Taiwanese call the shabbiness Republic of China aesthetics. The reason why is actually unrelated to the economy boom. It's more to do with the government when they came to Taiwan, they had no idea they will not be back. They used Taiwan only as their temporary base to eventually fight back and go back one day. With the mentality that they will go back one day, they couldn't care less about how the buildings looked like.

I've lived in Japan, and Taichung looks like most of Japan actually. As long as the buildings aren't falling down, I've always liked the "shabbiness" of a place. More character and history than a sterile, new city. Different strokes, I know, but I really want to visit Taiwan now. Fantastic video, Proz! Never stop keeping it real! Your authenticity really stokes my desire to see a place.

I been living here for 15 years and I love it :)

Yes. It’s sad that all of Taiwan’s cities and towns are so dingy/shabby on the outside; but inside the buildings they’re quite nice.

The shabbiness is definitely part of the charm for me when I visit from Japan. Tokyo is so clean and so modern sometimes it feels like nobody actually lives here

Shabbiness: When two million evacuees came to Taiwan with the KMT in 1949, they needed to build quickly to house them. After that, the KMT treated Taiwan as a temporary home, and also lacked funds, so they kept building crappy buildings. This is compounded by the humid, rainy climate, which is addressed by the bathroom tiles that cover so many older buildings. Those quickly get covered by algae, so even after they're power-washed, within a couple years they look shabby again.

Thanks for the video Prozzie and all the interesting information about Taiwan.

Great video. Might go there one day. Keep up the good work!!!

The problem in Taiwan is there's no proper planning for the city development, you can see a hospital built opposite food stalls and shops, that is very close, a temple is built next to a night club or motorbike store. Shopping mall was opened without passing the security test and caught fire, security exits were blocked with goods. This will never happen in other developed countries elsewhere.

Just tell people it's 'shabby chic' while you tilt your head and run your fingers through your hair and wait for rental prices to escalate by 20% ;)

All you mentioned are facts There are still many places in Taiwan that can be improved. This needs to be improved by education and public opinion. Pointing out the problem is a great way to face the problem Thank you for your observation Thank you for this video.

Wanted to say sorry for the new Taiwanese audience for no Chinese subs. I admittedly rushed this video. Lots of stuff going on in life lately.

Newer buildings look good, but the old, quickly-built buildings never get replaced because city renewal never happen.

I like the Taiwan chabudou shabby aesthetic. Also one thing I've heard that makes sense is Taiwan climate-wise, but not culturally, is still Southeast Asia. It's hard to keep buildings in Southeast Asia maintained as far as paint goes, because the weather is always so rainy and humid. Thus why you see a lot of bare concrete or buildings covered in a few thousand bathroom tiles (I love the bathroom tile aesthetic, haha.) I like the general aesthetic of everything looking like it's from the 80s or 90s in Taiwan as well. I think as well, Taiwanese culture, at least relative to some other Asian countries is less superficial and less obsessed about looks. Even most Taiwanese girls don't seem to overdo makeup or wear fancy clothes everywhere, and prefer looking a bit more plain, which I like more.

Agreed with a lot of these points, but as you said, there's also reasons why things are the way they are. The fat thing though...I gained like 10 pounds over a month stretch and boy did I hear about it! I've heard it's a weird compliment here though, like you're getting fatter because you're making enough money that you can afford to eat well. Good luck using that excuse back home, though!

As a Taiwanese, I agree with most your opinion. We do have a lot of things should be improved. Thanks for sharing your honest advices and wish you can enjoy your life in Taiwan!😁

Great guest, interesting and funny video. You look happy in Taiwan, Prozzie...nice to see :)

I'm from the Netherlands and everything is too perfect here. It annoys me. I LIKE SHABBY. :-)

Hope you're doing all right on the personal front, and keep up the good vids!

Yes, you are right! Shabby building is our pain because we are 500 years behind Western architecture since the Renaissance! But 7 days non stop noisy make us more efficiency for every work.

