What cultural etiquette should I know for Taipei?

The single fastest way to make a Taiwanese dinner companion wince is to stick your chopsticks straight up in a bowl of rice. It looks like incense at a funeral altar, and at a table in Yongkang Street or a hot pot place in Linjiang Night Market, the reaction is immediate. Quiet discomfort. Lay chopsticks across the bowl or on the rest provided. Don't point them at anyone, and don't spear food with them. When you serve yourself from shared dishes (and most Taiwanese meals are shared), flip your chopsticks around and use the clean ends. At Din Tai Fung's original Xinyi Road location, you'll notice locals doing this without thinking. Worth noting, too, that you never tap your bowl with chopsticks. Street performers do that. It implies you're begging.

Taipei's MRT is the cleanest metro system in East Asia, and locals keep it that way through social pressure backed by real fines. No eating, no drinking, no chewing gum on the train or in the station. The fine runs from NT$1,500 to NT$7,500 (roughly US$45 to US$230), and enforcement officers do patrol. You'll notice the yellow priority seats near the doors stay empty even on packed trains. You give those up for elderly passengers, pregnant women, or anyone with a disability. Non-negotiable. Mind you, Taipei is also a city where people queue with almost Japanese precision. The escalator convention is stand right, walk left, and commuters at Taipei Main Station during the 8am rush will let you know if you block the left side. Phone calls are fine, but keep your voice low. The ambient noise on a Taipei MRT car at rush hour is startlingly quiet compared to, say, the New York subway.

Taipei has more than 900 registered temples, and you'll likely visit at least Longshan Temple in Wanhua (founded 1738) or Dalongdong Baoan Temple near Yuanshan MRT (founded 1742, a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award winner from 2003). The air inside is thick with sandalwood incense and the sound of wooden prayer blocks hitting stone floors. Remove your shoes if there's a rack at the entrance. Don't touch the deity statues. If you want to light incense, Longshan Temple currently limits visitors to 1 stick per person (they reduced it from 7 in 2017 for air quality). Step over the raised wooden threshold at the main door, don't step on it. Photography is usually fine in the courtyard but not in the main prayer hall. That said, each temple sets its own rules, so check the posted signs at the entrance.

Gift rules are firm. Never wrap a present in white or solid black paper. Those are funeral colors. Never give a clock (送鐘, sòng zhōng, sounds like 送終, 'attending a funeral'). Avoid umbrellas (散, sàn, 'to separate') or sets of 4 anything (四, sì, sounds like 死, 'death'). If someone hands you a business card, receive it with both hands, read it, and set it on the table in front of you. If you pocket it right away, that's rude. If you write someone's name in red ink, it implies you wish them dead. This one still surprises people. For everyday introductions, a light handshake works. Taiwanese tend to be reserved with physical contact. No back-slapping, no arm-grabbing, and personal space is tighter than in the US but wider than in, say, Naples. At a restaurant, the person who invited pays. Split bills are normal among friends, and many places in Daan and Zhongshan districts accept LINE Pay or Taiwan Pay at the counter.