Taiwan
by geosax
We found Taiwan to be an interesting contrast to mainland China. While both are essentially Chinese, Taiwan's capitalist economy and openness to the world since 1949 caused it to develop much more rapidly than mainland China, which was dominated by a closed, communist system under Mao Zedong, before its opening up in recent decades.
Consequently, we found most aspects of life in Taiwan to be orderly, clean (streets, environment, sanitary practices, etc.) and well-organized (transportation systems, businesses), and met many friendly, generous people who seemed open to outside ideas and influences while cherishing the basic elements of traditional Chinese culture (Chinese arts, language, philosophy, etc.).
Peihui and I spent 4 days in and around Taipei (the capital), before moving on to the semi-rural Yilan county (farming, fishing, hot springs) and Taroka National Park.
