Taiwanese Smiles
Sharon Akers
Comparative Religion Program

What I notice most here is the smiling. I was walking along a busy road that borders the wall of the front gate of Fu Jen University the other day when a girl walked hurriedly out of a shop and almost collided with me. In that brief moment when we glanced at each other - where there could have been an awkward 'excuse-me' or even petty glaring - we smiled. Looking into her face, I saw the most radiant smile I have ever seen, a smile that could warm the hardest heart. I felt privileged that she had graced me with it. We ended up in step for a few moments and she turned to me and spoke:

"Hello," she said. " I do not know you but you just gave me a smile, thank you."

I was astounded. My smile could not have been anything in comparison to hers. In fact, I think it had only been in answer to hers and here she was thanking me! We talked for a little while as we walked. I answered her questions about where I was from. She answered my questions about the bouquet of flowers in her arms. (They were for her boyfriend). Then we went our separate ways. We continued on our original paths with no change of course, not even exchanging our names. Yet the course of our respective days had been changed, brightened.

The Taiwanese people's smiles do not seem to be surface level. The generosity that one can often see in a smile infuses their actions as well. On another not-so-bright day, I went for a long walk in the gray of monsoon, passing through the crooked sidewalk-less streets of Shin Chung, the suburb of Taipei containing Fu Jen University, past every imaginable sight and smell. Before heading out, I was walking only a few steps from one campus building to the next in the pouring rain when a girl ­ this time with an umbrella rather than flowers ­ again fell into step with me. She held the umbrella over me, making it clear she was offering its protection. She asked where I was headed so that she could keep me dry on the way. On my way back to campus that day ­ now completely soaked ­ yet another person offered me the same courtesy of an umbrella.

There is trust in a smile, and, it seems, trust in a smiling culture. When you smile at someone's child here and even intrude further to photograph that child, parents do not look at you as if you were a pervert as people sometimes do in the West. Instead, they tell their child to face the camera and smile back. The parents grin at you as well, happy that you also appreciate their family.

Another day I saw a whole family on a scooter and upon noticing my gaze seemed confused that I would look twice at them. Then the corners of their mouths went up, changing their blank looks into return smiles. You are greeting them happily or happy about life, not showing your unending amazement that so many people (of so many sizes!) could fit on a scooter. They think that you are smiling to them rather than at them, and then, because you realize this and there is a moment of communication, you are!

The smiles hint at a level of trust beyond greetings. I saw comforters airing out and being sunned on parked motor scooters in the middle of the road. No one guards them. Not every bicycle on campus has a lock. People's living rooms are open to the street. I have yet to witness a fight or even a situation that seems tense enough to escalate into one. I may be exaggerating but it seems as though for every 3,000 looks of open curiosity and acceptance I receive here, I get one of suspicion. This is not a ratio that I would encounter in the West.

Is it the prevalence of Buddhism here that makes it this way? Are people really taking to heart the enjoyment of each moment and the connectedness of self to everyone else? Do people just like foreigners here, or, perhaps, just simply find us funny? Maybe they know we are Americans and feel sorry for us or wish to show their support because of September 11. It could be the supposed cultural taboo about showing negative emotion. On the other hand, it may be that because there are so many people these types of manners are essential in order to co-exist. Perhaps this lesson was learned here a long time ago.

Perhaps it is a combination of all of these explanations. It would be nice to know. The rest of the world might learn from it.