Saving Face, with Fresh Deer Antlers
Most people who have some connection with Asia have heard of the concept of saving face. It is perhaps one of the big differences between Eastern and Western folks, and understanding what saving face is can probably help you as you deal with people from this part of the world.
A few weeks ago, I went to Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan (I also got engaged while there!). It is one of the most famous places in Taiwan for tourism, it is very beautiful lake in the mountains. While I was there the strangest things happened and I just had to share it.
While in an aboriginal town next to Sun Moon Lake, we heard a lot of people inside a particular business and went to look inside. When we got in there we were shocked to see a chinese lady sitting at the counter with a wad of US $100 bills in her hand. Just a few feet to the right, was a fresh deer antler (see picture) and they were grinding it up for her.
Lots of small slices of the antler were taken and put into a grinder. After some time, what came out was a powder which was put into pill jar sized containers. At my best guess, 3 of these jars were at least $500 USD. She told me that they preferred to use US $ to Taiwan $ for some reason, and she was able to get a better price because of it. Supposedly, eating this will improve your skin and especially the skin on your face. After looking for an article about it, apparently this is big business in Asia, and does a lot more than just improve your skin. See Here. How about some Deer Antler Drops?
The other method they said you could use to utilize the deer was to put a fresh slice of the antler into hard alcohol for a month and then drink it. They did tell us that the deer this was taken from was not killed and that it was fine. The interesting thing is that we were there in November, it’s a little late for an antler to be growing in the US, so perhaps Taiwan climate has something to do with the timing. Could also have been flown in from NZ, where it’s springtime and when this kind of thing should be growing.
This makes me think about fireworks in the US. The only places you can buy the good ones are on Indian Reservations, maybe this is a similar deal in Taiwan. I have no idea if it’s legal or not, but it does seem to be a legitimate industry done all around the world (including the US). Does anyone know that Wisconsin (the finest state in the entire US) is world famous for its Ginseng? See this: the Ginseng Board of Wisconsin
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I’ve also seen women in Taiwan “saving” their face from getting tanned by wearing those huge welder mask thingys!