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Seeing the umpteenth Taiwanese woman wearing pants, dress, blouse and jacket, all at once (yep, all layered on), one is struck by their fashion ingenuity and devotion to brands. This must be the only city in the world where products for sale include CDs of music from commercials. Seriously. Nike and Mitsubishi are only a few of the “artists” included in the top-selling Adverts Music compilation, pick of the week at the Rose music store chain. Despite this, residents move at a slow pace, even when they’re in a hurry. The sense of calm from the hundreds of tai-chi practitioners who do their morning routines must be infectious. Even the busiest areas of the city appear tranquil to the eyes of a stress-driven South American. The Taipei Main Station subway stop swarms with people from seven in the morning, but even there people have all the time in the world to wander through the corridors of the underground mall. Why rush when you can sample the best cakes in the city, browse through books and try on makeup, all before crossing the turnstile? Taipei locals have a name for this seductive street bustle: renao. It's the urban beat, the city's siren song of the artificial. This city's inhabitants can't comprehend the Western fondness for suburban living. Renao makes the city good. Who wouldn’t want to experience this? What matters is on the streets where protests, festivals, banquets and business flourish. The action is addictive. Not everyone is sold on Taipei’s renao, though. People over 60 are apprehensive of adapting to a bustling city that they once knew as a simple town inhabited by small shopkeepers and farmers. They recall the Taipei of their childhood, where dentists would treat patients in front of their homes. Nan Ping Hsu is a 63-year-old Chinese woman who grew up in Taiwan and now lives in Europe with her Swedish husband. She is skeptical: “I believe in development, but with time. No one in Taiwan has gained anything. Money poured in too quickly. Democracy came too quickly. In Congress, our representatives hit each other and spit. People don’t really appreciate what they have.” Her memories are gone along with beautiful buildings that are now demolished. Most of Taipei’s three million inhabitants today live in drab apartment complexes built in the 1940s for immigrants escaping the communists in Mainland China. Money, which hasn’t stopped flooding in since the 1980s, is being invested in parks and deluxe services (restaurants, hotels) but not on any noteworthy architecture. And over-consumption has recently called for urban measures: 100 km of bike paths along the Danshui and Keelung Rivers; fines of up to US$200 for those who don’t separate their garbage for recycling; an upcoming (and pioneering) project to use electric vehicles in public transit. Twenty-first century Taipei will be an impeccable city. With urbanization and technological improvements on a record scale, the city even has a project underway to provide wireless Internet to 90 percent of its inhabitants by the end of the year. One more little trick of Taipei to win our approval. ● >> Where to Eat | What to Do | Where to Stay A Chilean journalist, Marisol García is currently making her way through Southeast Asia on a trip she refers to as “a master’s degree in travel.” |
