Massage in Taiwan There are four kinds of massage worker in Taiwan. Blind Masseurs or Masseuses The massage job was usually for blind people by law. But they couldn't cope the demands of many customers. There were awash with massage parlours where offered massages by breaking the law. In 2008, government allowed sighted people doing massage. Of course, those blind massage workers are not very happy. They took to the streets to defend their monopoly. Unfortunately, they failed. Now they have to compete with other massage workers. Common Masseuses Yes, masseuses, the female masseurs. Most massage workers are women. I don't know why. But, as a straight man, I prefer to get a massage by women. I think most women would like to get a massage by women too. I'm not sure. But some of my female friends said so. I suppose this is a main reason that why most massage workers are women. When you walk down the streets in the downtown Taipei city. You might see many massage parlours. If you look at them carefully, you might wonder why those masseuses wearing hot. Is it a kind of brothel? Let's go on the next sort of massage worker. Masseuses offering happy ending Prostitution is illegal in Taiwan. But men need it. Therefore, some hookers claim that they are masseuses. They offer regular massages process, and give their customers a "happy ending". ; ) Massage Therapists In the other countries, masseurs/masseuses and massage therapists are considered the same. But there is a different massage therapy in Taiwan, which named Tui-Na (推拿）. Tui-Na is a body treatment included Chinese herbalism, acupuncture, etc. Tui-Na is not only a massage which relax your muscle, but also treat your injuries joints if you have one. The massage therapists must have a license to perform their job. I suppose Tui-Na is a not famous treatment in the western countries. Maybe people think Tui-Na is not a "science" therapy. I hurt my back when I was in Australia. I went to a hospital, and the doctor only gave me some pain killer, told me to relax more. Then I lay in bed for two weeks. I would get a Tui-Na if I was in Taiwan. I believe it would help me quickly than lying in bed.

Warm Hands, Warm Hearts Do you describe people warm or cold in your language? We, Taiwanese who speak Mandarin, describe bad people as cold people, and are likely to describe good people as warm people. Interesting thing is, English speaker do the same things. They also use words "warm" and "cold" to describe people's personality. Recently I read an article about warm hands and warm hearts. Scientists found that there is a link between warm hands and a warm heart. If people who warmed their hands first are likely to be generous in their judgement. So that's how they conducted researches. First, the scientists want to know: does temperature affect emotions? They gave some volunteers cups of warm coffee, and gave other volunteers cups of iced coffee. The participants were given some information of an unknown person, and were asked to describe the unknown person. It turns out that volunteers who held cups of warm coffee were more likely to be kind, or generous on the unknown person than those with cups of iced coffee. There was a another experiment. Participants were asked to hold either a heating pad or cold pad. After the test, they could choose a reward for themselves or a gift for a friend. The study shows the participants who held heating pads were more likely to give their friends gifts. Those participants who held cold pads were more likely to get rewards for themselves. Scientist believe that when we describe people as either cold or warm, it taps into emotions that date back to our childhood. It reminds us of feelings when we are children. Maybe that make us think of our mother. Since most of us were cuddling in our mothers' arms. These are very interesting experiments. But I kind of doubt them. Because the scientists didn't mention the climate during experiments. If I am asked to hold a hot coffee on a hot day, I might not be happy, since I have lived in a subtropical region. When I am writing the articles, it is April afternoon, and my room's temperature is 31 degree centigrade now.