Thành viên:Nam thừa kế/nháp/Motorcycle culture in Taiwan
Motorcycle culture in Taiwan (also known as Taiwan's motor scooter culture) là nền văn hóa xe máy của Đài Loan. Most Taiwanese do not ride motorbikes but scooters. Motorbikes and scooters look similar, but they are very different in design ideas and origins. Motorbikes are basically bicycles mounted with a engine, while scooters are chairs equipped with two wheels driven by an engine. You ride on a motorbike but sit on a scooter.
First, let’s talk about the public transportation. Taiwan and Korea were both colonized by Japan before WWII, so the Japanese Empire left long miles of railways for both countries. After WWII, Japan kept on finalizing the development of the railway communication network, and so was the Korean. However, Taiwan was taken over by the “Republic of China”, the former Chinese government in mainland China. So, the elites of this government still kept the idea of ruling a huge country with large mainland. Under the guidance of this idea, Taiwan—correction, CHINA—should adopt similar policy in public transportation as the United States, because both China and the US are huge countries. For a huge country with a large acres of territory and diversified population, highways or motorways connecting cities with long distances is the right choice—truly correct in the US but only politically correct in Taiwan.
The “Chinese government” in Taiwan thus decided to terminate projects on extending railway branches, demolish “unnecessary” branches of railway left by the Japanese and started building highways and motorway branches. It’s plan was to gain experiences in these constructions and copy the experience after the recovery of the mainland China. It tried to build a “mini China” in Taiwan. The result is: the project of building a railway system the covers the whole Taiwan island design by the colonial Japanese authorities were jeopardized. Taiwan was treated like a huge land with highways connecting far-away cities and the reality is: the highways become “parking places” in rush hours.
The missing part of the public transportation thus has to be completed by the Taiwanese people themselves. The two choices are four-wheels cars or motorcycles—motorbikes and scooters.
Let’s compare the price of cars :
- Hyundai Tucson L 1.6L: USD$37,000(Taiwan), USD$27,250(USA), USD$23,256(S. Korea)—-The price of Taiwan is 10,000 dollars more than that in the US.
- Tesla Model 3: USD$38,990(USA), USD$43667(Taiwan), USD$46,333(S. Korea), the price in Japan is even cheaper than the US.
It’s normal for the US to get the best price. The price of tesla model 3 is slightly higher in S. Korea than in Taiwan. However, the Korean government offers subsidy for each individual to purchase Tesla, so the S. Koreans only pays USD$2872 for a Tesla Model 3, while the Taiwanese government offers nothing on this.
In another words, the car prices in Taiwan are ridiculously high. The reason is Taiwanese government tried to develop its own car industry but failed. The car manufacturers in Taiwan are deeply connected with the “Republic of China” or “the Chinese Nationalists” since the mainland-China-era, that is, since the Chinese Nationalist government was still ruling mainland China. They were happy enjoying the protection from their old friends and have no ambition to export their cars overseas. After democratization of Taiwan, their friends stepped down but this issues still could not be solved—the car industry had lost its best timing to grow up.
However, the motorcycle industry in Taiwan is a success. Since motorcycle, like the question says, is often considered as “behind”, the Taiwanese government had little interest in developing it. Since there is a demand for people to resolve the defect of the public transportation, the cheapest solution is always the best solution for individuals. Motorcycles thus becomes the most popular choice.
At first, Taiwanese traders simply imported distributed Japanese motorcycles from Japan. Then they became distributors of these Japanese motorcycle manufacturers in Taiwan. However, Chinese rulers did not like Japanese products, so Japanese motorcycles were later banned from selling in Taiwan. So, the Taiwanese traders had no alternatives but build these motorcycles themselves. The quick and easy way was to import the motorcycles before assembly and assemble them in Taiwan. Japanese manufacturers were also suffering from the high labor costs in the 1970s so they decided to cooperate. The idea was to use the cheaper labor of Taiwan to assemble Japanese motorcycles and sold them to both Taiwan and Japan. Decades later, these Taiwanese assembly factories are building their own motorcycles now. Since they did not receive subsidies from the government, they grew up strong. Taiwanese motorcycle manufacturers are major motorcycle manufacturers in the world.
For a Taiwanese, using his own vehicle is a must to resolve the troubles caused by the government’s uncoordinated public transportation design. Among the choices between expensive and low quality four-wheel cars in jammed traffic and and cheap, high quality motorcycles also in jammed traffic, riding a motorcycle is obviously the correct way.
Taiwanese people have high income, but why do they use motorbikes like middle-income countries in Southeast Asia?
Because Japan is a mountainous country, land for urban construction is relatively scarce. Therefore, Japanese urban road planning is relatively narrow and crowded (to save land, the road width design is very conservative). Taiwan was influenced by Japan's experience from the 1960s to the 1990s. In cities such as Taipei and Kaohsiung, there are many high-density buildings and the reserved width of roads between buildings is relatively low. Most minor roads in Taipei don’t even have dedicated sidewalks.