請原諒我的英文不好，只能用中文回應你。您說的很多缺點都是事實，我們虛心接受，雖然我們有一直在改變，但真的進步很慢。謝謝你喜歡臺灣 才會說的出它的缺點，讓我們大家繼續改正不好的缺點。

I lived in Taiwan for about a year and loved it. I agree that it's a great place and I really enjoyed my time there. I found I had a different set of issues with Taiwan from you. I didn't mean to type all of this out, I just wanted to complain about beef being expensive, but I found myself writing a list. Here goes: 1) Lack of good quality meat, especially beef, at reasonable prices. It always seemed like availability of meat and produce was kind of iffy unless I went to Costco. Similarly convenience items like pre-washed and conveniently sized bags of greens (like baby spinach or arugula) just weren't available anywhere I looked. 2) As a tall dude, oh god, finding clothes in my size was impossible. Let alone good clothes. But that's to be expected. 3) The pollution is pretty bad, although you would never think that coming from China. 4) I found it was difficult to develop truly deep relationships in Taiwan. People were very friendly and eager to form superficial/acquaintance/casual relationships, but it was just difficult to connect. I chalk it up to language and culture differences, but also (paradoxically) the friendliness of everyone. Because everyone is friendly, and not everyone is compatible, it was very easy to be surrounded by people who were friendly but not really compatible. In retrospect, a conscious effort to filter on intellectual or "vibrational" matches would probably have helped quite a bit with this. 5). Dear God, it's so hot and so humid.

Hi I come from the "Gaoliang drinking" collab video of you and lifeintaiwan. At the end you say going to your video. So here I am

I'm finishing up my MA TESOL and hoping to head over next fall! It seems to me that with a master's i could get some good teaching positions. Opinions?

I love Taiwan but exactly!... You pointed to things which are really possible to criticise here. Anyway, it is awesome country ❤️

The mold. everything else as fine. the MOLD. Taiwan is so damn humid. if there wasn't good ventilation, which there wasn't in my old place, mold just builds up. my shoes, clothes, book, etc. all got moldy. it pissed me off.

A few of my own observations from visiting Taiwan: - I personally like the "shabbiness," because to me, the buildings just seem very utilitarian, function over form. I grew up in Appalachia where you made do with what you had, which included both home and business structures, so I really relate to it. I find beauty in it. - No trash cans but you still never see trash! The streets are so clean. I live in a U.S. suburb with public trash bins readily available and I still see garbage sometimes. It's amazing. - My in-laws in Chiayi City actually park their scooters in their entryway. It's like a mud room/parking space. They also own a compact car and my father-in-law's ability to back up and squeeze that car into the tiniest space just astounds me. - I get the impression that the "you're getting fat" comments don't hold as much weight, if you'll pardon the pun, as they do in the U.S. There it just means you need to get healthier - eat better and exercise more. Here, there's so many negative connotations - "fat" also implies laziness, being dirty, apathy, etc. Or in Taiwan, I get the impression too that it's just a statement that something about you has changed since the last time they saw you, like "oh you let your hair grow out!" or "you got your ears pierced!" That being said, my in-laws haven't made any weight comments to me, even though I'm rather plump (to put it nicely.) I think my husband has been in the U.S. so many years that they understand it's not done here. (Going back this summer, though, so we'll see if that changes! Thanks for teaching me the phrase in case anyone says it in Mandarin LOL!)

Can you please put english subtitles ?I really wanna know it all what you say in the video but I have bad english.

there's also no dryers and ovens in apartments especially if it's an old apartment.

I had lived in Canada for three years and it is such a beautiful place. Because the land mass is way too big that it took a lot of time to go from one place to another. But overall, the scenery, nature and people are nice. For the old buildings in Taiwan, if there are none of these old buildings, some elders or some low wages people will not have places to live. As you mentioned in the video about the 7th district, it is such a pricy place to live in which not a lot of people are able to afford it. I have to admit that there are many things that Taiwan still need to improve and I believe the government is moving towards that goal. But thank you for the video you made. Hope you enjoy the life in Taiwan.

Hi! As a Taiwanese growing up in Taipei, I agree with your comment on "lack of sidewalks", which also sometimes makes me feel unsafe.. so it's great to see our city government trying to deal with this problem by drawing the green section for pedestrians :) However, it may not work in every place since it's a high-density city, but at least we've tried!

Your comments are very legitimate. I am a Taiwanese living in Canada. I understood where you are coming from.

Good job, gentlemen! Please keep sharing more constructive thoughts for Taiwan's future good! Totally enjoyed your video!

Haha “you become fat” 🤣🤣🤣. Yea we can be brutally honest sometimes 🤗🤗 seriously we love foreigners!!

thanks always good info the world needs to know about other lands and cultures 👍✔ ☮

Love your vids, I've seen some vids you come to Taiwan from the mainland. It's really a problem to deal with your trash just on your hand. And here is a little tip to throw your garbage in town, just go find 7-11, 全家 or any other convenience store, it should be okay, since you can't find any bin by the side of the road.

There are trashcans everywhere but they are hidden. Usually parks have one, and temples, and certain shops, certainly 7-11. When you find all the sneaky trashcans in your neighborhood you are good to go. But new neighborhoods are a problem.

