“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.”
—Prayer of St. Francis

A seed is more than just the source of a single life; it is also an embodiment of culture. Culturally grounded seed conservation isn’t just about keeping plants alive; it also aims to pass down the legacy of related cultural systems, emotional memories and ecological wisdom. Jian Zilun has devoted his life to this alternative movement of cultural preservation.

Popular around the world, the “Adventures of Tintin” comic albums feature prominently in the collective memories of many.

Separated by a little more than an hour’s flight, Taiwan and the Philippines are in the same time zone and face similar social, economic, and labor issues. By harnessing the power of academic platforms, young scholars at National Chengchi University’s Center for Southeast Asian Studies hope to find solutions for issues such as land reform, poverty, and preservation of cultures.

“Not all of us can do great things,” said Mother Teresa of Calcutta. “But we can do small things with great love.”

Some 20 years ago, fishponds in one area of Taiwan and an elementary school in another were abandoned. But what do those places look like now?

Can you imagine a continuous, unbroken fiber that’s just one hundredth the width of a human hair, yet 10,000 kilometers long?
Ask most people what they know about the textiles sector and you’re likely to hear that it’s a dirty, dangerous “sunset industry.” But the fact is that Taiwanese businesses are integrating cutting-­edge technology into this age-old craft, and turning it into a new source of national strength.

An early human invention, clothing functioned to ward off cold; as civilization evolved, clothes became fashion symbols. In today’s fast-changing world of technology, clothes can interface with bodily signals, sensing heart rate, pulse, mood, temperature, stress. Soon technology will revolutionize everything we wear.

“Two Norths, One Heart,” a friendship that has lasted 18 years: Pei-cheng Elementary School in Yilan County and Kitazono Elementary School, its sister institution in Aomori Prefecture in Japan, share the Chinese character for “north” in their names (pronounced bei in Chinese, kita in Japanese). They have forged a close relationship through regular cultural exchanges.

You’ve probably seen clothing recycling bins on street corners. They’re everywhere, often overflowing with clothes. Though most people forget about them the minute they pass, the bins highlight an important issue.
The world produces more than 100 billion items of clothing per annum. With the old ever more rapidly making way for the new, Taiwan alone throws away more than 200 million garments every year.