The limitations of urban roads make the driving efficiency of cars inefficient. Especially after economic development, ordinary families purchase cars in large quantities, exacerbating this problem. In Taipei, when cars, pedestrians, and motorcycles are mixed on the same narrow road, the efficiency of the car must be the lowest.
Japan has developed efficient public transportation to remedy this problem, while Taiwan's public transportation development is much slower and backward. According to Taiwan media surveys, only 33% of people in Taipei and Kaohsiung use public transportation, while in Tokyo the figure is as high as 85%.
The car low efficiency and public transportation is not developed and convenient enough.
The combination of two reasons makes motorcycles the most efficient means of transportation in Taiwan: small footprint and adaptability to narrow roads.
Finally, speaking of South Korea, South Korea is the latest to develop among the three regions. Seoul’s road planning is forward-looking. The average road width in Seoul is twice that of Taipei, and most roads have dedicated sidewalks, making it easier for cars to travel. After economic development, Koreans no longer need to rely on motorcycles.
Summarize
- South Korea (Seoul): wide roads = people mainly use cars
- Japan (Tokyo): Narrow roads, well-developed public transportation = people mainly use public transportation
- Taiwan (Taipei): Narrow roads, lack of public transportation = people mainly use motorcycles
Tương quan với miền Nam Trung Quốc
It’s not just Taiwan! People in other southern provinces in China like to ride motorcycles because it is convenient!
If you go to Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Hainan, motorcycles are the main force!
Even in first-tier cities like Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Taipei, motorcycles are everywhere in the streets!
The only difference is that in first-tier cities in mainland China, oil-burning motorcycles are prohibited. All people ride electric bicycles or electric motorcycles.
Tương quan với Nhật Bản
The number of registered passenger cars in Japan in 2022 was approximately 3.9 million, of which 42.6%, 1.7 million, were small cars called “軽自動車” or "kei-cars" (軽/kei = light). The cars of this category have a displacement of 660cc or less, a length of 3.4m or less, a width of 1.48m or less, and a height of 2.0m or less, and are probably rarely seen outside Japan, including Taiwan and Korea.
My wife uses this car for daily transportation, and she often sees foreign tourists taking pictures of it, pointing at it, and saying like "Oh, it's moving!"
Because they are small and lightweight, they are easy to handle on narrow Japanese roads and generally have good fuel efficiency, and their tax burden is relatively light. So many people choose this for daily transportation such as commuting and shopping.
If this category did not exist, a large number of users would be using small motorcycles, and the number of motorcycles might have increased to a similar level as in Taiwan.
Tương quan với Hà Lan
Taiwan does have a lower HDI and GDP per capita than Japan and South Korea, so you could call it less developed…but how does using motorbikes (scooters, really) prove how developed a country is? Do you think the Netherlands - which has a much higher standard of living than Japan and South Korea - is actually “less developed” because bicycles are one of the most common modes of transport there?
Living in Northwestern Europe is a lot more comfortable than East Asia. The Dutch economy achieved the highest standard of living in Europe (and probably in the world) by the middle of the 17th century and they’ve maintained a high standard of living ever since. The Netherlands has been developed country for ages and they use loads of bicycles.
Thông số kỹ thuật
The motorbikes often seen in Taiwan share the same type of engine as lawnmowers, they are extremely inefficient energy-wise and a major hazard to the environment.
So when it was pointed out how awful these 2-stroke engines were to the climate, Japan and Korea decided to minimize use of motorbikes(please correct me on this part if I said it wrong, my only source is my high school chemistry teacher). Taiwan on the other hand chose a different route.
From the early 2000s on, according to new Taiwanese laws, all new “autobikes”(as we call them in Taiwan) are to use 4-stroke engines. This was painful for Taiwanese as prices for new autobikes nearly doubled.
A few companies took it a step further, and decided to produce electric autobikes, most notable: Gogoros.
Motorcycles are overall bad for traffic, parking, the environment, not to mention urban landscape.
However, it’s sooooo convenient, plus it’s well embedded in Taiwanese way of life. And quite frankly, as a person who lives in Tainan, with it’s unique scale, I wouldn’t know how to live without one.
Xem thêm
Tham khảo
Liên kết ngoài
- Taiwan, An Island of Scooters
- Taiwanese people have high income, but why do they use motorbikes like middle-income countries in Southeast Asia? It makes the feeling that Taiwan is less developed than Korea, Japan - Quora
Motorcycle industry in châu Á | |
|---|---|
| Quốc gia có chủ quyền |
|
| Quốc gia được công nhận hạn chế |
|
| Lãnh thổ phụ thuộc và vùng tự trị |
|
.svg){kind=small}
- Motorcycle manufacturers of Taiwan
- Automotive industry in Taiwan
- Motorcycling