Stylish Taipei - Deconstructing the New Urban Charm - 臺北產經資訊網

Taipei is a metropolis which has achieved a perfect fusion of tradition and modernity. It attracts tourist crowds with its bustling night markets and historic sites and monuments and manifests its distinctive urban charm through its multifaceted cultural identity. During the sweltering summer months, the best choice for visitors is to experience the summer ambience of Taipei City by heading to Dadaocheng to enjoy the cool breeze and breathtaking sunsets. In addition, Taipei places very high emphasis on the needs of its Muslim visitors, which is borne out by the fact that it offers them halal delicacies and friendly tourist facilities. The annual Taipei Fashion Week, a gala event which is the perfect stage for the blending of western and oriental cultures, captures the attention of fashion enthusiasts worldwide. The city therefore resembles a multicolored canvas full of surprises at every corner waiting to be discovered by its visitors.

The annual “Taipei Summer Festival in Dadaocheng” is generally viewed as the most representative summertime event in Taiwan. The opening of Tamsui Port ushered in a golden era of tea and cloth trade in Dadaocheng. Despite the gradual decline of the river harbor, this district has retained its distinctive, century-old townhouse ambience. Dadaocheng is a fascinating amalgam of Hokkien architecture, Baroque-style western buildings, modernism, and newly opened stores. This multifaceted cityscape exudes a unique nostalgic charm.

The Dadaocheng fireworks event originated in 2004 as “Sounds from the River – Lovers Day in Dadaocheng” and was upgraded to “Dadaocheng Summer Festival” in 2023. This event, which lasts close to one month, features weekly firework shows, container markets, delicious street food, and music performances. It aims to give visitors a chance to immerse themselves into the unique atmosphere of a Taipei summer night in a setting illuminated by colorful fireworks and surrounded by great music.

The themed fireworks show is an indispensable link of all large-scale urban events and activities in Taipei. The organizers focused their attention on how to make this event stand out from its many competitors. It was determined that “identifiability” is the key. The Dadaocheng fireworks display, which spans the whole length of Zhongxiao Bridge over Tamsui River, is famed for its majestic scale and diversified performance activities. It makes optimal use of the geographical environment and the space stretching from the river surface into the night sky to create stunning, multi-layered effects and spectacular panoramic views which are not limited to the river width. The goal is to treat visitors to a breathtaking, kaleidoscopic visual feast. In 2024, the fireworks show in 2024 were presented under different themes including “Vibrant Taipei”, “Taipei Starry Night”, “Love Song 140”. A waterfront light corridor featuring dazzling light decorations over a stretch of 500 meters created an eye-catching highlight in the nighttime waterfront area.

The Dadaocheng Summer Festival not only manifests the contemporary vitality of Taipei but also creates an opportunity for spectators to revisit the amalgamation of history and culture. This gala event is a must-experience for every Taipei visitor.

The latest statistics released by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications reveal that around 20 percent of the international tourists visiting Taiwan are Muslims. Taipei City has always been one of the top destinations for international visitors. In 2023, Taipei City was selected for the first time as the “Most Promising Muslim-friendly City Destination of The Year (non-OIC)” by “Crescent Rating”, the world's leading authority on halal-friendly travel. This clearly signals that the efforts of Taipei City in creating a Muslim-friendly environment are highly recognized by the international community.

The estimated 2 billion Muslims worldwide account for 25% of the global population. They have distinctive needs in the field of food, clothing, and accommodation. According to the “Global Muslim Travel Index” published in 2023, the number of international Muslim tourists reached 145 million in 2023. This number is expected to soar to 230 million by 2028 with a contribution of US$ 225 billion to the global travel market value. This bears witness to the enormous potentials of the Muslim travel market. Not only Southeast Asian nations vie with each other to tap into the potentials of the Muslim tourism market. Taiwan has also been ranked in the top three non-OIC destinations with the largest number of Muslim visitors for many years. “Freedom, Diversity and Openness” have always been the most attractive features of Taipei City. With a view to meet the demands of its Muslim visitors, the city government is actively committed to upgrading its Muslim-friendly facilities by offering pork-free meal options, special cooking utensils, and designated Muslim prayer rooms. Due to rules of the Islamic faith, females usually avoid to travel alone and must be accompanied by male relatives. Muslim tourists tend to travel with their families. Accommodation facilities and travel agencies therefore usually consider the needs associated with different family patterns by offering natural scenery and local culture experiences.

With a view to ensuring that every Muslim tourist visiting Taipei City can dine, travel, and stay in hotels without any concerns, the Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government is actively committed to providing these visitors with a greatly improved Muslim-friendly environment. According to statistics released by the Tourism Administration, Ministry of Transportation and Communications, over 34 traffic hubs, tourist attractions, and public places such as Taipei Main Station, Taipei 101 Observatory, National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, and Discovery Center of Taipei are equipped with prayer rooms or ablution facilities. The city also features over 80 Muslim-friendly accommodations and restaurants. It further offers the highest number of Muslim-friendly hotels in Taiwan encompassing various categories such as business hotels, hot spring hotels, and youth hostels. Every service staff member undergoes professional training spanning provision of special meals and prayer rugs and marking the direction of Mecca in rooms to facilitate the reception of Muslim guests. A total of 17 Muslim-friendly certified tourism businesses are capable of designing tailor-made itineraries for Muslim tourists to ensure they can enjoy halal cuisine and all their religious needs are met during their trip.

