MUMBAI: Could you believe that there could be another China?

After decades of hostile intentions and angry rhetoric, relations between China and Taiwan started improving in the 1980s. China put forward a formula, known as "one country, two systems", under which Taiwan would be given significant autonomy if it accepted Chinese reunification.

The offer was rejected, but Taiwan did relax rules on visits to and investment in China.

Call it the Republic of China or Taiwan, the one thing that will pop on your quick Google search is food, food and food! The capital, Taipei, is literally dotted with night markets, where you can find endless stalls of eateries selling all sorts of Chinese delicacies.

Invited by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, I, Shachi Tapiawala got a chance to explore at length the many cultural, art and lifestyle of the Taiwanese and was impressed by the country’s hospitality, road discipline and cleanliness. The foremost thing I observed when I reached Taiwan is that it is a thumb rule is to abide by laws and while we have plenty of air pollution in India, indoors and outdoors, Taiwan imposes a strict ban on indoor smoking. People who are smokers will have to find the designated smoking areas for them. 

Now apart from its food and culture, the one thing which I visited the country primarily for is to attend its Lantern Festival, the Chinese New Year, which attracts a plethora tourists yearly around the globe apart from its many other touristy destinations in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung.

At the press conference, we attended the Taiwan Lantern Festival. An annual affair, the skies and streets of Taiwan light up with lanterns small and large. It is a parade minus the floats and one relates the magnificent lights and the vibrant lantern festival as something we see in the Bollywood movie Tangled!

Lanterns of all shapes, sizes and designs take on the venue of the festival and this year saw the 30th anniversary which unfolded on 19 February 2019.

Now Taiwan has also slowly become a hub which is attracting a lot of Indian television celebrities in the likes of Kanchi Singh, Rohan Mehra, Barkha Bisht, Tejaswi Prakash, Vrushika Mehta, Surbhi Jyoti, Anita Hassanandani, and Vishal Singh among many others.

Now talking about the actors who should visit the Taiwan Lantern Festival, we feel celebrities who love to cosplay and are finding some inspiration for their next would have their emotions thawed with the vibrancy and enigmatic charm and beauty of the festival.

Karanvir Bohra loves to cosplay and we have spotted quite some pictures of Mouni Roy dressed up as Princess Jasmine, Erica Fernandes got into the garb of Snow Queen – Elsa, Priyal Gor as Ariel, Ssara Khan slayed in the look of Ana, Surbhi Jyoti as Tinker Bell and many others!



Taiwan may also be an ideal place for romantic couples such as Sanaya Irani – Mohit Sehgal, Divyanka Tripathi – Vivek Dahiya, Anita Hassanandani – Rohit Reddy, Mahhi Vij – Jay Bhanushaki who can make love confessions and promises while releasing the sky lantern. After the releasing of sky lantern, they can hold their partner’s hand and walk along the railway.

And for those who are planning to take to step to start a relationship, the sky lantern and railway will definitely assist you!
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And lastly, it now makes an ideal adventure tourist destination and a hotspot for nature lovers with a lot of activities being introduced in Pingtung. The Rainbow Village, Flora Expo, the Lantern Festival and others would be ideal for nature lovers such as Rubina Dilaik, Sriti Jha and Kunal Karan Kapoor and adventure and travel lovers such as Abhinav Shukla, Arjun Bijlani, Shaheer Sheikh and Raj Singh Arora who can get some picturesque images to inspire you to add Taiwan to your bucket list!

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We are in love with Taiwan and we are sure you will be to once you visit there! Have you added the country to your bucket list?