12 Facts about Taipei & Taiwan
In short : I just think that Taiwan deserves more recognition, so I did a list of 12 insightful informations and metrics that will, I hope, give you a better overview of Taiwan & Taipei.
First, forget the “made in Taiwan”.
The manufacturing industry is still powerfull, efficient and influent but Taiwan and Taipei have way more (good) things to bring to the world.
It is a smart, connected and wise place, with various and rich resources.
Its DNA is of a unique mashup, made of chinese and japanese roots, incremented with aboriginal and ancestral cultures, with also some injections of western influences. Taiwan is also probably the most progressist asian country, regarding social and ecological issues.
13 languages
The most used language is “traditional Mandarin”. Pretty close to “simplified mandarin”, the official language in China, but with a different writting.
Most people, around 70%, especially in the middle and south part of the island, speak “Taiwanese” (sometime also called “Hokkien”), a language from the Fushian area. Hakka is another chinese rooted language that is still quite used. 20 aboriginal languages have been identified, and 16 of them have been officially recognized by the gouvernement. Among them 10 still remains, others are not really used anymore, or close to extinction.
Some of the elders, mainly in the north, still speak japanese.
Sunflower movement
2014 was a turning year for Taiwan.
Students and civic groups (like .g0v) went to the streets and occupied some official buildings, like the parliament, to protest against a trade pact that the government (ruled by the Kuomintang party at that period) planed to sign with the People’s Republic of China.
Two years later Tsai Ing Wen become the first woman president of the country, and started to develop a more progressist policy (abandoning nuclear power, allowing gay marriage…).
Gay marriage
Taipei is a gay friendly city and has one of the biggest gaypride in Asia.
A law that would officially allow gay marriage is on tracks. Taiwan will probably be the first asian country to legalize it.
Another fact related to social and gender equity : Audrey Tang, programer and activist, became the first transgender minister in the world, at the age of 34.
“Keep Trash off the Ground”
Taipei’s streets are extremely clean. The governement launched in 1997 a big action plan to to challenge the trash issue. The most visible (and funny) part of it (at least for foreigners) is probably the domestic trash collect system, that involves trash trucks playing 8 bits tunes such as “letter fur Elise”. Now the city of Taipei upcycle 55% of the domestic trashes, not yet like Amsterdam and Copenhaguen but better than Paris, Barcelona and Milano.
National Lottery
The governement developed an interesting and mostly digitalized lottery system : every purchase, even at the convenient store, gives you one chance to earn some money at the lottery. Taiwanese people collect all their tickets — called “FaPiao” — and every 2 months they have to scan the QR code’s tickets with their phone to check their gain.
If you don’t want to play the game it is ok, just save your fa piao and put them in one of these transparent box that you find in metro stations or convenient stores. They will be given to some associations involved in social fields.
Free wifi
The city of Taipei has more than 9000 free public hotspots.
100 000 000 connexions have already been recorded. The 3G and 4G networks work everywhere, including in the MRT (metro).
$48,095
Is Taiwan gdp per capita, according to IMF, in 2017.
It’s equal to Germany, Australia, Danemark and Austria, and just above Japan, Canada, Belgium, New Zeland, France, Italy and Spain.
23 Millions
23 millions people live on the island. It’s like Ivory Coast or Cameroon, and twice more than Belgium, Sweden or Portugal.
Taipei’s urban area covers 7M people, and the city itself represents 2.7 M people.
3,5$
It’s the average price for a meal in Taipei, in a restaurant.
Of course it can be more more pricey if you are looking more sophisticated meals, or way less if you just want to grab some street food.
165 high mountain
Taiwan is a paradise for hikers. The island has one of the largest density of high mountains in the world (275 peaks over 3,000 meters). You can easily find trails, even from Taipei. The island also counts 9 national parks.
2 hours
In less than two hours you can be in HongKong, Shanghai or Okinawa (Japan). In 2h30 you reach Manila (Philippines) or Seoul (Korea), and a 3h00 flight bring you to Tokyo or Hanoi (Vietnam).
UTC+8
You are in advance on the world. Morning can be dedicated to your asian and (north and south) american friends, and your afternoons for your european friends. At 6pm you are synchronized with the whole world.
