Sapore di Cina

Learn Chinese, Travel or Work in China

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Top 4 International Obstetricians and Gynecologists in Taipei

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Obstetricians and Gynecologists in Taipei

  1. Chang Gung Memorial Hospital International Medical Center
  2. Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital International Medical Center
  3. Far Eastern Memorial Hospital (FEMH)
  4. Taipei Veterans General Hospital International Medical Service Center

Do you live in Taipei and currently look for a reputable obstetrician and/or gynecologist?

Taipei is renowned for having one of the best healthcare systems in the world. Here, foreigners are obliged to enroll in its national healthcare program within months.

Truth be told, with a superior public healthcare system, exceptionally short waiting lists, and low costs, it’s not strange why you won’t find as many international private hospitals here compared to Bangkok and Singapore, for example.

In this article, we have listed some of the top international hospitals that provide medical services in gynecology and obstetrics. We explain their history, what services they offer, where they are located, and more.

Let’s get started. [Read more…]

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Top 4 International Pediatricians in Taipei

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Pediatricians in Taipei

  1. Taiwan Adventist Hospital
  2. Taipei Medical University Hospital
  3. Taipei Veterans General Hospital Department of Pediatrics
  4. Taipei City Hospital

Do you live in Taipei and look for hospitals that provide services in pediatrics?

As you probably know by now, Taiwan has one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world. You won’t have issues finding reputable medical service providers, but it can take some time to do the research.

Therefore, we have written this article where we list some of the leading and most reputable clinics providing pediatric services in Taipei. If you have any other recommendations, feel free to send us a message or write a comment below. [Read more…]

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Top 4 International Ophthalmologists & Optometrists in Taipei

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Optometrists in Taipei

  1. Taipei Eye Clinic
  2. Taiwan Nobel Medical Group
  3. New Vision Eye Clinic
  4. TMUH

Taipei is a highly sought-after destination among expats and travelers who want to indulge in Taiwan’s culture, cuisine, and beautiful environment. Despite having one of the world’s most efficient healthcare systems, this small island is also the home of many international hospitals, ready to cater to foreigners.

If you currently look for ophthalmologists and optometrists in Tapei, don’t look any further. In this article, we list some of the best and most reputable clinics. We will explain their history, what services they offer, and what makes them unique. If you have any other recommendations or questions, feel free to write a message below. [Read more…]

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How to Open a Company in Taiwan as a Foreigner

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How to Open a Company in Taiwan

  1. The pros of opening a company in Taiwan
  2. The cons of opening a company in Taiwan
  3. How to open a company in Taiwan
  4. The total cost of registering and maintaining a company in Taiwan
  5. How to open a multi-currency business bank account in Taiwan
  6. Frequently asked questions
  7. Get a free quotation from an agency that can help you to set up your Taiwan company

The pros of opening a company in Taiwan

  • In order to solve the employment problem and attract foreigners with expertise, the Taiwan government provided with Regulations on the Permission and Administration of the Employment of Foreign Workers and tax incentives. Foreigners can get a work permit easier than in many other Asian countries and enjoy the favorable income tax rate;
  • Taiwan’s corporate income tax rate is 20%, comparatively lower than Japan, Korea, China. The VAT rate is 5%, which is also lower than Japan, Korea, China, and Singapore;
  • It is relatively easy, when compared to other Asian countries, to open a business bank account and transfer funds, if you can provide the required documents;
  • The Taiwan government established the special-purpose zones that can meet changing business needs. At present, there are 174 industrial parks, 10 export processing zones, 3 science parks, 2 agricultural technology parks, 4 environmental science, and technology parks, and 7 free trade zones;

    • [Read more…]

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Top 5 International Dental Clinics in Taipei

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International Dental Clinics in Taipei

  1. Longwood Dental
  2. Dentway Dental Clinics
  3. Dr. Wells
  4. Image Dental Clinic
  5. Wisdent Dental Clinic

Do you live in Taiwan and need urgent help with a toothache? Perhaps, you just want to visit Taiwan as a medical tourist and visit some of its main attractions during the time.

