Hualien

Save some time by flying from Taipei to Hualien (45 minutes) in order to drive part-way along the hand-chiseled East Coast Highway. This road goes through spectacular Taroko Gorge, where marble walls rise from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the sea. One section goes through 85 tunnels, which have windows cut in the sides to facilitate sightseeing.

The industry is centred in Kaohsiung and Hualien, and "after the Japanese surrender the factories were taken over by the Chinese Government.