TAIPEI -- Tsai Ming-lian, one of Taiwan's most celebrated film directors, lives in "renovated ruins" in the hills of Taipei surrounded by abandoned houses.
The outskirts of the capital city are full of these kinds of buildings, where hikers can still find old furniture, light fixtures, and even wall hangings left behind by past inhabitants. They can be difficult to date, such is the speed of decay in the island's subtropical climate.