Taiwan is well-known for having one of the best healthcare systems in the world where a great majority is covered. With that said, you’ll find plenty of established and renowned international dental clinics where the staff has studied at reputable universities in Taiwan or overseas.

Many of the clinics have experienced dentists and helped locals and foreigners for decades. In this article, we list some of the top international dental clinics in Taipei. [Read more…]

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International Moving Companies in Taiwan: Our Top Picks

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International Moving Companies in Taiwan

International Moving Companies in Taiwan – Index

  1. Why you should hire an international moving company
  2. How much does it cost to move to Taiwan?
  3. International moving companies in Taiwan
  4. Get up to 5 free quotes from trusted moving companies

Do you plan to move to Taiwan and need to find an international moving company?

In this article, you can find some of the most popular moving companies that can help you to send your goods to Taiwan (if you are moving there) or from Taiwan to overseas (if you plan moving back home or to another country).

The companies are handpicked and have a long experience of catering to foreigners in the international moving industry. They manage relocations within the shortest possible time and sometimes provide other useful services, covering visa & immigration issues, intercultural training, school searches and more.

If you fill in the form below, you can also get free quotes from trusted moving companies chosen by our moving service partner. If you have any questions about relocating to Taiwan, feel free to drop a comment below or send us an email.

[Read more…]

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Prepaid SIM Cards for Taiwan: A Complete Guide

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Prepaid SIM Cards for Taiwan

Prepaid SIM Cards for Taiwan – Index

  1. Types of SIM cards with data for Taiwan
  2. Local prepaid SIM cards in Taiwan
  3. Buying local SIM cards online
  4. Buying local SIM cards at the airport
  5. International Travel SIM cards
  6. Roaming in Taiwan
  7. Rent a phone in Taiwan

Do you plan to travel to Taiwan and need to get a local SIM card? Navigating the jungle of SIM cards can be a daunting and time-consuming task as there are many options available.

You see, you don’t necessarily need to buy a SIM card once you’ve arrived in a local shop in Taiwan. You can also buy SIM cards in advance online and receive it directly to your home. You can also pre-order a SIM card and pick it up at the international airport once you’ve arrived.

That said, many different companies are operating in Taiwan and it’s not that easy to find the best option within a short time. Therefore, we have written this article where we explain what kinds of SIM cards that exist, about operators offering the SIM cards, how you can order them, about the data plans, costs, and more.

Let’s start and check what types of SIM cards that are available.

[Read more…]

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Accounting Software for Your Taiwan Company

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Accounting Software for Your Taiwan Company

Accounting Software for Your Taiwan Company – Index

  1. Own Biz Accounting
  2. QuickBooks
  3. Fresh Books
  4. Manager
  5. GnuCash
  6. Wave Financial

Accounting software is a great tool for small and medium-sized companies that want to save time, money, and allocate resources elsewhere. In Taiwan, you’ll be able to find both local and international accounting software that cost everything from zero up to around 10 US dollars every month.

If you’re based in Taiwan and look for this kind of tool, don’t look any further. In this article, we list some of the most popular software available, including information about the companies, the features, packages & pricing, and integrations. Let’s get started.

[Read more…]

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How to Choose the Best Taiwan Tour or Travel Agency

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How to Choose the Best Taiwan Tour or Travel Agency

Taiwan is a popular travel destination thanks to its tasty food, beautiful nature, friendly people, and having a relaxed atmosphere. It’s a perfect place to visit for weekend-getaways or if you travel around Asia.

Despite being a small island, there’s plenty of things to do in Taiwan. In short, it has a good mixture of both new and old, with a preserved culture and old buildings mixed with the skyscrapers of a developed nation.

