10 things Taiwan does better than anywhere else
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- About 70% of Taiwan tourists will visit a night market
- Taipei houses a collection of 650,000 Chinese artifacts and art -- largest in the world
- Taiwan has won the most Little League World Series championships
(CNN) -- Editor's note: This story is part of a series highlighting superlatives of countries around the world. Click here for pieces onItaly, the United States, Canada and South Korea, and watch for upcoming installments featuring other countries.
With 23 million people crammed onto an island that covers just more than 36,000 square kilometers, Taiwan ranks among the 20 most densely populated places in the world.
Although the industrious island has built a global reputation for cheap electronics, this is one Asian tiger that offers far more than stickers on the backs of calculators.
Economically there's little it has left to prove, but Taiwanese people remain a proud and determined bunch.
Here are 10 things they do better than anyone else.
美國有線電視新聞網CNN，列出台灣比起其他地方都「無人能及」的10件事，其中夜市、主題餐廳、免費WiFi和健保、故宮館藏都列在其中喔。台灣面積小，但卻有超過300座夜市。CNN在文中表示，夜市這麼受歡迎的原因，也許是因為台灣特有的「小吃文化」，像是臭豆腐、蚵仔煎、甜不辣、炸雞排等等小吃，以及暢銷全世界、到台灣旅遊必喝的「珍珠奶茶」等等。台灣觀光局也曾統計，來台旅遊的遊客中，就有超過70%的旅客一定會造訪夜市。
1. Night market 遍布全台的夜市
These open-air bazaars are particularly loved
for street food, referred to locally as xiao-chi, literally "small
eats."For an island smaller in area than Switzerland, Taiwan sure has a
lot of night markets -- an estimated 300 island-wide.Perennial favorites are oyster omelets,
stinky tofu and an assortment of snacks on a stick straight off the grill.
Specialty drinks range from bubble tea to
shots of snake blood.
According to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau,
some 70% of tourists to Taiwan will visit a night market.
The top three Facebook check-ins for
2013 in Taiwan were all night markets; Tainan Flower Night Market (12th
globally) nabbed the top spot, followed by Luodong and Feng Chia night markets
in Yilan and Taichung, respectively.
2. Themed restaurants 種類繁多的主題餐廳
If
literal toilet humor (eating out of miniature urinals and toilet bowls) is your
idea of an amuse bouche, Taiwan provides a belly full of laughs.Modern Toilet restaurants address taboos pertaining to dining
etiquette, posing witty rhetoric on websites such as: "To eat or to pee?
Now that is the question."
At the
other extreme, you can get a cutesy overdose at a Hello Kittynamesake cafe, where everything from burger
buns to soup bowls is shaped like the mouthless cartoon cat. (For more on the
kitty obsession, read point 9 below.)
What's
that? Can't get enough pink and glitter?
That's
OK, because Taiwan is home to the world's first Barbie-themed restaurant, with Mattel-approved
smotherings of pink plastic and frilly tutus.
Previous
themed restaurants in Taiwan have included a cafe based on an Airbus A380,
complete with trolly dollies serving food and drinks from a cart, as well as
restaurants with jail, hospital and school-inspired themes.
3. Free
WiFi 擁有許多熱點的免費WiFi
Since 2011, Taiwanese citizens
have been able to log onto iTaiwan, the island's free WiFi network.
Taiwan is one of the first places
in the world to offer free WiFi on a mass scale.
In June 2013, the service was
rolled out to tourists in four of the five largest cities, using more than
4,400 hotspots.
Visitors can sign up for an
iTaiwan account with their passport at Taiwan Tourism Bureau centers and
offices in transportation stations, then receive complimentary WiFi in Taipei,
New Taipei, Taichung and Tainan.
4.
Chinese artifacts 故宮內超過65萬件珍藏的中國骨董
You might think it'd be in
Beijing or Shanghai, but the National Palace Museum in Taipei houses the
largest collection of Chinese artifacts and artwork in the world.
The impressive permanent
collection comprises more than 650,000 items.
Chinese history is told through
bronze statues, jade carvings, calligraphy, lacquerware and other historical
pieces -- many of which belonged to Chinese imperial families -- including an
intriguingly life-like, meat-shaped stone and a jadeite cabbage.
Despite several rounds of
building expansion, only a fraction of the collection is on display (no more than
10,000 items at any one time), making the museum worth returning to several
times a year.
5.
Animated news 擁有超過400名動畫師並能在90分鐘內，以動畫呈現新聞的壹傳媒動畫公司(NMA)
With an
army of about 400 animators, Next Media Animation (NMA), a Taiwan-based
animation studio, can turn any news story into a cartoon in as fast as 90
minutes ('making-of' video here).
