Dear Amy C. Liu, author of TAWAIN A TO Z,
I came across your book TAWAIN A TO Z: The Essential Cultural Guide this past weekend and am enjoying it very much.
However, I was a bit annoyed at first that some answers raised by you were not so straightforward to find, e.g. "Why do so many Taiwanese have a PhD?",--although the question is posted on the back-side of the book jacket.
You, in fact, do state on page 21 of your work that enhancing one's "international horizons" is one prime reason that lead many Taiwanese to continues to seek M.A. and PhD degrees abroad. However, one recent study, reported in this past Friday's TAIWAN NEWS, shows that many Taiwanese are more interested in gaining better paying jobs in Mainland China than they are in going to work and studying in many other corners of the plane. In fact, almost 77% of all Taiwanese show some interest in working in Mainland China.
IMPROVING ONE'S INTERNATIONAL HORIZONS
However, improving one's "international horizons" remained a distant third or fourth in that particular poll.
By the way, does "obtaining a degree abroad" not also almost automatically ensure in Taiwan today that one will be paid better--or that one will have immediate access to more guanxi ( ----ä¿ ) offered, i.e. over the long haul.
This was true in Japan, when I worked there in the early 1990s, and is still true to some degree in Taiwan today. It is also true for many other Asian nations and Asian sponsored "internationalization" programs.
GUANXI ( ----ä¿ ), which I referred to above and of which you (Amy C. Liu) do a great job in defining on pages 84 and 85 of your book. In TAWAIN A TO Z: The Essential Cultural Guide, you write that guanxi ( ----ä¿ ) as "relationships". Next, you
go on to write: "Every business transaction is a dealing of guanxi (
