Accessorizing galaxy

Accessories are telling. In the states, the only device you can be creative (for covers) with is the iPhone. Here, the new Samsung galaxy s3 is king.


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CW
DROID.

No apples here (in hk)

Of course there are iPhones here. But doesn't seem to have nearly the market dominance that it does in the US. 

Electronic stores mainly focus on Samsung (galaxy and note are particularly ubiquitous). HTCs are popular, and Sony and LGs are around. I even saw some Motorola phones.


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CW
DROID.

In Taiwan

I'm not even sure if this is a potent and controversial topic anymore, but about a decade ago (during the era of 阿編), the taiwanese identity as discrete from Chinese was a topic of much frustration and heartache for me, as I frequently heard "I'm Taiwanese, not Chinese."

My parents were both born in Taiwan, but my family is originally from 浙江, a province in the south of china. We still have family there. But I grew up going to Taiwan, grew up with Taiwanese Chinese culture (which is unique unto Taiwan), grew up with Taiwanese Chinese language (which i consider mandarin tinged with taiwan - very distinctive accent and inflection, only found in Taiwan and those families originating from).

Being in Taiwan for the first time without my family here gave me a strange sense of homecoming, even though I had never lived here. And I know exactly why. It's the way people talk. I find taiwanese Chinese the easiest to understand. And no wonder - its what I've been hearing my whole life. I've missed it. In the last decade, I've mostly heard either mainland chinese or Cantonese Chinese spoken around me by strangers and people I have passing interactions with. Here in Taiwan, the dialogue around me is spoken in a way that feels very familiar (to a point where I'm not even raging mad that I got ripped off in the night market for a bag of fruit).

This is why I get frustrated with people who want to make being Taiwanese and being Chinese distinctive. I have no formal claim to Taiwan. I'm not Taiwanese. And yet, I am culturally more connected to Taiwan than I will ever be to the mainland. It boils down to semantics, which ultimately only really matters to the extent that we imbue meanings to words, which is ultimately what the Taiwanese Chinese debate does.

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Sent from Cynthia Wang's iPad
cynthiawang@nyu.edu