If you visit Taiwan and want to spend your time efficiently, I recommend you to one or more tours available. The tours are often cheap and you’ll get accompanied by a local guide, having the opportunity to visit some of Taiwan’s most beautiful national parks, villages, and historic sites.

In this article, we present some of the most popular tours in Taiwan, how long it takes to participate and how much it costs.

Below I have listed some of the most popular group tours available in Taiwan. Keep in mind that Taiwan is a small island, therefore, some of the tours are day-tours in just one city, such as in Taipei. [Read more…]

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Cost of Living in Taiwan – The Complete Guide

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Cost of Living in Taiwan

Cost of Living in Taiwan – Index

  1. Cost of living in Taiwan – General reflections
  2. Is it expensive to live in Taiwan?
  3. How high are the salaries in Taiwan?

In this article, you will get a better understanding of the living costs in Taiwan.

First, I will share a general reflection about the cost of living. Here, we review the costs for rent, utilities, food, transportation, and more. This is important to understand how much you need to pay on a monthly basis.

Truth be told, you don’t want to end up accepting a contract where you can’t afford living a decent life.

At the end of the article, I will answer the fateful question “Is it expensive to live in Taiwan?”. Here, we compare the cost of living in Taipei with different cities around the world, including San Diego, Tokyo, Madrid, and more.

[Read more…]

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Best Health Insurance for Expats in Taiwan – Our Guide

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Best Health Insurance for Expats in Taiwan

Click here if you want to send a request for a
free quotation to the broker we recommend at the moment

Health Insurance for Expats in Taiwan – Index

  1. Medical attention in Taiwan
  2. Why do I need health insurance in Taiwan?
  3. Hospitals in Taiwan
  4. Types of insurances in Taiwan
  5. What is an insurance broker and why you might need one?
  6. Table comparing health insurance types for Taiwan
  7. How to evaluate the features of a health insurance policy
  8. Send a request for a free quotation to the broker we recommend

Taiwan has been voted as the best place to live for expats, it’s also been voted as the third best place to do business in the world (only behind Singapore and Switzerland). This small island has a well-functioning society and is famous for taking care of its citizens and foreigners.

Even if Taiwan is generally safe with a low crime rate, you don’t know what issues you might come across. Buying private medical insurance can be a great option if you want to get access to high-quality healthcare with shorter waiting times.

In this article, we review the healthcare system in Taiwan and what you can expect in terms of medical treatment as a foreigner while working there. I will also explain whether you need private insurance, what kinds of hospitals that exist in Taiwan, and some more general information about the insurance market.

Note: if you are looking for a short-term travel insurance for Taiwan, then click here.

Let’s start and review how the healthcare system works in Taiwan and how it has transformed over the years.

[Read more…]

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The 13 Most Useful Apps for Traveling in Taiwan

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Apps for Traveling in Taiwan

Apps for Traveling in Taiwan – Index

  1. Google Maps
  2. Uber
  3. GO! Taipei Metro
  4. Tour Taiwan
  5. KKday
  6. Line
  7. Pleco
  8. FunNow
  9. YouBike
  10. Taiwan Weather
  11. Travel Taipei
  12. Taiwan GuideWithMe
  13. Agoda, Booking, and Airbnb

Do you plan to travel to Taiwan and want to download a handful of useful applications? In this article, we list some of the best applications that are widely used among locals and travelers alike.

You can save a great deal of time, energy, and money if you download a handful of these applications and start using them from day one.

The applications listed are available both for the Android operating system (on Google Play) and iOS (the Apple Store). If you have any other recommendations of applications that should be of interest to travelers, feel free to write a comment below.

Let’s start with probably the most important application.

