Quoting Klaus:

Thank you for these excellent videos. I tried to make some more people aware of them with this blog post: http://www.intaiwan.de/2012/07/09/taiwanese-girls-dating-western-foreigners-what-is-a-xicanmei/

Thanks Klaus, was just checking out your blog, really interesting posts (the English ones)

Hey Shufan,

I like your insights into the terms you mentioned - just going to give a brief translation of what you said for our English language readers:

"In the Mandarin Chinese used in Taiwan, they've invented some terms with negative connotations to denote the phenomenon of Taiwanese girls who are in relationships with (or who have sex with) Westerners, examples of which would be 'Xicanmei' (literally girls who eat Western food, figuratively girls who date Western guys), 'Corpse Collectors' (to refer to Western guys who pick up Taiwanese girls who have drunk too much and are unconscious or semi-conscious), 'Lovers of Foreign Male Reproductive Organs' [not really a faithful translation of '屌' here, but I'm trying to keep it reasonably clean lol.] etc. I think the metaphoric uses these phrases make of the body are very interesting.
The term 'Xicanmei' imagines Western men as food, and imagines Taiwanese girls as cannibalistic monsters who feast upon their essential energy (or chi)...

'Corpse Collectors' turns girl into passive objects, who have lost their essential energy (chi), but come back from the dead in bed as some zombie-like creature...

Is it then possible to imagine this as a Nationalist trope devised in the context of Taiwanese people's conservatism, which sees how 'Westerners' enjoy 'special privileges' in Taiwan as a reincarnation of Imperialism, and therefore they naturally see Taiwanese girls who fraternize with Westerners as zombies infected by its living corpse?

The night of the living dead, a pale dance where hot girls and big-nosed (Western) guys dance with Count Dracula...

I just think the images conjured up by these terms in Chinese are very vivid and widely variant, the images themselves are enough to satisfy my curiosity..."

Conor

Hey again,

I know one guy who has dated a lot of Western girls, and he describes himself as liking feistier girls, but I think he's dated Taiwanese girls before. I remember hearing about a section on bbs dedicated to the worship of Israeli women with guns - but not sure if that qualifies. Looking at the boards discussing foreigners on bbs also throws up a lot of extreme views and it's difficult to get people to publicly acknowledge things that they say in private or online.

I thought the other point you brought up concerning South East Asian brides was interesting, and think it was addressed in part by a Focus response by Yang Zijie, one of our editors, the link is here if you want to check out the video: www.erenlai.com/index.php/en/focus/2012-focus/women-and-nationalism/5020-focus-response-women-and-nationalism

Thanks again for responding to the focus.
Conor

Hey Kuchayou,
Thanks for your comment. I wrote both the definition in the video and in the article. I accept your point, but I think that the definition of Xicanmei is actually highly subjective, and different people have very different perceptions of what constitutes it, as reflected in the opinions of the girls filmed. I agree with you that there are women who exclusively chase Western men and dislike all Taiwanese men - my point was not that the phenomenon does not exist - although the people in the video express their own opinions on this matter, my point is rather that reasons for being a "Xicanmei" are not purely explicable through a Nationalistic narrative. Some of the reasons that sexual attraction develops are highly complex and saying that liking foreign men is because they are not loyal to their country or implying that this is a source of shame is chauvinistic and takes away subjectivity from women. The girls who exclusively chase foreigners would benefit from traveling of course, and finding out that the rest of the world is as ordinary as Taiwan, but the fact that in Taiwan this term has become so popular indicates the reality that Taiwanese people notice race a lot more (this obviously derives from State policy) - and therefore it sees these kinds of relationships as something that stands out - even if the girl in question is not an "exclusive" dater of Western guys.

Actually I have some male Taiwanese friends who have dated, and some who are currently dating Western girls - and they are seen in a much more positive light than their female counterparts - and Western girls, it could be argued that Western girls are seen as status symbols - which feeds into the Nationalistic narrative from the other end. So essentially it's the male voice from which value is derived - essentially translating to - 'if she dates a foreigner - it's a rejection of me, the Taiwanese male, therefore a rejection of Taiwan, - if I date a foreigner then it is an affirmation of me, a Taiwanese male, therefore an affirmation of Taiwan.' This is what I meant by the male-centered chauvinistic implication of the term. It is, in short, all a construct. People should be appreciated for being individuals not as representing their country or not. A marriage based on the condition that the guy is white - is not going to last long or be a happy one - and it's for the individual woman in that relationship to figure that out, but it doesn't imply a rejection of her country - a country which belongs as much to her as any male.

Conor