Taiwanese society began to move towards modern consumerism in the 1930s, when department stores of unprecedented size opened their doors, offering access to a dazzling variety of merchandise. The shifting tides of time have since swept away these commercial giants. But with the repurposing of the buildings they once occupied, what visions are the new business ventures likely to conjure up in our imaginations?
Divers plunge into the water to plant pieces of coral into the triangular recesses of a concrete artificial reef. Meanwhile, back on land, local residents plant trees in seedling pots. One might say: “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s,” thinking that the land and the sea belong apart. But in fact land and sea are not separate realms. Rather, their fates are bound together.
Based on the sister city relationship between Taipei City and Prague, the Taipei Zoo presented the Prague Zoo with a pair of pangolins, and in 2023 they gave birth to a baby pangolin, marking the first ever successful case of pangolin breeding in Europe.
In 2024, researchers at the Biodiversity Research Center of the Academia Sinica discovered traces of wild brewer’s yeast in a forest. Remarkably, although Taiwan is small, it has the highest genetic diversity of brewer’s yeasts anywhere in the world. Moreover, it is easiest to find these yeasts on trees of the beech family, Fagaceae.
In March, not long after the Lunar New Year festivities in Taiwan, India also welcomed the spring with the celebration of Holi, one of the country’s major festivals. The India–Taipei Association, India’s representative office in Taiwan, marked the day by holding a Holi celebration in Green River Park in Yonghe, New Taipei City.
Anjanette Kattil, ambassador of the Republic of the Marshall Islands to the Republic of China (Taiwan), is fond of the xiaolongbao soup dumplings served at the Din Tai Fung restaurant as well as Taiwan’s hotpot and boba tea. When she talks about the links between the Marshall Islands and Taiwan, she mentions not only Austronesian culture and shared concerns about climate change, but also seafood culture and stinky tofu.
Slightly different from the Portuguese and Dutch, who once referred to Taiwan as “Ilha Formosa,” the Spaniards in the 16th century called Taiwan “Isla Hermosa.” These two monikers were alike in that they both had the same meaning: “Beautiful Island.”
Centuries later, the beauty and welcoming atmosphere of Taiwan have cast a spell on a Spanish diplomat, who without hesitation listed “Taiwán” as his top preference for an overseas posting.
Is there anyone you’ve been friends with for 40 years?
Among Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, there is one that has been our friend for more than 40 years. It is the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and they have always spoken out on Taiwan’s behalf in major international forums such as the United Nations.
In recent years a number of young Bunun indigenous people have been returning to their hometowns and, through millet cultivation, have begun a renaissance of fading traditional millet culture. From one plant pot and one garden they have expanded outward, enabling Bunun millet culture to once again take root in their communities and continue into the future.
The Nile River floods every year, but those floods made it the cradle of Egyptian civilization.
If you wanted to identify a river in Taiwan that was prone to flooding but also essential to both the island’s agricultural civilization and its industrial development, then that river would be the Zhuoshui.