In view of the fact that Muslim tourists come from all over the world, it has to be taken into consideration that there are certain differences based on their denomination, country or region of origin despite the fact that they all belong to the Islamic faith. However, the creation of a Muslim-friendly environment is not difficult if the religious needs of these visitors are respected. Taipei City is firmly committed to build a tourism environment characterized by diversity and inclusiveness. In addition to warmly welcoming Muslim visitors from all over the world, the city government spares no effort to offer those visitors Muslim-friendly facilities and services with the ultimate goal of turning Taipei City into the first-choice travel destination for Muslim tourists.

Fashion weeks are without doubt the mega events of the global fashion community. In addition to the well-known four major fashion week events in Paris, Milan, London, and New York, similar events in Asian cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Bangkok, and Shanghai have also seen a rapid rise as important stages for designers and models to gain international exposure. “Taipei Fashion Week” has emerged as a key event which is making its mark in the fashion world with its edgy style, injecting boundless creative energy into the city.

Since its inception in 2018, Taipei Fashion Week has been devoted to groom the locally outstanding designers in Taiwan. It also aims to showcase the city’s unique fashion style through a series of peripheral activities including fashion shows, brand exhibitions, discussion forums, and markets. Taipei Fashion Week events are constantly evolving and metamorphosing, which is reflected in the selected themes which range from “Next Gen”, “RE:CONNEXT”, “Taipei Sustainable Collection” to “Diversity & Inclusion”. The 2024 edition of the events adopted the theme of “Cultural Olympiad”, drawing inspiration from the Paris Olympics, with the goal of conveying the cultural imagery of Taipei City.

The diversified shows and exhibitions which incorporate digital technology, artistic performances, and popular music represent one of the highlights of Taipei Fashion Week, offering Taipei residents an opportunity to experience fashion up-close. Previous fashion week events have transformed the whole city into a fashion runway. Pop-up stores, designer collection stores, and limited special offers in three major shopping districts (Xinyi, Eastern District, and Nanxi) as well as street snap activities aiming to capture trendy people on the streets of the city exude the vitality of fashion at every corner.

Ongoing innovation is the most prominent characteristic of the fashion shows in the context of this mega fashion event. For instance, the multidimensional development potential of design and sports is demonstrated on Songyan Avenue in the Taipei Dome Park area. A novel and refreshing presentation of fashion in an immersive theater setting can be witnessed in the Taipei Performing Arts Center. On the other hand, the street fashion show at the Eastern District Department Store Plaza exhibits different style highlights by harnessing the unique characteristics of this fashion mecca in the Eastern District. Other promotional activities encourage city residents to show off their personal fashion style and thereby manifest the possibilities of boundless creativity.

In recent years, the application of digital technology has turned into a top priority. The large-scale AR-experience event titled “FASHION GAMER” in the Xinyi area allowed participants to take snapshots, engage in gaming battles, and initiate interactions with celebrities by scanning light tags via a smartphone APP, immersing the streetscape into a sci-fi aura. The immersive, multifunctional performance and exhibition space titled AMBI SPACE ONE in Taipei 101, which integrates 18k resolution technology and cross-domain virtual settings paired with 5G networks, was utilized to link on-site live streams of activities in two areas of Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The goal was to create a visual feast composed of off-site fashion, art shows and exhibitions conducted simultaneously and streamed in real time.

Taipei City Government is steadfastly committed to turn the city into an Asian fashion hub by manifesting Taipei’s unlimited creativity and vitality. The most recent fashion events which have exhibited a steady growth trajectory have drawn close to 30,000 participants. Taipei Fashion Week is not only a trendsetter in the fashion world but also showcases the unlimited creative energy of the city. It enables Taipei to persist in its efforts to blend oriental and western culture and achieve constant breakthroughs in the fields of avant-garde design and artistic creation. Every participant is able to witness the pulse of city’s fashion and boundless charm. In the coming future, Taipei will turn into a fashion powerhouse to be reckoned with.

Taipei’s multifaceted culture, a fascinating amalgam of tradition and modernity, manifests the city’s distinctive urban charm. Dadaocheng Summer Festival attracts crowds of visitors through a perfect fusion of riverside scenic beauty and urban vitality. Taipei City is also actively committed to promote Muslim-friendly tourism by providing an environment characterized by diversity and inclusion. The goal is to enable international visitors to perceive the friendliness and tolerance of the city. In addition, Taipei Fashion Week successfully catapults Taiwanese designers onto the international stage by demonstrating the city’s potentials and influence in the fashion field. These specialty events give every visitor a chance to experience city’s different dimensions of the urban charm.