Taipei, a Meeting Place for Valentines - 臺北市首座

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EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

Taipei is a place of bliss for people in love, for here you enjoy two Valentine’s days each year, not just one! There’s the familiar Western version in February and the traditional —

and much older — Chinese Valentine’s Day, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. In this issue of Discover Taipei we take you on a whirlwind tour of all the local scenic spots and activities that sweethearts love to rendezvous at. This will surely put you in the mood — for exploration, and perhaps even for romance — on Chinese Valentine’s, an experience doubtless unlike anything you’ve ever had.

The origins of the Chinese Valentine’s lie in an age-old Chinese folktale, a tender story of love and denial. If you happen to be single and feel like changing that fact we invite you to visit the local, and very famous, Xiahai City God Temple with us, for here you can ask the God of Love of the Far East to bring romance to your doorstep. If already attached just head over to the not-far-away section of Zhongshan N. Rd. known as Bridal Veil Avenue, where you can check out the different artistry styles of the many wedding salons and have romantic photos taken as eternal testament to your love.

On the traditional Valentine’s there are things to do from daybreak into the deep night following. The word for the day — two words, actually — shall be “elegance” and “romance.” During the daylight hours, lovebirds bursting with sweet songs of passion and vitality can tour the city’s riverside expanses on bike trails meandering through the Dajia and Dadaocheng parkland sections, or amble down to Taipei Water Park for some slippery, uninhibited raucous fun at the 2008 Taipei Water Festival. That night slide over to the Miramar Entertainment Park for a romantic dinner in, of all places, a carriage on a giant rooftop ferris wheel, at the same time partaking of the loveliness of the Dazhi Bridge off in the distance below and the coruscating night-time views. Moving back in time just a wee bit, the Dadaocheng Fireworks and Music Festival is staged by the Taipei City Government before Valentine’s, an event resplendent with the heated emotions caused by the fireworks and the romantic notions stimulated by the music. Visitors from overseas will find this one of Taipei’s most senses-stimulating feasts of romance, not to be missed.

The Taipei Story House, housed in an exquisite old heritage residence brought to life almost a hundred years ago, the unusual public-party activities of the next-door Taipei Fine Arts Museum on weekends, and the exquisite art and fine cuisine of the National Palace Museum’s new Silk Palace, are just a few stars from the wondrous cast of characters given curtain calls in this issue’s cultural roll-call. Then again, if it is tranquility and not ebullient crowds that you seek, turn to the local cinemas literally form-fitted for the comfort of Valentine sweethearts, the ice-cream parlors around Tianmu and Zhongshan N. Rd., and the pastry shops, where you’ll be immersed in your own built-for-two-world of sweet delights.

On the arts front, we bring you the Riverbed Theatre, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, and the Rose Monument – Tsai Jui-Yueh Dance Foundation, inspired by the mother of Taiwan modern dance. And in our Creative Taipei section we sound our bugles to hail 2008 Art Taipei, Asia’s longest-running art fair. All of these happenings are must-experience events, by Valentine couples — and by everyone else for that matter — that bring the soul-uplifting beauty of the finest in aesthetics into everyday lives.

This year in the love-thick Taipei of Valentine’s season, we invite you to sally forth hand in hand with your special someone into an all-embracing world of romance!

Taipei, a Meeting Place for Valentines

Contents

04 Embraced by the Aura of Romance – Chinese Valentine’s Day

06 Xiahai City God Temple Where the Eastern God of Love Grants Wishes

Feature

08 A Childlike Piece of Architecture, a Dreamlike Castle – Taipei Story House

10 The Many Splendors of Weekend Evenings – Taipei Fine Arts Museum

12 Taipei’s Premier Spot for Rendezvousing – Miramar Entertainment Park

14 Purveyor of Art and of Fine Dining – The National Palace Museum’s Silk Palace

Architecture

16 Zhongshan North Road – Romance Avenue

20 Traditional Qipao and Modern Western Attire Custom – Tailored Glamor

Marketplace

22 In Love with Valentine’s Day

Taipei a Fountainhead of Tender Sentiments

23 Tasters – Where to Taste Once Is to Love Always

24 Le bouquet – Where French Romance Simmers

25 BLACK AS CHOCOLATEWhere Sweet Decadence Comes Dressed in Choco-Black

26 Eating Here Every Day Never a Health Burden – Ouishi

27 An Artist’s Perspective in Purveying Sweet Things – Yuan Wei Lu

28 A perfect Diet at Bigtom

29 Taipei’s Highest Natural-High Ice-Cream Shop – Cold Stone

Food

30 Chinese Valentine’s

Hook Up in a Special Cinema Just for Lovers

32 Lovers’ Ambles along Taipei’s Bike Trails

36 A Rip-Roarin’ Romantic Party The 2008 Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks Festival

39 Your Best Place to Beat the Summer Heat – The 2008 Taipei Water Festival

42 Taipei, Where Love from around the World Converges and Is Spread Dr. C.V. Chen, President of the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China

44 Foreigner's Reflections on Taipei

Living In Taipei

46 Riverbed Theatre’s 10th Anniversary

One Hundred Nights’ Dreams

50 Taipei’s Most Exquisite Dance Locale – Rose MonumentTsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute

Arts

52 Xue Xue Institute — Taking Big Strides in Knowledge Acquisition

54 A Taiwan Design Luminary Lin Pang-Soong and His “My Homeland” Creations

56 Making ARTEX into a “Taiwan-version Montblanc” – Alvin Lee

58 Art Taipei 2008 – New Waves of Multimedia Art, New Way of Investment

Creative Taipei

Practical Information

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FEATURE

The people in Taiwan are most lucky, since they are able to celebrate Valentine’s Day twice! Besides the Western celebration on Feb. 14th, in the lunar calendar the seventh day of the seventh month is the

traditional time for expressions of love. Formally called “Qixi Valentine’s Day” (七夕情人節), often shortened to just “Qixi”, which means “the seventh evening of the seventh month,” this is also a time of romance and passion. Male or female, old or young, single or attached – in Taipei all are moved by the mood and filled with the desire for romantic love. The reason, you see, is a traditional tale of love passed down from generation to generation.

Legend has it that the supreme deity, the Jade Emperor, had seven daughters. The youngest was responsible for weaving design and production in the heavenly palace, an extremely important task. Because of this she was called the Weaver Girl. Working under the Jade Emperor was also a young Cowherd, responsible for the cattle. The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, oft crossing paths, soon fell happily into love’s embrace. And like so many young lovers, they began to neglect their work. To control this, the Jade Emperor sent a magpie to inform them they could only meet once each seven days. The befuddled magpie, however, told them they could meet each and every day, and soon they’d completely given up any thoughts of work, overcome by their amorous passions. The enraged Jade Emperor commanded they now could meet just once a year, on the evening of the seventh day, seventh lunar month. The troublemaking magpie was to serve as bridge, the lovers walking on the shoulders of magpies to come together. On this day, tradition says, it always drizzles, symbolizing the tears of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Through the ages this became a time for Chinese mortal lovers to meet, becoming Chinese Valentine’s Day.

Embraced by the Aura of Romance –

Chinese Valentine’s Day

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In the past, Qixi was celebrated throughout East Asia, including China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. But with the Meiji Restoration the Japanese switched to the Western calendar, and Qixi (known as “Tanabata”) is now celebrated on July 7th. The Japanese pronunciation for Qixi and the traditional pronunciation for Weaver Girl (“Tanabata-hime”; 棚機女) sound quite similar, though the “Tanabata” in each come from different characters. In fact, today most people call the Weaver Girl “Orihime,” from the same two characters (織女) used by the Chinese. In Taiwan, women follow the tradition of “begging for skills” (乞巧) on this day, entreating the Weaver Girl to grant them a pair of deft, skilled hands. The day has thus also come to be called the “Pleading for Skills Festival” (乞巧節), cooking up oil, egg, sugar, and flour to make a traditional festival treat.

This year, Chinese Valentine’s Day falls on August 7th . We may look up into the deep night skies on that day and, with our modern scientific eye, see the stars Altair and Vega separated by the Milky Way. But in Chinese and in the Chinese tradition what we are seeing is the magpie bridge (Milky Way) between the Cowherd Star (牽牛

星; Altair) and Weaver Girl Star (織女星; Vega). Chinese Valentine’s Day is not quite like its Western counterpart. The latter celebrates the requited love between paramours, parents and children, and friends. The Chinese version recognizes the sad realities of the everyday world as well, denying sweethearts the chance to be together because of work, military duties, opposition of parents, studies in faraway places, and so on, the two lovers yearning for the day their deep affections can be expressed again with a passionate embrace.

Make this Valentine’s a day for a lovers’ rendezvous to be forever cherished.

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FEATURE

Xiahai City God Temple Where the Eastern God of Love Grants Wishes

In legend, Qixi (七夕) or Chinese Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year when the young

Cowherd and Weaver Girl can be together. This is also the day when the God of Love, the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), is at his most powerful. Taiwan folk believe it is fate that brings lovers together (姻緣), and naturally flock to the Old Man on Valentine’s Day to beseech him to grant a happy fate. Today in Taipei, the Old Man at the Xiahai City God Temple is most renowned and sought out, even bringing overseas travelers to the hopeful goings-on. Xiahai is one of the few local temples to have on-site information in English and Japanese to guide the wondering foreign guests.

Reportedly, last year Chinese Valentine's Day overlapped with the Japanese Yulanpen Festival (于蘭盆節), and a group of young Japanese ladies on vacation made a special visit to the Old Man Under the Moon. The Xiahai

City God temple sits in the Datong District along Dihua Street, an important heritage area. Though it is small as “big” temples go, just 46 pings (1 ping equals 36 sq. ft.), it has been the core of the local people's universe faith since the area was founded in the 1860s, and is one of Taipei’s most important places of worship. Besides being the home to the City God, resident there are over 600 deity icons of all type residing there. But the most renowned, most beloved, and most visited is the Old Man Under the Moon, and thus the site is customarily called the Old Man Temple of the Old Man Under the Moon(月老廟).

1.You can keep the good-fortune pouch from the Old Man Under the Moon on your person. 2.Bring good fortune to others by fulfilling your vow to bring bridal cake upon your own wishes being granted.

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3.The Xiahai City God Temple, also long known as the Old Man Under the Moon Temple, is a key Taipei Historical Relic of the Third Grade. 4.The City God, the temple’s main deity, protects and blesses the local populace.

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In 1985, the Ministry of the Interior declared the temple an Historical Relic of the Third Grade, and has since used the City God’s wife and the Old Man Under the Moon, both similar in ways to Western gods of love, as the focus for publicity. Each year on Chinese Valentine’s Day, as the scented airs from burning incense sticks becomes especially thick and flourishing, the powers of the Xiahai Old Man to bring love into your life are notably strong, and known far and wide – but if you come to ask his favors you must strictly carry out the traditional rites, or you will have come for nought.

Each year the temple sees over a thousand new brides and grooms returning to pay back the promises earlier made when asking the Old Man to help. This year, why not head down to the temple at Valentine’s

and see what the Old Man can do for you if you’re single and looking for a honey? Temple attendees will help you with all the rituals, and you can also take in the many special and always exotic and fascinating events that the temple will be staging.

Information

Process for Requesting Romantic Love

1. The first time one visits the Old Man Under the Moon to ask for a sweetheart match, one must prepare white sugar, lead coins, the red silk thread the Old Man will be asked to pull on to tempt romantic fate, and joss paper. All these gifts can be purchased right at the temple, for about NT$310.

2. After lighting incense sticks, honor Tiangong (Ruler of Heaven), the City God’s wife, and the Old Man in that order. When doing so you must state your full name, address, date of birth (year/month/date), a description of the type of sweetheart match you seek, and what you will do after finding love to redeem the granting of your wish.

3. Next, temple attendees will help you ceremonially burn the joss paper and handle the tribute offerings, and you can eat the sweet foods and soup brought by others as payment redemption for the granting of their own wishes in order to sweeten your mood.

4. Finally, take one of the red silk threads draped over the Old Man’s shoulder, circle the censer before the temple three times, and place the thread on yourself to carry at all times.

The Xiahai City God Temple sternly warns worshipers not to take more than one thread, to avoid what is called the “spoiled peach blossom” (爛桃花) or unwanted and troublesome romantic entanglements.

Xiahai City God Temple

Tel: (02) 2558-0346

Address: 61, Sec. 1, Dihua St. Datong District

Hours: 6:00 am to 9:00 pm

Website: stweb.jcjh.tp.edu.tw/shahai/

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In the Xiahai City God Temple the Old Man Under the Moon is the most renowned deity, bringing the lonesome from far and wide on Chinese Valentine’s, with the incense smoke heavy and the requests for love many.

The paraphernalia of the love request, three incense sticks, spirit paper, and brown sugar

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ARCHITECTURE

In 1914, a Dadaocheng tea merchant named Chen Chao-jun (陳朝駿) decided to build a retreat on the bank of the Keelung River, and a lovely

Tudor-style villa was created. It was used as a place to entertain local gentry, politicians and tea dealers from different lands. Today this villa is called the Taipei Story House. After World War Ⅱ, it served for a time as the residence of the Legislative Yuan Speaker, Mr. Huang Guo-shu (黃國書). In 1979, it became the property of the Taipei City Government, and was handed over to the city-established Taipei Fine Arts Museum, which stands next door, to take care of. In 1990 it reopened its doors as home to the Artists Friendship Center (美術家聯誼中心), and in 1998 it was honored with designation as a city heritage site: The Yuanshan Villa (圓山別莊). After investigation into its original purpose and design, thorough restoration has been undertaken, and the villa now proudly once again shows off its true, original faces and colors.

A Childlike Piece of Architecture, a Dreamlike Castle

Taipei Story House

The Taipei Story House has special exhibits each season relating the story of Taiwan life and culture.

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In 2004 the Yuanshan Villa was looking for someone to adopt and take care of it. Chen Guo-ci (陳國

慈) stepped forth—the first private individual in the island’s history to take on responsibility for a heritage site. The lovely Tudor-style structure became her child, and she poured both much sweat and money into the newborn “Taipei Story House.” The old residence was brought into the modern era and given new life, again playing a role in citizens’ lives, helping us understand the story of Taipei over the past century and enjoy the superb aesthetics of a fine architectural-heritage gem. The site has become a favorite visiting spot for tourists, with its whimsical Tudor exterior akin to a child’s playhouse. The interior is tranquil and elegant. The seeming space limitations is more than compensated with the creativity of each exhibition, bringing pleasant surprise and commodious exposure to this important historical relic to all who come.

