What is the most noticeable feature of Taiwan’s streets? Would you guess convenience stores? According to the Ministry of Interior, the 12,000 registered temples in Taiwan are in fact similar in number to convenience stores. Despite often lacking any obvious signage, their characteristic red color schemes help them attract believers in nearly every corner of every Taiwanese city.
Outside of temples, folk religious beliefs have long been integrated into the daily life of Taiwanese, especially during the seventh and eighth months of the lunar calendar, when every household sets out a table of offerings for homeless ghosts. At this time, there is no event more elaborate than the Keelung Midsummer Ghost Festival.
Entering the solemn, elegant gate, the noise of the city seems to disappear instantly. This is Xingtian Temple (Hsing Tian Kong), one of Taipei’s busiest shrines.
Before the Premier12 tournament of the World Baseball Softball Confederation in 2024, a netizen who felt uneasy about the event went online to the divination webpage of Donggang’s Jhen Hai Temple and received a “fortune verse” with the meaning “following hardship, rewards will follow,” thereby giving a boost to fan morale. Later the Taiwan team did indeed win the competition, adding a new aura to the practice of divination in Taiwan. But just what is it that Taiwanese ask of the gods?
“If no one were rash and reckless in their youth, why would there be shrines to youyinggong by the roadside?” This Taiwanese phrase is an admonition used by many parents to urge their children to act with caution in life. It is also a reminder of the dreams of prosperity our ancestors had for their families when they bravely crossed the sea to Taiwan. Their tenacity is recorded for posterity by later generations, while the unclaimed bodies of some of those pioneers, which lie at eternal rest in
India has the largest population of any country in the world, and among the more than 150 countries around the globe where Taiwan’s Known-You Seed Company sells seeds, India is its number-one overseas market.
At a street corner near Khan Market in New Delhi, drivers of Indian government vehicles chat casually as they wait in line to recharge the batteries of their electric vehicles. We point to the EV charging stations, built by Taiwan’s Delta Electronics, and ask: How long does it take to recharge? How far can you drive on a single charge? The Indian drivers respond to our questions in a friendly manner as they emphasize: “This is Green India.”
Many Asian countries share a love for soy sauce. The soy sauces in all these countries may well share a common origin, but there are also local differences. What is unique about Taiwanese soy sauce?
People think that Bamboola owner Liu Wenhuang’s “puzzle boxes” are based on curio cabinets or trick boxes in Chinese craft traditions, but Liu doesn’t agree. Countering such observations, he does not mince his words: “Do you know what creativity is about?”
Walking down Dingheng Street in Nantou County’s Zhushan Township, we are drawn to the retro handwritten sign of Yuantai Bamboo Crafts, a workshop that is breathing new life into a declining industry.
