Taiwan's society is expected to go from aging (with 7 percent of the population over 65) to aged (with 14 percent of the population over 65) in just 25 years, down from 115 years in France and 73 years in the United States. Only by encouraging young couples to create a future for themselves as well as for their country through families and childbearing, will the government succeed at tackling Taiwan's demographic woes.

There can be no more ambitious dream for a clothing designer than to establish oneself in the world’s fashion capital, Paris. For Sophie Hong, that dream has come true.

It’s in the nature of things. Where there’s pork, there are usually sausages. And in fact the humble sausage is perhaps the one processed food that is known and loved in both Western and Eastern cultures.

At the mention of Yun-lin’s Mai-liao Township, the Formosa Plastics Group’s No. 6 Naphtha Cracker Plant usually springs to mind first, but Mai-liao also produces large amounts of vegetables, both for domestic and foreign consumption. Under the brand name Taiwan Lettuce Village, Mai-liao lettuce in particular has been acquiring a good reputation overseas.

Food education is becoming the new foundation for moral and mental growth. When children appreciate what they eat, they also learn to care for others and understand the value of life.

Millions of Taiwanese brave heavy traffic over the extended April 4-7 Tomb Sweeping Day weekend to visit family graves. In an age when people can do pretty much anything on their smartphones, the ancient and literally down-to-earth practice of tomb-sweeping is far from outdated. It actually gains a new layer of profound meaning in a world that is becoming more and more virtual and responsive.

Its cultural affairs bureau further increased the subsidy to the festival this year, but more has to be done to improve the pilgrimage experience for tourists. To begin with, money should be spent to make areas that the procession passes through more convenient and beautiful.

Last May, nine-year-old British schoolgirl Martha Payne uploaded a picture of a Taiwanese elementary school lunch to her blog, where she gushed over its colorful, tasty appearance. Her comments have since propelled Taiwan’s nutritious and delicious school lunches into the global limelight.

In cramped, crowded Taipei City, the percentage of schools with their own kitchen is rather low (20%), and the lunch fees are higher than in other cities by about NT$10–20 (NT$45–55 per meal).

Hsinchu County is one of Taiwan’s few counties and municipalities providing school lunches free of charge to all of its elementary and middle-school students. In Hsinchu’s case, that amounts to 55,000 kids.

Standing amid lush green farmland backed by Mt. Chading, Meinong’s Long-Du Elementary School, with 230 students and teachers, is the most successful school in Taiwan when it comes to implementing Food and Agriculture Education (“Ag Ed”) for schoolchildren. This is why the school won the 2012 Executive Yuan National Sustainable Development Award.

Taitung County stretches along 176 kilometers of Taiwan’s east coast, but is home to just 230,000 people. Long and narrow with a widely distributed population and a large number of Aboriginal villages scattered throughout its jurisdiction, the county has 112 elementary and middle schools. The fact that the majority of these small schools have just a few dozen to a few hundred students greatly complicates the provision of lunches to students.

A big influx of tourists from Hong Kong, Macao, and mainland China has spurred a flowering of creative little shops and “design hotels” in the city of Tai-nan. The pioneer in this regard—Tai-nan JJ-W Culture Design Hotel—cleverly incorporates elements of both the old and new in Tai-nan. In breaking down barriers and doing the unexpected, it has provided inspiration to a wave of travelers who like to take short but in-depth trips.

The World Health Organization estimates that some 1.4 billion people around the world are overweight, with fully one-third of those being obese.

Hung Tai--shiung, head of the Registry Division in National Taiwan University’s Office of Academic Affairs, has become a public figure over the last few years since he succeeded in shedding an enormous amount of weight. He regularly receives speaking invitations, and has published a book to explain his experience, becoming a best-selling author in the process.