You might want to take some time to wander around the ‘old streets’ in Taiwan.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/11/05
By: Steven Crook

International brands are every bit as popular in Taiwan as they are in the West, yet wander around any of Taiwan’s cities and you are sure to come across photogenic shops selling products which hark back to an era before mass marketing and containerisation. In many old neighborhoods, there are businesses which specialize in rice. In such places, various types of Asia’s staple grain are stored in large ceramic pots or square wooden vats, labeled by strain or place of origin. Taiwan grows over 80 percent of the rice it consumes. Since Japan 1895-1945 occupation of Taiwan, many have regarded Chishang – an inland township in Taitung County in Taiwan’s southeast – as producing the island’s finest rice.

Many of the commercial thoroughfares promoted in English and Chinese as “old streets” are nowadays dominated by souvenir shops and snack vendors. That said, many tourists find casual browsing very rewarding, filling both shopping bags and camera memory cards.    [FULL  STORY]