Info on Taoyuan

Hello!

I have been offered a job in Taoyuan, Taiwan, and am desperately seeking information on the city/area. My internet searches have provided me with little more information than that it is home to Taipei's airport. What I really need to know is whether it's a good place to live and work, and whether or not there is an expat community as, whilst my main purpose is to immerse myself in the Chinese lifestyle and culture without the restrictions imposed in mainland China, I will be traveling alone and it would be good to know a few expats also. Everything about the job is good - I basically just want to ensure that Taoyuan has what it takes to lead a happy life.

Many many thanks for your help,

Sophie :-)

What it takes to live a happy life will not be found in Taoyuan, Taipei, Hong Kong, or any city or reigon. It lies within you. Other than that, you will be close enough to Taipei to serve your ex-pat and other diversionary needs. Expats are like stinky tofu in Taiwan, they are to be found everywhere! Have no worries, take the job!

If you want to immerse yourself in "Chinese" lifestyle and culture, you would be better off going to China. The old myth that "Chinese culture has been preserved on Taiwan" is just that - a myth perpetuated by the KMT government that moved there after the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949. While Taiwan and China do share a lot in common culturally speaking, Taiwan has developed its own cultural distinctions as a result of its unique historical situation (including a healthy dose of Japanese influences dating from the colonial period).

Taoyuan isn't the nicest or prettiest city in Taiwan (far from it, actually), but it does have all mod cons, and like #1 says, it's close to Taipei.

Just to echo #2 Chinese culture is but one element of Taiwanese culture. Taiwan has quite a distinct history from China and has developed a unique culture that draws from a number of traditions as a result. That said Taiwan is a good place to learn Mandarin and it is a free society.

As for Taoyuan it is a large urbanised and industrialised county close to Taipei. It has two major urban centres -- Zhongli and Taoyuan -- as well as a number of other smaller towns and cities. It is easy to travel to Taipei by train or bus in 30-60 minutes.

I am sure you will find other expats living there. I am sure there are good and bad points to living there. However, you are likely to be frustrated by the lack of public transport and unfriendly urban environment. It is also worth noting there are a lot of Southeast Asian foreign workers in Taoyuan, especially Thais so you can find good (and cheap) Thai restaurants that cater to them.

Taiwan is a good place to immerse yourself in a different kind of Chinese culture, or at least the Taiwanese version of it. But I agree with the above posters that Taiwan is unique and Chinese cultural heritage is just one aspect to what this awesome little country is about.

It's a fine place to learn Chinese though, and the number of still-living old Mainlanders ensures that if you are craving food from any given part of Mainland China, you can find a restaurant full of old folks that serves it.

Taoyuan city though? Well it's close to Taipei so you'll be able to escape on weekends (though Taoyuan County offers lots of great day trips too) to someplace with more comfort and style...but otherwise Taoyuan is small, boring and well...small and boring. With very bad public transit as has been noted above (there are buses, it's just...there aren't enough of them and there's no subway).

The upside is that you'll be forced to experience a lot more of local life. When you can't do what Taipei's expats seem to do and spend their days in Starbucks, their evenings at Sai Baba and their nights at Carnegie's, thereby completely avoiding all the local charms of Taipei...you really have no choice but to live like a local. That can be immensely rewarding (though frustrating at times...just wait until the first neighborhood Auntie tells you that you have a nicer ass than you did a month ago, and no I am not joking, that happened to me last week). But...you might find yourself bored in Taoyuan.

The good news is that if, after arriving, you realize you prefer Taipei, it's just a half hour away so you can come in on weekends. A lot of people commute daily between the two cities. Then, when your contract is up you can jump to a gig here or whatever city suits your fancy. Taoyuan is no more or less interesting than cities like Miaoli, Jiayi or Taizhong (Miaoli slightly beats the others due to the prevalence of Hakka culture and therefore delicious Hakka food)....and plenty of long-term expats love living in those cities.