The 5th International Conference on Social Sciences and Intelligence Management (SSIM 2025)

October 16-17, 2025, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan


Welcome to SSIM 2025


It is our greatest pleasure to welcome you to the 5th International Conference on Social Sciences and Intelligence Management (SSIM 2025), hosted by Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan, from October 16-17, 2025. SSIM 2025 will be held in a hybrid format, offering both in-person and online participation.

The conference theme, “Integrating Artificial Intelligence in Social Sciences and Intelligence Management: Innovative and Collaborative Solutions Across Disciplines,” invites scholars, educators, researchers, and professionals from around the world to discuss the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in social sciences and intelligence management. AI is reshaping fields such as Applied English, Early Childhood Education, Social Work, Communication Arts, Language Learning, and Business Intelligence Management.

SSIM 2025 provides an interdisciplinary forum for exchanging cutting-edge research and exploring AI’s impact on decision-making, education, social services, and business innovation and continues this tradition by offering a platform for interdisciplinary discussions on AI’s role in advancing social sciences, education, and business intelligence.

Papers that meet the conference proceedings criteria will be eligible for publication, subject to a thorough review process to ensure they meet the required standards of quality and relevance.

Again, it is our great pleasure to have you with us at SSIM 2025, where we hope you will enjoy the diverse program and engage in stimulating discussions on the future of AI in social sciences. We also invite you to explore the vibrant city of Taichung, Taiwan during your stay.

Contact Information:

For queries related to the paper status and program, please contact:
cyut.ssim2025pcs@gmail.com
For questions related to registration, local information, and services, please contact:
cyut.ssim2025@gmail.com

Important Dates:

Abstract Submission Deadline: July 15, 2025
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: July 25, 2025
Full Paper Submission Deadline: August 5, 2025
Notification of paper acceptance: August 20, 2025
Camera-Ready Paper Submission Deadline: August 31, 2025

Paper Submission or Modification (Here)

(If you want to submit a paper to special session, please visit the “Special Session Submission” first.)

Call for paper


The 5th International Conference on Social Sciences and Intelligence Management (SSIM 2025) invites original research papers, case studies, and technical reports exploring the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and social sciences. The conference provides a platform for researchers, educators, and industry experts to discuss AI-driven innovations, ethical considerations, and real-world applications across various disciplines.

We encourage submissions covering theoretical advancements, empirical research, and practical implementations in areas such as:

  • Early Childhood Development and Learning: The Role of AI in Cognitive, Language and Social Skills Development
  • AI Tools for Social Work: Empowering Practice and Decision-Making
  • Mass Communication and AI: Changing the Landscape of Digital Storytelling
  • AI in Education: Enhancing language learning, instructional design, and pedagogy.
  • Harnessing AI for Business Management: Innovations, Strategies, and Ethical Challenges

Accepted papers will be included in the SSIM 2025 Conference Proceedings and scheduled for presentation in both in-person and online formats. Submission Guidelines

  • Abstract Submission Deadline: July 15, 2025
  • Notification of Abstract Acceptance: July 25, 2025
  • Full Paper Submission Deadline: August 5, 2025
  • Notification of Full Paper Acceptance: August 20, 2025
  • Camera-Ready Paper Deadline: August 31, 2025
How to Submit Please submit your abstracts and full papers via the official conference submission portal: Call for paper. We look forward to welcoming you to SSIM 2025 and engaging in insightful discussions on AI’s impact on social sciences, education, and business intelligence!

Session No Session Name Session Organizers Contact Proposal and Submit
SS-01 Early Childhood Development and Learning: The Role of AI in Cognitive, Language and Social Skills Development Dr. Mei-Ying Liao, Dr. Hua-Huei Chiou and Dr. Caitlin Meyer melodyliao@cyut.edu.tw ACLS
SS-02 AI Tools for Social Work: Empowering Practice and Decision-Making Prof. Vera Taube, Prof. Christoph Bördlein, Prof. Chuan-Ching Hwang, and Prof. May-Ling Chen chuanching.hwang@gmail.com or christoph.boerdlein@thws.de ASDM
SS-03 Mass Communication and AI: Changing the Landscape of Digital Storytelling Prof. Pi-Yun An and Prof. Thitirat Phukanchana piyunan@cyut.edu.tw or thitirat.p@rumail.ru.ac.th ALDS
SS-04 AI in Education: Enhancing Language Learning and Teaching Prof. Wen- Chi Hu and Dr. Radovan Škultéty whu@cyut.edu.tw or skultety@gmail.com AELL
SS-05 Harnessing AI for Business Management: Innovations, Strategies, and Ethical Challenges Dr. Kate Tzu-Ching Chen, Dr. Kai-Fu Yang and Mr. Phil Craigie katechen@o365.cyut.edu.tw or kfyang@o365.cyut.edu.tw or PhilCraigie@o365.cyut.edu.tw ABMC
SS-06 Applications of Evolutionary Computation in Social Sciences Prof. Fei Wang and Dr. Yi Jiang wfplain@hanyang.ac.kr or vladimir_jiangyi@qq.com ABMC

