What to See in Taipei (Taiwan)

By | July 9, 2022

According to ITYPEMBA, Taipei is the capital of Taiwan Province. This is a modern metropolis with a population of over 3 million people. Despite the fact that the city is young, and therefore cannot boast of ancient temples or palaces, here you can find many colorful temples, monuments to heroes and charming museums.

Architecturally, Taipei is very diverse. It combines examples of traditional Chinese buildings, Japanese turn of the century and modern Western.

The main attraction of the capital is the National Palace Museum, which houses 720,000 exhibits of Chinese art. This collection has been collected by many generations of Chinese and has been in the “Forbidden City” of Beijing for more than 500 years.. In 1949 she was taken to Taipei. Now it is the largest collection of Chinese art in the world. There are other museums in Taiwan in Taipei: the Hwa-Kang Museum with a collection of folk and modern Chinese art, the National History Museum, the Shunyi Tradition Museum with an extensive ethnographic collection, the Museum of Art, the private Chen Museum with an extensive collection of ancient Chinese art. Of course, one cannot ignore the memorials of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek. Sun Yat Sen Memorial HallĀ built in the spirit of Chinese palace architecture. This tall and spacious building can accommodate up to 3,000 people. The memorial includes Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s library of 140,000 volumes and an art gallery named after him. The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is a white marble building with an elegant roof that mimics the roof of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.. Its 75-ton bronze hinged doors open every day at 9 am and close at 5 pm. In the hall with a bronze statue of Chiang Kai-shek there is a guard of honor, hourly replacing each other in a clear ritual. On the ground floor there are exhibition areas with commemorative stands, a cinema hall, two art galleries, a library, an audio-video center and a reproduction of the original office of the head of the Kuomintang regime with his wax statue at his desk. Entrance to the memorial is free.

The most famous and one of the most beautiful among Taipei temples is Lungshan Temple, which has a history of 260 years. Here you can see columns, cornices and roofs skillfully carved from stone in the form of dragons; places for worship of the ancient gods and other ritual accessories.

Other places of interest are Ling Antai Farm, which is the oldest traditional residential building in Taipei; World Trade Center, National Theater and National Concert Hall.

In Taipei, you can see the tallest skyscraper in the world “Taipei 101”. Its height is 508 m and its weight is 700,000 tons.

Taipei is located in the relatively small Taipei Valley, surrounded on all sides by mountains. There are forested hills in the city itself, many streets abut against them. Some of the hills have been turned into parks with stairs to the top, stone paths, wooden benches in gazebos and flower beds. In the center of the city there is a very cozy Da-An Park. (Park of Tranquility and Confidence), which houses the statue of the Goddess of Mercy. Another favorite vacation spot for both locals and visitors is the Botanical Garden. It was founded by the Japanese over a hundred years ago. The trees planted at that time have been preserved. Among them are the Indian Bo tree, rubber and coffee trees, giant bamboo. Rare birds live here, black Formosan squirrels run, numerous ditches with real papyrus are inhabited by striped fish. taipei zoo itself is located in a very picturesque place. There are mountains around, and its territory, forming a gorge, descends to the Chinmei River. The zoo is divided into a section with local animals, a butterfly pavilion, a huge pavilion of nocturnal animals, zones of Asian jungle inhabitants, aquatic, Australian, African animals.

Life in the city does not stop even at night, moving to one of the many bars or parks.

Not far from Taipei is the village of Wulai, where you can not only see the traditional dance performances and ceremonies of the local tribe, but also take part in them. On the territory of the village there is a magnificent waterfall, which cascades through the lush vegetation, to the top of which you can climb with the help of a cable car.

An hour’s drive from the capital, the Window to China complex is located, where the Beijing Winter Imperial Palace, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China and more than 90 other famous landmarks of Taiwan and mainland China are reproduced in miniature.

Taipei (Taiwan)