With the impact of globalization, we can see more and more cross cultural romance appearing in our lives and even our close friends are falling in love with those who come from the other countries. Why are foreigners so attractive to Taiwanese? What’s the problem they will face while they are dating? How can they maintain this relationship though facing the challenge of cultural differences? There are some suggestions from experts.
“The reason why that Taiwanese like to date with foreign friends is ‘curiosity’. People always admire those characteristics which we do not have, like straight nose, good shape and so on,” the assistant professor of Department of Speech Communication in Shih-hsin UniversityWen-ying Liu（劉文英）mentioned. She also said the most difficult obstacle for cross cultural lovers is the difference of culture. Chinese care more about the family reunion in the Chinese New Year than the Westerners care about this at Christmas. Many disputes could easily occur from the distant cultural concepts between the East and West. In terms of a relationship, Chinese think that lovers should stick together for twenty-four hours and make every decision together; however, Westerns think personal time and the right to act on their own are essential to them. “If you want to maintain the relationship of cross cultural romance, communication and patience are two points you have to always remember,’’ assistant professor Liu added.
“As people can easily communicate to friends around the world, we’ve witnessed the increasing number of cross-country romance in recent years,” the chairman of Department of Social Psychology Chao-neng Chan（詹昭能）said. It’s never easy for two lovers to stay together for a long time, not to mention the transnational relationship as the couple would face some challenges of cultural differences. Chan indicated that divergence of values and cultures is the main factor which leads to some quarrels between the two lovers in the cross cultural romance.
However, there are some benefits that cross cultural romance can bring to us, such as broadening one’s horizon, finding a more suitable companion and so on. However, Asian have quite different views from those of the American with regard to the idea of divorce. American see it as an ordinary thing, while Asians view it seriously. Another diversity is that Asian families emphasize group living, but American stress on individualism. Love does not promise success, and acting cautiously is what people should learn. Chan suggested couples should tolerate, and adapt to their mate, and then the road named love may keep permanently.