Paper Submission and Publication


Paper Submission

Papers that meet the conference proceedings criteria will be eligible for publication, subject to a thorough review process to ensure they meet the required standards of quality and relevance. The conference proceedings will be published in the Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies book series by Springer. Papers should be formatted according to the SSIM 2025 submission guidelines and must adhere to the specified length and formatting requirements.

● Paper Types
  • All papers must be submitted electronically in PDF format via the SSIM 2025 Paper Submission System.
  • SSIM 2025 accepts two types of submissions:
    • Abstract submissions (up to 300 words) for oral or poster presentations.
    • Full paper submissions (8-12 pages) for inclusion in the conference proceedings.
  • Papers must be written in English and follow the conference paper template provided by SSIM 2025.
  • Similarity checks: All submitted papers must have a similarity score of less than 20%, in accordance with the conference’s plagiarism policy.
● SSIM 2025 Paper Templates:

Presentation Formats

Authors of accepted papers will be invited to present their work in one of the following formats:

  • Oral Presentations
  • Poster Presentations

About Publication

All accepted papers will be published in the Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies book series by Springer. In addition, the similarity of the submitted paper must be less than 20%, as per Springer’s recommended guidelines. Papers in this series are typically indexed by EI and Scopus.

How to Submit

The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.

Authors must submit their abstracts or full papers via the official SSIM 2025 submission portal: Paper Submission or Modification (Here).

For more details on formatting, submission templates, and guidelines, please visit the SSIM 2025 website.

Important Dates


Abstract Submission Deadline: July 15, 2025
Notification of Abstract Acceptance: July 25, 2025
Full Paper Submission Deadline: August 5, 2025
Notification of Full Paper Acceptance: August 20, 2025
Camera-Ready Paper Due: August 31, 2025
Early Registration Due: August 20, 2025
Registration Due: September 26, 2025
Conference Date: October 16-17, 2025

Camera-Ready Paper Submission

Under Construction

Conference Registration


Registration Fee

Early Registration
(Before August 20, 2025)
Normal Registration
(After August 20, 2025)
Regular participant(Author)
(On-site Presentation)
USD$500
USD$600
IEEE Members & Faculty of Chaoyang University of Technology (Faculty, Researcher, or Students)
(On-Site Presentation)
USD$450
USD$550
Online presentation USD$400
USD$450
The Second paper
(On-site Presentation)
USD$350
USD$400
Accompanying Person
(do not present paper)
USD$250
USD$300
On-site Presentation N/A
USD$650

Online Registration

Before you start the registration and payment, please read the statement below:

Regular Registration Fee Includes:

  • Present a paper (Oral or Poster)
  • Participation in the technical program
  • Publishing one paper in the proceedings (indexed by Scopus)
  • Lunch & Coffee breaks
  • Banquet
  • Conference bag and document
  • Welcome reception

Regular Registration Fee of the Second Paper Includes:

  • Present a paper (If the oral method is selected for the first paper, please select poster for the second paper.)
  • Participation in the technical program
  • Publishing one paper in the proceedings (indexed by Scopus)

Regular Registration Fee for online presentations Includes:

  • Present a paper (Oral or Poster)
  • Publish paper indexed by Scopus. (Online oral presentation: Authors will be contacted and requested to do an online meeting with the conference staff first for a technical check-up.) (Online poster presentation: Please upload the poster file on the poster submission website.)

Accompanying Registration Fee Includes:

  • Participation in the technical program
  • Lunch & Coffee breaks
  • Banquet
  • Conference bag and document
  • Welcome reception

On-Site Registration Fee Includes:

  • Present a paper (Oral or Poster)
  • Participation in the technical program
  • Publishing one paper in the proceedings (indexed by Scopus)
  • Lunch & Coffee breaks
  • Banquet
  • Conference bag and document
  • Welcome reception

Once the registration fee has been paid, it is non-refundable. For further inquiries, please contact us via email at cyut.ssim2025@gmail.com.