More
impressively -- the videos are usually satirical, outrageous and hilarious.
The
studio, created by a Hong Kong media tycoon, takes infotainment to another
level.
Founded
in 2007 to create CGI-animated videos for news without real footage for Apple
Daily News in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the talents of Taiwan's animators were
exposed to the world with the 2009 release of their hilarious video of what
might have happened during Tiger Woods' infamous car crash.
In the
video, now ex-wife Elin Nordegren chases Tiger Woods' car with a golf club
after finding out about Woods' affair.
After
the video went viral, the company decided to service international audiences in
Japanese and English.
Some of
the team's most popular recent works include a video about the execution of Kim
Jong-un's uncle and a review of five stories that must die in 2014.
6. Mock
meat 台灣素食主義者僅約人口的10%，但全台卻有超過6千家提供各式美味素食料理的餐廳。
One of the world's most
vegetarian-friendly destinations, Taiwan offers 6,000 or so restaurants serving
an impressive variety of delicious vegetarian fare to feed the 10% of the
country that shuns meat.
But while it can't beat India in
terms of the abundance and variety of vegetarian dishes on offer, Taiwan is the
best place to hit when you're craving meat but don't actually want to eat any.
That's right, we're talking about mock meat.
Given how important flesh is to
the traditional Chinese diet, it's no surprise Taiwan's fake meat -- usually
made of soy protein or wheat gluten -- can fool even hardcore carnivores.
Yes, there have been scandals
that revealed actual meat inside supposed mock meat dishes. But it's is a
thriving industry here and is considered a staple across Taiwan.
Mock meat stir-fries in
particular taste surprisingly like the real thing.
7.
Little League baseball 獲得最多次少棒賽冠軍，以及全民瘋棒球的熱潮。
Baseball may be Taiwan's most
popular sport -- diamonds are almost as common as dumplings around the island.
Taiwan holds the record for the most
Little League World Series championship titles (17), nearly double that of its
closest runner-up, Japan.
Adding to a cabinet of trophies,
a team from Taiwan won the 2013 Junior League Baseball Junior World Series.
In a year
when the Obamacare debacle played out in global headlines, it's worth to noting
that Taiwan has what many call the best universal healthcare system in the
world.
Legal
residents can visit any specialist in the country.
Docs
anywhere will pull up their entire medical record via smart card, consult and
prescribe Chinese medicine and/or prescription drugs.
Fees are
billed directly to and reimbursed by the National Health Insurance
Administration, whose 2% administrative costs are the lowest in the world.
Taiwan's
obsession with the Japanese-born Sanrio character doesn't stop at feline-themed
restaurants.
Taiwan
holds the distinction of being the first in the world to be honored with Hello Kitty-branded beer.
Brewed by Taiwan Tsing Beer,
the drink purred its way onto the shelves earlier this year.
The light
brew features fruity flavors, from lime to a distinctly avant garde banana
infusion.
Eva Airways in 2013 made headlines with the resurrection of its themed
planes, which feature the ubiquitous cat on everything from exterior liveries
to headrest covers to fruit, which is cut in the shape of you know what.
Eva
Airways' dedicated Hello Kitty Jets site offers horizon-expanding trivia,
including Hello Kitty's height (five apples tall) and weight (three apples).
The Grand Hi-Lai Hotel in Kaohsiung offers Hello Kitty-themed
rooms, the cat's iconic ribbon and/or silhouette stamped on everything within
eye(sore)'s reach.
Pink
kitty curtains, kitty bath amenities, kitty tea set and a radio that plays
Hello Kitty music are all involved.
Not
reaching for the insulin shot yet? Then you can book a breakfast date with a
talking and moving "live" Hello Kitty.
Yes, we
recognize xiaolongbao as a delicacy homegrown in Shanghai,
but Taiwan is slowly taking over the dumpling world, one broth-filled bite at a
time.
Starting
from a single shop in Taipei, Din Tai Fung now serves its famed xiaolongbao in
destinations as far flung as Australia, Thailand and the United States.
Two of
its Hong Kong branches have earned a coveted Michelin star, with the mothership
Xinyi store in Taipei sneaking into the Miele Guide.
Not bad
for a chain restaurant, and not a "fancy" one at that.
When Tom
Cruise visited Taiwan in 2013, he joined in on the 18-pleats-per-dumpling
action with a cooking class at the shop's Taipei 101 branch.
Even
better? CNN put Din Tai Fung at number two on its list of best franchises for
travelers.
資料來源：CNN
資料來源：CNN
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