Balancing Production and the Environment

The Underforest Economy Takes Off

The plant life of forests is rich and varied. Raising bees on the forest floor can provide an abundant supply of honey, while the bees can also increase the rate at which trees set seed. Raising chickens and growing mushrooms on logs can bring in additional income that helps foresters plant mo......

What Indigenous People Can Tell Us

An indigenous friend of mine once told me: “There is wisdom everywhere in indigen­ous communities, and even children can be your teachers.” “Learning” from indigen­ous communities is quite different from anthropologists’ past approach of “studying” them. Indigenous communities are no longer me......

The Angel East of the River

Father Maurice Poinsot

Maurice Poinsot, 85, is a priest at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Hua­lien County’s Yuli Township, and is currently the oldest priest from the Paris Foreign Missions Society in Hua­lien. He has lived among Taiwan’s native peoples for more than five decades, writing a French‡Amis diction......

Schooled!—Young Indigenous People in Timur Community

Timur, located in northern Ping­tung County, is the largest Aboriginal community in San­di­men Township. During the Japanese Occupation Era (1895–1945), the Japanese forced neighboring Pai­wan and Ru­kai groups to live in one place, to make it easier for the authorities to control them, thereb......

Learning Huayu in Taiwan

—A Journey of Boundless Possibilities

Lukas Engström is a Swedish national based in Taiwan. Shortly after he started to learn Mandarin Chinese here, he visited a soft drinks bar to buy a cup of pearl milk tea. While in the queue, he kept repeating to himself the Chinese phrases he had to say to the staff. When at last he gave the ......

Soothing Taiwan’s Sweet Tooth

Stories of Local Pastries

Rivaling Willy Wonka’s legendary chocolate bars, and laden with even more stories than Marcel Proust’s madeleine cakes, Taiwanese pastries continue to satisfy our sweet tooth. With their origins in traditional Chinese confectionery, they are made with local ingredients rich in cultural meaning......

Tradition and Innovation:

The Protean Power of Instant Noodles

Who invented instant noodles? In Taiwan, we come across the forerunner of instant noodles, the world’s first instant noodles with sauce packets containing sumptuous chunks of meat, as well as those featuring distinctively local recipes that make use of Chinese medicinal herbs and huadiao, a cl......

A New Trend in Medical Tourism

—Healthcare and Health Maintenance in Taiwan

Hospitals in Taiwan possess high-end medical technology and equipment, and Taiwan is a world leader in certain specialties, including liver transplantation and reproductive medicine. Institutions here provide very cost-effective healthcare services and have a competitive advantage against the ......