There are two types of slaves in Taiwan. The literal kind which are workers imported from poor asian countries who aren't even allowed to leave their companies' property. And the figurative kind, Taiwanese grandparents. Today I'll be talking about the latter.
The first role of grandparents is as child raiser. When children are born, they are usually given to their grandparents to raise, while their parents keep on working. While yes this can mean the grandparents are a free form of daycare, and the parents pick up the kid after work. More often than not though, this means that the kid actually lives with the grandparents, separate from their parents. In this situation sometimes the parents will go to visit their kids on the weekend, but not always true. I have a few friends who lived with their grandparents until it was time to go to 1st grade. At which point they moved in with their parents.
Another role of grandparents, grandmothers in particular, is being a homemaker. As they get older and widowed, they normally live with their children's family. Their job is to now to clean the home, cook the meals, and wash the clothes. Of particular annoyance is washing the clothes as many homes don't have washing machines, so they will wash the clothes by hand.
The above picture was taken when I was on the subway. I saw this high school kid with stains on his pants and i couldn't help but feel bad for his grandmother. She's going to be toiling away at trying to get those stains out.
