Taipei was once one of the noisiest and most
polluted cities in Asia, but it has recently undergone
some dramatic changes. This transformation has
been prompted not by an authoritarian leadership,
but by a burgeoning civic society. What led to this
development and what can people expect in the
near future?
At the beginning of this year, Starbucks Taiwan's President John Hsu visited Hakone, Japan. He came away from this trip with a less than ideal impression of this neat and orderly city. "The beauty of the place was so extreme that I thought it was a little fake," Hsu notes. Soon upon his return from this vacation, Hsu took a ride on Taipei's MRT (mass rapid transit) system and came to the conclusion that although the system was crowded there was a sense of order--much like Taipei City itself. "I used to think Japan was nice, but not anymore," he confesses. "I think Taipei is nicer than any city in Japan."
Many people believe that Taipei has indeed changed. For many years, it was one of the region's loudest and most crowded and polluted cities. But the ugly duckling has been undergoing something of a self-improvement program in the recent past; while it may not yet be a beautiful swan, the world media has recognized the efforts. In its annual survey on the quality of life in Asian cities, the English edition of Asiaweek placed Taipei fifth on its list in 1998, up from eleventh in 1996. And in 1999 it climbed to the number-two spot, second only to Fukuoka, Japan. Although its ranking dropped to fourth place in 2000, Taipei remains a hospitable city in many people's minds. Similarly, the US-based Newsweek published a story entitled "The Birth of a New Taipei" praising residents for making the city a cleaner and greener place.
Some key indicators have marked the change. The annual per capita income for a Taipei resident was NT$89,000 (US$2,580) in 1981 and NT$238,000 (US$6,900) in 1991. In 1999, it reached NT$434,000 (US$12,580), higher than the corresponding figure for an ROC citizen--NT$390,000 (US$11,300). Comparatively speaking, those from the island's capital are also more educated. About 63.6 percent of its population are high-school graduates, while 15.2 percent have earned a bachelor's degree.
Affluence and education, along with an open-minded and democratic spirit, have helped the people of Taipei mature. They have begun to value a higher quality of life and demand a better living environment. Simply put, the new face of Taipei has been brought about by collaboration between its residents and the city administration.
Hsia Chu-joe, professor at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, notes that the city's inhabitants and government have struggled through a number of conflicts over the past twenty years. Various groups have not only launched movements demanding more affordable housing and community improvements, but have also lobbied for the rights of women, laborers, gays and lesbians, as well as for environmental protection. "Through those conflicts, a relationship between residents and the administration was established," Hsia says.
The rapid changes in the recent past have further transformed Taipei into a civic society. Residents wanted more parks and greenery, and they wanted solutions to the nightmare that typified urban transportation. The city now features the Taan Forest Park, the riverside Hoping Park, exclusive lanes for buses, and the MRT system.
Behind this civic society is a solid middle class. Hsia Chu-joe explains that while being smart, highly educated, and pragmatic, the middle class also knows how to bargain. "Residents want a mayor to serve them regardless of which political party he or she is affiliated with. Candidates must step away from ideology to win the election," he says. In other words, Taipei voters can be either apathetic or enthusiastic, politically. They do not dance to the politicians' tune because they know exactly what they want.
The city's former Information Department Director King Pu-tsung points out that the people of Taipei are quite capable of separating politics from their daily lives. As long as one does not read newspapers or watch TV, the disputes among politicians have nothing to do with the general public. "Residents have been known to shout out loud that they are the masters of Taipei," King says. This streak of independence has prompted the city government to build the people of Taipei a better home. "Compared with mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, Taipei enjoys an open, democratic system," says Lung Ying-tai, director of Taipei's Cultural Affairs Bureau. "This is its competitive advantage among all Chinese societies."
The middle class has also contributed to a flourishing cultural industry, which includes the publishing sector, the recording business, and the performing arts. Those living in Taipei enjoy cultural diversity greater than any other Asian city. According to the Cabinet's Directorate General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics, as well as the Taipei City Government's Bureau of Education, in 1999 there were a total of 14,937 performances in the city, while the figure in 1994 was only 8,315. Similarly, the number of people attending cultural and artistic activities climbed from 660,000 in 1994 to 1.07 million in 1999.
