The island of Taiwan, though not especially large, is home to more than 300 night markets. Unfurl a map of Taiwan and take a look at the townships—more than two-thirds of them are host to at least one night market. The high density of night markets reflects the enthusiasm of Taiwanese people for food culture.
It’s no secret that the Taiwanese are passionate about food. This devotion to culinary delights, coupled with Taiwan’s cultural diversity, guarantees the island’s prestige as a gastronomic paradise. Our vibrant culture is characterized by dietary variety, and vegetarian foods have enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity in recent years.
Many people believe that Mandarin Chinese (also known as Huayu) is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. But do you know what? You only need to know 3,100 characters to match the reading skills of a native speaker.
In 2002, German chemist Michael Braungart and American architect William McDonough published Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, which proposes achieving sustainability by emulating the circular processes of Nature. Their idea was to orient design around a circular system of reuse that turns waste into “nutrients” that can be fed back into the system.
In 1930, Kuo Hsueh-hu painted Festival on South Street, which depicts the vitality and clamor of a street scene—including countless shop signs—in Taipei’s Dadaocheng area, and makes viewers feel as if they are right there rubbing shoulders in the crowd. In 2017, the Japanese magazine Brutus put out a special issue on Taiwan, with a picture of Tainan’s Guohua Street as its cover.
In Taiwan people eat candy at the Lunar New Year and at weddings, while in Taiwanese Hokkien the phrase “eat sweet things” is an auspicious saying used to wish others well. It is precisely because candy has a sweet taste that it symbolizes felicity and good fortune.
Fermented foods such as cheese, miso, and wine are common parts of modern people’s daily diets, and fermented tofu and soy sauce in particular are essential to East Asian cuisines. Taiwan’s Yilan County offers an excellent environment for fermentation, and the Erhu area of its Yuanshan Township is the most northerly location in Taiwan where ‘Smooth Cayenne’ pineapples are grown.
As countries around the world have reopened their borders, inter-national travel has been revitalized, and Taiwan is also opening wide its doors to welcome visitors. For this report, we went to the Siraya National Scenic Area to explore a number of scenic spots that embody the concept of sustainability.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently held the first New Southbound Policy Elite Study Program, in cooperation with Taipei Medical University, National Taipei University of Technology, and National Quemoy University. The one-semester curriculums provided students with a rich variety of content. Besides informative specialist courses, they also used time outside of class to explore Taiwan and try out Taiwanese cuisine.
In the course of more than 60 years as a sculptor, Pu Tian-sheng (1912–1996) experienced a series of stylistic transformations, moving from the traditional to the contemporary. While some of his statues evoke a Greek spirit, such as his group of Three Graces—Sunshine, Reminiscence, and Slim and Graceful—the busts he made of influential politicians and businesspeople are realist works that chronicle an important chapter of Taiwan’s modern history.
