Tangent: When I visited Finland a few years ago, everyone I encountered spoke good English, except for one person. When I bought a bottle of water at the Helsinki airport, the store clerk couldn't understand a single word of English. At the airport store.
At the Munich airport I asked the lady behind the information desk how to get to the train, in English. I was extremely polite. She was so offended and would not speak to me. Luckily a traveler standing next to the desk helped me.
Munich International Airport, Information Desk - no English. That made me really afraid to approach locals even though most that I met were very friendly and spoke excellent English.
The lady scolded me in French for a couple of minutes after which she got up and left the information desk, leaving me and everyone else behind me scratching our heads.
But it is remarkable that even in Taiwan, obviously of Chinese culture, many ( and I could probably safely say 'most' instead of 'many' ) think of tourists from the mainland as a rough, rude, loud, and generally dirty bunch.