Be sure to take in “The Story of Folk Worship” special exhibition, running from April 12th to September 7th. Staged by Taipei Story House and the city government’s Department of Cultural Affairs, here you’ll find penetrating insight and explication of Taiwan’s traditional religious-worship practices.

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Taipei Story House

Tel: (02) 2587-5565

Hours: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, closed on Mondays

Address: 181-1, Sec. 3, Zhongshan N. Rd.(beside

Taipei Fine Arts Museum)

Website: www.storyhouse.com.tw

Story Tea House

Tel: (02) 2596-1896

Hours: 10:30 am to 10:30 pm, closed on

Mondays

website: www.storyhouse.com.tw

Information

Please refer to the map provided on p.61.

Spend a sensually romantic Valentine’s imbibing the dulcet tones of live jazz and the rich array of tastes from the creative kitchen talent of the Ritz Taipei hotel.

Story Tea House

The Tea House sits within the Taipei Story House itself. Run by the upscale Ritz Taipei

Hotel, this was the island’s first restaurant set up within a protected heritage site. Beyond the renowned Chinese and Western classics from the kitchen of the Ritz, tea is a must on the menu in a heritage site dedicated to the story of tea in Taipei’s history. Enjoy both set tea meals and delicacies a la carte, available at all times. The Tea House has distinct areas: dining inside on the first floor, beverages outside, and three separate exterior sections on the second floor. No matter where you choose you are regaled with fine views of this priceless architectural classic. Adding even more to the sensuous ambiance, dur ing th i s summer, each weekend evening there will be piano and cello jazz performance. And don’t miss the Chinese Valentine’s romance August 7th~9th, when each evening will be embraced by romantic musical ensembles, making for unforgettable memories for you and that special someone in a villa and garden scene of delightful whimsy and splendor.

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ARCHITECTURE

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On busy Zhongshan Road, one of Taipei’s key north-south arteries, stands the proud Taipei Fine Arts Museum, its architectural design itself an artistic showcase, standing amid splendid landscaped

grounds. The three-floor structure is strikingly presented through the form of cantilevered suspended corridors, from a bird’s-eye view taking the form of the Chinese character “井”, meaning “well.” The traditional Chinese architectural element of piled brackets atop columns supporting crossbeams has been used in the structure. The symbolic nature of this design suggests the fine-arts museum as a wellspring of flowing cultural waters. On all sides, walls have floor-to-ceiling glass to permit maximum natural light. The central courtyard is awash in natural lighting, with light and shadows stretching across the courtyard as the sun moves. The effect is to showcase the vivid effects of natural coloration. Night time, on the other hand, is a favorite time for photography buffs, who vie for the best shooting set-up spots. The striking special lighting provides riveting perspectives of the modernistic facility. The brilliant white exterior is wonderfully set off by the blues, greens, reds, and yellows of the night-sky spotlighting, the building itself becoming a magnificent artistic masterpiece.

The Many Splendors of Weekend Evenings

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

1.The special spotlight array of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum brilliantly highlights the tactile aesthetics of the museum’s architecture at night. 2.The international perspective of Japanese architect Toyo Ito’s “Generative Order”architecture exhibit. 3.Archilab is an exhibit of highlight architectural treasures created by France’s prestigious FRAC Centre. 4.Each Saturday night exquisite musical shows of all talents and styles are put on in the below-ground central courtyard, gratis to all. 5.The Taipei Fine Arts Museum and Shih Chien University’s school of clothing design put on the Magic Clothing Arts runway show. 6.The stimulating public art in the museum’s plaza.

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Information

Since October 2005 the curators have provided a special treat to the public, extending the museum’s

hours for visitors each Saturday night from 5:30 pm to 8:30pm, with no admission charged. An attractive array of extra events has been put on to give the public new, alternative choices in artistic recreation: exhibits, hands-on artistic production, films, music and dance shows, and more. Each Saturday at 7 pm a special “Music Night Banquet” (樂夜饗宴) is put on in the below-ground central courtyard, to give the public an aural/visual sensory-enjoyment duo, presenting musical performances featuring the saxophone, flute, string instruments, and sometimes full jazz ensembles. Beyond its exhibits and musical shows, Saturday Night Movie Programs provide another unique form of fun and learning for visitors, with a special movie showing at the end of each month. There is a warm sense of relaxed community that flows through the museum on these evenings, and you’ll be doing yourself a favor by dropping by the “neighbourhood” on one of these nights.

From June 14th through August 24th this year（2008）, the museum is proudly engaging with France’s

prestigious FRAC Centre in the joint exhibition Archilab, which will highlight some of the brilliant works in the FRAC repertoire. Over 200 architecture-related works have been selected, from 48 architects and artists. By viewing of the avant-garde and vibrating architecture design and city planning created between World War Ⅱ and today, the concepts of the urban utopia of the 1950s will be looked at afresh, the deconstructionism works of the 1980s analyzed, the impact of new technologies of the 1990s on architecture looked at in depth – and how all of this will be determining of the architecture of our future.

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"Please refer to the map provided on p.61."

Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Address: 181, Sec. 3, Zhongshan N. Rd.

Tel: (02) 2595-7656

Hours: Tues~Sun 9:30am to 5:30 pm, closed on Mondays

Night time hours: Saturday 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm (free)

Website: www.tfam.museum

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ARCHITECTURE

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By all measures, the Miramar Entertainment Park (美麗華百樂園) is considered Taipei’s most romantic, large-scale shopping mall. Miramar City Development Inc. (美麗城市發展公司) entrusted Japan’s Satoria

International Inc. (泉陽公司) to build Taiwan’s biggest rooftop ferris wheel, at a cost of NT$300 million, the second largest in all of Asia, bested only by the fabulous Hep Five Ferris Wheel in Osaka. The entertainment park gathers entertainment, sci-tech, and art in one wonderful synthetic whole, the expanse of the giant complex encompassing 38,000 ping (1 ping = 36 sq. ft.). Beyond the fantastical musical carousel, be sure to thrill yourself with the amazements offered in the IMAX 3D theater with its giant 25-meter screen, as high as an eight-story building. However, it is the giant rooftop ferris wheel that becomes the park’s defining icon-and the city’s favorite dating spot for impassioned sweethearts.

The ferris wheel has a total of 48 carriages, each with independent air-conditioning and stereo facilities. Each carriage can carry six people, and at its highest point it can reach the equivalent of 33 stories into the sky. A single rotation takes a slow, romance-stimulating 17 minutes. Each evening with the curtain fall of the night sky, 624 bright neon tubes burst into visual song in the coruscating“sky Music, Earth Colors, Wind Dance”(天之樂,地之彩,風之舞) light show. The eye-bedazzling visual extravaganza rivals that of the famed Tokyo Palette Town Ferris Wheel (東京台場摩天輪). No wonder so many lovebirds flock here to coo sweetly at each other!

From the mighty Miramar ferris wheel excited riders can see all the way to the Dazhi Bridge across the Keelung River. This architectural marvel was the world’s first “fishing rod-style” (釣竿式) cable-stayed bridge. The tallest bridge pillar soars 60 meters. The rice-white body of the bridge are paired alluringly with the red cables, indeed looking like a giant fishing rod from a distance. The novel shape and design have made the light-and-shadow aesthetics for this representative architectural work perhaps Taipei's

Taipei’s Premier Spot forRendezvousing

Miramar Entertainment Park

The grand and visually kaleidoscopic ferris wheel and merry-go-round at Miramar Entertainment park have been declared the city’s most popular rendezvous spot for lovers!

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most compelling. And the beauty is both softened and even heightened at night, when people come from all around just to gaze upon her. The reflected rainbow colors of the multi-hue spotlights dance upon the rippling waters below. Standing still upon the bridge and gazing toward the shore, the viewer sees the rippling, brilliant current of the streams of vehicles flowing along and the brilliant lights of the Miramar ferris wheel and is enveloped in the illusions of an impressionist painting. Before you spreads a field of romantic images, and you should be watching it while holding the hand of the one who has captured your fast-beating heart.

In 2005 the Miramar ferris wheel won first place in the “Taipei City Rendezvous ‘Hallowed Ground’ Online Election” (台北市約會聖地網路票選活動) , sponsored by Taipei City Government. In an online auction for limited-availability Chinese Valentine’s meals in 2006 the highest bid was a whopping NT$15,900, clear proof that Miramar Entertainment Park is among the city’s elite “romantic landmarks,” if not No. 1. When in the hunt for the next round of de rigeuer Valentine’s expressions of amour, chocolates, flowers, and romantic gifts, Miramar Entertainment Park is your one-stop shopping destination. But if you’ve

got an eye on sealing your sweetheart’s

love for you with the sweetest of all romantic meals—in one of the ferris-wheel c a r r i a g e s ! — y o u ’ d b e t t e r p u t t h i s magazine down right now and get your reservation in.

Information

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The magnificent tableau of myriad color as seen from the Miramar ferris wheel’s high point, centered on the Dazhi Bridge.

Miramar Entertainment Park

Tel: (02) 2175-3456

Address: 20, Jingye 3rd Rd., Zhongshan District

Transportation: MRT Danshui/Beitou line, to Jiantan station, go to right of Exit 1, catch the free Miramar Entertainment Park shuttle bus, about a 15-minute journey.

Website: www.miramar.com.tw

Hours :

Dept. store: 11:00am-10:00pm

Ferris wheel: 11:00am-midnight

Carousel: 11:00am-midnight

Supermarket: 9:00am-10:00pm

Movie-theater complex: Opens 10:00am

Miramar Cinemas (Dazhi): 10:00am ticket-sales start

Prices :

・Miramar ferris wheel:

Regular days: Full fare NT$150, students NT$120

Holidays: Full fare NT$200, students NT$150

・Carousel: NT$50 all tickets

・Miramar Cinemas (Dazhi):

Standard cinemas: Regular days NT$285,

Holidays NT$290,

Morning shows NT$240 all tickets

IMAX cinema: IMAX movie NT$350,

commercial feature film NT$400

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ARCHITECTURE

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This is a place of age-old cultured elegance with its high ceilings and “Imperial Delicacies from the Pavilion of Many

Treasures” - snack delicacies in seven varieties .

The National Palace Museum (NPM) is not just a repository of the greatest art of the Chinese

people, and not just a world-renowned cultural facility. It is an important historical site in its own architectural right. In order to bring together the international business traveler and the best in fine dining, visitors who have sated themselves on the rich banquet of cultural relics within are invited to sate themselves on the riches of the grand culinary tradition of the Chinese people. The attractive, majestic Silk Palace (故宮晶華) food and beverage facility is an NPM BOT enterprise; in 2004 the National Palace Museum Grand Formosa Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Formosa International Hotels Group, took on the task of building and operating the Silk Palace. After two-and-a-half years and an investment of NT$400 million, the palace was completed.

The Silk Palace opens its doors to the world in June, 2008. Situated on the west side of the museum’s main exhibition building, it houses two basement levels and three levels above ground. At its core is a fine-dining area of international caliber, totalling 1,455 ping (1 ping = 36 sq. ft.) in size. The exterior design is the exquisite work of celebrated Taiwan architectural master Yao Ren-xi (姚仁喜), who has respected the physical environment in which the complex lives and paid home to the defining character and traditions behind the priceless cultural masterpieces on display in the museum. Great curtains of glass have been incorporated into the four walls to maximize the feeling of grand expanse and breadth of vision.

The inter ior has been the benef ic iary of the talents of the recognized interior-design,

Hashimoto Yukio (橋本夕紀夫). In the grand lobby ves t ibu le , the sc reens between

dining tables, and on the walls the vis itor can revel in the visual images evoking the cracked-ice effect of Song Dynasty-era celadonware. In addition, the ritual vessels and musical instruments used in

Purveyor of Art and of Fine Dining

The National Palace Museum’s Silk Palace


ancient sacrificial rites are alluringly and imaginatively used here to both decorate columns and act as lamps and lanterns. The greatest paintings from the museum's superb collection are melded into the dining experience either via collages or in grand wall murals, adding that much more sophistication to the upscale experience.

The Silk Palace has a capacity of 1,200 diners. Your dining experience can range from just NT$50 to a sumptuous NT$5,000. Beyond the central kitchen on the first basement level, each floor offers a distinctive culinary experience and a distinctive theme. On the second basement-level concourse explore the world of traditional Taiwanese food and drink. On the first and second above-ground levels classic Chinese dishes can be enjoyed, the concentration on fine Cantonese fare but with many selections from the other famous Chinese Eight Cuisines (中國八大菜系). The second floor has a distinctive design theme featuring private rooms, and the third features a multifunctional banquet hall that can be readily reconfigured, and specially selects the cream of Chinese culinary treasures for your refined delectation in a formal banquet setting.

From the gastronomic themes to the clever themes chosen for all dining ware, all are a complementary synthesis with the museum's cultural relics, wonderfully delivering the unmatched historical culture of the Chinese culinary arts to your palate for tasteful enlightenment. What better dining experience might one give oneself to than gazing upon the National Palace Museum on the one hand, recognized as one of the world's five greatest museums, and gazing out over the invigorating green mountain vistas of the Waishuangxi (外雙溪) environment? This facility, designed by grand masters and sitting amongst grand natural and manmade masterpieces, is simply the newest addition to a vast treasure vault of dining locales that has made Taipei perhaps the greatest destination on the planet for culinary travel. Establishing a new fashion trend, it is Taipei’s first international-caliber dining facility in a tourist cultural site.

Information


Silk Palace, National Palace Museum

Tel: (02) 2882-9393

Address: 221, Sec. 2, Zhishan Rd., Shilin District

Hours: 11:30 am-2:00 pm, 5:00 pm-9:30 pm,

Website: www.npm.gov.tw

1.The high walls features great curtains of glass, and on the walls and throughout the interior are imitation Song Dynasty celadonware pieces, famous for their delicate natural patterns resembling cracked ice. 2.-3.The interior is enhanced with pillars and lamps of antique character, as well as painting melding images of the museum’s greatest artworks in the dining area.

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MARKETPLACE

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We’re getting hitched! Sometimes it’s just not enough to have

Heaven and Earth as your witness. No, you need more

concrete evidence of your declaration. What you want to do is to

get your soon-to-be-married booty down to Zhongshan North Road,

a broad leafy avenue lined with prestigious, far-known wedding

salons. With justification this has become renowned as “zhongshan

North Road Bridal-Veil Avenue” (中山北路婚

紗街), and the salons do dedicated service

as testimonial witnesses to your decision

to live happily ever after with that special

someone who has captured your heart.

Zhongshan North Road Romance Avenue

True Love Wedding Photo offers a special online service that has attracted many customers from overseas.


