Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A Westerner goes to see a psychiatrist at Tzu Chi Hospital. In reasonably fluent Mandarin, he says:“Doc, you’ve got to help me. Taiwan has become too vivid for me, too noisy. I swear I’m hearing trumpets and firecrackers even when there’s no festival at the temple next to…
Much of what is now downtown Taipei was once enclosed within city walls, with access through five gates. The area has a lot to tell about the city’s history. The Taipei city wall was completed by the Qing Dynasty in 1884. Although it survived for only 16 years, its influence on modern Taipei is still…
The types of facilities reflect changes taking place in the make-up of Taiwan’s tourism market. New hotels are continuing to open in Taiwan while the composition of the local tourism market goes through some major changes. Though tour groups from China used to account for a large proportion of the visitors to the island, tensions…
Taiwan offers a wealth of options for helping to improve wellness and mindfulness. In many countries, religious and spiritual retreats have become a counterweight to the relentless march of progress and materialism. The trend is especially evident in Taiwan, which is known for being a beacon of religious freedom and one of the world’s centers…
The classic garment is elegant and evocative of traditional Chinese culture. But do you need the figure of a professional model to carry off wearing one? As a Chinese-American, I have always loved wearing a qipao for special occasions. But after having four kids and living the diplomatic high life in Taiwan for three years,…
Thanks to Taiwan’s network of freeways and expressways, it is usually possible to get from the harbor metropolis of Kaohsiung to Kenting National Park — 110 kilometers away on the island’s southern tip — in a little over two hours. For local people trying to pack as much seaside fun into the weekend as possible,…
The central Taiwan city of Taichung covers just over 6% of the island’s land area and has a little under 12% of the population of 23.6 million, yet it includes a stunning range of landscapes. Near the coast, where visitors flock to the old temple town of Dajia and the wetlands at Gaomei, the terrain…
Visitors eager to get a glimpse of the Taiwan of yore can easily devote an entire day to Lukang and at least two days to Tainan. Lukang, a small town on the west coast, in its 18th-century heyday was one of the island’s foremost centers of trade, while Tainan was Taiwan’s capital for over 200…
No part of Taiwan is better suited to a slow-travel getaway than the East Rift Valley. This lush region stretches from just outside Hualien City to near Taitung City, 167 kilometers to the south by road. None of the townships in the valley has more than 25,000 inhabitants, and most have fewer than half that….
A new study by a leading economist concludes that policy choices were responsible for the economic slowdown. China’s slowing economy is not a big worry only for Taiwan. Much of the rest of the world has grown increasingly dependent on the Chinese playing a key role powering global growth. Some economists say that China’s booming…
