This past week I asked a favor of the students in my Masterpieces of World Literature course. I passed out scrap paper and requested they respond anonymously to two questions.

The first was: Do you feel Taiwan people express thanks in ways that are similar to the ways westerners appear to? Are there cultural differences, in other words, when it comes to how we handle gratitude in life?

The second question: Are you particularly grateful for anything that has happened to you in the past twelve months?

I did not expect it to be so, but most of my students shared more or less the same ideas in response to question one. They generally agree that people in Taiwan, in comparison with people in western cultures, express thanks more indirectly or at least less clearly. A variety of interesting remarks did emerge in response to question two.

Let me put most of the space that follows into the hands of my young friends. In italics, here are some samples of their exact words.

A 21 year old female from metropolitan Taipei says: I think Chinese are more reserved than most westerners. When they want to thank others, they are too shy to say “thank you.” However, they are grateful and really thank people in their hearts. A male student from Taipei agrees: We don’t like to show our feelings, and most of the time, we hide them. But I think this attitude is wrong. Why do we have to hide our feelings . . . especially when the feeling is not a bad one?

A female student from Kaohsiung, aged 20, adds: Chinese people tend to be more implicit [indirect?] whenever we express our feelings. It’s kind of difficult for us to say ‘I love you’, ‘thanks for all you do for me’ as passionately as westerners do. A 20 year old from Tainan uses nearly identical words, but shows she is aware of an important nuance: We tend to be more shy and we hardly show our affection [or emotions linked to] appreciation . . . but to show how much you want to thank someone . . . doesn’t mean that you just say ‘thank you’ in a specific way.

Personally, I found more intriguing what the students had to say about things for which they are grateful since last Thanksgiving Day.

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