Special Overseas Services – No Communication Barriers while Setting Things Up

Taiwan was declared “Ilha Formosa”by Portuguese-sailor in the 1500s, meaning “Beautiful Isle.” This treasure island remains a favored beauty in the eyes and hearts of the many modern-day travelers who come from lands across the waters. As for Taipei, this city has everything from the superlatively modern Taipei 101 skyscraper to the Lin An Tai Historic Home (林安泰古厝), an intact courtyard-residence complex hundreds of years old. Taiwan has flora and fauna super-abundant Yangmingshan and the water-fun amusements at Taipei Water Park (自來水園區). These locations, for good reason as one might guess, are also the favorite backdrops for the many overseas travelers who come to have professional wedding photos shot here.

Currently, True Love Wedding Photo (真愛婚禮) has special services dedicated to the overseas customers. Its wide array of upscale services, as its management stresses, are quality-guaranteed, and a full suite of 20 photos, which will entail an initial one-on-one meeting with clients to determine needs and desires, will cost about NT$28,000. The salon supplies online credit-card transactions and other online customer services as well, conveniences that have attracted more and more foreign clients.

General manager Lai Bo-rong (賴柏融), with a sense of pride, states that “We respect and honor our newlywed clients throughout their lives. We invite couples back each year for shoots to create a 1 0 - p h o t o m i n i - a l b u m , and we also add another intimate touch by attaching specially-made birthday and wedding-day memento desk

calendars! This September, as part of the anniversary celebration of the founding of True Love, a series of special events and client perks are being planned, to last about a month.

France Paris & Saromant, another salon that does much to attract the foreign market, was established on Zhongshan North Road way back in 1986. Its quality service is proven in its growth, for it has become a business group with eight service locations on the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, in Taipei, Hong Kong, and Jiangsu, China. Its traditional wedding-salon services are fused with the minimalist contemporary design elements of the French fashion brand Celine.

The salon’s style of French aesthetics and romance has proven an alluring attraction for clients from Japan and both Europe and North America. The enterprise, therefore, has gained deep experience in dealing with overseas clientele. After arrival in Taiwan the customers first meet with their photographer to discuss their style desires and shooting locations. Then it’s off on the vacation-shoot tour, with all locations visited and photography wrapped up in just three days. France Paris is offering a special package to overseas clientele this year, with an all-inclusive service suite available, including one-on-one discussion session and a 30-photo album starting at NT$32,000. A complementary Italian-leather portfolio case is already presented as a gift.

Refined wedding photography and formal attire, from France Paris & Saromant.

The Wedding-Photo Shoots – Touring Taipei

Romantic Life, which proclaims that getting wedding photos done is “the essence of romance,” has become a romance sweet-spot for folks from Hong Kong, Macao, and other areas. It has a branch outlet in Hong Kong itself, but the customers still come for the “exotic” Taiwan shoots and the top-flight local service from the Taipei flagship salon, where staffs are fluent Cantonese speakers.

“Our overseas visitors typically are in town for just a short time,” says Romantic Life creative director Lin Jian-he (林建和). “Thus we have had to find ways to maximize the speed while maintaining the quality of each segment of the photo process. Take, for example, the average Hong Kong client couple. We first discuss as much as possible via e-mail before they come over. Building on our deep vault of experience and professionalism, in three days we can handle all apparel selection and preparation, all the shoots, and the photo-selection process. Then the couple can tour Taipei on the fourth day while we prepare all materials. In just four days we’ve done everything for you. And not only that! While here our photo team acts as your knowledgeable tour guides, even bringing you to the best spots for local beef noodles (牛肉麵) and xiao longbao (小籠包; little steamed bun)!”

Romantic Life builds on its deep experience to offer complete wedding-photo packages that take just 3-4 days from attire choice to shoots to photo choosing.

MARKETPLACE

Also on Section 3 of Zhongshan North Road and a close neighbor of Romantic Life is Royal wedding salon. However, though close in distance, the two are worlds apart in terms of style and service. The Royal interior décor is a sumptuous schematic blend of royal purple and black, in an expansive space of both regal dimension and pretension. The aura created is one of classical imperial elegance.

General manager Xu Ming-zhao (許明照) , a professional photographer by training, states that all of Royal’s formal-attire inventory are designed and made at a designated factory. Each month the salon acquires new sets of gowns worth NT$50,000 to NT$100,000 and more. Because of this, he says, the salon has become the arbiter of wedding-attire fashion in Taipei. Even more value is added to a selection of 30 photos, which will cost about NT$39,800, by the addition of numerous decorative-adornment peripherals for the shoots, which means ultimate value far exceeding the client's actual expense.

Beyond wedding photos, the talented people on Zhongshan North Road Bridal-Veil Avenue also do much more to make them a part of your life. Their services also include full-package artistic portraiture and family photos. Whatever it is you need, you’ll find yourself in the friendly hands of trusted pros here!

Discover Taipei 19

True Love Wedding Photo

Tel: (02) 2560-5268


Hours: 12:00pm-9:00pm

Website: www.truelove.com.tw

Royal

Tel: (02) 2597-5777



Website: www.royal-wed.com

Romantic Life

Tel: (02 )2598-6868



Website: www.romanticlife.oom.tw

France Paris & Saromant

Tel: (02) 2560-1361



Website: www.fpwed.com

Royal util izes royal purple and black in its façade and formal attire to create a sumptuous look and feel of aristocratic elegance.

Information


Discover Taipei

MARKETPLACE

Cheongsams that are custom-measured and hand-crafted have sleek and flawless lines and the look of nobility.

Hanching Cheongsams (漢清旗袍) has been serving happy customers for about 30 years. Opened by Hao Yu-ying, who herself serves as the expert in-house designer, the store is co-managed with her

husband, who has studied under masters of the craft since his youth. Yu-ying specializes in qipao featuring unique alterations and improvements, while her husband concentrates on traditional qipao.

“With the qipao or cheongsam the spirit resides in the collar and slit,” says Hao. “The higher the collar the loftier the nobility. If the slit is done well a long and lithe figure is properly shown off. Even if the wearer does not have the perfect form, no problem, with proper measurements taken and skill at the sewing machine, lines can be tapered and flaws concealed. And we’re not just talking adequate results, we’re talking beauty that will turn heads!” Justly showing great pride in her achievements, Hao says that whether the buyer wants a traditional or non-traditional qipao she and her husband bring unmatched expertise to the craft, with collars and slits especially creating the “qipao flavor” (旗袍味兒) that the average attire brand cannot bring to life.

A custom-made qipao from Hanching will set you back a mere NT$7,000 to NT$9,000, really nothing for a priceless lifelong treasure. Add fine embroidery and we’re talking more like NT$12,800, still a fantastic bargain at current exchange rates. Many foreign travelers drop in for custom fittings, Japanese qipao-lovers in the majority. International mailings are gladly handled, but if customers want their clothing sooner and aren’t in town long enough, the store recommends choosing off the rack and making alterations. You’ll then have your silky gem in just 3~5 working days. Finally, because few modern folk wear qipao outside of weddings and banquets, the store provides a very convenient rental service, with costs running about one-third the price of purchasing outright.

Traditional Qipao and Modern Western Attire Custom-Tailored Glamor

Hanching Cheongsams Special Store

Tel: (02) 2586-6781

Address: 53-6, Sec. 3, Zhongshan N. Rd.

Hours: 10:00am-9:30pm

Website: www.hanching.com.tw

Grand Tailor

Tel: (02) 2571-7431

Address: 81-4, Sec. 2, Zhongshan N. Rd.


Website: www.grand-tailor.com.tw

Information

Left to right: Grand Tailor combines knowledge passed on from generation to generation with the latest in fashions to handcraft the finest western attire, and clients include many well-known local and international public figures.

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Discover Taipei 21

1.Creative director Chen He-ping represented Taiwan in the Gold Needle and Thread International Competition at the 31st International Congress of Master Tailors in Berlin in 2005, placing second in male attire. 2.Erdusco Daniel, president of the Italy Apparel Association, specially led a group to visit Grand Tailor.

Like Hanching, Grand Tailor has been standing tall, erect, and proud on Zhongshan North Road for 30 years, providing custom-tailored fashions. Here, the trusted, tried, and true is continued by following the customs of venerable Shanghai masters, while new and novel concepts are also incorporated in such areas as the use of infrared technology in the measurement of lines. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, and Grand Tailor is frequented by persons of renown from both Taiwan and overseas.

According to creative director Chen He-ping (陳和平), Grand Tailor specializes in handcrafted suits, and can offer you both the best in tradition and the best in contemporary international standards. Today’s tailors, he states, are fastidious in their preparations prior to the actual measurement and cutting. One on one consultations with the customer are key, determining tastes and preferences, helping immeasurably in the selection of cloths and styles. Only then can the exacting measurement process begin. A suit takes about a week to prepare; a standard custom-tailored suit from a varied range of cloths and measurements will cost anywhere from NT$10,000 to NT$20,000.

The Chinese name for the store, which is pronounced “gelan”(格蘭), is a transliteration of the English “grand,” signifying superiority, of being No. 1. It also symbolizes the respect felt for the client in the custom-measurement and master-cutting (手工

剪裁,量身訂做). Treating yourself to a high-quality qipao or suit this Valentine’s is a lovely gift idea for yourself—but better yet, treat the apple of your eye to a stunning new suit or qipao and you’ll double the sense of romance.


Discover TaipeiDiscover Taipei Discover TaipeiDiscover Taipei

The ritzy Chocozing(愛巧克巧克力專

飲店), also situated in the Zhongshan Shopping Area, distinguishes itself with an iconic collection of chocolate-theme drinks, such as white coffee liqueur, chocolate smoothies, hot chocolate with marshmallows, and Button Chocolate Coffee. These are elegantly complemented by food treats such as chocolate fondue, chocolate cake, handmade chocolate truffles, and a myriad of other delights. This year Chocozing has also unveiled the fabulous Set Meal “Chocozing Sweetheart” specially designed for two to share. In this romantic meal, beyond the signature chocolate fondue, the two sweethearts can together savor the salad, light foods, handmade chocolate-almond crisps, and the restaurant's many types of beverages. All for just NT$999. This Valentine's, use the mystique and the dark magic of chocolate to fully conquer the heart of the target of your affections!

Aficionados declare that coffee is a bliss that a person cannot live without. The

1868 Daily Roaster, situated in the Zhongshan Shopping Area, selects only the finest organic beans and uses the best available roaster on the market, from Germany’s Probat, to prepare its coffees. These are accompanied by ultra-chic W&F cups and utensils, again from coffee-loving Germany. With each brew, prepared with great attention and care, each mouthful flows a blessed feeling of wellbeing. And great flavor too, of course! The café also uses organic flour, assorted food grains, and other ingredients specially imported from Germany to make delicious all-natural food treats. The chocolate bread has by far proven the most popular, its rich aromatic fragrance floating like the rich passions of those in the heat of love on Valentine’s Day.

Chocozing

Tel: (02) 2567-6785

Address: 1F, 12, Lane 42, Sec. 3, Zhongshan N. Rd.

Hours: 11:00am-10:00pm, closed on Tuesdays

Website: www.chocozing.com

In Love with Valentine’s Day Taipei a Fountainhead of Tender Sentiments

Information


1868 Daily Roaster

Tel: (02) 2559-2639

Address: 4-2, Lane 25, Nanjing W. Rd.


1.Classic chocolate bread that is caringly hand-crafted and emits the deep fragrance of chocolate gold. 2.Upscale W&F cups from Germany and multigrain meals of myriad flavor. 3.Chocozing’s special lovers-tailored set meal for two. 4.Fill up your sensuously curvaceous Chocozing cups with bliss-bringing chocolate.

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Tasters Tel: (02) 2871-4678


(beside Taipei American School)

Hours: Mon-Sat 9:00am-9:00pm

Sun 10:00am-9:00pm

Information


The Taipei cheese-lover who does not know of Tasters, situated beside the Taipei American

School in the expatriate enclave of Tianmu(天母),

is a rare type indeed. The shop’s s ignature cheesecake and cheese biscuits are solid and substantial in the hand yet melt in the mouth. The proof is in the pudding—or should we say “the cheese” in this case—for there is a steady stream of cheese-addicted and cheese-knowledgeable foreigners into the premises. No wonder the owner chose the name Tasters, for taste the goods here once and you’re a life addict.

Each day the cheesecakes are prepared first. As they emerge hot from the oven wave after wave of the rich, full smell of cheese waft by. Regular customers in the know squeeze into the small shop as tight as cheese curds being squeezed into blocks of cheddar. Ms. Huang (黃小姐), the daughter of the owner, proudly relates that her mother opened the shop 30 years back after spending time in the States specifically to study the art of cheese-making. In the beginning all she could afford to rent was a small shopfront, and had no space for seating to let customers savor her confectionaries fresh from the kitchen. With business thriving, a number of years ago a two-level restaurant space was opened next door.

TastersWhere to Taste OnceIs to Love Always

During regular dining hours the restaurant provides a Western menu with steaks and chops. In the afternoon there are other options, including the shop’s signature cakes and other confectionaries, with drink, for just NT$150 and NT$250 afternoon tea with two choices of set meals. This allows Tasters aficionados to come enjoy the house goodies, especially the cakes and biscuits, any time—i.e., as they are emerging fresh from the oven. On this Chinese Valentine�s be sure to be on hand for the special Valentine�s meal specials, where for a well-spent NT$880 you will have set down before you an aperitif, appetizer, soup, salad, entrée, and the always-in-demand Tasters desserts and drinks, all with no service charge�just the right sentiment on a day of deep sentiments for diners intent on savoring each other while they savor the Tasters culinary delights as well!


Gourmands adore the Boston cake, blueberry cheesecake, and cheese pastries prepared fresh each and every day.

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Le bouquetTel: (02)2100-2100 ext. 2856

Address: 63, Sec. 2, Zhongshan N. Rd. Hours: 10:00am-9:00pm

Website: taipeiambassadorhotel.com.tw/ch/taipei/restaurant/09.htm

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Le bouquet, in the Ambassador Hotel, is a destination that combines art, culture, and fashion trends into a greater whole. This five-star space

dedicated to cakes and pastries of rich quality for takeaway, adhering to the concept that such confectionaries are intended as the proper end to meals of culinary sophistication. There is a decided artistic elegance that pervades, from the high-grade ingredients imported from France to the delicate Japanese-style wrapping, heightened by the voguish interior-design trappings and bright floral adornments. Every piece of the whole has been attended to with great care, every gaze regaled with pleasant creative aesthetics.

