Foreigner price to see what other foreigners built

[Doraemonster]

There has been a discussion on Forumosa recently about double prices for national-park entrance. If I remember correctly, there is at least the distinction between visitors and residents there. Now, take a look at this, here's a photo I took recently at Fort Zeelandia in Anping, Tainan:



To sum up the above rules:
Rule #1: Foreigner always pays full price.
Rule #2: Student discount does not apply to foreign students.

As you all know, the place in question was built by "foreigners" long time ago. The only thing the Taiwanese did was surrounding it with an ugly fence, and starting to charge for entrance. And now "foreigners" need to pay more, including foreign students.

There are probably not many foreign students in Taiwan in the first place, but I am one of them; and I've paid some 120,000 "dollars" in tuition and other fees this year for this dubious privilege. I don't see why there should be any distinction here; in fact, other countries often extend local student discounts to foreign students with an ISIC card.

Also, nowhere in my student ID does it say that I am a foreigner. How do they tell a foreigner then? I guess that's a rhetorical question.

The price differences are negligible (50 vs 25 peso) -- they probably don't even cover the cost of the ticket booth anyway -- so it's a matter of principle. The principle of discrimination. Or am I overreacting? What do you think? Perhaps at least the Dutch should have a discount?

[finley]

The price differences are negligible (50 vs 25 peso) -- they probably don't even cover the cost of the ticket booth anyway -- so it's a matter of principle. The principle of discrimination. Or am I overreacting? What do you think? Perhaps at least the Dutch should have a discount?

Well, considering the original circumstances, you'd think the Dutch wouldn't be allowed back in at all

But yeah, it does seem both pointless (considering the already-low entrance price) and unfair. This is actually the first instance of a "foreigner price" that I've ever seen in Taiwan. The weird part is, I've been there, and I don't remember even noticing this.

[sulavaca]

Same practice in Mongolia.
I just don't pay the entrance fee if they want to be funny about it.

[Petrichor]

From memory, the present fort is a reconstruction of the original, presumably built by the Taiwanese.

[ironlady]

They are also discriminating against volunteer firemen ("real" firemen get the discount), but if you have a volunteer ID from a public or private organization you get the discount. And if you're not from the County you pay more even if you're a student.

But the "all foreigners pay full price always" thing does irritate me. Why oh why does bureaucratic Taiwan look more and more like China in the 1980s with computers every day?

[StevenCrook]

This is very worrying/interesting, and I will go to the fort when I have free time to check it out.

[navillus]

How many foreigners visit this place in the run of a year I wonder? It's probably nothing spectacular with a 25/50 NT admission fee. I wonder what the net gain is for letting the world view you as racist arseholes.

[Poagao]

How is it racist?

[Super Hans]

From memory, the present fort is a reconstruction of the original, presumably built by the Taiwanese

The original was knocked down by Koxinga.

[headhonchoII]

How is it racist?

Well it seems to put foreigners pay full price right at the front of the list. I would say the admin there have a bugbear for some reason. Foreign students pay more? Seriously why bother to write that?

Theres a whole lot of other worthless regulation behind it so it's just some nasty person in charge I guess.