Now in its seventh year, the Overseas Art Travel Program sponsored by Taiwan’s National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF) functions as a pivotal promoter that helps budding artists realize their dreams. Temporarily immersed within an alien social milieu, funded artists free themselves of inhibited thinking, and emerge freshly energized.
In this age of excessive materialism, we tend to prefer new to old and quickly dispose of anything used. We’ve traveled this path for so long that we’ve stuffed Nature’s gullet with trash. With the natural world now rebelling at last, humanity is slowly awakening to the problem. We have been far too comfortable with the production-consumption cycle, with simply throwing away anything “old.” But can we change our attitudes? What if waste weren’t simply waste?
Given that the planet only has limited resources, perhaps solutions can be found in the circular economy, which emphasizes the sustainable use of resources. Embracing the ideal of humankind living in harmony with nature, the drinks container rental service “Good to Go” and the home appliance rental platform “Homeapp123” are creating a new economic model to bring more citizens into the circular economy.
Near the southern tip of Taiwan, at a five-minute drive from Pingtung’s Fangliao Station, there is a white two-story Japanese-style building. Like many family homes in Japan, this timber-frame house uses traditional carpentry joints. Yang San’er envisioned the house when he was 50, and he has done almost all the work himself, consulting just one book.
In 2016 The Wall Street Journal praised the Taiwanese as “the world’s geniuses of garbage disposal.” That same year the newly elected government proclaimed that Taiwan was entering the era of the “circular economy” as part of the nation’s “5+2” industrial innovation program. Instantly, the phrase became a buzzword. Nevertheless, many people mistakenly equate the term with recycling.
Interpersonal interactions are at the heart of diplomacy, and in the age of social media, technology makes it possible to convey friendship between countries even more rapidly and widely. And it is not just frontline diplomatic personnel who can feel this warmth—every netizen can do so too. Social media not only create an avenue for direct interaction between foreign affairs agencies and citizens, they also make it possible for countries to enjoy a wider range of contacts and closer ties.
Cycling along Provincial Highway 7A from Datong to Lishan, after topping Siyuan Pass we cross from Yilan County into Taichung City. At the 46 kilometer mark it is raining heavily, and cold. But by the time we pedal to the 49 km mark, the skies are sunny and clear as far as the eye can see. In less than ten minutes, we transition from bone-chilling cold to warm sunshine, showing that a bike ride can be as volatile as life itself!
Workshops that teach how to make things by hand are all the rage. Artisans and craftspeople can often be found offering lessons in department stores and outdoor markets. This growing trend of gaining hands-on experience with craft techniques reflects changing attitudes about traditional crafts in Taiwan.
Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) offer a traditional pork chop boxed meal, but they also feature a new series of mouthwatering combos with ingredients sourced from all over Taiwan; the railroad-fan owner of Fu Jing Restaurant sells lunchboxes in his hometown; and the Satoyama Animal Train brings humans closer to Nature with charming ecological scenes. Trains transport memories, ideals, and nostalgia for home, and recount tales of goodness.
Jack Hsu is always busy. Still just 28 years old, with hair combed back on top and cut short on the sides, a pair of round, Hsu-Chih-mo-style glasses on his nose, he doesn’t carry himself in the tentative way of so many people of his age. He has a quick mind, a well-developed perspective on film, philosophy, and society, and a manner that suggests a maturity beyond his years.
