The King’s Boat

Every three years, a major religious ceremony is held at Donglong Temple in the town of Donggang in Pingtung County. It finishes with a boat being burned as an offering to Wen Wangye (“the Royal Lord Wen”), the main deity to whom the temple is dedicated. His specialty is warding off plague and......

Starting the Day Fresh and Early:

Fish Markets of Southern and Northern Taiwan

In Chinese the word for “fish” (yu) sounds the same as the word for “surplus,” so fish has always been an auspicious symbol. Fish is de rigueur at Lunar New Year, and the older generation will say it’s best not to eat it all, so that there is a “surplus” in the new year. Taiwan is surrounded b......

Top Billing

Taiwan’s Billfish Hunters

Worldwide there are 12 species of billfish—a group of large predatory fish whose upper jaws bear a long, bony spear- or sword-shaped bill. They include marlins, spearfish and sailfish (family Istiophoridae), as well as swordfish (family Xiphiidae). In different seasons of the year, six species......

Paul Katz, Tireless Explorer of Folk Religion

The triennial Wangye Welcoming Ceremony in Pingtung’s Donggang Township has been attracting large numbers of domestic and foreign tourists in recent years. Yet way back in the 1980s, before Wangye worship in Taiwan had received much scholarly attention, a young American academic named Paul Kat......

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 ......