Most visitors to the popular southeastern county focus on either the coast or the East Rift Valley, but the area’s string of scenic mountain towns also deserves attention. One moment I was reveling in the scenery, happier than I’d been for weeks. The next, I was pushing branches aside and wondering if it was wise…
Some areas of southern Taiwan have recovered more rapidly than others from the powerful 2009 typhoon with its deadly flooding and landslides. BY STEVEN CROOK AND ERYK MICHAEL SMITH Typhoon Morakot, which smashed into central and southern Taiwan on August 8, 2009, was the deadliest, most destructive storm in Taiwan’s recorded history. The typhoon dumped…
By Steven Crook and Katy Hui-Wen Hung “My father was born in 1926 in Tamsui. My mother was born in 1930 in Tokyo, where my grandfather (who was from Banqiao; my maternal grandmother was from Tainan) worked as a financial advisor until 1946. During the war, both of my parents ate hiromaru lunchboxes, with the…
By Steven Crook and Katy Hui-Wen Hung “My grandmother cringed at the very mention of sweet potatoes. She was born and raised in Tainan, and when she was growing up, sweet potatoes were all her family could afford to eat. In later life, the thought of eating sweet potato in any form repulsed her. Even…
Katy Hui-wen Hung and Steven Crook discuss their newly published book. Katy Hui-wen Hung: I grew up in Taipei, studied in the U.S. from 1984 to 1986, and have lived in the UK since the late 1980s. Some years ago in the UK, I got to know Marlena Spieler, the acclaimed cookbook writer. Marlena, an…
Attitudes and facilities have improved, but much more still needs to be done. Taiwan is a crowded place. The population per square kilometer is nearly 20 times that of the United States, and the cities are crammed with parked vehicles and snack vendors. Although accessibility for wheelchair users has improved in recent years, for the…
Around the time the Mengjia Longshan Temple (艋舺龍山寺) was founded in 1738, a grim aphorism was circulating on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Cha̍p lâng lâi tâi saⁿ tī la̍k bông chi̍t hôe thâu (the Holo pronunciation of 十人來台 六亡三在一回頭) translates as: “Of every ten people who have reached Taiwan, just three remain; six…
The north-central county may not be on most tourist itineraries, but it contains a number of worthwhile attractions. For Taiwanese eager to explore their country, Miaoli is synonymous with Hakka culture and charming towns in the foothills. But for international tourists, the county is largely unknown territory. Even those foreign travelers who devote a day…
In November last year, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je added a new term to Taiwanese Mandarin: “Miaolization” (苗栗化). Commenting on the tendency of some local government leaders to borrow heavily, Ko said several cities and counties were in danger of ending up in straits as dire as those of Miaoli County. The previous month, just after…
An introduction to routes to almost all parts of the island. Taiwan has more than 41,400 kilometers of freeways, expressways, highways, and urban and local roads. Despite the popularity of cars (ownership reached 322 vehicles per 1,000 people in 2014) and especially motorcycles (676 per 1,000 residents), much of Taiwan is served by regular public…
