The New Wave directors seeks to tell stories that are close the every day life of Taiwanese. They touch on the issues of modernity, urbanization, and cultural/generation struggles of the people of Taiwan. See wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Taiwan) for a good summary New Wave Cinema.
The pace of some of these films are far slower than western standards. The family issues tend to give the films a tv-soap-opera feel. However, for a native Taiwanese, these films to resonate with my personal experience.