You guys are funny together. Great job. I definitely agree about the getting fat. Every time I go to my in-laws house my sister-in-law is saying it to me. Narrow streets are just a given, but you're right, they are no place for amateurs. Keep up the great videos. I hope to get a chance to meet you guys the next time I am in TaiChung. I would love to show you all some of my favorite places in the area.

8:52 ayi just parks dead center in your two-lane street, gotta love it!

So true the last part. I left Taiwan for other things and dang I miss it. At least I have great vids like yours to watch.

在台北住過四年後，對於台中路上的垃圾桶也是很感冒，雖然不會因為這樣亂丟但要一直拿著也是蠻煩的；Prozzie對台灣交通的評語真是很寬容，台灣的交通糟到被許多西方國家列在到台灣旅遊最需要注意的事，因為很多台灣人很自私，所以路邊停車跟應該是行人空間的地方被停車也很常見，其實從這裡來看，台灣真的很落後。

The thing that struck me first when I got to Taiwan was when there was sidewalks they were all different levels, like from one shop to the next you might have to step up then down which is crazy and the only reason I can think of why this is done is because most of them like this are actually in the footprint of the actual building not on the land next to the road so not government land so no regulations of the sidewalk levels. Also learnt pretty quickly that the rubbish bins are inside all convince stores.

Buildings must be built by concrete in Taiwan to sustain the frequent typhoons, so it’s like concrete boxes everywhere. People used to cover the ugly concrete by tiles but it actually looks even worse in the long run. It’s good that people are aware of the danger of tiles falling out nowadays.

Thank you for your honesty. It means you care about this island and country. Hopefully, we can get better in near future. However, comparing China seems not a good example because the scale of country, the histry and overall personality of people are totally different. Event we both speak Chinese. But still appreciate your comments. I'm 100% agree with you. I like both of your videos. Please keep rolling. Cheers!!

Hi Prozzie! Interesting topic. Building shabbiness: I saw it as utilitarian. Basic boxes to fulfill a requirement. It does give the place a certain charm. Noise: It can be a nuisance, but I found cities in Italy and the Philippines to be worse. Rubbish bins: I used the ones located in the Taipei MRT or held on to it when outside of Taipei (in my backpack...sort of Leave No Trace style), but yeah...search high and low in Tamsui to no joy. Parking is almost impossible and you will get towed...enough said. Brutal honesty: So true. They will be open and offer unsolicited advice and observations. Yes, I am a within acceptable weight standards in the USA/Europe...Fat in Taiwan. lol.

So true, for the longest time my scooter trunk had trash because, just couldn't find anywhere to dump the shit, now I run into the 7/11s to dump off small trash items and buy something in the process of being there.

What happened to Asiabrew? They stopped posting vids and I saw you had a clip with them

我都看你的影片練習聽力，語速不用調整就有1.15倍速的感覺

Your points are basically all true about the situation in Taiwan. A lot of improvement is still needed. By the way, as a Taiwanese, I think trash bins are even more scarce in Japan. Don't you think so when you traveled there?

Friends of mine have been poked in the stomach and told they were fat :-( But anyway, Taiwan is an awesome place to live :-D

Even though the buildings are run down, I noticed how clean and kept every thing is. They must be a very clean culture.

Looks like Taiwan is growing on you ,good video keep them coming

Thank you for pointing out the shortcomings of Taiwan.we will working out,in the and,I hope you can have great time during Taiwan.😎

大部分的問題，源自於台灣是一個小島，人口很多，尤其是都市，但生活空間有限。並不是我們生活中不在意噪音，而是現在比起以前好多了，是有在慢慢改善的，以前晚上飆車族更多，人們更不重視生活品質，也沒有強制要求機車不能拆除降低噪音的裝置。總之，大多的問題來自於空間規劃。這和政府比較有關，人民只是生活適應在其中。身材的部分，主要是因為中國習俗的污辱上主要是針對血緣祖宗，而不是個人，加上以前很多時候中國人的貧富差距是大的，所以變胖有另一種含意，表示你過得很好，有錢之類的，這是另一種關心的表達方式。除非對方超胖到一種程度，人們才會認為提起他是一種冒犯或對他人的不禮貌。

Yea...Taiwan at times can be incredibly ugly. It's part of it's charm and you kinda get used to it. But I wouldn't mind if Taiwan was spruced up a bit. Add more neon and LED screens like Hong Kong. Or Blade Runner.

glad you're enjoying where you live!

