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5.
The Lighter Side of Life
Against the constant steady drum beat of high achievement can be
heard a counterpoint of relaxation and disconnection from the frantic
urban pace. If you stay in Taiwan for very long at all, you'll discover
underneath the feverish bustle a surprising number of artists, musicians,
subsistence farmers, Buddhist monks and nuns, and other people dedicated
to alternative existences.
If you look beyond the hurried office worker nervously eyeing his
Rolex watch, you'll see a group of old men playing Chinese chess
in the park, or a few friends taking an afternoon off to go trolling
for shrimp at the neighborhood indoor pond.
Naturally, the pace of life slows down immensely beyond the edges
of the city. In Taiwan's countryside it's easy to get lost in a
world of rice fields and palm trees and lazy afternoons in the shade.
As much as the average Taiwanese are dedicated to hard work, they're
also dedicated to having a good time. The Taiwanese are fanatical
about movies, boasting one of the highest per capita cinema-going
rates on the planet.
In Taiwan, the spectator sport that rules the roost is baseball.
The island's professional league has a packed season and thousands
of fanatical fans. Naturally, golf is huge too, with courses and
practice ranges all over Taiwan, and frequent professional tournaments.
Traditional forms of the martial arts are also widely practiced,
including more therapeutic forms such as Taichi Chuan and Chikung,
and more robust schools, like taekwondo and Chinese boxing.
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