At Taipei’s Ningxia Road Night Market on a cool evening last spring, the local food blogger known as Peray showed me his favorite stalls among hawkers selling food like milkfish, charred cuttlefish and sea snails. Like many of Asia’s markets, the Ningxia Road is a neon-lit cabinet of curiosities teeming with unimaginable marine life hauled from the surrounding sea. “Where’s the shark fin soup?” I asked, assuming nothing was off-limits. “That’s been banned here,” Peray said with a proud grin. “We love seafood in Taipei, but on an island you quickly understand the ocean’s limits.”
去年春天的一个凉夜，在台北市宁夏路夜市，一个网名Peray的当地美食博主向我展示他最喜欢的摊铺，这里的小贩售卖各种食物，比如遮目鱼、碳烧墨鱼和海螺。和亚洲的很多市场一样，宁夏路像个霓虹闪烁的陈列室，充满从附近海域运来的各种不可思议的海鲜。“鱼翅汤在哪里？”我问道。我以为这里没有任何限制。“这里禁止销售鱼翅，”Peray自豪地笑道，“我们喜欢台北的海鲜，但是在岛上你很快就能理解海洋的限制。”

Asia’s environmental movement is often described as “on-again, off-again,” but in 2012, Taiwan was the first in Asia to ban shark-fin soup, a dish especially beloved by mainland Chinese. The ban, intended to curb the overfishing, led to Taiwan’s subsequent barring of marine mammal meat (seals, whales and dolphins), signaling a green era of pride that’s made profound island-wide changes. Recent years have seen stricter animal conservation efforts, new eco-parks, deeper recognition of indigenous cultures and a new high-speed rail system estimated to have significantly reduced automobile emissions since its 2007 opening and linking travelers to Taiwan’s rain forests, aquamarine mountain rivers and hot springs. The changes created a substantial spike in visitors — Taiwan saw a 26.7 percent increase in international tourist visits during the first half of 2014, making it the world’s largest tourism increase recorded in 2014, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
亚洲的环保行动经常被描述为“时断时续”，但是2012年，台湾在亚洲率先禁止销售鱼翅汤，它是中国大陆人特别喜欢的一种食物。这项禁令意在遏制过度捕捞，台湾后来又禁止捕捞海洋哺乳动物（海豹、鲸鱼和海豚），这标志着骄傲的绿色时代的到来，给整个岛屿带来深刻变化。近些年，台湾采取更严格的动物保护措施，新建生态公园，更重视本土文化，并兴建了一条高速铁路，据估计，从2007年这条高铁线路开通起，汽车尾气排放有了大量减少，游客可以乘坐它到达台湾的雨林、碧绿山溪和温泉。这些改变使游客人数迅速上涨——联合国世界旅游组织称，2014年上半年，台湾的国际游客人次增长了26.7%，成为2014年游客人数增长最多的地区。
The expanding rail has brought more exposure to Taiwan’s biodiversity, and may have led to more serious animal conservation policies. A mass rapid transit link to Taoyuan Airport opens in 2015, followed by new high-speed connections to Miaoli, near Shei-Pa National Park, and Changhua and Yunlin — jumping off points to explore Taiwan’s wilderness. That wilderness is home to some of the world’s highest concentrations of butterfly and bird species. Populations of purple milkweed butterflies — one of 400 butterfly species on the island and once sold to black market dealers for its worth as a collectors’ item — have rebounded thanks to the rerouting of expressway trucks that cut across their ancestral migratory paths. In January, the Taiwan Black Bear Conservation Association sponsored an exhibit on the endangered Formosan bear, often overshadowed by China’s panda. And in May, Taiwan’s Forestry Bureau protected 300 square miles of shoreline for the critically endangered white dolphin. It was Taiwan’s first protected marine habitat and said to be the world’s first white dolphin reserve.
铁路扩建更好地展示了台湾的生物多样性，或许也带来了更严格的动物保护政策。与桃园机场衔接的捷运线路将于2015年开通，之后会开通与苗栗县、彰化县和云林县相连的新高铁。苗栗县离雪霸国家公园不远，云林县是探索台湾荒野的出发点。这片荒野里有世界上最密集的一些蝴蝶和鸟类聚居地。这里的紫斑蝶是台湾岛的400种蝴蝶之一，因其收藏价值曾被卖往黑市。高速公路曾切断它们古老的迁徙路线，高速路改道后，这种蝴蝶的数量开始回升。台湾黑熊经常被中国的大熊猫盖过风头。今年1月，台湾黑熊保护协会主办了一个关于濒危台湾黑熊的展览。今年5月，台湾林业局为严重濒危的白海豚设立了300平方英里的海岸线保护区。它是台湾的第一个海洋栖息保护地，据说是世界上第一个白海豚保护区。
Taiwan’s sovereignty is not recognized by China, which creates tension between the two countries. So as China’s pollution made headlines, Taiwan began making responsible environmental changes. When China marginalized its ethnic groups, Taiwan reintroduced indigenous Formosan languages to its schools. In April, atomic energy opponents in Taiwan halted the development of a nuclear plant, urging the president to call for a public referendum on energy, while China has 28 nuclear reactors under construction. When Beijing’s smog levels became hazardous, Taiwan announced a network of ecotourism routes peppered with green buildings like the solar-paneled Beitou Library, the Daan Forest Park metro station, with a sunken garden, and new eco-parks like Jou Jou, which opened in August to promote art and environmental protection.
中国不承认台湾的主权，制造了两国之间的紧张局势。中国的污染问题频频成为头条，台湾却开始了负责任的环保行动。中国在使少数民族边缘化，而台湾把本土台湾话重新引入学校。今年4月，台湾的原子能反对者阻止了一个核电站的开发，敦促总统对能源问题进行全民公决，而中国正在建设28个核反应堆。北京的雾霾水平已达危险级别，而台湾公布了一个生态旅游路线网，里面散布着绿色建筑，比如使用太阳能的北投图书馆，带有下沉花园的大安森林公园地铁站，以及一些新的生态公园，比如今年8月开放的九九峰生态艺术园区。
It wasn’t that long ago that Taiwan’s lush green mountains were obscured by clouds of smog. “Back in 1991, I saw Taiwan’s interior mountains once or twice a year,” said Steven Crook, a longtime British expatriate and author of the Taiwan Bradt Travel Guide. “Now I see them dozens of times each year. Air quality improved thanks to N.G.O.s like Society of Wilderness and Wild at Heart that educated people, preserved locations, and continue to ensure that government and corporations don’t get away with nonsense.”
不久之前，台湾的葱翠群山也笼罩在烟雾之下。“1991年，我每年只能看到一两次台湾的内陆山脉，”史蒂文·克鲁克(Steven Crook)说。他是长期定居台湾的一位英国侨民，是《布拉特台湾旅游指南》(Taiwan Bradt Travel Guide)的作者。“现在，我每年能看到几十次。空气质量的改善得益于荒野保护协会和台湾蛮野心足生态协会等非政府组织，它们教育民众，保护栖息地，不断努力确保政府和公司的胡作非为受到处罚。”
At the root of Taiwan’s environmental movement are its indigenous cultures. Wulai, a mountain township and a protected water reservation area 25 minutes from Taipei by taxi, is known for its mountainous hot springs, river-tracing excursions, a combination of hiking, climbing and swimming up the turquoise Nanshih River, and the 8,000-year-old aboriginal Atayal community whose lifestyle is being touted as a more carbon-efficient model. Taiya Popo, a restaurant on Wulai’s main drag, serves traditional Atayal cuisine, much of it vegetable-based like pumpkin dumplings, rice-stuffed bamboo and stir-fried fern. To capture a growing eco-travel niche, the Volando Spa & Resort recently started aboriginal-inspired performances pieces like Miling’an, a musical fire ceremony and elaborate drumming rituals embedded with aboriginal conservation messages.
台湾的环保运动起源于本土文化。离台北25分钟车程的乌来乡是个水资源保护区，以山间温泉和沿河远足闻名，既可远足、攀登，也可沿碧绿的南势溪游泳。这里的土著泰雅族有8000年历史，他们的生活方式被奉为更加低碳的模式。乌来乡主道上的泰雅婆婆美食店供应泰雅传统美食，大多是蔬菜，比如南瓜饺子、竹筒饭和炒蕨菜。为了迎合不断增长的生态旅游市场，馥兰朵度假酒店最近推出土著表演节目，比如火光闪动的音乐剧《米灵岸》，里面有精心编排的击鼓仪式，传达出土著保护的信息。
“The biggest shift is with the attitude of Taiwanese people,” Mr. Crook said. “The countryside is no longer seen as backwards and boring, but rather a place where people can relax, exercise, learn about ecology and better understand what makes Taiwan Taiwan.”
“最大的变化是台湾人的态度，”克鲁克说，“乡村不再被认为是落后、无趣的，而被视为可以放松、锻炼、了解生态、更好地理解台湾特色的地方。”