There is sort of romantic courtship in Chinese culture, and
in the first few weeks of a romance, the woman is treated with deference by the male suitor.
The
male usually buys a small gift, always pays for the food bills, and behaves
with courtliness and attentiveness to the whims
of the woman he
is attracted to.
I
respect you so much,
the Taiwanese man
I dated said to me,
and he said this
to me so many times, that I began to wonder!
I saw
his excessive manners as a sort of social form. This Taiwanese man I met in
Taipei was really quite aggressive, and possibly half-Japanese.
Looking back, he certainly did not fit most stereotypes of Chinese men. Though he was a very intelligent computer
professional.
