Jade
Jade is really an area for experts. All stones dug out of the ground are not just antiques they are ancient, even if the carving was only done last week. Without friends in the business, the best advice is to pay for the shape, color and artwork -- that is, buy pieces you like irrespective of their "history."
Bamboo utensils
Most wicker items in Taiwan make use of bamboo (竹子) or rattan (藤). By using different parts of the bark or stem, these versatile materials can be used to weave almost anything. Popular items include storage boxes, carrying baskets, fish traps, Aboriginal clothing and pillows.
Furniture and wood carvings
One of the most popular items of furniture among foreigners residing in Taiwan for any length of time is a traditional four-poster bed called a ba-chiao-chuang (八腳床) or "eight-legged bed." With drawers, ceramic designs, carvings and hooks for clothes, they resemble miniature rooms. A top quality Qing dynasty piece will put you back around NT$500,000. Taiwanese styles tend to be less ornate than those made in China and are therefore a little cheaper.
The cost and inconvenience of sending such items back home make them impractical for many people. A more economical choice is to pick up carved panels collected from old beds or window screens. Decorated with a wide variety of religious and secular motifs, these panels cost as little as a couple of hundred dollars if you are willing to clean and polish them yourself.
Religious images
Visitors wishing to take home a souvenir of Taiwan's religious life may pick up a statue of any number of local deities. Such figures can be bought quite cheaply, as local collectors avoid them from fear some residual spirit might still reside in them.
Other items associated with religious life that make good souvenirs include the mu-yu (木魚), an abstractly fish-shaped percussion instrument used to beat time during meditation, and chi-chiao (擲筊), usually called by the Taiwanese name bwa-bwei, which are crescent-shaped wooden tablets used in divination.
Pipes
For smokers and non-smokers alike, pipes are highly collectable items reflective of the leisure arts of local people. Bamboo stems and roots, brass, bone, horn and ceramic are all used to make smoking equipment and their accessories.
Ceramics
Apart from the obvious bowls and teapots, a wide range of traditional ceramic objects are popular among overseas collectors and souvenir hunters. These include chopstick holders (筷子籠) to hang on the kitchen wall, "window flowers" (窗花) that were used to decorate paneless windows, cake molds (糕模) and a variety of chamber pots and hot water bottles.
Fans
One of the cheapest, most easily carried home, and yet more interesting items that can be collected is a simple hand-held fan (扇子). While traditional folding fans made of bamboo, wood or ivory and engraved with elegant designs, or even painted fans, can be expensive. Fans that were given away as advertising gimmicks 20 or 30 years ago can still be bought for as little as NT$20.
Handed out in the streets or outside theaters in the days before air conditioning, and made of bamboo and paper or later plastic, they offer an interesting insight into the commercial development of Taiwan through the 20th century.
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