[Read more…]

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Travel to Taiwan: The Complete Guide

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Travel to Taiwan

  1. Getting a visa to travel to Taiwan
  2. Travel Insurance for Taiwan
  3. Hotels and hostels in Taiwan
  4. Vaccines and medicine
  5. Flying to Taiwan
  6. Internet and phone cards
  7. Money, ATMs and credit cards
  8. Taiwan by train
  9. The MRT system in Taipei
  10. What to bring?
  11. When to travel to Taiwan?
  12. Common sense and cultural issues
  13. Food and drinks
  14. Nightlife in Taiwan

Getting a visa to travel to Taiwan

Visa regulations are fairly relaxed in Taiwan and nationals coming from 54 countries don’t need to apply for a travel visa when visiting Taiwan for less than 90 days. Some of the countries and unions include the US, Canada, the EU, Australia, Israel, Japan, and South Korea.

Besides, travelers from Singapore and Malaysia, for example, can stay in Taiwan for up to 30 days without the need of applying for a visa. For a complete overview of the visa regulations for specific countries, I recommend that you visit the Taiwan government’s website or this Wiki-page. [Read more…]

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How to Choose Your Travel Insurance for Taiwan

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Health Insurance in Taiwan for Travelers

Health Insurance in Taiwan for Travelers – Index

  1. Why do I need health insurance when traveling to Taiwan?
  2. The healthcare system in Taiwan
  3. Hospitals in Taiwan
  4. What insurance do we recommend?
  5. What should a good health insurance policy cover?
  6. What to do if you need medical attention?

Note: If you are only interested on getting a free quotation for a travel insurance, then we recommend World Nomads (click here to get your free quotation).

Why do I need health insurance when traveling to Taiwan?

Foreign travelers are not required to have health insurance when visiting Taipei, or Taiwan in general. This is the standard in most Asian countries and regions, including Thailand and Hong Kong.

Even if Taiwan’s public healthcare system is renown for being available to the masses and inexpensive, travelers are not covered by its national health insurance system (NHI). Thus, it can make great sense for travelers to buy insurance before visiting Taiwan.

Despite being a safe destination with low crime rates, you don’t know if you’ll get sick unexpectedly or experience an accident. Having a tropical climate, foreigners and locals risk to get tropical diseases like dengue fever (which there’s no vaccination for), Japanese encephalitis, and enterovirus, for example. [Read more…]

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How to get a Visa for Taiwan – The complete guide

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visa for Taiwan

Need help to get you Taiwanese visa?
Click here to find out more!

How to get a Visa for Taiwan – Index

  1. Do you need a visa to visit Taiwan?
  2. How to obtain a visitor’s visa
  3. How to obtain a student visa for Taiwan
  4. How to obtain a work permit and a resident’s visa
  5. How to obtain a visa when I’m already in Taiwan
  6. How to get a family reunification visa
  7. How to get a permanent resident certificate (APRC)
  8. Frequently asked questions

[Read more…]

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Traveling to Kinmen, the Island Where Time Flows Slowly

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Traveling to Kinmen

Kinmen (Jīnmén in Mandarin, also known as Quemoy in English, derived from the local pronunciation in Hokkien) is an island administered by Taiwan (the Chinese Republic) and claimed by China (Chinese People’s Republic) which is only 2 km away. Access from China was off-limits to foreigners up until 2008.

So the first time I disembarked on a newly-opened Kinmen I had no idea of what to expect. I lived in Xiamen for a few years and during my summer swimming I enjoyed curiously wondering about the coast off in the distance that was visible from the beach.

I often heard about this place through stories told by the local people: I was especially struck by a few daredevils who in the past, risking bullets on both sides, went there at night by small boats to visit relatives of whom they were separated for years. I don’t know how true these stories are, but they certainly left me fantasizing about this island that was so close but out of reach.

For almost 60 years Kinmen remained off-limits, with the beaches off of China completely mined and those without mines full of iron pickets. That’s not exactly a post card island. The only way for me to legally approach it was by air from Hong Kong or directly from Taiwan, a torturous and paradoxical route (to reach a place 2 km away, I had to travel a thousand). But even for the Chinese it isn’t easy to get to Kinmen.

