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Taiwan abides by certain etiquettes and customs that are generally followed by most of the East Asian communities. Given below are some of the most common codes of conduct in Taiwan: - The Taiwanese people do not prop their chopsticks on their bowl, as the upright sticks resemble incense sticks and are believed to connote death too. It is a general custom to keep the sticks on the chopstick rest on the side, or keep them.
- The people of Taiwan are often superstitious about death, and hence avoid anything that is even distantly related to it. For instance, it is against the customs in Taiwan to write a name in red.
- Taiwanese etiquettes do not permit one to whistle at night, as it whistling is considered as calling for the evil spirits. Pointing directly to graves or cemeteries is also viewed with an equal alarm.
- There are a number of prohibitions when it comes to giving gifts as well. Anything which is phonetically similar to something unlucky is avoided as a gift. For instance, umbrella sounds the same as the Chinese word for split. So umbrellas are never gifted to the dear ones in fear of a split with them. Clocks too are never gifted as the Chinese counterpart of the word has connections with death.
- It is against the etiquettes to gift shoes to any elderly people, as the gift would be taken as shoes to walk them to death.
- Though drinking is allowed, indulging in too much of alcohol is a condemnable tendency.
- The Taiwanese custom dictates the guests to open their shoes before they enter a house. Slippers are provided by the host for wearing inside the house, and separate sandals are also kept to be worn in the bathrooms.
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