In July this year, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou hosted the first-ever Cultural City of the Asia-Pacific. Mayors, magistrates, and cultural chiefs from forty-three cities, including South Korea's Seoul and Pusan, Vietnam's Hanoi, and Japan's Nikko, participated in this festival and meeting. This event has helped propel Taipei onto the world's cultural stage and offered its people a greater opportunity to enrich their lives. It also demonstrated that Taipei is capable of hosting such a high-profile international gathering.
In addition to its cultural accomplishments, Taipei is a city of readers. A recent visitor from Hong Kong, and friend of Starbucks Taiwan's President John Hsu, comments on the city's numerous chain bookstores. "People in Taipei seem to enjoy reading," he notes. "You have so many bookstores." There are more than seventy branches of the four major chain bookstores--Eslite, Senseio, Kingstone, and Hess. Chain bookstores may reflect some residents' more refined reading tastes, but they are not all Taipei has. There is also a book street along Chungching South Road, and there are many other bookstores and used-book stores hidden within the city's narrow lanes and alleys.
While Taipei residents enjoy their cultural activities, they also display the law-abiding spirit of a civic society on a daily basis. A New York native and resident of Taipei for twenty-one years, Jeffrey Mindich, recalls the observations of a visitor from Germany. He was surprised to find people taking their garbage to the street to wait for the garbage trucks every day. "I've never known any foreign country where the local government has made garbage disposal a public movement," the visitor recounts.
The program is not only a public movement; it also offers people the opportunity to gather and chat with their neighbors. Those in the big city seldom have the chance to meet others who live in the area, but the fixed garbage schedule allows residents to build a closer relationship with their community. In the past, the city government added a surcharge on household water bills for garbage disposal, but in July last year it launched a policy to encourage people to recycle their refuse by having them purchase government -issued garbage bags. The new measure did not prompt public dispute or reproach; instead Taipei residents chose to cooperate and they continue to separate recyclable items to save money by minimizing the number of bags required to contain their trash.
This, however, does not mean that those living in Taipei are always so obedient. They have been known to fight for their rights even if this includes engaging in protests against the authorities. At the same time, they have a healthy respect for the rule of law, especially if this means an improved living environment. For example, in the MRT stations people stand on the right while riding the escalators to allow others to walk on the left. Moreover, passengers do not eat, drink, or smoke in the trains.
The launch of the MRT system was in fact a turning point for Taipei, as it greatly improved the quality of life for the city's inhabitants. While there are still traffic jams, they are no longer unmanageable. MRT trains transport 800,000 passengers each workday and more than one million on a holiday. In addition, commuting time has been reduced, thus allowing people to spend their time on more enjoyable pursuits. It takes less than twenty minutes to travel from downtown Hsimenting to the eastern district. And the system easily connects people from the crowded shopping district of Chunghsiao East Road to the open areas of Tamsui, and from the Taipei Zoo to the depths of Green Lake. Each MRT station also has its own unique characteristics that add to the diversity of the city. For instance, the Chientan Station looks like a ship, the Peitou Station is a post-modern steel structure, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station features artistic benches.
At street level, however, more needs to be done to make Taipei a more polite and law-abiding community. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou admits that many people have said entering the MRT system is like traveling to an orderly city, but once they leave the system they return to the chaos that is Taipei City. "It takes time to make changes," Ma says. "But Taipei residents have at least proven that they have the potential."
Taiwan's capital city is indeed full of energy, but it lacks a sense of order. Traffic conditions have improved, but the roads are still crowded and vehicles continue to stop, turn, and park without regard for other traffic or regulations. Pedestrians are commonly ignored by drivers, making it almost impossible to enjoy a walk in the city.