In 2008 the government of the People’s Republic adopted a political restriction on visas and many expats like me were forced to make the so-called “visa runs”, that is, leaving China to re-enter with a new visa or entrance stamp allowing one to extend their stay for another 30 days. For me that meant 9 hours on a bus to Hong Kong, a night in a microscopic guest house and another 9 hours for the return or, alternatively, an expensive flight.

When finally the governments of China and Taiwan agreed to open access to Kinmen directly from Xiamen, it wasn’t just the Chinese that were thrilled but also some of us expats: the distance of about 2 km that separated me from this territory that was “occupied” by Taiwan, now also opened to foreigners, saving us a long trip to Hong Kong. [Read more…]

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Traveling to Taipei: the complete guide

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The entrance to the National Palace Museum of Taipei

Taipei has the characteristics of a modern large city, which is the result of Japanese, Chinese and American influence, and a very difficult internal conflict with the local populations. After the boom of the 90’s of Made in Taiwan, today Taipei (and all of Taiwan) feels itself being surpassed by other nations and is slowly working to reinvent itself to its own place in the world. The city is therefore at an evident crossroads between East and West, on an architectural level as much as a gastronomic one and in the gentle ways of its people.

Note that the Taiwanese understand and can speak Mandarin Chinese (which is the official language), but an originally Fujian dialect is very widespread, hokkien. Moreover, writing is commonly done with traditional characters; Taiwan hasn’t adopted pinyin in transliteration, but a phonetic system called Zhuyin or Bopomofo. [Read more…]

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Travel to Kaohsiung, in South Taiwan

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Travel to Kaohsiung

This is a travel guide to Kaohsiung, in Taiwan. Kaohsiung (pronounced GOW-shung) has a population of around 2.7 million people and is Taiwan’s second largest city.

The city is found in the extreme south of Taiwan, and being located inside the tropics, the weather is understandably hot and humid. The primary part of the city is clustered around the port area, as well as the Love River. Like everywhere else in Taiwan it is clean, safe and boasts many modern conveniences.

Getting There & Around

To my knowledge, there are no direct flights from North America or Europe directly to Kaohsiung. This means that you either need to connect in a nearby Asian city, or fly into Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) and take a high-speed train down to Kaohsiung. Since my best-priced flight was nonstop Houston to Taipei on EVA Airlines (a great airline, by the way) I opted for the latter.

Getting the high-speed train is not as complicated as you might think. At Taoyaun International Airport there is a counter selling tickets for the bus (follow the signs for Bus for High Speed Rail). It costs about NT$30 (or about US$1 ) and the trip takes about 20-25 minutes. At the HSR station, buy a ticket for Zuoying Station, which is in the northern area of Kaohsiung. Depending on which train you take, the trip will take between 1.5 to 2 hours, and give you an ample look at the entire length of the western coastline.

From Zuoying you can take the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), which is a subway system to points all around the city. [Read more…]

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Discovering Taiwan: Interview with Teresa

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Live in Taipei

Today we discuss with Teresa Pisanò who, after living for five years in Shanghai, in 2011 moved to Taipei, where she still lives.

Teresa, you told me that you studied at the Department of Oriental Language and Culture of University of Venice, which I believe is the most prestigious department in Italy, when it comes down to Oriental languages. I know it because I receive many inquires from students of Chinese language that would like to move to China but don’t know how to realize their dream. When did you arrive to China and, most important, how were you able to arrive to China and stay here five years?

The first time I went to China was in 2001. I was doing an internship at Beijing Languages and Culture University and, during that period, I spent some days in Shanghai. I liked Shanghai so much that in 2004 I decided to go back with my husband, that at the time was my boyfriend. We arrived without a job, without a place where to stay and without a return ticket. I guess we were lucky because in a few time we were able to make new friends, find an apartment and even a job. Personally I’ve worked in a architectural firm and, later, as a language teacher. [Read more…]