[ 夢土上 ]

This is an essay that I wrote last week for my English class. I like it very much ,but you know... You can just read it for fun and don't be serious. I feel a little bit sorry for my roommate and all Americans. I knew you guys are not that "materialistic", but I had to push you to the materialistic side and put Taiwanese to the practical side in order to "say something" stronger and easier. However, I love those examples I mentioned in it. They really make this essay looks interesting. It's still a boring topic though...
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Anyway, it's snowing outside. Hopefully the weather won't be too bad this weekend.

The Differences of Materialism Between Taiwanese and Americans
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Do you know what the first scene was that impressed me when I arrived in America last summer? It was big cars on the high way. I didn’t know cars in America are so big like that. In Taiwan, the most popular car is Toyota, which is fuel-efficient and easy to maintain. However in America, it seems nobody cares if a car is economical or not, and even a Toyota here looks bigger than in Taiwan. For many weeks, when I passed by some trucks and RVs which parked on campus, I wondered how nervous I would be if my neighbors all drove these monsters but I only had a little, gray, boring, but economical Toyota? It’s just the first difference that I observed. The whole world is becoming more and more homogeneous. People from different countries are becoming similar to each other. Although Taiwanese and Americans have many similarities, we still have lots of differences, and materialism is one of them.
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First of all, Americans spend money and use space that they can afford and they want with ease, but Taiwanese are used to use them in efficient ways. Take my roommate and myself for example. Everyone knows dormitories on campus are always small and crowded. The space of my room is about 5 meters square. However, do you know what my roommate had in this tiny room? He had a moped! I knew he had a moped, but I was so surprised when he put it into our room and started to disassemble and fix it on the floor. This moped had stayed with us whole this winter until our RA asked my roommate to take it out of the building a few days ago. Besides, my roommate loves music so much. He has a guitar, an ipod with a big set of speakers, an old style record player, and two boxes of records. All his drawers are full of clothes, and under the bed, he still has two boxes of them, which are waiting for laundry. There is a TV, DVD, PS2, and even a typewriter on the shelf. The plant and a few bottles of wine are always by the window, and toys are everywhere. After the Christmas, we had a stream of Christmas bulbs that goes all around the room. Sometimes we turn them on when we drink beer. In the other half of the room is my space. I have almost nothing unnecessary. A laptop, lamp, kettle, and a little zebra doll that has been along with me more than 7 years are all I have on my desk. We use our room and money in definitely different ways, but the interesting thing is: my roommate told me that his stuff actually is much less than most other American students he knows.
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Second, Americans like things that look good and are usually big, but Taiwanese prefer effective and practical ones. We have already talked about cars. Americans are undoubtedly the largest population who love big cars in the world. They admire muscular guys, so it isn’t a surprise that they are fascinated with big cars. However, we can still observe Americans in other aspects like their food and buildings. When I was in Taiwan, I heard hamburgers are so big in America. After I came to NYC, I went into a Burger King and wanted to try the king size meal there. I stumbled when I looked at the big meal on my plate. The hamburger wasn’t that big as I imagined, but the fries and drink were both two times bigger than the largest size in Taiwan. Of course, after I came to New Paltz, I am also surprised how much food every American student eats and wastes in the dining hall. In my family, I can’t leave the table before I finish my food. In a restaurant, it is not polite to take too much food that you can’t eat. “Thanks of God and farmers for giving food” is a common concept for Taiwanese. Take buildings for another example. Every time I see a skinny girl push a door to go into or go out of a building on campus, I always wonder why every door on campus is so big and heavy. They are effective when the building is on fire, but is still too heavy. There are also fireproof doors in Taiwan, but they are not as big as the doors here. Besides, for private buildings, many Americans want to own a luxurious house with a swimming pool, a big garden, and many garages for their big cars. It’s the most convenient way to show how rich they are here. In Taiwan, because the land is not enough, the way people show their wealth is to compare which apartment building they live in. Some apartment buildings are really expensive because of the location, service and famous residents. Usually even the space inside is not so spacious.
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Third, people said materialism is one of the obvious American cultural values, and most Taiwanese are practical people. However, what is the background that makes American materialistic and Taiwanese practical? I think the natural resources and the different judgment of social status are two main factors. America is definitely one of the natural resources wealthy countries in the world. Endless land, grand rivers, huge forests, extended mountains, and of course a lot of oil and underground mine…all of these make Americans feel wealthy naturally. Whereas Taiwan is just one-third big as New York State, and on this island, only 30% of the land are plains. We don’t have enough land and natural resources. Furthermore, Dutch and Japanese had dominated Taiwanese for hundreds of years, and both of them didn’t treat Taiwanese well. For these reason, Taiwanese used to be practical. Even nowadays, the living standard in Taiwan is very good, this value still affects Taiwanese a lot. In addition, judgment of social status takes a big part in cultural values. As we know, the earlier settler of America built this new country without noblemen and aristocrats. Instead of them, the judgment of social status depends on how wealthy people are, and it’s the beginning of materialism. In Taiwan, people judge a person by his education. In former years, only people who have good education can serve in the government, and it was the guarantee of wealth and reputation. It’s why children in Taiwan are stressful in learning.
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I asked my roommate some questions about materialism in America when I was doing the research. He said all of my questions depend on person and region. America is such a big and heterogeneous country. Some of his friends only care about their music and their band, but never think about becoming a rich person. We can’t just put a stereotype “materialism” on it although it’s still easy to find the differences between Taiwan and America. However, the whole world is becoming a smaller place day by day. People from different countries are becoming more similar to each other than before. Maybe a few decades later, we can no longer find a big cultural difference between Taiwanese and Americans.