Personal Growth:

Going into the Program ,I’m sure just like many of my classmates, I did not know a lot about Taiwan. Whether the multiple religions in practice or the scale of the countries manufacturing capability.

I knew that Taiwan produces microchips but I did not know that the United States would be looking to Taiwan to re-industrialize as highlighted by our visit to AIT. It also seems that Taiwan is the place to be with companies like SCMS being the middle men for US based companies and Taiwan’s factories. Companies like Gigabyte and entire portions of cities are dedicated to technology which showcases the innovation that is happening here. This really changed how I think of the world order when it comes to production and innovation.

Academic Connection:

Looking back on my pre-trip goals I set a goal for myself to engage with the culture, language and people as much as possible. I Think that I reached this goal. Before the trip I told myself that I would practice and speak as much mandarin as I possibly could. This was a little challenging since I have never studied traditional characters and pretty much everyone can speak English or just enough to get by. I still forced myself to force locals to speak to me in Mandarin to get my practice in here and there.

Besides the language portion I would say that the cultural knowledge that I have gained over the course of this trip is even more important than the language practice. I had not known a lot of Taiwanese culture and history because most of my Chinese teachers where from mainland China and the curriculum was only focused on mainland China. Taiwan seems to play a more and more important role in the world and I think what I have gained from from this trip both linguistically and culturally will help me not only in my continued study of mandarin but also in my eventually career where I hope to use this knowledge to my advantage.

Cultural Insights:

If I had to sum up Taiwan’s business practice, religious and cultural traditions I would say complicated. When it come to religion in Taiwan there is no one answer. As we had seen in many temples both there are both Buddhist and Daoist temples as well as both Buddhist and Daoist temples combined into one temple.

It seems that many of the people who visit these temples to pray to specific gods for the purpose of certain things. These temples not only serve as places of worship but also had social and economic hubs. The first few temples that we visited the first thing that I noticed was the number of people who just where sitting and chatting.

As for Economic hubs many of the surrounding areas of the temples where geared toward religious items like herbs or little keychain like things. One thing that can not be ignored in both the temples that we visited and the monasteries as well is the display of wealth. Many of the temples are very well preserved and many different areas of the temples are scribed with names of those who donated to the temple. At one of our more recent temple visits it was clear that they where advertising spots to have your name carved into certain places of the temple in return for a donation.

As for the monasteries, well maybe their extravagant front, the display of wealth was the same if not more. The best example being Fo Guang Shan with the Big Buddha museum. When it comes to the business side of this museum, the intentions where very clear. When you walk in the first thing you notice is a Starbucks and various other gift shops.

The level of extravagance from the architecture to various pieces of priceless artifacts in the temples was a clear display of wealth. The line seemed very blurred between religion and business like attractions. As I said in my journal recalling this visit I was hesitant to call it a mega church like seen in the US because we did not actually see the main portion of the monastery. It is interesting and confusing at the same time as when it come to the clear mass expenditure on a museum is it to help people and society or would society be better off if the expenditure was elsewhere?

It is clear from our visits to businesses, temples, monasteries, and various other cultural excursions that religion and business do indeed mix. Whether that is huge expenditures on museums to gain visitors, corners in offices dedicated to a certain god, or entire temples being focused on a god of business.

Reflection on the Trip as a whole:

This program has changed my perspective on Taiwan’s cultural, economic and world wide significance. It had also helped me learn more about a region unfamiliar but important to understand if I wish to somehow work in a related career. I have learned how important religion and business are together in Taiwan not only from the perspective of the business but also from a more gray point of view of the religious institution. Over all this trip has been an amazing and impactful experience and I am so glad that I got to learn so much.