. Despite democratization, such slogans and mentalities remain, the dead past reaching out to constrain the vibrant future. |
Remember: you are a stranger. Your support net is 12,000 kilometers away. You must get along. Arguing with the neighbors is a sure-fire way to create trouble for yourself. Until you know what you are doing, there are two, and only two, answers to all problems: leave, or endure. |
 Sanitary conditions prevail as goat meat is transported to market. |
Now that I've scared the daylights out of you, let me leave you with this thought: it is unlikely that you will be a victim of crime if you are cautious, other than normal market rip-offs. The vast majority of foreigners return home convinced that Taiwan is a haven of safety, and there is no reason you shouldn't either.
And here is a letter from a foreigner here who thinks I am too paranoid. |
 A cashier inspects a bill. Fake money is common, and all bills will be inspected for watermarks, or flouresced under a UV light. |
If you are caught by the police for anything, from a minor traffic problem to something serious, remember to be polite and remorseful. Expressions of remorse will enable you to avoid much unpleasantness, such as arrests and prison sentences. Don't play the hard guy, smart off, or show how tough you can be. In Chinese culture one does not stand on one's rights (Rights? What are those?) but rather throws oneself on the beneficence of the authorities, to give them the opportunity to show how benevolent they can be. |
 Neighborhood ladies shop at a traveling vegetable vendor. |
Remember: you are a foreigner, and in every culture the misbehavior of foreigners is used to validate the moral superiority of the locals. Don't make yourself a target of this unfortunate but universal human trait. |
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With luck, this will be the worst criminal to enter your house.
One of the magnificent buildings flanking the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial in Taipei.
A pleasant little beef noodle place.