Organizing Committee


Honorary Chairs
  1. Tao-Ming Cheng (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  2. Sung-Chi Hsu (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  3. Wen-Goang Yang (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  4. Kuei-Kuei Lai (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
Program Chair
  1. Liza Lee (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
Program Co-Chairs
  1. Chia-hua Lee (National Cheng Kung U., Taiwan)
  2. Chien-Ju Pai (Beijing Jiaotong U., China)
  3. Chino Yabunaga (Beijing U. of Technology, China)
  4. Chih-Chien Yang (National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan)
  5. Fei-Ching Chen (National Central University, Taiwan)
  6. Jehoon Jeon (Eastern Connecticut State University, USA )
  7. Sekiguchi Mio (Nagoya University, Japan)
  8. Shwu-Ching Young (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan )
Conference Committee
  1. Christoph Bördlein (Technische Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Germany)
  2. Eric Yen-Liang Lin (National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan)
  3. Hsiu-Yen Wang (Providence University, Taiwan)
  4. Ping-Yu Hsu (National Central University, Taiwan)
  5. Hua-Huei Chiou (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  6. Indranath Chatterjee (Taongmyong University, Republic of Korea)
  7. Kate Tzu-Ching Chen (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  8. Keiko Matsuura (Busan University of Foreign Studies, South Korea)
  9. Lee-Chen Chen (National Taipei University of Education, Taiwan)
  10. Li-Chiu Lee (Feng Chia University, Taiwan)
  11. May-Ling Chen (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  12. Patricia Mary Cooper ( Queens College, CUNY, USA)
  13. Pi-Yun An (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  14. Po-Chung Chuang (Chinese Culture University, Taiwan)
  15. Tsui-Ying Lin (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
  16. Vera Taube (Technische Hochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Germany)
  17. Vivian Wen-Chi Wu (National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan)
  18. Ya-Ching Lee (National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan)
  19. Ya-Ting Lee (National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan)
  20. Yi-Yi Liu (Chaoyang University of Technology, Taiwan)
International Liaison Chairs
  1. Caitlin Meyer (Westfield State University, USA)
  2. Jeffrey E. King (The Ohio State University and OSU Extension, USA)
  3. Makoto Ikeda (Sophia University, Japan)
  4. Maxwell Hsu (University of Wisconsin Whitewater, USA)
  5. Yu-Lun Sung (London South Bank University ,U.K.)
Conference Technical Committees
  1. Chin-Ling Lee (National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan)
  2. Chang-Wei Hsieh (National Ilan University, Taiwan)
  3. Chihlung Huang (I-Shou University, Taiwan)
  4. Hui-Chin Yeh (National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan)
  5. Irmgard Schroll-Decker (University of Applied Sciences, Regensburg, German)
  6. Khishigtogtokh Baljir (University of the Humanities, Mongolia)
  7. Ning-Han Liu (National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan)
  8. Min-Dau Bian (Fu Hsing Kang College, National Defense University, Taiwan)
  9. Suk Bum Kim (University of Suwon, South Korea)
  10. Tay-Jou Lin (National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan)
  11. Tzu-Chiang Li (Providence University, Taiwan)
  12. Vincent Ru-Chu Shih (National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan)
  13. Yueh-Nu Hung (National Taichung University of Education, Taiwan)

Conference Program


Under Construction...

Keynote Speakers


Topic:


A new vision of second language acquisition and teaching for the brave new world

Biography

Xuesong (Andy) Gao is Professor of Language and Literacy Education in the School of Education, the University of New South Wales, Australia. His research interests include language learner autonomy, language education policy, and language teacher education. He is the co-editor-in-chief for International Journal of Applied Linguistics and an executive editor for Teaching and Teacher Education. He also edits the English Language Education Series for Springer.

Abstract

In this presentation, I draw on a recently published article to present our vision of a transformed second language acquisition and teaching (SLA/T) in the brave new world with the rapid development of generative AI technology. I will share the significant challenges that recent technological developments such as the rise of generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT) for learning and teaching, especially language learning and teaching. The vision of transformed SLA/T has four pillars. The first pillar highlights the socio-contextually emergent nature of L2 competence. It locates the emergence of L2 grammar and interactional competence in humans acting conjointly with others with and through their L2. The second pillar, humanism, calls for a complex dynamic systems theory–informed understanding of individual differences, with learner agency as a central driving force. The third pillar is equity and calls colleagues to address issues to do with inequity and injustice in language education. Mixed methods research, the fourth pillar, helps us to make nuanced findings generalizable and transferrable for practitioners and policymakers.

