Ask This Taiwanese: A Taiwan Themed Halloween

Ask “This” Taiwanese is an advice column dedicated to pesky and uncomfortable questions about Taiwan or about being Taiwanese.

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It was so fun to read your February column on how to boycott the Beijing sports washing Olympics game – could you share some ideas for celebrating democracy and Taiwan pride for Halloween?

—- from Taiwanese who just want to have some fun

To Taiwanese who just want to have some fun,

We are so happy to know that we brought some lightness to the somber topic of standing up for what is right! But then again, it is kind of what we do at Ask This Taiwanese!

We are especially grateful and happy for this question because it allows us to dig deep into our joy-inducing mischievousness – what is an American Halloween without some subversiveness? Really, we just absolutely love Halloween.

Most of all, we are always looking for fun ways to commemorate the year we are all surviving through.

Not to prolong our monologue about Halloween, here are some halloween outfits and treat ideas for Halloween 2022!

1. Dress up as Nancy Pelosi in sky blue inside shirt and white pants suit. And if you want to go the extra mile – find a blue sash as well.
   

   (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office of Taiwan, CC BY 2.0)

    

2. Dress up as Robert Tsao, elderly billionaire, in suite shirt and pants and a surgical mask about to deliver press conference announcing the “civilian warriors” force. And if you want to go the extra mile – put on something that looks like bullet proof vest.
   

   (Photo courtesy of Radio Taiwan International, CC BY-SA 4.0)

    

3. Dress up as any of the following: Democratic Sen. Ed Markey Democratic Reps. John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal and Don Beyer, and Republican Rep. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen for their visit to Taiwan in 2022.
   

   (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office of Taiwan, CC BY 2.0)

    

4. Dress up as as a semiconductor chip. Extra points for shrinking yourself down to 2 nanometers. Dress up as a semiconductor engineer in a protective suit is kind of a cop-out, but we’ll accept it.
   

   (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company)

    

5. Dress up as pineapple to show solidarity with pineapples. (Other fruits boycotted by China are grapefruit, lemons, orange, any of which can work. But we like pineapples the most.) And extra mile buy dry fruits from Taiwan as your Halloween treat!
   

   (From Mike Pompeo’s Twitter)

    

6. Dress up as grouper fish or mackerel fish or just any fish in general to remember the CCP boycott and random missile fired into the Pacific ocean polluting and killing fish at the same time. And extra mile buy fish goods from Taiwan.
   

   (Photo from South China Morning Post)

7. Dress up as the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022. And if you want to go the extra mile add on the 17-5 vote count advancing the bill. Other acceptable options: any of the defense systems often cited as part of an “asymmetric” strategy.
   

   (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office of Taiwan, CC BY 2.0)

8. If none of the above appeals to you, you can always get a bob cut and put on a gray pantsuit and call it a day.
   

   (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office of Taiwan, CC BY 2.0)

Upside down world is a bit of a theme, but we think lightness can pave the way to light!  Whether you call it All Saints’ day, All-Hallows, or Halloween, we recommend that we all confront our fears and set intentions to highlight the good, whether spirit or human. Here the good is that we celebrate our triumphs as Taiwanese!

Happy Halloween, y’all!  Be safe and be brave!

Your trick-or-treat buddy,

Ask This Taiwanese