Tamsui District in New Taipei City has many tourist attractions, including its old quarter, beautiful riverside, and downhome culinary treats. There is also Fort Antonio, built more than 300 years ago by the Dutch; the former British Consular Residence; Hobe Fort; and popular scenic spots where people love to take photos and check in online. These attract an endless stream of visitors.
Which school lunch dish do you miss the most? Dried seaweed? Braised chicken leg? Or perhaps corn soup? Many grown-ups miss the economical, nutritious lunches of their schooldays. In recent years, Taiwan’s school meals have transitioned from simply sating students’ hunger to emphasizing good taste and healthfulness, and have moved toward supporting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In 1980 Taiwan Panorama reported on the pioneering local magazine Today’s Meinung. Its founder Huang Sen-sung numbered among the first wave of young returnees to Meinong in Kaohsiung from the big cities. At Huang’s urging, Lin Hwai-min led his renowned Cloud Gate Theater dance company “to go down country” and perform in Meinong. It was a big deal at the time.
Every era has its music. Beiguan music was once Taiwan’s main popular music. Today, although Beiguan has fallen into decline, the Li Chuen Yuan Beiguan club of Changhua—the oldest amateur Beiguan organization in Taiwan—still rehearses almost every day. Meanwhile, the professional Hanyang Beiguan Troupe continues to perform year in and year out, acting out traditional dramas that are authentically Taiwanese.
The National Taiwan Museum is fostering dialogue across time and space for immigrants from Southeast Asia by curating a special exhibition in which they collaborate in tracing the history and culture of the museum collection, empowering them to tell the stories of centuries-old cultural relics that originated in their overseas homelands. This is also a fine demonstration of the museum’s commitment to cultural equality and respect for diverse communities.
According to Taiwanese folk belief, the Earth God is a guardian that watches over the soil. He is as “grassroots” as a divinity comes in Taiwan. When it comes time for farmers to pray in spring for good crops, and to give thanks in the autumn for a bountiful harvest, they may craft a handmade staff and drive it into the soil at the edge of a field.
Rich Huang, who received a Special Contribution Award at the 2020 Golden Melody Awards, has worked in the music profession for over 50 years and has been involved in the recording of nearly 100,000 songs. His drums have been the heartbeat of popular music in Taiwan. No matter what the style, be it rock and roll, funk, jazz, or folk music, the drum parts played by Rich Huang have accompanied Taiwan’s changing society.
The Taiwan Art Exhibition (Taiten) was the first large-scale art show to be held in Japanese Taiwan. When it was launched in 1927, three young Taiwanese painters were selected to exhibit their works. They dazzled the audience with paintings of local subjects that showed a fresh immediacy.
The Big Issue, a street paper founded in the UK, opens people’s imaginations to what employment for homeless people can look like. In Taiwan there are numerous organizations working hard to cultivate the employment skills of the homeless, such as Wanderers’ Table, with its night-market stalls staffed by homeless people; Yo Wash, which specializes in power washing; and the community cleaning service Jujiamei. These organizations are weaving a safety net of support for homeless citizens.
In Disney’s The Lion King, the runaway lion cub Simba meets Timon and Pumbaa, and then embarks on his hakuna matata (“no worries”) journey. When hunger eventually drives him to take a few steps down the food chain, Simba tries a caterpillar, lifting an eyebrow as he chews and remarking with surprise: “Slimy yet satisfying.”