Topic:


The Future of Digital Restoration of Moving Images: Integrating AI Technology

Biography

Dr. Chen Pin-Chuan is a film scholar, cultural diplomat, and expert in film preservation, with a career spanning academia, public service, and cultural diplomacy. He earned his Ph.D. in Film Studies from King’s College London, with his doctoral thesis titled “A Critical History of Taiwanese Independent Documentary,” which offers an in-depth analysis of the evolution of Taiwanese independent documentaries in relation to the nation’s socio political landscape.
Dr. Chen was appointed by the Ministry of Culture as the Director of the Taiwan Film Institute (TFI) in 2016. During his tenure, he established the Taiwan Cinema Digital Restoration Lab, initiating the restoration and digitisation of classic Taiwanese films and documentaries. Notably, he facilitated the re-release of Taiwanese Language Film (Taiyupian) works by esteemed directors such as Lin Tuan-chiu, and Hsin Chi. Additionally, with cultural ministry, Dr. Chen played a vital role in facilitating the project for the establishment of Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute (TFAI), expanding the institute’s archival scope to encompass film, radio, and television content. Between 2019 and 2025, Dr. Chen assumed the role of Director of the Cultural Division of the Taipei Representative Office (Taiwanese Embassy) in the UK. In this capacity, he has been instrumental in promoting Taiwanese arts and culture, and enhancing Taiwan’s film heritage on the global stage. His efforts have significantly contributed to the international recognition and appreciation of Taiwan’s rich arts and culture, and cinematic history. In addition to his public service, Dr. Chen is a scholar specialising in Taiwanese cinema, documentary, and archival film. With fifteen years of experience in higher education as a full-time faculty member, he has taught film studies, documentary filmmaking, and film theory at universities

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) is revolutionising the restoration of moving images, offering new possibilities for preserving film heritage. Traditional restoration methods rely heavily on manual labor, requiring experts to painstakingly repair visual defects. AI, however, can potentially automate and accelerate these processes by detecting scratches, stabilising images, enhancing resolution, and reconstructing missing frames with remarkable precision.
This talk explores how AI-driven restoration can reshaping the field, making restoration more efficient while raising new ethical and aesthetic considerations. While AI offers powerful tools, human expertise remains essential in ensuring historical authenticity and artistic integrity. By embracing AI, we can expand access to restored works and safeguard audiovisual heritage for future generations

Sponsors


  • Chaoyang University of Technology
  • Sina Smart Computing Institute
  • National Science and Technology Council
  • Springer Link

Pursue Excellence, Success follows

CYUT is situated in the Wu-Fong District in Central Taiwan, full of incredible natural beauty with ubiquitous elegance and grace. Irrigated by historical and cultural soil, CYUT provides students with an environment combined with a higher education cradle and a well-equipped campus. Compared to famous universities with more than one hundred years, CYUT is a relatively new 30-year-old university with outstanding ambitions to develop academic and technological talents, achievements, and resources. We are now emerging as a major academic powerhouse in Taiwan. Our university title, Chaoyang, meaning facing the rising sun, creates a self-image of aggressive studies, large-scale development, perfect rules and value systems. Because of incessant digging, CYUT has been trying to create various kinds of miracles in the face of international cultural impacts in the global village.

Globalization is an inevitable phenomenon for us to reconsider the possibilities of individualism, the free will of labor ideology, and choices of personal lifestyle. In the era of the Internet, the development of higher education in different countries deserves our scrupulous consideration of oceans of problems, such as how to promote and upgrade universities, how to create mutual communication among multi-cultural movements on the campus, how to incorporate professional cross-cultural outputs, and how to keep abreast of international tendency. After 30 years of endeavors, CYUT has grown and has navigated toward a closer connection and link with internationalization.

Due to the sharp decline in the birth rate, Taiwan is now facing serious social and educational crises. In the 20 years to come, the number of college students dwindles. Thus, we have to take advantage of all possible facilities and resources to make both ends meet and then to create the biggest possible profits for the lasting survival of our university. By means of internationalization, we can cooperate with and guide other institutions of higher education in other countries to cultivate, educate, develop, and employ students with talents. In the near future, we have to accelerate our pace to offer more educational opportunities to students from south-eastern Asia. Over the past five years, we have tried our best to recruit, guide, and train students from Mainland China. Both strategies are of great importance. Besides, we still have to expand our Thousand-Student-Overseas-Learning-Plan as a way to make our students understand foreign cultures both economically and financially. The more our students can have a better understanding of overseas economy and lifestyle, the more progress our students will make to make our society a better one. Namely, the life force in Taiwan is closely intertwined with the supply and demand of international commodities.

