“Boxing and my family are my whole life.” So says Lai Chu-en, a boxer in the light welterweight (63.5 kilogram) division at the Paris Olympics.
“The older generation often says that in boxing you have to sting like a bee, stand as strong as an elephant, float like a butterfly, be as fast as a leopard, and move your waist like a serpent. Lai Chu-en can do all these things,” observes Sean Lo, a boxing coach at the National Sports Training Center.
Taiwan has streets in many cities named “Chenggong,” as well as schools at all levels with Chenggong in their names. Tainan, in particular, has multiple elementary schools, a middle school, and even a university (spelled Cheng Kung) with this word in their monikers.
In modern Chinese, chenggong is a word that means “success.”
In February of 2024, badminton player Chou Tien-chen announced that in early 2023 he had been diagnosed with early-stage colon cancer. After undergoing surgery, he began competing in numerous events and not only qualified for the Olympics, but came to understand, in the course of his training, how improved nerve conduction could bring back his “feel” for the game. Chou, called “Little Tien” by badminton fans, says: “I’m an athlete who performs best when the chips are down.
In 1624 the Dutch established a trading post in the New World, in what is now New York. In the same year, the Dutch East India Company came ashore in Taiwan in a place then called Dayuan (today part of the Anping District of Tainan City). Their 38-year rule changed the course of Taiwan’s history.
The Summer Games of the 33rd Olympiad will be held in Paris, France from July 26 to August 11, 2024. Taiwan has been allocated 60 spots for athletes competing in 16 sports as they strive for glory in the world’s most exalted sporting event. They will demonstrate the strength and beauty of competition and test their individual limits, while also raising Taiwan’s international profile.
Across the millennia, Taiwan has successively presented different aspects of itself to the world.
If microchips have become representative of our islands only in recent years, the 20th century already witnessed the global reach of products made in Taiwan. Scholars investigating the spread of Austronesian cultures across the Pacific Ocean have surmised that these peoples originated in Taiwan.
Tainan has become a watchword in Taiwanese mixology. Over the last few years, the city has seen the rapid rise of nearly 100 bars, many of which are regularly named among Asia’s 50 best bars and employ mixologists that frequently participate in bartending competitions large and small. How did this buzzy bar scene come to be?
Sweet potatoes have a shape similar to the outline of Taiwan, and the plant’s resilient vitality has been used to describe the spirit of Taiwan. In the 16th century they were food for the aristocracy, but in later times they became a life-sustaining staple for many poor people in Taiwan. Following the development of multiple new varieties, in recent years sweet potatoes have been found to contain many important nutrients and are now seen as a superfood.
A roadside vendor, from whose cart steam drifts out into the air, is selling pure white rice cakes with a very unadorned appearance. On this small stage, the beauty and value of rice are on display. Moreover, through the years the uses of rice have evolved to offer boundless possibilities.
“We hope that camellia oil will one day become the national edible oil of Taiwan. Whenever foreigners visit, we give them a bottle of this oil as a souvenir of their trip here. Locally grown camellia seeds are becoming an iconic agricultural product for Taiwan.” So says Chen Sheng-ching, one of the founders of the Gems of Taiwan camellia oil farm.
