After Taiwan’s ports were opened to foreign trade in the middle of the 19th century, the area encompassed by today’s Shoushan National Nature Park attracted successive Western naturalists and explorers, including the British consul and ornithologist Robert Swinhoe (1836-1877), the explorer William Alexander Pickering (1840-1907), and the travel photographer John Thomson (1837-1921).
When the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor released its National Entrepreneurship Context Index for 2020, comparing the environment for business startups in 45 economies, Taiwan was ranked third, behind only Indonesia and the Netherlands. In terms of entrepreneurship, two Taiwanese “unicorn” startups, Appier and Gogoro, have attracted particular attention internationally.
Kenting National Park, Taiwan’s first national park and its most visited, covers some 32,000 hectares equally split between land and sea. South Penghu Marine National Park is Taiwan’s newest national park. Covering an even larger 35,000 hectares, 99% of which is at sea, it features rare columnar basalt islets as well as rich, pristine coral reef ecosystems.
In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world, many countries imposed lockdowns, and schools, businesses and government offices were closed. But in Taiwan, thanks to successful disease control efforts, the public were able to live their lives almost normally. However, with the emergence of new variants of the coronavirus, in May 2021 a large-scale outbreak caused Taiwan to enter Level 3 of its epidemic alert system.
Mountains cover 70% of Taiwan’s land area, giving it the greatest concentration of high mountains of any island in the world. There are 268 peaks above 3000 meters, 26 times more than in Japan and 13 times more than in New Zealand. Of these, the tallest—Yushan (Mt. Jade), at 3952 meters—is located in Yushan National Park. The second highest peak, the 5-million-year-old, 3886-meter-high Xueshan (Mt. Snow) lies within Shei-Pa National Park.
In 2016, members of a New Zealand family that were scattered across Germany, Argentina, and the United States and had not seen each other for years decided to hold a reunion. Their chosen location? Taiwan, famous for its food. The decision was made by their father, who was himself a chef. After arriving, they first took an English-language walking tour provided by Like It Formosa to get a quick but in-depth look at Taipei before heading out to enjoy the food.
“Life finds a way.” To this famous line from Steven Spielberg’s film Jurassic Park, Taiwanese pteridologist Kuo Chen-meng supplies a footnote: “Ferns are perfect examples of how life will always find a way.”
Four hundred million years ago, woodlands were dominated by ferns. Their preponderance was later usurped by spermatophytes—first gymnosperms and then angiosperms. However, far from going extinct, ferns evolved stronger mechanisms that enable them to cope and thrive.
In 2016, diorama artist Hank Cheng, who had been making miniatures for less than a year, bested contestants from around the world to claim a double championship at the prestigious Japan Hamamatsu Diorama Grand Prix with his Thank You for Taking Care of Me, a 1:24-scale model Japanese eel restaurant. To date, Cheng is the only non-Japanese winner of the contest.
One of the joys of strolling through the back streets of Taiwan’s urban neighborhoods is unexpectedly coming across a quirky shop or snack joint. Characterized by the unusual products they have on offer, as well as their proprietors’ creative approach to life and enthusiasm for social interaction, these establishments exhibit a grassroots vitality that captures the beauty and essence of their locales.
Often unseen but essential to everyday life, they hold together objects as large as airplanes, aircraft carriers and skyscrapers, and as small as cellphones, watches and eyeglasses. “They” are fasteners—hardware devices like nuts, bolts, and screws that hold things together. When two things need to be assembled or connected, fasteners are crucial to keeping them tightly joined.
