In September 2009, Stream started out as a small bar, roughly the size of 30 ping (99 square meters), on Anhe Road. It had a capital of NT$4 million — a relatively modest amount for an upscale establishment.

We have all had the experience of owning a pet or befriending someone who has one. For those who own a dog or a cat, it is not easy to forget that special bond you develop with that special one. For Louis Tsai, chief exec of the Pet-Friendly Welfare Association (寵物友善協會), his attachment expanded into something larger.

Hand-painted movie posters... The very words conjure up memories of the good old days, and of their demise. But Tainan native Yen Chen-fa (顏振發), one of the very few movie-poster painters in Taiwan still practicing the craft, has no thoughts of stopping, even after 40 years in the trade.

Who would have thought it would be possible to raise over US$30,000 worldwide for various charities by watching YouTube videos? In this new generation of the Internet, making a difference in the world with the power of watching and making YouTube videos has been made possible by organizations such as the Jubilee Project.

In a country known for its love of baseball, soccer takes a backseat, with many fans calling Taiwan a “soccer desert.” One of the reasons for the sport's low popularity is that Taiwan's national team, among the 208 squads listed by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), ranks way down at No. 176.

It has never been easy for the Republic of China (R.O.C), an island country that is recognized only by its 23 diplomatic allies around the globe, to push for its diplomatic goals.

In 2011, Hsu Yi-fan (徐詣帆), or Bokeh Kosang as he is known to his tribe, won a Golden Horse award for best actor in a supporting role, besting established actors such as Jimmy Wang (王羽), Anthony Lau (劉永) and Lawrence Ko (柯宇綸), for his outstanding performance as Hanaoka Ichiro (花岡一郎) in the historical epic “Seediq Bale,” which marked his big screen debut.

Nietzsche once said, “Men are great for the dreams that they have.” When a man has a dream and is eager to work toward realization, the tale that unfolds is usually inspiring and wonderful. But when the people dearest to him oppose the dream, moving forward is a test of wisdom and of courage. Ying-sui Lin (林穎穗), 44, is in the challenging process of writing that story.

“My goal for life is to raise my children to be optimistic about life while cultivating a healthy mind with gentle compassion and strong persistence,” said Douglas Chen (陳敦邦), a violinist and Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) patient. RP is an inherited eye disease that causes severe vision impairment and tends to occur in adult patients. Chen was diagnosed with RP at the age of 7 and completely lost his eyesight at around 44.

Low Fen-mei (駱芬美) has all the right traits for a history teacher: a head for dates, an ease at the lectern and a sort of lonely love for the abstruse. She teaches Taiwan history, a subject that few know very much about. “It was only after the martial law era that we could talk freely about local history,” said Low.