喜歡聽你們像這樣閒聊。 城市美感的部分完全同意。我在德國居住一年後，回台灣看到城市市容時也有種無法接受、慘不忍睹的感覺。 垃圾桶稀少應該也困擾很多台灣人，至少我很困擾。我覺得全台灣只有台北市的精華區街道有足夠的垃圾桶。

I've just returned from my eighth trip to Taiwan. I've been all around the island, but most of my time is spent in Chiayi. I haven't usually had any issues finding trash cans / rubbish bins etc. They're just not normally in public spaces along the streets. Convenience stores (which lets face it, are everywhere in Taiwan), Railway stations, fast food places etc. are where to find them. I was surprised during my recent visit to see how much sorting was needed to dispose of the waste at a McDonalds. So many separate holes for the different kinds of waste. In Australia I'm used to just one or two. The things that I find annoying are walking along the streets. If they're narrow, you're walking in the traffic. If they're wider with proper parking spaces, you're still walking in the traffic. If they actually have sidewalks / footpaths, you still have to walk in the traffic as the paths are blocked by parked scooters, and if not those, then adjacent businesses will have their wares displayed on them. There are some places where I can actually walk on the sidewalks, but usually only a short distance before there's something blocking it and I have to return to the traffic lanes. :) And there's a biggie that nobody seems to talk about. The fact that in many (not all) toilets, you CAN"T PUT TOILET PAPER IN THEM - meaning you have to fold up your used paper and pop it in a bin. This can get quite disgusting if you're sitting there trying to avoid looking at an open bin of used toilet paper - especially if it's not been emptied for a few hours. Ewwwww!

@Prozzie I have lived in the UK, Australia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia etc. Currently live in Malaysia by the way. Traveled to several European countries for my summer vacation And I can say that, everyI have lived in the UK, Australia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia etc. Traveled to several European countries for my summer vacation. And I can say that, every countries has its own architectural style. For me, with regards to buildings & architecture and all: 1. Cleanliness; and 2. Accessibility (pedestrian pathway (or in American English, "sidewalk"); and 3. Safety & security. The comment by Prozzie on the possible hazard of the open air/exposed ladder needs further clarification on its safety. I believe it's easy to postulate that "people might fall off the stairs" than to make further research on that. Taking what Prozzie felt about the stairs/ladder, I am interested to see what Prozzie's opinion on the Favelas in Brazil. Just want to know by "ugly": Does @Prozzie mean he, subjectively find the urban aesthetics/appearances of the city -or- he just meant it objectively, the city is "ugly" because it's dirty & unsafe (in its design & its safety "features") and hence the whole city (in this case Taipei) needs a huge revamp ? If it's the former, then I think Prozzie will not like cities like Prague, Rome etcs because they have this rustic charm along with them. I personally find them unique & wonderful but this is just my opinion. If it's the latter, then I think as a seasoned traveler Prozzie should have been aware already that in EVERY CITY IN THE WORLD, there are historical context behind why a city appears to be in a certain way (war, heavy industrial area, a localized economic boom on a county/regional scale etc etc). @Prozzie just a general inquiry not out here trying to get you mate.

Hell yeah, Prozzie :)

建築醜 路上很少垃圾桶 沒公德心的人 常把垃圾亂丟在別人的機車上 機車吵 交通不好 巷子窄又被佔用停車 沒有人行道 有些人說話太直接 用詞不當 很失禮 以上幾乎我都認同 不過日本街上也很少垃圾桶 但是日本朋友習慣把垃圾帶回家丟 很抱歉讓這些造成困擾 台灣需要 學習改進

talk about bins, you can find it in Taipei anywhere, that's the most shock things I've feel in Taichung when i just move there.

Ha ha 最困擾的是同事、親戚朋友說我變胖後，又拿一堆零食給我吃😂😂

HI I HAD QA CAN U SPEAK FRANCH LANGUAGE LIKE BONJOUR MERCI CIAO WHAT TO NOTICE ABOUT WHEN TRAVEL IN CANADA CITY MONTREAL TORONTO VANCOUVER VICTORIAS ICELAND

"oat and aboat"

My wife is from Taiwan, I like it there. But if I have to find something I don't like, there is less street food vendors than there used to be. I don't like that.

There is a reason why Taiwan looks shabby. It has to do with history. When the KMT came here the plan was never to stay. So they didn't spend to much on buildings.

It is very hard to tear down and rebuild a building. My apt has the rebuild plan for ten years, and we have neighbor disgreed. We can not do anything but wait our neighbor to change his mind

yeah you're right, the ugly building is bothering me too, and it's really difficult to change it soon. It somehow wastes the natural beauty of Taiwan. And we do really need sidewalk here to keep us safe.