About course arrangement, CYUT has performed a teaching quality guarantee system for many years and has become the paradigm among universities in both Taiwan and Mainland China. Regarding students' life guidance, every class instructor is supposed to help students solve various kinds of problems they encounter. Both elite and handicapped students can also receive extra care from their instructors. The mutual interaction among instructors and students can intensify harmony on the campus. Our internship system helps students build a seamless connection between campus life and career employment. Our motto is that the moment students graduate, they can be employed; the moment they are employed, they are well-equipped. Some students even participate in academic-industrial projects with their teachers to learn, research, and develop, and to achieve many results and outcomes.

In order to make administrative affairs efficient, we strengthen our teaching as well as R&D and stay up-to-date with many universities in highly industrialized countries because of our terrific campus culture and teamwork skills. Now CYUT is ranked among the top world 1,000 by Webometrics Ranking of World Universities and we intend to make our dreams come true: by 2021, CYUT will be ranked Top-500 University in Asia by Times Higher Education World University Rankings; by 2026 Top-300 University in Asia; by 2030 Top-1,000 University in the World; by 2050 Top-100 New University in the world.

In TIMES Higher Education Asia Universities Summit 2016, Thomas F. Rosenbaum, President of California Institute of Technology, viewed 「Vision, Focus, Perspective」 as the motto of Caltech. In other words, it means seeing far away, paying attention to depth, and digging into everything. This cornerstone of administrative affairs is also appropriate to CYUT. In order to stabilize the rapid development of CYUT and to anchor our campus value, it is very important to perpetuate our sustainable administration, play the dual role of inherited tradition and innovation, amplify administrative development, and expand the influence of teaching and scientific research. We have to shoulder this heavy duty and responsibility. Members of the administrative team, faculty, students, and those enthusiastic educators for the development of CYUT—together, let's work hard and create our future so as to pursue excellence, and then success follows.

Retrieve From: https://web.cyut.edu.tw/p/412-1000-128.php?Lang=en

Conference Venue


  The conference ssim2025 will be held at the Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung, Taiwan. Add: No.168, Jifeng E. Rd., Wufeng Dist., Taichung City 413310, Taiwan (R.O.C.)

Recommended Travel Sites:


● Taichung Travel Net

● Taiwan Fun

Hotel And Tour

Under Construction...

About Taiwan


  Formosa, derived from the Portuguese “Ilha Formosa” (Beautiful Island), has been a representative appellation of Taiwan to the world for centuries. Shaped roughly like a tobacco leaf, Taiwan’s located between two major climatic zones. Situated in the Pacific Ocean about 160 kilometers (100miles) from the southeastern coast of the Chinese mainland and located about midway between Korea and Japan to the north and Hong Kong and the Philippines to the south, Taiwan is a natural gateway to and within Asia. Taiwan’s total land area is about 36,000 square kilometers (14,400 square miles). It is shaped like a leaf that is narrow at both ends. It lies off the southeastern coast of mainland Asia, across the Taiwan Strait from China - an island on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. To the north is Japan; to the south is the Philippines. Many airlines fly to Taiwan, making it the perfect travel destination.

  Taiwan lies on the western edge of the Pacific “rim of fire,” and continuous tectonic movements have created majestic peaks, rolling hills and plains, basins, coastlines, and other natural landscapes. Taiwan’s tropical, sub-tropical, and temperate climates provide clear differentiation between the different seasons. There are rare or endangered species of wildlife on the island. Among these are the land-locked salmon, Taiwan serow, Formosan rock monkey, Formosan black bear, blue magpie, Mikado Pheasant, and Hsuehshan grass lizard.

  Taiwan has a population of 23 million. The larger part of the country’s inhabitants are the descendants of immigrants from the various provinces of mainland China, but in particular from the southeastern coastal provinces: Fujian and Guangdong. Because the different ethnic groups have fairly well integrated, differences that originally existed between people from different provinces have gradually disappeared. Nearly 500,000 indigenous people, the original inhabitants of Taiwan, still live here; they are into 16 different tribes, namely Amis, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Puyuma, Rukai, Tsou, Saisiyat, Yami, Thao, