In the eyes of foreign visitors and residents, Taiwan is a friendly and democratic country and visitors are most impressed with Taiwan's culture, people's friendliness and beautiful scenery, according to a survey released by the Government Information Office (GIO) yesterday.
The poll also found that visitors are least impressed with the nation's environmental protection, internationalization and tourism facilities.
The survey, conducted between Oct. 26 and Dec. 31 last year, questioned about 1,000 foreign visitors and over 500 foreign residents, found that the dominant impression of Taiwanese people was of their friendliness, followed by diligence, politeness, reliability, openness, flexibility and high quality of life.
Foreign tourists and residents agreed that Taiwanese society is family-centered. The tourists also stressed Taiwanese society's competitiveness, safety, fast-pace, ethics, modernization, internationalization, efficiency, freedom, order and diversity.
When asked about their impressions concerning Taiwan's government, more than 55 percent of the foreign residents said that they were most impressed with the freedom of the media and about 53 percent cited democratic development.
More than 80 percent of foreign visitors and 85 percent of foreign residents agreed that Taiwan is better than China in terms of its democratic development and economic, cultural, social and technological development, as well as in terms of internationalization and quality of life.
When asked about their tourism preferences, the survey indicated that foreigners were most interested in Taiwan's food.
For foreign visitors, this was followed by the nation's cultural heritage, historic sites, shopping, night life, hot springs, offshore islands, adventure activities, eco-tourism, exhibitions and city tours.
For foreign residents, this was followed in descending order by cultural heritage, night life, historic sites, shopping, hot springs, adventure activities, offshore islands, eco-tourism, exhibitions and city tours.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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