Another area of similarity with Christmas is the party. In the US, the big year-end party coincides with Christmas. In Taiwan, it coincides with CNY and it’s called a “Wei Ya”. With most companies, a “wei ya” consist of a big banquet dinner, prize drawing (usually for US$100 and up coupons to one of the major department stores) and a lot of drinking. The drinking aspect is a little surprising to me. It’s not so much that they’re drinking, it’s the amount. These people are getting wasted. At these year-end parties, people use drinking to celebrate the year that’s past as well as toast the year ahead. I can’t be certain, but it seems like it’s unbecoming to drink alone. Obviously, I don’t mean “drink alone” as being at some dingy bar drowning your sorrows, but I’ve notice that people (at least, at these type of events) rarely sit there and take a sip by themselves as I was doing that all night. Everyone would make it a social activity and drink only when they toasted with someone else.
What I found interesting was this prevailing vibe that people drank and partied w/o a care or concern of how it might reflect upon them the next day in the office. Like I said people are getting wasted, some were dancing the table. But before your mind envisions something out of “Coyote Ugly”, it was very innocent G-rated dancing. To me, it seems like, in the US, people purposely restrained themselves a little because they are concerned with purporting an image of an irresponsible boozer and partier, which, at some companies, might inhibit their ability to rise in the organization. It seems like here, there is an understanding that everyone gets a free pass to let loose at these parties, have a “stays in Vegas” mindset. Now, of course, being it’s TW, a relatively conservative society, people aren’t pushing the limits of appropriate behavior like “hooking up” or flashing, so the fear of something scandalous happening are minimal.
Now, I work at a big company, probably one of the biggest in TW. So, our Wei Ya is always a huge production. In the past, it was at the Taipei Arena. This year, it was at a newly built exhibition hall. There were 380 tables that seated 10 people each. Throughout the evening, there was a live show complete with hosts and singers, it’s like one of those variety shows you see here on TV. And I’m not talking about some hired singer from a bar or lounge somewhere. I’m talking about actual well-known recording artists. Now, since I’m more American than Chinese (or Taiwanese, in this case), I don’t recognize any of the artists. 
Regardless of missing out on the enjoyment of knowing who they are, it’s fun to watch the president and CEO of the company each get up there and sing with one of the singers. (Btw, you’ll quickly know that people love to sing here. Perhaps the most popular place to go is a KTV where get a room and sing to their heart’s content and, sometimes, to my ears’ dismay. Naturally, you can order food, which is pretty inexpensive, and beer.)Now, maybe what I’ve described isn’t too different from a company Christmas party in the US because, honestly, I can only remember one, if memory serves, it wasn’t a company-wide extravaganza, but more a small department only party. Anyway, I find it hard to believe that a company Xmas party in the US would have the size and importance of a “wei ya” here. As I alluded before, these “wei ya” are a way for the company to say thanks to their hard-working employees as well as rally them to carry with the same hard work in the coming year. And, what I saw, they appreciated every moment of it.
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