The name, “Le bouquet,” of course indicates a floral arrangement in French, and the shop in its entirety is one large floral arrangement, a garden of flowers of all colors and individual artistry. The aromas that wrap you up are both endlessly changing and endlessly enchanting—the same results Le bouquet seeks for you with its superlative cakes. The shop’s main offerings are French-style cakes, but also to be palate-explored are the succulent hand-crafted French-style chocolates, the myriad other sweets, and the breads. The choices are, yes, very wide-ranging, but the joy is yours as you work through them all. Take your time. One of the most popular choices is the gateaux voyage6 gift-box option (“gateaux” is cake in French), brimming with the aromas of France, in which you can choose any 6~12 flavors from a range of hand-crafted miniature cakes, for just NT$480 to NT$980. Superb value.

Each cake and miniature-cake assembly is handled with great fastidiousness, packages carefully augmented with fine handcrafted paper in complementary color combination pleasing to the eye before you dig in to please your palate. Customers express their pleasure time and again with the added caring touch, and each day you’ll see groups of Japanese travelers rolling in, natives of a land that adores delicate aesthetics of refined taste. Here, the eating of cake has moved beyond enjoyable taste and visual sensations to embrace the expression of emotion. On Valentine’s bring your belle amour to Le bouquet to explore sweets, and sweet romance, the way only the French do best.

Le bouquet

Where French Romance Simmers

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24 Discover Taipei

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Information


1. Le bouquet brings together the “art of Frenchness” with the Japanese skill in delicate elegance to create an aura that is the acme in refined taste, both visual and tactile. 2.Quantities are strictly limited to ensure quality, with the best white cheese from Normandy imported and magically transformed into many and varied taste sensations. 3. High-class assorted-fruits cake. 4. Lovingly handcrafted chocolates in mouth-watering variety.

BLACK AS CHOCOLATETel: (02) 2873-8322

Address : 1F, 15, Lane 38, Tianyu St., Shilin District

Hours : Mon-Thur 12:00-22:00

Fri-Sun 12:00-23:00

Website : www.balckaschocolate.com

Whether black, or whether chocolate, here there is only true love! This is what BLACK AS CHOCOLATE

has to say about black and about chocolate. Black is the true color of true chocolate, a color dreaded by those in pursuit of love. Chocolate is the consolation, the comfort, upon love lost. BLACK AS CHOCOLATE throws over these old ways of thought, crafting a new brand image, a renaissance, for chocolate.

BLACK AS CHOCOLATE imports Belgian royal chocolate to use in its hand-crafted delicacies, insisting on a rich concentration of 70% in all its brand items. The result is chocolate that is silky, sumptuous, and of evidently superior character. Its cake boxes are in black and white only—pure black and pure white—carrying an aura of sophisticated elegance, a character of minimalist sleek modernism, speaking visually in a voguish voice of acute contrast.

At the moment the shop exclus ively prepares chocolate cakes--delicious 6-inch chocolate cakes in a number of flavor variations, costing anywhere from NT$740 to NT$850. Last year it originated attractive, novel new ice-creams eaten with forks in the shapes of little demons, evoking the idea of letting your inner demons free with decadent eating. For their cakes patrons can choose adorable spoons in the shapes of angels, but are also encouraged to release their decadent dark sides and dig in with their bare hands. Yummy and oh so sensually gooey! Here, chocolate is meant to both release and to satisfy your basic primal instincts—like the unbridled passions that cannot and should not be stifled between lovers at Valentine’s, your love of chocolate can run wild and free at BLACK AS CHOCOLATE.

BLACK AS CHOCOLATEWhere Sweet Decadence Comes Dressed in Choco-Black

Left to right: Mango-passionfruit chocolate cake, hazelnut chocolate cake, and blackcurrant-strawberry chocolate cake.

The shop is decorated in a stunning contrast of black and white, and is spacious and inviting, with no price list posted; from the trendy-looking exterior it is not immediately apparent this is a cake shop.

Information

Please refer to the map provided on p.61.Please refer to the map provided on p.61.


On the big signboard of Ouishi (歐一喜) eatery you see the characters “好吃お

いしい.” The first two characters are Chinese for literally“good eats,” （delicious）and the remainders are Japanese for“good eats” as well, pronounced “ouishi.” Sold here are maybe the hottest treats of the hot summer, heat-dispersing ice goodies. The owner is a true-blue Taiwanese, but when earlier employed with a Japanese trading firm he traveled back and forth and got to know how the Japanese go about doing things, and has brought the same fastidiousness about details and demand for quality to the running of his ice-treats emporium.

The ingredients used in Ouishi’s ice-cream are all-natural. Beyond using the freshest purified calcium-rich milk from Taiwan’s

Tunghai University (東海大學) ranch in its ice-cream, its ice products contain organic soft brown sugar, which has important minerals. The taste is fresh and pure, with none of that overpowering sugary sweetness so common in mass-produced products nowadays. The mulberry and winter melon used in the ice-cream are even more special, grown, harvested, and processed by the owner’s own hands. Now that’s putting some TLC content into your products!

The menu circles the world, with the green-tea and Japanese brown-sugar ice-cream that the Japanese love to the coconut-coffee ice-cream and almond-milk ice-cream Westerners constantly order. Then there's the delicious house-invented specialty, a French-style ice-cream puff. Prices run from NT$90 to NT$160. Those who love trying new things can order the special dish of six assorted ice-creams, and if you still haven't had your fill, the shop can wrap you up more ice-cream in a box that will keep it from melting for 6 to 8 hours. Mmmm, yummy!

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Ouishi Tel: (02) 2838-4104

Address: 89, Sec. 1, Zhongcheng Rd.,

Shilin District


Blog: tw.myblog.yahoo.com/

fanny700575/

Eating Here Every Day Never a Health Burden

Ouishi

Information

All of Ouishi’s tasty creations are made with 100% all-natural ingredients that are guaranteed fresh; special boxes are available that will keep takeaway ice-cream from melting for 6~8 hours.


Yuan Wei Lu(原味錄) literally translates as “original flavor records,” and indeed this restaurant keeps a precise record of the taste of the original flavor of each and every ingredient it uses in its menu items.

This eatery sells only traditional heritage-recipe ice treats such as dou hua (豆花; a soybean drink with soft soybean curd) and fenguo bing (粉粿冰; gelatin-popsicles) with brown-sugar and red-bean filling. Whether it's brown-sugar red-bean powder shaved ice, or the ultra-traditional peanut dou hua, each ice treat is hand-crafted, with the best-quality natural materials. Eat it down and a smile bubbles up! In the eyes of youthful owner Zhang Ren-he (張任河), who studied photography and fine arts in his school days, being particular in the kitchen is the timeless and unchanging rule for preparing good sweet treats. Each and every ice treat must be approached as a work of art, prepared with masterly meticulousness. Perhaps the young generation no longer always inherits the wisdom of the ages and secret recipes in a family-run enterprise, but modern equipment assists in ensuring that heating control and intensity of sweetness , for example, is just right-with the end result that the sweet-treat sensation you have in your mouth is just right too.

To prove his point, Zhang says that Westerners particularly like the old-style dou hua, because the shop has a sweetness-measuring apparatus that ensures consistency. This ensures a taste that avoids being sickly sweet, not uncommon elsewhere. Thus, for example, the special brown-sugar juice used in the dou hua is kept at a constant 15 degrees. Yuan Wei Lu has been open for just a year now, but business is as brisk as at any of the city's old-name iced-treat purveyors-a sure sign things are being done right. All menu items carry a price tag of NT$50. After a day of browsing in the Tianmu commercial district, if you have insistent thirst goblins tugging at your sleeve, hustle over to Yuan Wei Lu for instant refreshment with a palette-tickling iced treat!

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An Artist’s Perspective in Purveying Sweet Things –Yuan Wei Lu

Information


Yuan Wei Lu Tel: (02) 2876-3242

Address: 1F, 20-9, Lane 50, Tianmu E. Rd.

Hours: weekdays 11:30am-11:00pm;

weekends/holidays 11:30am-midnight

Blog: tw.myblog.yahoo.com/yuan_wei_lu

Yuan Wei Lu takes a scientific approach to ensure the genuine Taiwanese flavors of its traditional-style fenguo bing and dou hua

Bigtom EIS CAFE

Tel: (02) 2875-5511

Address: 1, Lane 63, Sec. 7, Zhongshan N. Rd.

Hours: Weekdays 11:00am-11:00pm;

weekends/holidays 9:30am-11:00pm

Website: www.bigtom.us

Information

Discover Taipei28


A perfect Diet at BigtomBigtom is an outlet of a well-known ice-cream chain of the same name. Featuring distinctive, attractive

décor, here you�ll find fine ice-cream that has less air in it and has undergone quality certification. The percentage of cream used is lower than super premium ice cream, and no synthetic additives, flavorings or colorings are ever used. All ingredients used are all-natural. Because of this care for quality, Bigtom's offerings are rich, silky, smooth, and most deliciously delectable. All of the ice cream here is less fat & sugar content.

When you step inside Bigtom you are greeted with a riot of bright colors. The multi-hued ice-creams sit waiting for you behind transparent glass in coolers, summoning you closer, teasing your tastebuds from afar, you can even get a sample of any ice cream flavour before ordering. The specially-made house-recipe waffle cones allow you to build up any multi-flavor combo you like, and if you want still more taste sensations bursting in your mouth just sprinkle on whichever you like from the dried fruits and raisins available. These are real-deal cones like they have back in the States. A single scoop costs NT$108, a double NT$178.

The full Chinese name for Bigtom is “Bigtom American Ice-Cream Culture Shop” (Bigtom美國冰淇淋文化

館). This is because the shop is stuffed with antique equipment for the making of ice-cream. This is so that while you are working merrily on your cone you can take a merry sightseeing tour through the traditions of ice-cream culture. The shop even hosts DIY classes on making the world's favorite sweet treat between Monday and Friday. It's just NT$750 for one pail of ice-cream; get the minimum of six and you can start your classes just about immediately upon reservation. Making your own ice-cream for your own pleasure-can you think of a better way to spend a day? Talk about getting value for your money and setting your inner child free!

Above: 1. An ice-cream shop from a well-known American chain. 2.Cold Stone’s delicious red-wine ice-cream.3.Inside the shop are numerous antique items used in the making of ice-cream.

Below: A double-scoop cone and a cake made of Belgian chocolate and ice-cream.

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Cold Stone Tel: (02) 2874-5562

Address: 1F, 11-1, Tianmu W. Rd.


Website: www.coldstone.com.tw

Information

Information

Above: Just 25 ingredients can make 12 million ice-cream flavor varieties .Below: Ebullient staff members sing loudly and proudly to bring extra flavour and

ambiance to the ice-cream experience, like old-time pros maximizing the joy of the ice-cream eating moment.


Cold Stone claims that the shop is a “Creator of Happy Experiences Ice-Cream Specialist.”

(創造歡樂體驗的冰淇淋專家) With its origins in the Arizona, the Cold Stone chains now boasts 1,400 outlets worldwide. While doling out the chain's wonderful custom-ordered Super Premium ice-cream treats, staff will sing from time to time for the entertainment of customers. So be ready! This, you might say, makes this Taipei's “highest” ice-cream shop.

The secret to Cold Stone’s remarkable taste satisfaction-all the tastes under the skies, it seems-is

this: every day fresh ice-cream is made in numerous customer-favorite flavors, and

using the 25 different kinds of ingredients avai lable, an amazing 12 mi l l ion custom-made ice-cream variations can be concocted on the spot to suit each and every ice-cream

Taipei’s Highest Natural-HighIce-Cream Shop

Cold Stonelover's whim of the moment. The “building blocks” for your treat are the Signature Creation and Create Your Own choices, which mean two confectionaries of different sizes and shapes. Prices, which depend in part on size chosen, range from NT$90 to NT$210. Takeaway-pail treats depend on total ounces, ranging from NT$280 to NT$520. The ice-cream is served in waffle cones in the shape of cups or bowls, and baked on the spot for you.

Eating sweet confections is a time-proven way to lift your spirits high. At Cold Stone you can unbridle your spirits and let them run free, your cool treat accompanied by the warm spirit of the friendly staff. No psychologist would disagree that a superb way to lift your spirits high on a down day is to hustle over to Cold Stone for a cold one!

Discover TaipeiDiscover Taipei

LIVING IN TAIPEI

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The Five-Star Ta Chien Cinema in Westin TaipeiIn Taipei there is a unique movie theater made to measure for

sweethearts on another hot date – the Westin Ta Chien Cinema (六福

皇宮大千電影院). In the warm and cozy 50-ping viewing room (1 ping = 36 sq. ft.) you’ll find the most unusual and exclusive seating, 15 plush sofas, each a “love seat for two.” This makes for the perfect romantic ambiance, where couples can cuddle up together. Beside each sofa is a small table for movie-watchers to conveniently put their food and drinks on. To top off this fabulous five-star experience, guests even get to choose from a menu prepared by the hotel’s five-star chefs!

The Ta Chien Cinema is located on the B2 level of Taipei’s prestigious Westin Taipei, the chain’s flagship location on the island. Though in a classy hotel, the theater by no means solely welcomes hotel guests. Outside of any food and drinks ordered, on weekdays an adult ticket to a show costs just NT$400; if you’re eating at one of the hotel restaurants or staying overnight you can enjoy preferential adult entry for even less, NT$320. For the Valentine’s a special “Valentine’s Movie Package”(情人電影院套票), since the number of showings and seats are limited, you’d best get off your own sofa right now and make reservations, or you won’t be able to take advantage of this one-of-a-kind exclusive service and make your other half swoon from more proof of your passionate romanticism!

Chinese Valentine’s —

Hook Up in a Special Cinema Just for Lovers

Information

The Westin Ta Chien Cinema （六福皇宮大千戲院） Address: 133, Sec. 3, Nanjing E. Rd., Songshan District

Tel. reservations: (02) 3518-3161 (same-day reservations only)

Online reservations: www.whatis.com.tw/westin2005/onl_movie.php (system can only accept reservations up to two weeks in advance)

On-site ticket purchases: ● Mon-Tues ticket sales start at 1:00pm● Wed-Fri ticket sales start at noon● Sat-Sun ticket sales start at 09:00am

Website: www.westin.com.tw/act.php

Discover TaipeiDiscover Taipei 3130 Discover TaipeiDiscover Taipei 3130

The Only “Coca-Cola Love Seats” in All Taiwan — Vie Show Cinemas Taipei Sun

Vie Show Cinemas Taipei Sun is located in Ximenting, favorite gathering locale for the city’s youth. The complex houses four theaters, with the flagship theater able to accommodate near 1,000 viewers and divided into separate sections offering “flagship” (旗艦) sofa seating, general seating, and private booths for sweethearts.

