From the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, Taiwan was known as the camphor kingdom. Over 70% of the world’s camphor was exported from Taiwan, to be used as an ingredient in smokeless gunpowder and in celluloid for movie film. These days natural camphor has largely been replaced other materials, and the glory days of the camphor industry are in the past. But by following a branch rail line in Taiwan we can get a glimpse of the sites where camphor once was harvested and processed.
“One thing that Small Island Big Song has taught me is to set aside the limitations of national borders, because the ocean does not have such boundaries.” So says BaoBao Chen, founder of the “Small Island Big Song” project, which aims to use music to link together Austronesian island countries and discuss environmental issues.
Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area in Yilan County used to be one of Taiwan’s three most important logging areas. Today it is a forest getaway where you can ride the “Bong Bong Train” to get a sense of the glory days of the forestry industry, and stroll along trails that were once used to transport timber. The wide range of elevations offers a rich variety of scenery, with hot springs and the chance to view the “sea of clouds.”
“When did Taiwan first appear on a world map?” “How do the details of Taiwan as depicted on old maps, such as its name, location, and shape, relate to Taiwan’s situation at the time?” Former Walkers Cultural Enterprise publisher Abel Wang asked himself such questions countless times during the 20 years it took him to write Taiwan on Old Maps from Around the World. He searched for answers in old maps held in major libraries and museums worldwide.
A sight that one would have thought could only be seen via time travel reappeared for all in the spring of 2021. The Forestry Bureau’s Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office worked with the bureau’s Chiayi Forest District Office to put the 105-year-old SL-31 steam locomotive onto the mountaintop branch line between Alishan and Shuishan, to haul wood cut during forest thinning. The scene recalled images of a century previous.
Founded 35 years ago, the National Symphony Orchestra has become famous around the world as the “Taiwan Philharmonic.” It has provided countless music lovers with timeless melodic feasts, and has become a platform for elite musicians to make their dreams come true. As the Covid-19 pandemic has raged for nearly two years, the musicians of the NSO have held to their ideals and pursued the beauty of music, using sublime sounds to bring people peace of mind and the light of a brighter dawn.
The great gorge of Taroko National Park is made of limestone that was deposited on the sea floor. Tens of millions of years ago it was squeezed by plate tectonics into metamorphic rock (marble). Six million years ago it was uplifted by movements of the earth’s crust, and has been carved by the Liwu River into the towering, multifaceted landscape that it is today.
In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Taiwan assembled a “Team Taiwan” to manufacture and distribute surgical masks, and provided assistance to countries around the world that were severely impacted by the disease
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.
