I’ve never been discriminated for work until I moved to Taipei
The first time I visited Taipei, I immediately fell in love with this low-key city. The abundance of delicious foods, convenient transport, subtropical climate and helpful locals. I loved it so much that I spontaneously decided to ditch a very comfortable life in Australia to move to Taipei. I certainly don’t regret this decision and still highly-regard Taipei as a vibrant city. However, working in Taipei as a foreigner of Asian ethnicity has been tough.
A snapshot about me - I’m Chinese/Korean and grew up in Australia. Lived in Melbourne for most part of my life and have the bogan accent to prove it. The only time I experienced racism was in primary school and high school. Usually it was a just snide remark made by an insecure male who grew up on a farm with goats and cows.
Never have I been discriminated at work for my ethnicity. In fact, I would sometimes play up the race card as companies loved a ‘dynamic working environment’. Even close-minded managers would thank me when I enlightened them that there’s more to Chinese food than sweet and sour pork or fortune cookies.
I came to Taipei five months ago without a job or a clue about the employment market. It seemed like everyone was a teacher – it paid extremely well and you didn’t even need to have teaching qualifications. So a high school dropout from Texas who worked for minimum wage could come to Taipei, become a teacher and get paid twice as much as a local office worker. Having a degree and experience in tutoring, I thought it was going to be damn easy for me to land a teaching job. After a month of rejections, I realised that what I really needed was a set of blonde locks and a pair of blue eyes.
The unspoken rule here is that schools, tutoring businesses and even companies, prefer to hire ‘white’ people. The thinking behind this is:
1. A white person would have better English than an Asian who was also born and raised in the same city.
2. A white person would give their brands more credibility.
3. The novelty factor of having a white person around. A backward client would think, “Oh look, they have an employee who’s not Asian, they must truly be an international and global business.”
I’ve been bluntly rejected with:
- “Sorry, it’s because you’re Asian.”
- “The parents would want to see a white face in the classroom.”
- “We’re going to have to pay you much less because you’re Asian.”
And my favourite when I rocked up to an interview:
- “Oh, I thought you were a real Australian, your English was so good over the phone… But I prefer a non-Chinese.”
I once confronted someone that he was being discriminatory because I was Asian. In which he responded, “I’m not discriminating, I don’t even know you. But I don’t want to hire an Asian because my clients prefer white people.” Yes, the classic it’s-not-you-or-me-but-my-client excuse.
Thankfully, I was an offered a job as a copywriter before my funds ran out. Just don’t get me started on what it’s like to work as an Asian-looking expat and getting paid twice as much as those around you. Hint: dagger looks.