The flagship theater’s private booths for couples feature first-class airplane-style seating specially imported from Spain, accompanied by sleek, nifty meal tables of high quality. There are also unique Coca-Cola-modeled lovers’ seats exclusively supplied by Coca-Cola itself, the only such seats in Taiwan, which heighten the atmosphere of romance much more. The flagship-seating area is in the center of the theater, meaning the best viewing angles, and also features comfortable seating that is aircraft-grade. Finally, the general-seating area has chairs imported from Japan made according to advanced ergonomics.

Standard tickets range from NT$210 to NT$379. A Coca-Cola lovers’ seat ticket set costs NT$599. Better book your sweethearts’ booth now for Valentine’s Day to be sure you’ll have your own private little universe for two!

Two Movies at Dynasty Theater for the Price of OneThe Dynasty Taipei is the city’s first second-run movie theater to offer special plush private booths for

couples, with an A and a B theater. The A theater specially provides 25 plush sofa seats for couples in private booths, with no armrest separation, allowing sweethearts to uninhibitedly immerse themselves in each other while immersing themselves in their chosen flick.

Each day each theater has screenings of two former blockbusters of similar genre, or two newer second-run films. Adding value that you won’t find even in other second-run cinemas, sit down in a theater whenever you like and stay for two full flicks for just NT$120. If you show up for the last screening of the day you pay just NT$60. Great value! So come here to double your fun—and your romance—with your special friend on this year’s hot Valentine’s date.

Information

Vie Show Cinemas Taipei Sun （日新威秀戲院）Address: 87, Sec. 2, Wuchang St.

Ticket-sales hotline: (02) 2331-5256

Website: www.vscinemas.com.tw

Information

Dynasty Theater （朝代戲院）Address: 136 Minquan W. Rd.

Tel: (02) 2557-1300

Website: www.dynasty-theater.com


LIVING IN TAIPEI


In light of the global trend toward rising oil prices and the present generation’s

emphasis on living more eco-friendly lives, biking is emerging as an ever “hotter” activity in this warming, ever-hotter world. In 2005 the Taipei City Government completed the city’s riverside bike-trail network joining major systems along the Danshui, Keelung, and Xindian rivers. Matching the landscape and special characteristics along each waterway, six riverside bike trails were mapped out, taking riders along rich backdrops of nature’s wonders, cultural sites, and places of historical interest.

What, no bike？ Well, no problem! To ensure that everyone has the chance to do some soul-invigorating sightseeing on two wheels, all of the pathways have been outfitted with bike-rental stands for public convenience. Extra care is shown in the establishment of the “One Location Rent, Separate Location Dropoff” (甲地租、乙

地還) service. Romantic couples, prepare yourselves! On Valentine’s you’re expected to be seen parading sweetly along the city’s long, meandering trails—though not hand in hand, for bike control must be maintained and you’d be hogging the

road, you see.

Lovers’ Ambles along Taipei’s Bike Trails


I Love to Ride My Bicycle —

Carefree along the Keelung River’s Shores

The bike trails along both banks of the Keelung River (基隆河左、右岸親水自行車道) are the city’s longest. Whether you access the riverside parks and pathways by the Lin An Tai Evacuation Gate (林安泰疏散

門) on the left bank, or the Meiti Evacuation Gate (美堤疏散門) on the right, you’ll see information boards explaining the story of the river — its origins and the great straightening project carried out in modern times on this stretch. On the left bank you have the friendly, convenient services of the Dajia (大佳) and Guanshan (觀山) bike-rental stands, and on the right you have the Meiti (美堤) facility.

The left-bank riverside bike trail stretches a long, long 18.1 kilometers, and should take you about 75 minutes at a leisurely pace. Should your happy little heart desire you’ll pass by and can make calls on such key tourist sites as the Taipei Story House, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and Lin An Tai Historic Home. Then you’ll find yourself in the lovely, expansive, big-sky Dajia Riverside Park (大佳河濱公園), where you should stop by the brilliant-hued “sea of flowers” (花海區) area and snap some souvenir shots. A right-bank bike trail traverse, on the other hand, leaves you 17.6 kilometers from your starting point and should mean a 70-minute investment of your leisure time. You’ll ramble by the Grand Hotel, Miramar Entertainment Park, Meiti Riverside Park (美堤河濱公園), and Neihu Technology Park (內湖科技園區).

The magnificent Dazhi Bridge (大直橋) spans the Keelung River to join the left and right banks, and is itself spanned by a dedicated bike lane that brings you tremendous views. This architectural marvel is a “fishing rod-style” (釣竿式) cable-stayed bridge, its form, streamline, elegant, and graceful. When the colorful night-lighting comes on the effect is dazzling, and folks come to linger in its reflected beauty, losing all track of time, the ambiance indeed most romantic, especially with the lovely, coruscating lights of the Miramar Entertainment Park’s giant rooftop ferris wheel shining in the distance, brilliantly visible through the clear, still night air. This is among the city’s best night scenes, and you’ll be cheating yourself if you never come — even better with a paramour — to see it.

In the Dajia Riverside Park, right beside the bridge, you’ll enjoy the refreshing water park that is its central attraction. Set amongst expansive emerald-green lawns, the exuberant Wishing Fountain (希望之泉) shoots 75 meters high. Every so often it forms an attractive giant fan-shape curtain of water that turns the heads of all visitors. At night, when the imaginative lighting begins to play with the senses, the effect is even more enchanting, and you won’t be surprised to be told that this is a top draw for folks in pairs who are obviously sweet on each other.

The lovely cavalcade of flowers in Dajia Riverside Park is just beside the bike trail, and riders also move on past Miramar Entertainment Park, the Grand Hotel, Meiti Riverside Park, and many other lovely vistas that open up before one’s roving eyes.

LOHAS


LIVING IN TAIPEI


The Dadaocheng Bike Trail —

Taipei’s Boundless Place in the Setting Sun

In the Qing Dynasty, land along the shore at Dadaocheng was set aside for foreign treaty-port businessmen to accommodate residences and factories. This laid the foundation for the economic flourishing of the area. During the

later Japanese colonial era the area’s geographic advantages came fully into force, and the blossoming became even more rapid and luxurious, in the

social and cultural spheres as well as the commercial. The march of time and, at the time, progress has not eliminated the imprints of the boom years of yesteryear, and

you’ll be regaled with grand visions of the past in the form of myriad celebrated historical sites that have stood the test of time and still stand sentinel over Dadaocheng.

In an effort to preserve the original flavour of the district and show forth the glories of these magnificent cultural assets, the Taipei City Government has specially set up various attractions along the riverside bike trail to make your biking experience that much more pleasurable. Rest for a spell at the coffee plaza at the Dadaocheng Wharf, where you can also inspect a large, immaculate replica of a traditional Chinese junk and the grand archway before the wharf. Here, on the wharf’s south side, you’ll also find one of the system’s numerous bike-rental stands.

This bike trail extends from the wharf all the way to the Guilin Evacuation Gate (桂林疏散

門), about four kilometres, the entire length passing along the riverside and with no motorized vehicle access at any point. Your environment is the long riverside park and the joyous chirping of outdoor human recreational activity. On working days you’ll see locals from each area along the trail treating the park like the front courtyard of their homes, sitting about chatting or strolling along. On days off the action picks up, with activities regularly scheduled and the long lines of shady emerald-green trees serving as backdrops for smiling, laughing people and the hubbub of excited talk. Another lovely day in the riverside park! Day then turns to night, sun clocking out for the day off to the west, and the big-sky vista of twinkling stars and twinkling city lights is pulled to the horizon’s edges like a stage backdrop. Sweethearts pedal into the scene to soak in the romance in the air. You have the same kind of Valentine’s this year —healthy, happy, and honey-filled.

Along the Dadaocheng Bike trail you’ll meander by the coffee plaza at the Dadaocheng Whar f, a large-scale replica of a Chinese junk, the grand archway to the wharf, the bike-rental stand, and other spots; biking among the great crowds that come out on days off work adds to the festive cheer, and lovers out for a bike ride along the riverbank, taking in the soothing setting sun, is poetry come to life.


Information

The Cycling Life-Style Foundation （財團法人自行車新文化基金會） Website: www.cycling-lifestyle.org.tw

May-Sept. Bike-Rental Stand Service HoursWeekend/holidays 8:00am-6:30pm; bike return 7:30pm

Weekdays 8:00am-12:00pm, 2:00pm-6:30pm; bike return 7:30pm

Oct.-Apr. Bike-Rental Stand Service HoursWeekend/holidays 8:00am-5:30pm; bike return 6:30pm

Weekdays 8:00am-12:00pm, 12:00pm-6:30pm; bike return 6:30pm

On the third of each month each stand is closed until 2:00pm; postponed when meet holidays

Bike-Rental PricesSingle-day rates depend on bike model and drop-off location choice:

Same-stand rental and return: NT$90-NT$450

Different-stand rental and return: NT$250-NT$500

Dajia（大佳租借站）Tel: (02) 2517-5568

Location: Beside Binjiang Evacuation Gate

Guanshan（觀山租借站）Tel: 0928-622-233

Location: Enter Tayou Evacuation Gate and turn left; under expressway bridge

Dadaocheng（大稻埕租借站）Tel: (02) 2557-0692

Location: West end of Minsheng W. Rd., south side of Dadaocheng Wharf



LIVING IN TAIPEI


At each midsummer’s Chinese Valentine’s, the skies come alive over the Dadaocheng Wharf and the Taipei night glitters and booms. The big deal is the Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks Festival (大稻埕煙火節),

sponsored this year as always by the city’s Dept. of Information and Tourism. The event is a combination of music and fireworks celebration extravaganza, and will burst into bloom on August 2nd this year, the sizzle no doubt helping the love bursting into bloom in the hearts of the many Valentine’s couples watching.

A Rip-Roarin’ Romantic Party The 2008 Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks Festival


Foreign Visitors Must Not Miss the Greatest Cultural Feast of the Summer

The festival is a synthesis of the quintessence of Chinese Valentine’s and the special restored character of age-old cultural symbols and industry of traditional Dadaocheng. This, the fourth consecutive year of the blockbuster event, will as said hit its Danshui riverside stage on August 2nd, between Evacuation Gates Nos. 3 and 5, with romantic music bursting into bloom and a stellar fireworks bursting in the air just above. The boisterous, raucous roar of ebullience that was old Dadaocheng in its heyday will again be recaptured.

The Dadaocheng neighborhood is a renowned local tourist draw. On festival day, before taking in the night-time fireworks extravaganza a daytime visit down memory lane to the area’s many cultural and historic highlights, and to the food-and-drink treasure-troves of Dihua Street, packed with century shophouses, is both edifying and just plain fun. But save the best for last — in this most romantic of seasons, visit Xiahai City God Temple to either ask for love yourself from the Far East’s God of Love or watch the lovelorn moving in and out to do so.

Starting at 4pm, head back to the Dadaocheng Wharf area to ramble through a carnival of activities and innovative stalls arranged by the festival organizer. Take a walk by the side of the wharf to catch the cool summer breezes. As the sun heads off to sleep, revel in one of the city’s most expansive sunset vistas in this wide-open space along the easy-moving Danshui. As time flows by the curtain of night is pulled down into place, couples in greater and greater numbers are to be seen ambling along the embankments, muffled romantic cooing is mixed with the reflected light dancing on the river and the sparkling lights of the Blue Highway (藍色公

路) river-cruise yachts, and far off in the distance the lights of the heaven-scraping Taipei 101 seem to be gazing out over the city in contemplation. Everyone holds their breath in anticipation for the fireworks explosion they know is coming.

When the first firework finally fires forth in fitful glory, splitting the still and starry night sky, the deep blue-black canvas is painted in fantastic, giant universe-expanding rings, radiant whirls, and floral blooms. Fireworks rockets blaze past above and below each other, their virtual reflected twins blasting across the rippling waters of the wide river

E a c h y e a r t h e D a d a o c h e n g F i reworks Fest iva l dazz les wi th splendiferous displays of fireworks wizardry that brings great crowds ready for raucous fun, who also take in the magical t ime-travel historical architecture of the nearby Dadaocheng neighborhood.


LIVING IN TAIPEI


canvas below. The fantastic hues of water and sky blend seamlessly, and eyes shift rapidly this way and that in riotous profusion and the breath is taken away in gasps. The brilliant artistry rivals that of the magnificent annual Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival in Tokyo. This is a true feast for the eyes that foreign visitors will find well worth eating up!

The familiar Chinese Valentine’s mythical tale of the Cowherd, the Weaver, and the ephemeral bridge of magpies formed on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month captures the romantic intensity and sincerity of the love felt between males and females wrapped up in the throes of love. Because of this the Dadaocheng event draws great tides of people. Last year the crowds numbered in hundreds of thousands, so you’d best get here early to lay claim to the best viewing spots for the grand spectacular.

A most enjoyable option is to take one of the special Blue Highway cruises offered on festival day, launching from the wharves at Dadaocheng, Guandu (關渡), Danshui Old Street (淡水老街), and Danshui’s Fisherman’s Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭) and set up on the river just up- and downriver from the fireworks epicentre by the Taipei Bridge (臺北橋) and Zhongxiao Bridge (忠孝橋). Floating gently on blackened water’s surface, the sounds of the great crowds onshore just a murmur in the distance, fireworks bombs bursting in air, makes for the ultimate in romantic ambiance!

To ensure that everyone has a grand time on the grand day, the organizer has mapped out a detailed blueprint for area traffic control and will have more MRT trains scheduled on the nearby Danshui line and/or have service extended that night, and have shuttle buses running to/from the MRT facilities. Thus, you romantic lovebirds, this Valentine’s treat is guaranteed to be an outing of convenience and of deep and passionate resonance.

Information

The 2008 Taipei Dadaocheng Fireworks Festival （2008臺北大稻埕煙火節）Tel: (02) 2728-7559

Location: Dadaocheng Wharf (between Evacuation Gates Nos. 3 and 5)

Time: 2008/8/2 (Sat), 4:00pm-9:30pm

Transportation: ● MRT Shuanglian Station, Exit 2 (near Evacuation Gate No. 5)● Buses to venue periphery: 9、12、206、255、274、518、539、641、669、704、801, and Red 33


Your Best Place to Beat the Summer Heat

The 2008 Taipei Water Festival

The cheery sun of the July and August Taipei sky shines bright and high. It’s hot, really hot, and only a visit

to a water-play area can wash off the steamy humidity. This year will see the fifth edition of the Taipei

Water Festival (臺北親水節), held annually by the Taipei Water Dept. (臺北市自來水事業處), which each

time attracts over 150,000 visits from panting but happy revelers who, yes, “soak up” the fun in the many

different activities. This is one of the best places to be when the heat of the Taipei summer comes to visit

you!

