‘So This Is How the Taiwanese See Us’, Chinese Reactions

At time of translation, this was the hottest Sina Weibo post over the past seven days, with 18,717 likes, 175,520 reshares, 79,384 comments, and an estimate of 219,947°C in terms of its popularity.

From Sina Weibo:

@八卦_我实在是太CJ了: Hahahaha, discovered a funny post. So this is how the Taiwanese see us!! http://t.cn/zRCI5pT I really feel really sorry for the IQ of Wan Wan [nickname for Taiwan and Taiwanese], and they were speaking so seriously/earnestly too!

[Note: Click each of the following pics to see the entire screenshot series.]

“Henan and Hebei are the poorest cities in China. Considering their incomes, frozen jiaozi [dumplings] are very expensive.”

“Because mainlanders now are just […] if you want to eat a snack between meals, for them it would be a little luxury.”

“Taiwan’s new mothers go through a postpartum period [zuo yue zi] after delivery. It is a very important thing. But in mainland China, such a custom did not exist. But with cross-straits communications, Taiwanese TV programs blew up [became popular] in the mainland, and the practice of going through a postpartum period became popular among mothers on the other shore.”

“They [mainland men] are relatively afraid of chasing [courting] us, probably because [we] dress in a way quite different from their local girls. [They] are sort of afraid they are unworthy [of us]. Right. But they all have infinite, well, wonderful fantasies about us.”

“And it seems like they don’t eat tea eggs [boiled egg with tea and soy sauce]. I kept looking to see if anyone sold tea eggs.”
“Speaking of tea eggs, they indeed can’t afford them. They can’t even afford tea eggs. Average incomes are very low. Even just eating instant noodles at the Shenzhen train station attracted 5-6 people looking on, all of them saying how fragrant this thing was.”

“And they saved a lifetime’s worth of money and their lifelong wish is to come to Taiwan just once. So the mainlanders’ adoration for Ma Ying-jeou…”

“In China, there is a place called gebi [Gobi desert], actually male gebi. Really. It’s a real place name. And then there is a group of alpacas. Because of the ecological crisis, they cannot survive. Their grass, called wo cao, was eaten up by hexie [river crabs].”

[Note: Long-term readers of chinaSMACK will be familiar with this story of Chinese internet memes that became popular with Chinese netizens 5 years ago on Chinese internet forums involving puns on common Chinese curse words. The male gebi desert is a pun on the Chinese equivalent for “mother’s cunt”, while wo cao means “fuck”. The alpacas are nicknamed cao ni ma or “grass mud horses” but are a pun for “fuck your mother”, and he xie or “river crab” is a pun for harmony or harmonization, as the government was actively promoting the slogan of a “harmonious society” at the time. One way to interpret the story is that Chinese netizens likened themselves to “grass mud horses” who lived in the “motherfucking” desert eating “fucks” and being plagued by “harmonization” (censors).]

“Why do so many rich mainland businessmen like Taiwanese girls? Because in Southeast Asia, the place that where pretty girls are the prettiest and most is Taiwan. A demonstration of [our] soft power, right? How high, how great the quality [of Taiwanese girls] is! Right, and in terms of how we dress and the way we talk, if we enter China now, compared to them, we are really… So in the future even the wind blows under our feet when we walk [an expression that indicates how proud one is].”

“Because when Taiwanese girls get together, they talk about bags. But when mainland girls get together, they don’t talk about bags. Because they’ve never seen [those bags]! But they know renminbi [RMB]. After she’s been with you for a while, she will know how to take your money from you.”

Comments from Sina Weibo:

飞到过来:

@冬旅 @肖肖萱萱 @黑框眼镜要增白 Hurry and come see this. I’m already a little disheveled [stupefied]

老衲不进女厕: (responding to above)

The purpose of Leftist Maoists deliberately discrediting Taiwan is to make the common people [in the mainland] loathe Taiwan’s democracy. If [the mainland had] democracy, they would no longer have an opportunity to stand up anymore [recover power]: My weibo has the unedited, original video clips. Go see whether crappy Tianya [the internet forum where these screenshots were originally posted] edited them out of context, only to get eyeballs [attention], provoking the two shores [Taiwan and mainland] crappy marketing. Those who keep people in ignorance are leftist Maoists! If you think so, those who have come to this microblog can just upvote my comment. Leftist Maoists are playing with fire and will eventually be burnt.

