A century ago, Dadaocheng was Taipei’s most important commercial district. It had a flourishing harbor, and many foreign firms and consulates were located there. This was a place where wealthy folk and celebrities gathered, and the streets were crowded with people and vehicles. Prosperous Dihua Street was lined with shops selling rice, dried foods, traditional herbal medicinal ingredients, and fabrics. Dadaocheng was always bustling, and in its time was a symbol of modern affluence.
Did you know that Taiwan’s National Greenways—the Raknus Selu Trail, the Tamsui–Kavalan Trails, and the Mountains to Sea National Greenway—are being paired up with paths in other nations to build “friendship trails?” It turns out that trails can build bridges between nations.
The Taiwanese television drama series Someday or One Day swept numerous Golden Bell Awards, and a film of the same name was released at the end of 2022. Wherever cast members appear in public, they are sure to cause a stir. The show’s popularity has attracted many people to make pilgrimages to locations where the episodes were filmed.
“To infinity and beyond!” Living in the age of Big Data, data seems to us like another universe waiting to be explored. Value-added services can turn dry-as-dust data into tools for promoting the public good, becoming a key to creating a better future.
If you visit the Taiwanese countryside, you may find groups of people like this: eager to learn, determined to achieve, and with a comradely sense of unity and mutual affection. These are Taiwan’s agricultural production and marketing groups (PMGs), which play a key role in the adoption of new farming techniques and technologies and developing new distribution channels.
Taiwan, which became known to the world in the Age of Discovery, has a history of ethnic diversity and has given rise to an abundance of stories. The growing interest in “Taiwan studies” that emerged in the late 20th century has motivated many Taiwanese to research the island.
Taiwanese-style catered banquets—known locally as pān-toh—have a distinctive history, complete with their own conventions. The dishes served at these streetside banquets carry symbolic meanings. Often marking life’s major milestones or important days on religious calendars, the pān-toh, or banzhuo in Mandarin, offers an opportunity for hosts to entertain and catch up with their guests while indulging in gastronomic pleasures.
In recent years, “street studies” has grown in popularity. All manner of walking tours have turned their focus to what regular people see every day. These walks attempt to recapture the essence of earlier eras through historical traces found in old advertisements, shop signs, architectural elements, and so forth. Rather than telling the grand history of important people, they capture Taiwan’s unique cultural landscape through the small details of common things that might be easy to overlook.
Robert Swinhoe (1836–1877) was the first British consul in Taiwan. Besides promoting exports of Taiwan oolong tea to the US, he was the first person in Taiwan to collect animal and plant specimens and systematically publish checklists of local species. He helped the world become aware of Taiwan’s biodiversity and culture and was the most important figure in the pioneering stage of the study of natural history on the island.
Elderly Taiwanese who grew up during the heyday of the agrarian economy like to say that rice fills you up better than noodles. The old adage that “familiar flavors are the best” explains why they might feel that way and highlights an important truth about taste: what we eat as children shapes our food preferences as adults.