The festival is spread over two full months, and kicked off at the end of June at the Taipei Water Park (臺

北市自來水園區). To make it easier for visitors to take in the water park’s expansive grounds while here for

the activities, flavorful shuttle vehicles are available, conveniently enabling fun-seekers to move from one

activity to another and at the same time experience such permanent attractions as the Little Mt. Guanyin

Eco-Trails (小觀音山生態步道) and the relaxing vistas of the parkland along the Gongguan (公館) stretch of

the Xindian River (新店溪).

From left:

Panorama of

water-play facilities

at water-village

gardens; Umbrella

seating by the

waterfall at the

water-village

gardens; Fountain at

water-play pool


LIVING IN TAIPEI


Tickets to the water park vary with the season, ranging from NT$50 to NT$80. This year the park has specially set up a number of irresistible draws for the young folk. There’s a hip-hop street dancing competition, urban beach music festival, “super-fashion”(超電) bikini-modeling competition, and much more, and there’s also a range of themed play areas and buskers’ shows, magic shows, painting DIY sessions, a beetle exhibition, and numerous other delights, which are all continuations from last year that received especially positive feedback.

Last year saw the Education Area (親水體驗教育區) revealed for the first time, which sports a gravity-proving water-slide in pirate-ship styling, friction-experiencing slide, a corkscrew slide demonstrating centrifugal force, and other types of water slides that combine learning and slippery fun. This facility is separate from the Taipei Water Park, and thus requires purchase of separate entry. A general ticket costs NT$250. If you love outdoor fun, and you’re in love with a certain significant other, you’ll love the emotions and the passions released by this experience!

So as to ensure that all who are interested can be sure to come enjoy the 2008 Taipei Water Festival, the organizers are cooperating with the Taipei Pictorial magazine to present a special deal: clip out the coupons in the July edition of the publication and you can explore all the facilities of the Education Area for NT$225. In addition, enjoy the Taipei Water Park for a preferential discounted ticket price of only NT$60 during July and August, and get in for a preferential NT$40 in September. The water park is located in the Gongguan shopping area. Transportation is exceedingly convenient; just take the MRT’s Xindian line to Gongguan station, head out Exit 4, and you’ll be at the park after a short stroll of 3 to 5 minutes.

In its efforts to develop better access to riversides for Taipei’s people, in addition to the Taipei Water Festival, the Taipei Water Department plans to link up the pedestrian paths and bike paths with the nearby Children’s Transportation Museum (兒童交通博物

館) — which is set to become the Hakka Culture Park (客家文化園

區) — thereby linking up the Gongguan shopping area with the shore area. Plans are also afoot to develop a unique shopping street beside the water park and to link up the National Taiwan University Shuiyuan (臺大水

源校區) campus, water park, waterfront area, and Gongguan shopping area to create the Gongguan

Waterside New World (公館水岸新世界), the largest district in Taipei to have direct connections with its water source — and

create what it is called an “Urban Water Paradise”(都市水樂園).

The 《Taipei Pictorial》is available for free at the MRT stations, the branches of the Taipei Public Library（臺北市立圖書館各分館）, and the Information and Assistance Division of Secretariat, Taipei City Government（臺北市政府市民服務組）.


Information

2008 Taipei Water Festival（2008臺北親水節）Time: 2008/7~2008/8

Telephone inquiries: (02) 8733-5678

Location: 1, Siyuan St., Zhongzheng District (Taipei Water Park)

Taipei Water Park（自來水園區）Tel: (02) 8369-5104, (02) 8369-5096

Location: 1, Siyuan St., Zhongzheng District

Website: www.twd.gov.tw ● Taipei Water Park hours: July/Aug 9:00am-10:00pm (ticket sales to 8:00pm); Other periods 9:00am-6:00pm (ticket sales to 5:00pm); closed on Mondays except if part of a continuous holiday

● Education Area hours: 6:00am-11:00pm; normal operating hours on Mondays June-Sept.; closed on Mondays during other periods

Pictures：1. Water-dance show in the plaza of the water-fountain garden

2. View of the water-play pool area 3. View of water-play plaza

at water-village gardens 4. View of water-play plaza at water-

village gardens 5. Outdoor pool in the Aqua-Friendly Experiencing

and Education Area 6. The river-float course in the Aqua-Friendly

Experiencing and Education Area 7. The heated indoor pool in the

Aqua-Friendly Experiencing and Education Area 8. The spa pool in

the Aqua-Friendly Experiencing and Education Area


LIVING IN TAIPEI


Dr. C.V. Chen (陳長文), President of the Red Cross Society of the ROC, has long concerned himself with humanitarian issues

around the globe. Beyond his volunteer work, he is Chairman and Managing Partner of Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law, the largest law firm in Taiwan, chosen five years in a row by the International Financial Law Review as the National Law Firm of the Year. His composed demeanor belies a caring heart that beats for humanitarian causes and the plight of the disadvantaged. In leading the Red Cross, he strives to fulfill the Red Cross philosophy: “Where there is suffering, there is the Red Cross; where there is the Red Cross, there is hope.” (有苦難的地方就有紅十字會，有紅十字會的

地方就有希望) He and the Taiwan Red Cross that he leads vow that whenever there is need, wherever there is distress, the Red Cross will always heed the call of service.

Taipei, Chen believes, is a place of great warmth and goodwill. The warmth and the compassion of the city are felt by visitors from around the world. "But Taipei should not belong to Taiwan only," Chen says. Taipei belongs to the world, and it is the kind heart and love of the denizens of Taipei that make Taipei a city of the world. Many years ago Chen introduced the idea, “Wellbeing is a holistic concept” (幸福是一個總體的概念), and in his speeches he tells his audience, “Merely not doing harm is not the path to individual happiness.” Therefore, it is not enough for the citizens of Taipei to be cultured, or to be technologically savvy, or to be innovative and open-minded. The most important quality that Taipei denizens should strive to cultivate is compassion for fellow human beings. Says Chen, “In pursuing personal achievements and excellence, don't allow your personal interests to eclipse the interests of the group. True success is ‘doing well by doing good!’” What is meant by doing “good” is doing deeds for the good of human beings.

Chen says he has been most affected by natural disasters that he has encountered in his 20 years of service with the Red Cross. For example, in the wake of Taiwan’s great quake of 21 September 1999, the Red Cross went from a giver of succor to the beneficiary of relief from around the world. "Only when you are the recipient of aid can you truly appreciate the significance of being a giver of aid,” he says. This May, despite facing severe inflationary economic pressures at home, the people of Taiwan were spurred by the graphic images of the devastation caused by the Myanmar cyclone and the earthquakes in Sichuan to lend a helping hand. The Red Cross was subsequently overwhelmed by donations and phone calls from concerned Taiwanese seeking news. "We should feel proud," says Chen, "of the way we responded without hesitation. Taipei as the island nation’s leading city has the potential to become a

Taipei, Where Love from around the World Converges and Is Spread Dr. C.V. Chen, President of the Red Cross Society of the Republic of ChinaPhotos courtesy of the Red Cross


C. V. Chen

Education:

＋S.J.D., Harvard (1972)

＋LL.M., University of British Columbia (1969)

＋LL.B., National Taiwan University (1967)

Present Positions:

＋President, Red Cross Society of the Republic of China

＋Chairman and Managing Partner, Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law

＋ C h a i r m a n , Ta i p e i E u r o p e a n S c h o o l Foundation

＋Managing Director, The Chinese Society of International Law

(Dr. Chen’s educational and professional experience is rich and varied. Due to space limitations, we present only key essentials here.)

Website: www.redcross.org.tw

center for delivering the love and sense of justice of the 23 million people of this small but big-hearted country to the far corners of our world." In this way, “Where there is suffering, there is the love of Taiwan; where there is the love of Taiwan, there is hope.” (有苦

難的地方就有台灣的愛，有臺灣的愛的地方就有希望) Chen hopes that whenever people see Taiwanese in faraway lands their immediate response will be a smile and a thumbs-up, “Taiwan, a wonderful place!” (臺灣，讚！)

1. The Red Cross search-and-rescue team is trying to save precious lives from a collapsed building in Sichuan, China.

2. Red Cross tirelessly ships boxes of supply to the stricken area in Sichuan, which represents the love of 23 million people in Taiwan.

3. Many opinion leaders, including (from left) President Ma, the First Lady and Dr. C. V. Chen, are participating in the fundraising activities,setting an example for others to follow.

4. Dr. Chen visited Sichuan with a medical team to extend help to those in need.

【Banking】Account name: The Red Cross Society of the Republic of China (National Headquarters)

A/C number: Hua Nan Commercial Bank, Ltd. Ho Ping Branch Account No. 121-10-0077200

【Post office】Account Name: The Red Cross Society of the Republic of China (National Headquarters)

Account Number: 1300-8888

Join the Red Cross in its mission to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar. You can make your donation by following ways:


LIVING IN TAIPEI


MarkAge: 27

Vocation: Chinese-

language student,

Taiwan Normal UniversityPlace of

Origin: Detroit, USA

Reason in Taiwan:

MarriageTime in Taipei:

About 3 months

This year, says Mark, is shaping up as a very big year. In February he made a special trip to Taipei to attend the wedding of Pearl’s older brother. He ended up getting a full suite of wedding photos done for himself at a local upscale wedding salon on Zhongshan N. Rd. The plan is to marry Pearl and eventually head back to the States. In the process Taipei has become his second home. Mark and Pearl met while studying at the University of Detroit. When asked what attracted him to Pearl, Mark simply throws his arms high with both thumbs pointed up and exclaims “Beautiful!” He adds that Taiwan’s ladies are lovely, are slender and lithe, and they know how to take care of themselves. Few would disagree.

Though he does not see himself as being the romantic type, Mark says that he did the right thing when he decided to pop the big question to his honey, taking her to that most romantic of local love-spots, scenic Yangmingshan. Since coming here he’s developed great fondness for pearl milk tea. His passion for his Taiwanese wife is clear, for even his favorite food has the word “pearl” in it!

Foreigner's Reflections on Taipei

Pretty Michelle and handsome Patrick make a fine-looking couple. They crossed life-paths and came together at Taipei American School. Michelle’s father is an American, her mother a Taiwanese. Ten years back the family moved to Taipei from the States, so Michelle considers Chinese her mother tongue. Patrick, who has US nationality, came to Taiwan two years ago, and currently lives in the city’s Dazhi (大直) area.

Because Michelle lives in Tianmu, their preferred rendezvous points are in the Tianmu (天母) shopping area, Zhongcheng Rd. (忠誠路) department-store marketplaces, a n d M i r a m a r C i n e m a s (美麗華影城 ) . Sometimes it’s down to the Shil in Night Market so Michelle can get her periodic fix of jianbao (煎包; pan-fried stuffed buns). Oh so yummy! On weekends and holidays walking is a favorite pastime for this healthy, bright-looking pair—look closely in the east’s Taipei 101 area, in the north’s Yangmingshan, and on the coast’s Danshui and you’ll be sure to spot their tracks.

Michelle & Patrick Age: Michelle 15, Patrick 16 Vocation: StudentsPlace of Origin: USAReason in Taiwan: Parents moved hereTime in Taipei: Michelle 10 yrs., Patrick 2 yrs.


Craig A. Quintero

Age: 38Vocation:

Assistant Professor Place of Origin: Montana, USA

Reason in Taiwan: Study Chinese

OperaTime in Taipei:

16 years

Kevin is a classic case of a person traveling to the ends of the Earth to pursue love. Three years ago he met Shuman, a Taiwan lass in San Diego while traveling in the US. To cure their lovesickness, Kevin later traveled to faraway Taipei to work, currently as a teacher of Business English. He says that he has grown extremely fond of the city, and especially savors Yangmingshan for the night v iews and the sense of romance. The Taipei Fine Arts Museum is a facility of international caliber, and on days off he likes to frequent the many types of exhibits and the live performances staged. When on a date with Shuman they’ll head to Vieshow Cinemas (威秀影城) for a flick, grab a burger at the California Grill on Yongkang St., or dine at the Good Day Spanish restaurant in the East District. He also enjoys the sights, sounds, and taste sensations of the Gongguan and Shida night-markets (公館及師大夜市). The stalls, he says, have great-tasting snacks that capture the essence of Taiwan. His only complaint about Taipei living is that he finds MRT prices a bit high, and thus for the most part moves about town on four wheels—the bus.

Craig Quintero, who hails from the United States, is currently teaching a course in performance art at Shih Chien University’s Institute of Fashion and Communications Design (實踐大學時尚與媒體設計研究所), and is also the director of Riverbed Theatre (河床劇團). Since arriving in Taiwan over ten years ago, he feels Taipei has made constant progress. He also thinks the creative powers of Taiwan’s students are exceptional, equal to those of his students at his alma mater, Northwestern University. Craig believes that Taipei’s environment for artistic creativity continues to develop and is full of vitality, and he enjoys the regular idea interchange with artists in other disciplines that is possible here. Local artists are open-minded and eager to share their experiences with other creative people, and Quintero enjoys the feeling of working amidst a warm and intimate community.

Each week he heads up Elephant Mountain (象山), just south of Taipei 101, to breathe in the cool, clean night air and refresh himself. Sometimes he’ll stroll over to New York New York for a bracing cup of java, soaking in the chic atmosphere created by the many nearby architectural gems. He says: “Over the years Taipei has become more than a place to visit. It has become my second home.”

KevinAge: 31 Vocation: English teacher Place of Origin: San Diego, USAReason in Taiwan: Employment Time in Taipei: About 3 years


ARTS



Riverbed Theatre (河床劇團) always emphasizes holistic creative artistry in

its performances. This aspect has made them one of contemporary Taiwan’s most

renowned little theatre groups. This year Riverbed is celebrating its tenth anniversary

with the production “One Hundred Nights’ Dreams” 百夜之夢) . The per formance

combines the vitality of Taiwan’s traditional arts with the company’s Surrealist aesthetics

to explore the unique beauties of this “Beautiful Island” Formosa. The curtain rose

on the program in June at the National Theater’s National Experimental Theatre in

Taipei, and in July the troupe will proceed to the Festival d’Avignon in France to present

their production on the international stage. This is the second consecutive year that the

troupe has been invited to Avignon. Last year’s production of Exploding Rice (爆米

香) received rave reviews from the critics. Riverbed has created a name for itself in

both the domestic and international theatre and arts communities.

Riverbed Theatre’s 10th Anniversary One Hundred Nights’ Dreams

Photos courtesy of the Riverbed Theatre

1. “Beautiful Shakespeare.” Shakespeare in Taipei Festival.

