Featured Story

Hidden Champions of Taiwanese Industry

In today’s unpredictable world, Taiwan is home to some enterprises which, though not household names, nonetheless play an in­dispens­able role as genuine “hidden champions.”  Among these firms, there is one with a product range of over 100,000 abrasive wheels and other machining tools, and ano......

Featured Story

Cradles of Indie Music

Before online video platforms, musical artists presented their work at live events such as campus music competitions, music festivals, and live house performances. Although these days music fans can instantly get access to music online, there is no replacing the feeling of a live performance. ......

Featured Story

Taiwan: Veggie Heaven!

Perhaps you have noticed the increasing vitality of Taiwan’s fruit and vege­table trade. Besides traditional markets and super­market chains, there are neighborhood organic food shops and weekend farmers’ markets in many locations, all displaying a huge variety of fruits and vegetables in seas......

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Life in the Post-Covid Era

The eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted social order and daily life. But it has also inspired the rise and transformation of many industries. Moreover, well-known people from all walks of life are being affected by the pandemic in ways that are causing them to rethink the links bet......

Featured Story

The Flowering of Indigenous Art and Culture

In this month’s cover story, we explore traditions and innovations in indigenous music, drama, crafts, and architecture, as well as the transmission of life wisdom, offering insights into Taiwan's vibrant and fascinating indigenous cultures.......

Featured Story

The Beauty of Natural Materials

Focusing on urban green spaces, this month’s cover story invites us to reconsider the relationships between humanity, nature, and space. We explore how designers make use of plants and nat­ural materials to create works that are full of meaning. Their artfully designed spaces are rooted in nat......

Cherry Blossoms in the Mountains

It’s cherry blossom season once again, and I happened to see several trees in bloom beside a country road near Lake Fengshu in Tamsui. To see cherries blossoming in a mountain valley is even more refreshing than viewing them in a cultivated park, and you can’t help but stay and look a while.......

Industry, Ideas, Cohesion

There is a concept in management studies called “group dynamics.” It refers to the life cycle of group development, from “forming” and “storming” to “norming” and “performing.” Taiwan enterprises, faced with dramatic changes in the global operating environ­ment, have to tackle urgent tasks of ......

Kinik

Taiwan’s Grinding King

A grinding wheel—or “sand wheel” in Chinese—is neither a wheel made from sand nor a big-wheeled steamship that transports sand, but rather a tool that grinds or cuts a variety of materials such as plastic, wood, and steel. And Kinik Company (formerly China Grinding Wheel Corp.) is not a state-......

Tiny Gears to Drive the World

Sha Yang Ye Industrial

“The smaller things are, the more crucial they are to keeping the world turning.” Sha Yang Ye Indus­trial Corporation’s micro-geared motors power bone drills for the US military, door locks in Tesla electric cars, and sunroofs in BMW vehicles. In recent years, Sha Yang Ye has also moved into t......

Mega Master Technology

Putting the Environment First

The burning of waste materials continues to release dioxins, which are persistent pollutants, into the environment. Many everyday products still contain formaldehyde, a Group 1 carcinogen. Increasing demand for and use of plastics and other polymer-­based materials, which are both inexpensive ......

Blending Traditional Industry and Modern Tech

Eternal Materials

Founded 57 years ago as a producer of synthetic resins, Eternal Materials Co., Ltd. has transformed itself from contract manufacturer to innovator. As a leading producer of synthetic resins for the Asian market, the company went on to develop UV curing technologies that turned it into the worl......

The Infinite Variety of Or

Ben Chen’s Cultural Enterprises in Taiwan’s Windy City

Taiwan Panorama first interviewed Ben Chen in 2007. At that time, the smartly dressed CEO of Moxa Technologies was wielding a good deal of influence in the business world. More than ten years on, Chen has left his job as a top manager, established a foundation named after his parents, and gain......

The Many Faces of Lukang

Old Houses and Ordinary Heroes

Two-hundred-plus years ago, Lukang was one of Taiwan’s major trading ports. Local prosperity led to the rise of rich and influential families, and some important businesspeople got their start in this town. No one foresaw that one day the harbor would be closed by siltation, that large numbers......

The Chiayi Art Museum

An Indoor Journey Through Time and Space

In 1938, when the first Fine Arts Exhibition of the Government-­General of Taiwan was held, 20% of the artists whose works were selected were from Chiayi. The Japanese-language Taiwan Daily News ran a story with the headline “Chiayi Is the City of Paintings,” a sobriquet which has lasted to th......

Perfect Improvisation

Dancer Ku Ming-shen

Time glides on, and life’s curtain rises and falls, while the stars keep eternal watch in the heavens. A single backward glance makes everything clear. In contact improvisation, she has found enlightenment.  Ku Ming-shen is a professional dancer and choreo­grapher who vows never to retire. She......

Returning to the Heart of Taiwan

Blueseeds Goes Back to Nature

Just as the world is focused on Taiwan’s most dynamic industry, semiconductors, a local brand of fragrant personal care products named Blueseeds has been quietly infiltrating the North American market. Boasting natural farming methods and no added artificial chemical compounds, Blueseeds sells......

From Trash to Treasure

Made Carving from Bali

Beams and pillars from old homes, junk washboards, industrial scraps—these bits of trash are treasure in the eyes of Made Sukariawan. With his woodcarving tools, he turns all of this junk into exquisite works of art. The grain of the wood becomes wrinkles on an elephant’s trunk, the dry bark t......