In the foothills of Yushan, Taiwan’s tallest peak, lies the home of the Tsou Indigenous people. In their mythology, the Tsou were created by their deity Hamo. Later the world was flooded and they fled to Yushan, waiting for the waters to recede. The deity then left his footprints in the mountain forests, and the Tsou followed them to take up residence there, with the first footprint becoming Tfuya.
Deep in the Alishan Mountains, silken clouds waft through towering red cypresses in a world that can only be understood by following in the footsteps of hunters. Today, the huntsmen of the Tfuya Indigenous Community share it with outsiders through “Noyoca Giant Trees Ecological Experience” guided tours, creating new possibilities for their tradition of forest conservation.
On the Changhua Plain in winter, life settles into a distinctive rhythm after the second rice harvest. Though the fields lie fallow, daily life is anything but quiet. Children turn the empty paddies into playgrounds. Some families plant winter vegetables such as radishes and peas, and others plant vivid cover crops for fertilizer, as the land transforms into a bright tapestry of vibrant colors.
At the southwestern edge of the Changhua Plain, the fertile black soil deposited by the Zhuoshui River has nurtured the confident disposition of Erlin Township’s people. Stepping into Erlin, we encounter not only rippling rice fields and the fragrance of fruit, but also the township’s “three treasures”—grapes, buckwheat, and red coix seeds—along with dragon fruit, which has gained popularity more recently. Yet what truly shapes Erlin’s character is not just its crops, but its community of cheer
Most people get to know northeastern Taiwan on land, but for this article we visit the Northeast Coast by sea. We sail aboard the Sincer Princess, and so are able to take in the coastline as a whole, getting a clear view of its bays, capes, and eroded rock formations. Seen from this different perspective, the majestic landscape is stunning.
Calligrapher and painter Chu Chen-nan has the courage to venture beyond his comfort zone. As a mature artist, he plunged himself several times into unfamiliar environments in Europe and America to pursue knowledge and inspiration. His gentle and affectionate temperament belies a self-scrutinizing soul ever yearning to transcend boundaries and attain new vistas. These strikingly vivid, if also paradoxical, personal traits have enabled him to breathe a distinctively modern vibe of untrammeled fre
At the 2021 New York Fashion Week, the Taiwanese brand oqLiq based its show on a 16th-century novel of myths, legends and fantasy called Creation of the Gods. This was combined with multimedia and virtual technology to stun the world with a fashion vocabulary derived from Taiwanese culture.
From the podium of the United Nations General Assembly and the facades of the pillars at the Arrivals Hall at Taoyuan International Airport to the chairs in our elders’ homes and the tiles on sidewalks, there is a green material—a little bit old-fashioned, a little bit nostalgic—that comes from Taiwan: serpentine.
When entering a temple in Taiwan, the first thing you’ll notice is a pair of “guards” painted on the door panels to welcome you. For Taiwanese, these door guards are a feature of everyday life, but as a first-time visitor, you may wonder just who they are.
Yingge in New Taipei City is famous for its ceramics, but less well known is that there was once a robust pottery industry in Nantou, dating back over 200 years to the Jiaqing reign period (1796–1820) of the Qing Dynasty, and focusing on objects for daily use. Today a small number of ceramics makers, including Lin Yung-sheng, continue this tradition.