National Experimental Theatre: Taipei (2003)

2. “The Life and Times of Robert W i l son.” New Ideas Theat re Festival. National Experimental

Theatre: Taipei (2004)

3. “Burnt Rice.” Basement Open Theatre Festival. Eslite Art Space: Taipei (1998)

4. “One Hundred Nights’ Dreams.” Mode l o f se t by Car l Johnson

for the production at the National Experimental Theatre: Taipei (2008)

5. “One Hundred Nights’ Dreams.” Painting of mask for the production by artist Joyce Ho (2008)


ARTS


The Metaphor Behind “Riverbed”When the river f lows, do you see the riverbed below?

According to director Craig Quintero, the heart of Riverbed Theatre exists in this unseen world and this dimension is the most

valuable element of their art. The river’s flowing water is the theatre, the riverbed is the stage, and Riverbed Theatre seeks by

way of their theatre to help people discover the small and often unnoticed majesties, miracles, and meaning of life.

Says Quintero, “Growing up in Montana in the US, I’d often go to a nearby river to watch the slowly flowing waters, wondering

why I could never catch sight of the riverbed. As an adult it occurred to me that people’s hearts and thinking were like

the riverbed of my memory, hidden, unseen, mysterious.” In his continuing efforts to ponder the imponderable, fathom the

unfathomable, he created Riverbed Theatre.

Ardent Promoter of Taiwan's Little TheatreQuintero graduated from Northwestern University with a

doctorate in the performing arts. He thereafter lived in cities including Chicago, Boston, and Santa Barbara, as he developed

his theatre of image style of performance. In 1992 he decided to come to Taiwan to study the Chinese Opera, and quickly fell

in love with the aesthetics of Taiwanese traditional arts, looking upon the people’s expressions and explorations of faith as a form

of artistic culture and thereupon immersing himself in the long-term study of Eastern culture. In 1998, Quintero founded Riverbed

Theatre along with such Taiwan-theatre pioneers as Yeh Su-ling (葉素伶) and numerous other important artists, plunging themselves

into the development of Taiwan’s little theatre. In the same year Riverbed first put on its artwork Opening the Red Mountain (出山) at the Next Wave Art Festival (放風藝術節). In the same year,

the company created Burnt Rice (鍋巴) in the second eslite Theatre Festival (誠品戲劇節), which received wide acclaim and

was rated by the Taiwan media as one of the top ten theatrical performances of the year.

In 2001 Quintero cooperated with the Worcester State College and International Association in hosting the first Taiwanese

Experimental Theatre Festival in Boston, bringing members of three Taiwanese experimental-theater troupes over to stage their

compositions and introduce American audiences to Taiwanese little theatre. Almost a full month of performances, seminars, and

workshops were put on at Boston’s famed Mobius and Tremont Theatre.


Since that time, Quintero has joined with Taiwanese famed theatre and dance performers Huang Jie-fei (黃婕菲) and

Zhong Li-mei (鍾麗美) and also started collaborating with acclaimed scenic artist Carl Johnson. Johnson is known for his

sculptural and painted avant-garde creations, transforming the company’s stage props and backdrops into works of

art. Riverbed has become synonymous with artistic fusion, developing an all-encompassing holistic sensory experience.

Little Theatre Expresses the Multi- Layers of Life and Living

Riverbed is often invited overseas to stage its novel artistic compositions, including productions in the US,

France, Japan, Singapore, and Macao. "Burnt Rice" was its signature performance, the one that brought the troupe to

prominence in Taiwan, and also was the starting point for the group’s Rice Series (米), which continued with productions of

Rice/Water (稀飯) and Exploding Rice. By using rice as a main metaphor in their work, the troupe seeks to explore, through

concentration on everyday and often overlooked necessities of local existence, many subtle layers of meaning in our lives

and the endless variety of perspectives we bring to living them.

Information

Riverbed TheatreTel: (02) 8780-5147

Address: 5F, 178, Lane 415, Guangfu S. Rd.

Website: www.riverbedtheatre.com

6. “Riz soufflé.” Parade publicizing the performance. Avignon Off Theatre Festival: Avignon, France (2007)

7. “Rainbow Factory.” Wave 2000 International Theatre Festival. Gulingjie Theatre: Taipei (2000)

8. “The Life and Times of Robert Wilson.” (2004)

9. “The Man who Became a Cloud.” T iny Alice Theatre Festival. Tiny Alice: Tokyo Japan (2006)

10. “Water Talk.” Taiwan Biennial Theatre Festival. Hua-Shan Art Center: Taipei (2001)

11. “Opening the Red Mountain.” Eslite Art Space: Taipei (1999)

12. “Beautiful Shakespeare.” (2003)


ARTS


The “Rose Monument” (玫瑰古蹟). What a lovely, elegant name. Its origins lie with Taiwan dance pioneer Tsai Jui-yueh, who in 1953 composed the classic dance study “The Prison and the Rose” (牢獄與玫瑰)

after serving time as a political prisoner on the infamous Green Island. The masterful composition has been eulogized ever since. The Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute (蔡瑞月舞蹈研究社) is where modern dance took root and flourished in Taiwan. In 1999 the Taipei City Government made it the first dance-related venue in Taiwan to be declared a heritage site.

Unfortunately, in this same year the institute suffered severe damage due to a raging fire. In 2003 rebuilding began, and the formal name Rose Monument — Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute was adopted. Plans were mapped out to provide a gathering space for artists of all stripes, and the Last Waltz Café (最後華爾滋咖啡廳) was the first multifunctional café in Taipei specifically designed to accommodate performing arts. The doors to the complex were once again open to all, appropriately enough, on Mother’s day 2007. The name of the café officially changed to Dance Café (跳舞咖啡廳), to clearly signify that here you will be relaxing in the very cradle of modern Taiwan dance.

The chairwoman of the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute Foundation, Xiao Wo-ting (蕭渥廷), says that there is no other exquisitely beautiful place to watch dance performances: “Each time I see the audience spread out on the lawns to watch, dancers absorbed in their acrobatics, light streaming in and gentle breezes wafting from afternoon through dusk, birds flitting about and singing along, I am overwhelmed with the feeling there cannot be a more heavenly place to enjoy the beauty of dance!” She also mentions that it seems word has gotten out amongst the foreign community about the loveliness there, and foreign guests are often on-site, cameras snapping away merrily.

The facility is located smack in the center of the metropolis, on Sec 2, Zhongshan North Road, surrounded by the Financial Holding Buildings (金控大樓). Xiao says it is like an oasis hidden away from the serpentine lines of vehicles in front and the towering walls of steel and glass on all other sides, capturing the memories of the architecture built by the Japanese in the colonial Taiwan of the 1920s. There is little surprise that young mothers of Japanese nationality come to this cool oasis in the afternoons with their young ones to relax and play. When activities are scheduled the bubble-making machines mounted on the enclosure walls send forth a brilliant cascade of rainbow-colored floating balls, delighting kids...and the kids at heart too.

Taipei’s Most Exquisite Dance Locale

Rose MonumentTsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute


Information

Dance CaféTel: (02) 2523-3645

Hours: Daily 9:00am-10:00pm

Address: Lane 46, Sec. 2, Zhongshan N. Rd.(at the entrance to the lane)

Rose Monument — Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research InstituteTel: (02) 2523-7547

Address: 10, Lane 48, Sec. 2, Zhongshan N. Rd.

Hours : 10:00am–5:00pm, c losed on Mondays and national holidays

Website: www.dance.org.tw

Note: Tours require reservation two weeks in advance (min. 10 people and up)

The Rose Monument — Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute currently offers such dance classes as children’s aerobics, adult ballet, and jazz, among others. The price of each program runs from NT$3,000 to NT$4,000. All members of the public are welcome. In addition, to commemorate Tsai Jui-yueh, since 2006 the annual Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute Dance festival has been held, with special performances given by renowned dance masters from Australia, Japan, the US, and other lands.

This year a full month of activities and artistic interchange is planned, kicking off in October. In addition, there is a parents-and-kids camp to be held in July and August, the idea being to use the wide space available here to bring parents and children together physically through dance. Finally, everyone is welcome to come enjoy such Christmastime activities as the Love the Kids Parade (愛孩子行動), anti-global warming (抗暖化) gathering, and other inspirational gatherings.

Pictures：

1. Each year the Tsai Jui-yueh Dance Research Institute Dance Festival is held, promoting artistic interchange with renowned dance masters from around the globe.

2-7. The Rose Monument is from the Japanese colonial period of the early 20th century; a precious oasis of tranquility from the parade of cars on Zhongshan N. Rd. outside; the Dance Café is a favorite gathering spot for the local art crowd.


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The term “Xue Xue” (學學) comes from the great Confucian classic, the Book of Rites (禮記). In the Notes on Learning (學記) chapter, it is said that teaching and studying each form half of the process

of learning. What is the meaning found here? That a student in this classroom may well be the teacher in another classroom, and that the lecturer in this hall may well be a student in another hall. This is the purpose behind the founding of Xue Xue Institute (學學文創志業), which advocates “mutual learning” (彼此學習) between individuals from all walks of life and enables great strides across social boundaries to achieve intellectual excellence.

The Xue Xue Institute was set up in 2005 by Hsu Liling (徐莉玲), who has a Master’s in Management Sciences from Stanford and won the international prize in the first Tokyo Creation Awards, created by the Japan Fashion Association (日本流行協會). She was joined in the effort by more than a hundred leading lights from Taiwan’s creative and culture industries. The nucleus of the institute has been built around the very same concepts, “culture” (文化) and “creativity” (創意). The institute’s mission of conducting nearly 5,000 courses and publishing 300 research reports by end-2006 was successfully accomplished. In the next year, 2007, the Xue Xue Foundation was established, dedicated to the fostering of Taiwan-brand consultants and creative talents. During the same year, the institute’s promotions of aesthetics education had a deep impact on fashion sensibility for everyday living in Asia, and the institute was also honored as one of the winners of DFA Grand Award (2007亞洲十大最具影響力設計大獎), granted by the Hong Kong Design Centre (香港設計中心).

Xue Xue Institute Taking Big Strides in Knowledge AcquisitionPhotos courtesy of Xue Xue Institute

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1. Class interaction on art between German instructors and students at the Xue Xue Institute 2. The Xue Xue Institute’s classroom

space is unique in design, spacious, and comfortable, perfect for the fostering of Taiwan’s creative aesthetic talent.

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Today the Xue Xue Institute has students and professionals from all across the cultural and creative industry spectrum, and also from Taiwan and many other countries, taking its lecture courses and workshops, theme labs, and private tutorials. There is a stimulating panoply of choices on offer—an amazing 150 selections—and the theme-research and workshop courses. Tuition runs from a low NT$500 to NT$65,000. For the private tutorials, small-group sessions are face-to-face with an on-site consultant, and groups may also head off-campus with their lecturer. The cost for each session runs from NT$1,000 to NT$8,000. The private courses on the study of food and drink are specially designed to introduce Taiwan snacks to foreigners, and are bilingual (English/Mandarin). Students go on fun outings with instructors to Taipei’s traditional markets to buy foods and ingredients to bring back to the institute for their culinary training. A session lasts three hours and, for your NT$1,000, covers the lecturer’s fee, the food materials, and your complementary pearl milk tea (珍珠奶茶) and other items.

On the first floor of the Xue Xue Institute’s building is the “Growing Music Space” (植樂空間), which serves as a venue for musical performances and where interchange sessions are irregularly held bringing local and foreign musicians together. The Ecoh Ecoh Canteen and Kitchen Lab (一口一口學食堂) offers healthy, all-natural meals and refreshments, and is the venue for intermittent classes on the aesthetics of the five senses. The remaining floors house the classroom and lecture room facilities. Spaces are designed to encourage interaction and sensory stimulation.

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4-5. In the lab for food and drink, designed specially for foreigners, students receive instruction in English and Mandarin and get

to go on market excursions with instructors to source ingredients for later hands-on cooking study in-class. 6. Xue Xue Institute —

Jamei Chen's 07 S/S Runaway Fashion Show

Information

Xue Xue Institute（學學文創志業） Tel: 0800-068-089 / (02) 8751-6898

Address: 207, Sec. 2, Tiding Avenue, Neihu District

Hours: 10:00am-12:00pm, 2:00pm-4:00pm, 7:30pm-9:30pm

Website: www.xuexue.tw

The Ecoh Ecoh Canteen and Kitchen Lab（一口一口學食堂）Tel: (02) 8571-6898 ext.182

Address: 2F, 207, Sec. 2, Tiding Avenue, Neihu District

Hours : 9 :00am~9:00pm (Sat/Sun no breakfast served/wireless Internet available)

Capacity: 130 seats

Website: www.ecohecohxue.com/ 3. The sleekly minimalist Ecoh Ecoh Canteen and Kitchen

Lab serves up healthy and tasty fine foods and delicacies.

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Lin (Apex) Pan-soong (林磐聳), the head of Taiwan Normal University’s Cultural and Creative Industries Center (師大文化創藝產學中心), is

known as “Taiwan’s Design Luminary” (臺灣設計的發光體) in the island’s artistic circles. His endeavors and contributions in the field have been many: in teaching, popularization, and creative production. He is today the only individual from Taiwan with international stature as a design critic, and he has been the recipient of many top awards for his creative works in international competitions.

“Design is the conscience of society,” (設計，是社會的良心) says Lin. In recent years, he adds, he has come to realize that “Travel is at the direction of the heart” (旅行，是心的方) and that “The size of your heart decides the size of your stage” (心有多大，舞台就有多大). He draws on his own heart to depict his love for this piece of land, Taiwan, his homeland. His newest series, My Homeland (我的臺灣), consists of meticulous ink drawings rendered during travels through Taiwan. His passion for the subject surges forth in each dab, in every dot.

Lin Pan-Soong — A Creator of Jean and Rose

A Taiwan Design Luminary Lin Pan-Soong and His “My Homeland” CreationsPhotos courtesy of Jean and Rose

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Lin’s hometown is Donggang (東港; East Harbor), Southern Taiwan, a f ishing port to the south of Kaohsiung. Hence his lush portrait of fisherfolk. Mrs. Lin hails from east-side Taitung County. Hence his depiction of the extraordinary serpentine twisting and turning of the Southern Cross-Island Highway (南迴公路). In his work done at the base of Taitung’s Mt. Dulan (都蘭山), he melds the mystical night-time vista into his canvas. Attention to the wonders of ever-changing nature pervades his tableaux — clouds from an airplane window, the blossoms of spring, the lotus of summer, the ripened paddy rice of autumn, the bare and withered branches of winter. The parts have merged as a majestic whole, a magnificent paean, in “My Homeland: Gazing at the Spirit of a Native Place” (我的臺灣: 看見心靈的故鄉). His inimitable style has continued to develop and transform through the process. Lin has long said that he wants to take full advantage while he still has eyes to see, in My Taiwan, for the time will inevitably come where his sight--and creative insight—will fade. It will not be a matter of whether or not he is able to draw, but how…the eye for detail, the steady hand, the creative ingenuity. This is the struggle each artist awaits with dread.

