Almost no matter which Chinese city you visit – Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, or Guilin (below) – you’ll spot people individually or in groups, in parks, on esplanades, and other public places, performing the slow, fluid, elegant movements that are a hallmark of the centuries-old discipline of tai chi chuan and its closely related, overlapping form qigong. And increasingly, you´ll see them practiced elsewhere in the world, as well (just yesterday I spotted two women do
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Throughout this country you´ll of course find plenty of wonderful Chinese cuisine from the mainland, Singapore, and beyond, but there are quite a few dishes which are quintessentially Taiwanese. Five of the most prominent:
Beef Noodle Soup (Niúròu Miàn)
Widely considered Taiwan’s national dish, this comforting bowl (top) features slow-braised beef — usually shank or tendon — simmered in a fragrant soy-based broth with star anise, ginger, and chili. Served with chewy wheat noodles and
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Officially the Republic of China, this island with a population of around 24 million – just a bit larger than the state of Maryland and just under half the size of Scotland – has been in the news lately both thanks to its controversial January 13 presidential elections and to its perennial potential (and especially in the context of other current crises in Ukraine and Gaza) as a world flashpoint due to mainland China´s obsession with eventually and forcibly annexing it. Taiwan is both o
Today I left Taiwan. For three weeks I was there, taking each day one by one. The reason was a wedding - a reason I turned into an an opportunity to turn this trip to Asia into something far greater.
It was my second time to Taiwan - a fact that never ceased to amaze Taiwanese. But in reality it was I who never ceased to be amazed by the Taiwanese people, who by the end of the three weeks, left me wondering, "have I ever felt this welcome in a country before?"
The wedding was a fun and also com
