Taiwan is one of the «Asian tigers» have arisen in the last decades of the twentieth century. High levels of industrialization and technological development and mysterious temple where the faithful continue to speak with the gods.

Taiwan is one of the «Asian tigers» have emerged in the last decades of the twentieth century, with a level of industrialization and technological development among the highest in the world. So agriculture was reduced to a minimum, the food is imported and there is almost no more room. So factories are mushrooming everywhere and cities are increasingly widespread. And maybe in the near future to form a single large city.

The longest tunnel:

The Taiwanese have a special relationship with technology and technological progress is even cause for national pride. Taiwanese companies produce, for example, 83 percent of notebooks in the world. Occupy a place similar to semiconductors to make microchips. But there is a special pleasure when, thanks to technology, bend the force of nature. I understood this morning that led me to find the Hsuehshan tunnel, southeast of Taipei. The visit was on the route and had to go, but the experience has exceeded expectations. Not so much through the tunnel itself (like any other, but longer), but set an example to understand how much worth the time in Taiwan.

The tunnel measures 12.9 km and crosses a mountain of pure rock. Its construction was an engineering feat: a hole was dug like a giant torpedo pierced the mountain side to side in a fine work of 15 years which cost 1.8 billion dollars and 15 dead. Today, thanks to the tunnel, it takes just 40 minutes to travel from Taipei Toucheng. There used to take a highway around the mountain and the journey between the two cities required two hours away. Do not waste time and be on time are highly valued attitudes. Each day of the three weeks I was in Taiwan, different translators who accompanied me appeared in the lobby of the hotel at 9 am sharp, as if waiting for the right time hiding behind a vase.

The Temples and Gods:

Such technology and economic rationality are not at odds with religion, sometimes even seem to go hand in hand. The relationship with the gods goes something like this: a question asked or given something to God (or each person’s own ancestors), who in each house of the scallop with an altar crowned with the pedigree of the family, sometimes reaches twenty generations. And the God or the ancestor living in the house responds through two pieces of wood called Puah Pue, with one side flat and one convex. If the throw both fall with the flat side down, the answer is «no.» If it falls one up and one down, is «yes.» And if they fall flat for the two parties, the answer amounts to «a laugh of God» and you can throw again.

According to official statistics, Taiwan is 4037 8604 Buddhist temples and Taoist gods and quantity shared by both religions. Among these is the Buddha Pekong gods, the God of money and health in the Taoist pantheon.

So is Taiwan fused with technology and their religion!