Traditions of Taipei
A night-market city where Taoist temples, tea culture and the Lantern Festival share the same streets.
Taipei is the capital of Taiwan and a city of temples, night markets and tea houses. Popular religion is woven through daily life, with incense offered at street shrines and processions for local gods. Taiwan is known for its oolong tea and for a food culture that mixes Chinese, Japanese and indigenous influences.
Temples and lanterns
The Longshan Temple fills with worshippers who burn incense and hold divination blocks. The Pingxi sky lantern release and the Lantern Festival close the New Year season. Ghost Month, the seventh lunar month, is observed with offerings to wandering spirits and a ban on some activities such as swimming.
At the table
Taiwan's food includes beef noodle soup, stinky tofu, oyster omelette, braised pork rice and bubble tea, born here in the 1980s. Tea drinking is a daily ritual with small cups, and a gongfu tea set is a common gift. Breakfast shops sell soy milk, egg crepes and rice rolls.
Signature traditions of Taipei
Also part of it, and being written: Taiwanese tea culture (The way of Taiwanese tea.), Lantern Festival (The closing of the new year season.), Bubble tea (The Taiwanese tea drink.).
A trail idea for Taipei
- Longshan Temple Watch the morning offerings.
- Shilin Night Market Eat oyster omelettes and fried chicken.
- Dihua Street A historic street of herbs, tea and cloth.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
🇹🇼 Taipei, TaiwanNight markets in Taiwan夜市
Street markets that open at sunset across Taiwan, selling snacks, drinks and goodsTable custom · Tea-time and snacking customs
🇹🇼 Yilan, Taiwan and 4 moreTaiwanese opera歌仔戲
A Taiwanese theatrical art of Hokkien balladry, stylized staging, and expressive song.Performance
🇹🇼 Taipei, TaiwanDouble Ten Day國慶日
The national holiday of Taiwan marking the start of the 1911 revolution.Ceremony
🇹🇼 Taipei, Taiwan and 1 moreRetrocession Day臺灣光復節 / 台湾光复节 (Táiwān guāngfùjié)
A public holiday on 25 October marking the end of Japanese rule in Taiwan in 1945Ceremony
🇨🇳 Quanzhou, China and 5 moreNanguan南管
An introspective chamber music tradition from southern Fujian and Taiwan.Performance
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Ghost Festival: Chong Fat, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Night markets in Taiwan: Henry M. Trotter, Public domain, source
- Taiwanese opera: Sean Chiu, CC BY 4.0, source
- Double Ten Day: 總統府, CC BY 2.0, source
- Retrocession Day: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Nanguan: Jnzl's Public Domain Photos, Public domain, source