Can' use power tools here in the UK from 5pm - 8am Mon - Sat. Sundays nothing allowed

Super good! Well done!

Haha I love the face at @7:45 he's saying "_This guy_ runs? I can't tell by looking at his body"

If this video was filmed in China, you'd have been stared at more and the honking would have drowned out a lot of the audio. I could actually hear birds chirping in this video. In Shenzhen that felt almost nonexistent for me. Also, the air in Taiwan seems less smoggy based on this video. Cheers.

Taichung like a lot of Asian cities look a bit shabby, in fact cities in general aren’t the cleanest looking places, particularly on a drab smoggy day...but it comes to life at night..the neon lights, the skyscrapers, the blade runner look, pretty damn cool

I showed this to my fat brother He's still fat, but he loved the show man

說的太好太中肯~ 尤其是醜到爆的建築，和丟人的混亂交通，在路上守交通規則的人很少，不禮讓行人... 尤其每當從國外旅遊回來，這些感受特別深 希望這片土地的大家都能一起努力，改變這些不好的地方 讓這裡更棒！

When you said "Taiwan is more careful on driving", the other guy was like huh?😂 I also did what he did when watched this part.

I've been in Kaohsiung the last year and half, what I find the most interesting about Taiwan is even though the cities are shabby, they all look freaking identical (aside from Tainan). Much of the b-roll you included as well as your walk looked pretty much identical to my time in Kaohsiung and Taipei. If you asked me which city you were in, I wouldn't be able to tell.

From my experience when I went to Taiwan, the hardest part of being a foreigner is communication. It's hard to understand signs from the highways or menus from a restaurant since it is in chinese. When you try to talk with other Taiwanese with English , I barely understand them since their accent is weird.

at 7:49 I had the EXACT SAME reaction 😂 😂 😂 😂

I was born in Taiwan, but moved to Hawaii at 11, then I lived in US for 33 years and Japan for 2. Now I’ve moved back to Taiwan and live in the north, and I do totally agree with everything you find annoying in Taiwan. For someone like me who started driving at 15 and half years old, I’m still afraid to drive in Taipei City……😓

Slim two way roads like in France UK Germany Holland and Spain right

There are trashbins in Taipei though, isn't this just Taichung ?

Finally I understand why we couldn’t find trashcans in Taiwan!

We have earthquakes and typhoons, so the aesthetic of the buildings is not the top priority. As soon as the building gets built it will be heavily rain damaged. There's no point making the outside super beautiful and fixing it every year.

The 5 things you mentioned all annoy me also, and a lot! Even the issue Allen talked about “become fat”, same here. And I am a 100% Taiwanese! So it’s doesn’t matter if you’re a foreigner or Taiwanese. Every time I watch Prozzie’s video, it reminds me to accept all kind of opinion and even a criticism. It makes us to be better. Don’t worry about your any topics offending anyone. I learned from a Canadien, “What makes Canadiens different from Americans? Learning from other people!”. Please keep telling us all the difference you found!

No.1: Toilets that don't flush paper away. No.2: Shower rooms that contain the shower, toilet, and basin all in one flat floor area which is constantly wet. These are top of my list. :)

Totally agree with all your point of view!

I guess we're used to hold onto our trash lol plus you can always dump them in any 7-11/family mart or MRT stations so it's not really a big deal

I watched the video of you talking about the reason why you leave China. I read the comment below, and tbh, there are lots of people criticizing foreigners which you also mentioned in the video about how they treat foreigners. But so far by reading the comments for this video about Taiwan, people in general are being nice and accept the down points of Taiwan.

I have been living in Taiwan for 2 months now and Taiwanese ppl are the nicest ppl I have ever seen and it makes up for everything.

Collabs are the best

Has Allan got a KZfaq channel?

Hi Wes Davies .... Can you please put ENG or CHT subtitles ? , Thanks .. XD XD XD

Love your video. If you can put English subtitle , I think more people will join this channel..😀

I always go to 7-11 for trash cans lol

Live in Canada, can confirm about the silence.

Noisy motorcycles can be heard from quite a distance, which is actually an advantage. The other side of the coin: electric scooters are TOO quiet. More than once, I have almost got hit when I wandered into the path of a whisper-quiet scooter approaching from behind!

I walk everywhere and just getting around cities in Taiwan can be annoying

If you think trash bins are hard to find in Taiwan, good luck find one in Japan