The Jean and Rose Design Company (橘粒國際創意

設計公司) has taken Lin’s My Homeland images and concocted a delightful line-up of merchandise, such as engravings, stationery, practical everyday items, T-shirts, and more. The idea is to bring Lin’s masterpieces into homes and offices to enable appreciation of his skill evreyday as well appreciation for Taiwan’s many beauties. Naturally the hope is also to assist in this land’s development of cultural tourism, providing gift purchases for foreign visitors that will be long-treasured mementoes of a journey filled with warm and beautiful memories. All are available at reasonable prices.

Information

Purchase Pointseslite Bookstore (誠品書局)

Kingstone Bookstore (金石堂書局)

Relay Books, High Speed Rail Stations (高鐵經緯書局)

National Cultural Association, 2F art space (國家文化總會2樓創意空間)

Taiwan Handicraft Promotion Center (財團法人台灣手工業推廣中心)

National Theater and Concert Hall Gift Shop (兩廳院禮品店)

Chiao Tung University Arts Center (交通大學藝文中心)

Jean and Rose （橘粒國際創意設計公司） Tel: 02-25620709

Website: www.loranger.com.tw

Internet Shopping: store.pchome.com.tw/jean_and_rose/

“My Homeland” gift items, including everyday articles, T-shirts, stationery, and other goods, make superb mementoes for foreign visitors from afar who have come to travel Taiwan.

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Using the small pen to prop up a thriving domain of international enterprise, designer Alvin Lee (李友清) has, through a single man’s

will and determination, established Taiwan’s ARTEX-brand fine pens on the international stage. Known from Saudi Arabia to Dubai in the Middle East, through Japan and Korea in the Asia-Pacific zone, and on both the European and American continents—in total a globe-straddling 40 countries—the imprint ARTEX on a pen means quality that buyers treasure and are willing to pay from tens of thousands of NT dollars to over a million. These artworks have become prized collector’s items in the beau monde of Europe and North America.

The creator of ARTEX, Alvin Lee, is also the founder of ARTEX. His earlier work was in the international jewelry trade, but the sharp-eyed Lee saw that the nature and fortunes of the Taiwan trade in this area were changing, and decided on a new course – creating elegant fine-design pens of superior quality , craftsmanship, and unique artistry. The groundwork was done by first setting up as a manufacturer, then bringing his 30-plus years of experience and flair in creating fashionable jewelry adornments to bear. Novel, unprecedented manufacturing approaches, designs, and display showmanship have constantly been cleverly created, engendering ardent acclaim in the overseas-buyers market, and attracting prestigious international names in the upscale-pen industry to seek him out for cooperation. ARTEX began its steady march around the world, conquering new markets.

Making ARTEX into a “Taiwan-version Montblanc”

Alvin LeePhotos courtesy of ARTEX

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The name “ARTEX” means “Art Expression.” Lee feels that the humble pen need not be a mere lowly tool of humble writing function. No, they are meant for noble things – dress them up as personal adornments and they serve as noble companions of great added value. The ARTEX corps of pen nobility arrive in limitless rich splendor and variation. Take the necklace pens and miniature pens, for example; these and the many other artistic creations that Lee has given life to not only do practical duty as writing instruments but also bring glorious aesthetics and fashion beauty to owners’ lives. Each work of art is fully the work of Lee’s own meticulous attentions, from concept to design to manufacture. Each individual ARTEX piece has an individual character and spirit, which is matched to and reflects the uniquely individual character and spirit of its buyer. Prices generally run NT$500 to NT$7,000, though as said individual pieces from the most exclusive series can top NT$1 million.

Demand for the ARTEX brand has grown steadily in one country after the next—France, Thailand, the US, Indonesia, and on and on. In 2007, ARTEX dominated Indonesia as it was taken on by one name retailer after another, 30 in total, and is second only to the great Mont Blanc name in that country’s international gift-pen market. A radiant star in the international arena, in 2007 ARTEX pens became just as celebrated in its home market, becoming part of the line-up at the prestigious eslite Bookstore, Taipei Xinyi branch.

Information

Purchase Pointseslite Bookstore, Xinyi Flagship Outlet （臺北信義誠品旗艦店）

Tel: (02) 8789-3388 ext.1412

Address: 4F, 11 Songgao Rd.


Asiaworld Shopping Mall （臺北環亞購物廣場）

Tel: (02) 8712-4399

Address: B1, 337, Sec. 3, Nanjing E. Rd.


Alvin Lee Co., Ltd.Website: www.artexpen.com/

Alvin Lee — A Creator of ARTEX

ARTEX pens are multitudinous in style and look, elegant in aesthetics and fashion statements, unique collectors’ items symbolizing class and dignified grace; in 2007 a special ARTEX counter was set up at the prestigious Xinyi branch of eslite Bookstore.

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Art Taipei 2008 New Waves of Multimedia Art, New Way of Investment

Art Taipei 2008 will be held in World Trade Center Exhibition Hall I from August 29th to September 2nd! The amount of applied exhibitors exceeds the original expectation. Art Taipei 2008 will feature 114 galleries

including 50 foreign galleries from U.S.A., France, Spain, the Netherlands, India, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, and China (including Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong). The exhibitors will attend the fair with a variety of art works. With the profound assistance from Taipei City Government, Council for Cultural Affairs, Government Information Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Tourism Bureau, Art Taipei 2008 will lay emphasis on transforming Taiwan art market into an influential international art platform through integration of government resources and related industries.

A panoramic view of the bustle at 2007 Art Taipei

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Exhibition space this year includes Art Galleries, Asia Live, Ela-Asia, and an exciting inspiration: Made in Taiwan – Young Artist Discovery. This special program spotlights 8 Taiwanese emerging artists (under 35 years old) selected by Council for Cultural Affairs, Taiwan which strives for cultivating young artists over a long time. This project aims to provide a platform for the latest generation of emerging stars by building up a further partnership of exclusive representing between international galleries and artists and to convey the fruit of nourishing artists which resulted from long-term support of the government. Furthermore, young artists with great potential are able to be introduced to the international art scene through the project in the fair.

1. Anne Catherine Becker Echivard / ILoveYou+or- / 120x60cm / 2007 (representing by Gallery Maek-Hyang)

2. 2008 Year Project - “Art and Tech” - IngridMwangiRobertHutter (Kenya/Germany) / Being Bamako

3. 2008 Year Project - “Art and Tech” - Nam June Paik / Beuys voice / Multimedia / 1990

4. Yayoi Kusama / red pumpkin / 77.5X64cm / 1992 (representing by Jean Art Gallery)

5. Chen Jianguo / Untitled #08 – 2 / oil on canvas / 150 cm x 95cm / 2008 (representing by Art Beatus Gallery)

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Regarding the guest countries, there is【Special Arts From Japan】with 13 art galleries from Japan presenting a complete scenery of contemporary art in Northeast Asia for Taiwan art lovers whose requirements and favor of collection are becoming more and more multiple and professional. The theme “Art and Tech” is co-curated by Art Taipei 2008 Executive Committee and curator Sean C. S. Hu. This year, internationally renowned artists such as Gary Hill (U.S.A.), Jim Campbell (U.S.A.), Nam June Paik (Korea), Ingrid Mwangi/Robert Hutter(Kenya/Germany) and Chen Chieh-Jen (Taiwan) are invited to make a close connection between art works and markets, and to establish a new idea of multimedia art collection gradually.

2008 Asian Art Economy Forum in Taipei, the first activity of Art Taipei 2008, will be held at the auditorium in Taipei Fine Arts Museum on August 26th and 27th. Scholars and experts around the world will be invited to analyze the current and future trend of the Asia art market, as well as the risks of art investment through four themes: International Points of View, Asia Art Market, Chinese Focus, and Spotlight in Taiwan. In this forum, the latest development and trend of Asian art market will be reviewed; meanwhile, investment opportunities and risks will be analyzed.

Art Taipei 2007 came to a successful end of the transactions of NT$450 million（or US$13.6 million）and the growth rate of 200% had broken a record for the past 14 years. Art Taipei 2008 will continue to focus on Asian contemporary art and try to become an influential platform of art trade in Asia in the future on the basis of geographical advantages, social and economic integrity, and prosperous experiences of cultivating Asian and Chinese artists.

6. Wu Tien-chang / Be in the same Boat / Digital Print / 2002 (representing by Main Trend Gallery)

7. Atsushi Suwa / Phantom Pain / 130.3×324cm / 2007~2008 (representing by Kogure Gallery)

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Information

Art Taipei 2008Venue: World Trade Center Exhibition Hall I

Address: 5, Sec. 5, Xinyi Rd.

Exhibition Period: Aug 29th to Sep 2nd

Time: 11:00am~7:00pm（Lasts until 6:00pm on Sep 2nd ）

Website: www.art-taipei.com

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MAP(P8~P29/P50~51) Zhongshan North Road Area MAP(P32~P35)

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PRACTICAL INFORMATION

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Discover Taipei62

Renting a Car in Taipei

In Taipei, with its high-caliber road network, driving a car offers great convenience.

But for foreigners, what conditions must be met to rent a car and hit the road? Generally speaking, you need an international driver’s license, must be at least 20 years of age, and must provide a contact address in Taiwan, a cellphone number, a copy of your passport, and a deposit fee. The deposit fee will depend on the car model that will be rented.

Taipei’s current car-rental prices are about NT$3,500 per day for a 2,000cc sedan, NT$4,500 for a larger model for 7 to 9 people. The larger and more reputable rental firms also carry various forms of insurance in the rental rice; this normally includes compulsory driver insurance, collision, theft, and third-party driver insurance and passenger insurance. Nevertheless, it is advisable to clarify coverage before renting.

Larger rental firms such as HLC and CARPLUS can, for the most part, provide vehicles with GPS navigation if you request this in advance. Prior to driving away with your rental make sure the vehicle’s brakes, signal lights, wipers, sound system, and other basic components and systems are operating normally. Unlike car rentals overseas, in Taiwan vehicles are not provided with a full tank, so check your fuel gauge when you get your vehicle.

Most importantly, check the license plate to see if you have two English letters in a row at the beginning or end of the plate number; these must be the same letter, repeated – for example, AA-1234 or 1234-BB. If not, this is a private vehicle and cannot be legally rented out.

Information

HLC（和運租車）Tel：0800-024-550

Address：557, Songjiang Rd., Zhongshan District

Hours：● Standard outlets

Mon-Thurs 8:30am~8:30pmFri 8:30am~11:00pmSat-Sun(including national holidays): 7:00am~11:00pm

● Hualien and Taitung outletsMon-Thurs, Sat: 8:30am~8:30pmFri, Sun (including national holidays): 8:30am~11:00pm

● High-speed rail / airport countersMon-Sun: 7:00am~11:00pm(Kaohsiung Int’l Airport: 8:00am~9:00pm)

Website：www.easyrent.com.tw/

CARPLUS（格上租車）Tel：0800-222-568Address：5F, 309, Binjiang St., Zhongshan

DistrictHours：8:30am-8:30pmWebsite：www.car-plus.com.tw/

1-2. The service center for HLC car rentals 3. CARPLUS offers service that is professional and friendly. 4. CARPLUS has a GPS navigation option that will help you find destinations without worry or hassle.

Discover Taipei 63

Source for Above Information:

Information For Foreigners Service / Tel: 0800-024-111

Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Tel: (02)2349-1500

※ Entries in red indicate service in English provided

TAIWAN EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Unit

Police

Fire

Women and Children Protection Hotline

Tel. No.

110

119

113 ext.0

Additional Information

Crimes, traffic accidents, and other inc ident s fo r which police assistance is needed

Fire, injury or accident, or other urgent matters for which emergency relief is needed

2 4 - h o u r e m e r g e n c y , l e g a l i n f o r m a t i o n , a n d p s y c h o l o g i c a l s e r v i c e s for v ict ims of domest ic v io lence and/or sexua l abuse/attack

NON-EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Unit

English Directory Service

IDD Telephone Service Hotline

Time-of-Day Service

Weather Bureau

Traffic Reports

Tourism Bureau (MOTC) 24-Hour Toll-Free Travel Information Hotline

Tourism Bureau (MOTC) Toll-Free Traveler Complaints Hotline

International Community Service Hotline

Tourism Bureau Information Counter, Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

Government Information Office, Executive Yuan

Bureau of Foreign Trade

Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)

Taiwan Visitors Association

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Citizens Hotline

Police Radio Station

English Hotline for Taxi Service

Consumer Service Center Hotline

Bureau of National Health Insurance Information Hotline

Taipei City Govt. Citizens' Hotline

AIDS Information Hotline

Tel. No.

106

0800-080-100 ext.9

117

166

168

0800-011-765

0800-211-734

0800-024-111

Terminal 1:(03)398-2194Terminal 2:(03)398-3341

(02) 3356-8888

(02) 2351-0271

(02) 2725-5200

(02) 2594-3261

(02) 2348-2999

(02) 2380-5678

(02) 2388-8099

0800-055-850 ext.2

1950

0800-030-598 ext.3

1999

0800-88-995

Designation

Taipei Main Station Visitor Information Center

Songshan Airport Visitor Information Center

East Street Mall Information Center

MRT Beitou Station Visitor Information Center

MRT Jiantan Station Visitor Information Center

MRT Ximen Station Visitor Information Center

Miramar Entertainment Park Visitor Center

Yangming Park Visitor Center

Maokong Gondola Visitor Center

Address

3, Beiping W. Rd., Zhongzheng District

Unit 9, 340, Dunhua N. Rd., Songshan District

Underground Mall 4-2, 77, Sec.1, Daan Rd., Daan District

1, Guangming Rd., Beitou District

65, Sec. 5, Zhongshan N. Rd.

B1, 32-1, Baoqing Rd., Zhongzheng District

20, Jingye 3rd Rd., Zhongshan District

26, Sec. 2, Hushan Rd.,Beitou District

8, Sec. 2, Xinguang Rd., Wenshan District

Tel. No.

(02) 2312-3256

(02) 2546-4741

(02) 6638-0059

(02) 2894-6923

(02) 2883-0313

(02) 2375-3096

(02) 8501-2762

(02) 2861-8975

(02) 8661-8135

LIST OF TAIPEI VISITOR INFORMATION CENTERS

Taipei, a Meeting Place for Valentines - 臺北市首座

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