Film director Lin Cheng-sheng expresses frustration at the lack of consideration for those on foot. When in Paris, Rome, and Berlin during film festivals, Lin would stroll from his hotel to the theater, enjoying the sometimes long distances without feeling tired. But upon his return to Taipei, the experience of walking the streets becomes much more painful. "The sidewalks in Taipei aren't even. There're illegally parked motorcycles and cars everywhere," he notes. "And store owners often crowd their merchandise onto the walkway."
Even so, curiosity about the island's largest city continues to attract more people from other regions. Hsu Yun-pin, author of the idiosyncratic One Hundred Reasons to Live in Taipei , humorously describes in his second book, Taipei 2001 , how Taipei's crowds amass: "An unusual scene might take place anywhere and anytime, such as natural or man-made disasters, discounts at department stores, or the public appearance of celebrities."
Taipei seems to have boundless energy. While some people may find it disorderly, others revel in its diversity. In either case, the hospitality of its inhabitants always wins praise. Visitors are quick to point out that unlike Japan, China, or Singapore, the people of Taipei are tolerant and friendly toward foreigners. "It's easy to get along with local people," says a Japanese engineer who has lived in Taipei for over four years. "We've had little difficulty adjusting to this city."
Perhaps the best word to describe Taipei is balanced . The city features a balance of beautiful scenery as it is surrounded by green mountains and blue waters. "We can go to Chihsin Mountain, the highest peak in the Taipei area, in twenty to thirty minutes. Or we can drive for half an hour to Tamsui or Keelung to see the ocean," says Hsu Chih-chien, director of Taipei's Urban Development Department. "There are only a few metropolises in the world that have such advantages."
There is also balance in prosperity. It is difficult to differentiate the haves from the have-nots. "We all have a pretty similar quality of life," Hsu points out. "You can't tell much by what people wear. Everyone looks healthy and energetic." Residents tend to pursue a healthy and balanced lifestyle while working hard. According to a survey commissioned by the city government, 70 percent of Taipei's population exercises regularly. Some like to hike the nearby mountains while others jog in community parks or school playgrounds.
People from other parts of the island have come to love Taipei once they adapt to the big city life. Director Lin Cheng-sheng, who left his hometown of Taitung for Taipei at the age of sixteen, confesses that while he loves the city, he feels that it does not always measure up to other foreign metropolises. "I feel sad and touched at the same time," he says of seeing the capital from an airplane. "It's my home anyway. No one can take that away from me."
Hsia Chu-joe notes that Taipei was a city of immigrants, and few thought of it as a permanent home. But with the improvements in recent years, many residents have now reconsidered. For them, these improvements represent progress, but there is still much more to be done. Taipei still lacks an aesthetic appeal in terms of its architecture, and there is no obvious indication of comprehensive urban planning.
Cultural Affairs Bureau Director Lung Ying-tai agrees. She also points out that the city was a community of immigrants from its very beginnings, and it became a society of mainland Chinese refugees at around 1949. "The predominant feature of a city full of immigrants and refugees is practicality. How it looks is not a concern," Lung says. The most typical example is the prevalence of windows with metal gratings in a myriad of shapes and designs. They prevent thieves from entering homes and often serve as a place to hang clothes to dry, but they also make for a gray and unattractive landscape.
Another area that needs improvement is internationalization. There is a lack of consistency in the Romanization of street names, and only a small portion of the population is bilingual or even interested in world affairs, making the city less cosmopolitan.
Meanwhile, democracy has slowed down the speed of public construction projects. The city government, in its attempt to increase the number of public parks, is having difficulty relocating people who live in buildings that are to be demolished to make way for the added greenery. "We sometimes sacrifice public interests for the sake of some individuals," Lung laments.
Taipei is far from a perfect city, but it has transformed itself from a noisy and disorderly place to a more livable one in ten years. The force behind this change has been the city's residents. Without the slogans and political interference that had typified previous city administrations, the people of Taipei have proven themselves mature enough to face their problems and make decisions on improving their home.
--translated by Virginia Sheng
Translated with permission from "Taipei, a Balanced Civic Society" by Hung Yi-yen, CommonWealth, August 2001, pp. 158-166.