独立东风今古恨:

Taiwan’s media is indeed very mentally-retarded. Even Taiwanese people themselves admit this. But many of these are from many years ago, and some are distorted [likely taken out of context]. For example, what that legislator said, her original words were not like that. I think, for mainlanders who are not familiar with Taiwan, they will be annoyed/feel offended. But for people who are familiar with Taiwan, they won’t be influenced/will think nothing of it at all.

三五十六： (responding to above)

You are right, because we have become accustomed to being annoyed/offended. Plus, I’ve seen all kinds of mentally retarded comments, let alone these. Wan Wan, not strange.

独立东风今古恨:

I have many Taiwanese friends, who are very good to me. When I go to Taiwan, they take me out, treat me to meals, and give me gifts. Why do they do this? Because I am good to them too. Interpersonal relationships is nothing but exchanging a sincere heart for another. “Taiwanese” is a collective noun which includes all kinds of people. There are mentally retarded people who curse mainlanders every day as well as friendly good friends. You don’t need to hate all the Taiwanese because of some people’s comments.

韓小花1992:

I followed [these screenshots] since [they] originally appeared in the Entertainment section of Tianya. Tianya Forum is really influential. I did not think Brother CJ would repost them to Weibo. Haha now they are even more influential. Even seeing them again I’m laughing to tears.

morele_3:

@BT最爱1 Lao gong[hubby], have we been too extravagant for eating frozen dumplings practically every day?

神經病达詩琪_xxy：

Oh right, I can’t even afford to eat tea eggs. I so admire Taiwanese girls…Ugh @这种现象很欠踹 @嬷嬷木木 @CrazyAllahy hahahahahaha

嬷嬷木木： (responding to above)

Tea eggs? I just heard about it for the first time of my life. Instant noodles, I saw a Taiwan local tyrant eating that.

牵牛树：

A local tyrant eating tea eggs and instant noodles struts by.

SmileChen880： (responding to above)

Local tyrant, let’s be friends. I’m so hungry!

污蔑大陆的台巴子滚:

Tao Jingying‘s Weibo is almost scolded to death [overrun with criticism/abuse]! Video clips fresh from the oven, “Sina Videos”, “Phoenix Videos” (Weibo), and the videos prove that Wan Wan [Taiwanese] say we can’t afford tea eggs, have super low per average incomes, so low that we can’t afford tea eggs and instant noodles! That men feel so inferior they dare not pursue Taiwanese girls, that mainland girls marry to Taiwanese [people] only to get out of poverty, only for money, etc. The reshared Weibo pic series, hot post, and videos all have those [arguments]. So do all the posts I reshared.

泰泰龍地龍丶:

When [you] Taiwanese sisters’ [girls] hair is long enough to reach the waist, I will definitely bring tea eggs, instant noodles, and frozen dumplings and come look for you.

茶叶蛋方便面可乐的谁要：

Taiwan’s [TV] shows consistently belittle, ridicule, and discriminate against the mainland. Everyone can go to my Weibo to see, there are most of the video clips involved in this incident, especially Tao Jingying‘s show, where they used our mainland women as a topic about XIN [xing, sex] to tucao [make fun, complain about]. After watching it, I wanted to rip off her mouth! Support positive energy! Let Taiwanese people know people have to take responsibility for what they say!

_____尽毁三观：

Programs from N years ago, what’s the point of dragging them out to discuss? And Taiwan has hundreds of TV programs, who actually watches these~? Taiwan just has many crappy celebrity TV hosts. Last time some celebrity TV host said in a live program that Fanfan‘s [Christine Fan] husband Blackie was involved in fake charity, didn’t Little S call in to argue with her? Not many people like these celebrity TV hosts. Who believes these comments? These are just celebrity TV hosts putting on one-man/woman shows [talking to themselves, making monologues]. I suggest we avoid being agitated into a conflict between the two peoples!

jinmine_8441： (responding to above)

Most [of those video clips] are from the past two years, and there’s even video clips from this year. These shows can continue to survive probably because they have their audiences. When in business, talk about business, the bosses are not in the business of charity. Taiwan has more than 100 TV stations and the screenshots are mostly of fairly well-known TV stations programs in Taiwan. There are already conflicts between the mainland and Taiwan, so I personally think it is reasonable to take them [these video clips and arguments] seriously [be aware of them].