Enjoying the Beauty of Taiwan Together

If we look at the geographical concentration of various service industries in Taiwan, rather than at the size of individual establishments, we find that the ubiquitous convenience stores, bubble tea shops, night markets, and vegetarian restaurants constitute a fresh and remarkable characteristic of Taiwan. This month’s Cover Story explores these prominent industries, each with its own defining ­features.

In this issue we also bring you stories on Taiwan’s unique hair salons, which combine hair styling with a shampoo massage; the creative art of terrazzo; Tainan City’s Cultural Heritage Architectural Materials Vault, where old construction materials are collected and preserved for reuse; and the evolution of school lunches and their contribution to realizing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Another authentically local story explores Taiwan’s herb culture: Herb expert Dasha Lee serves as our guide to help us understand the wisdom passed down from our ancestors.

Taiwan’s expertise in teaching Mandarin Chinese (a.k.a. “Huayu”) is renowned far and wide. In 2022 the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan worked with the Taiwan Mandarin Education Resources Center of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Huayuworld website of the Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) to create ten online courses for Mandarin learning. In addition, the MOE’s Mandarin Edu­cation 2025 Program and OCAC’s Let’s Learn Mandarin program are being promoted in more than 60 Chinese language teaching centers in Taiwan, to help make Huayu edu­cation a medium for broader inter­national access to Taiwan’s culture.

This year’s Taipei International Book Exhibition, held from January 31 to February 5, was a great success, and during the event Taiwan Panorama received much support and praise. A man from India told us how much he had enjoyed our February 2018 Cover Story on “Incredible India”; two French visitors said they had seen Taiwan Panorama in France, and very much liked our diverse stories introducing Taiwan; while three tourists from Thailand were touched that our magazine also has a Thai-language edition. Feedback from our readers is a strong motivational force for us to keep moving forward.

At the exhibition, Taiwan Panorama hosted an international press delegation made up of reporters from nine countries who were here to promote tourism and cultural exchange. As well as introducing them to our magazine, we held a prize draw in which one of the journalists won the top prize, leaving these visitors with an indelible impression of Taiwan. I wish to thank all the readers who offered us advice and encouragement. We invite you to visit our booth again in 2024, where we will continue to enjoy the beauty of Taiwan together.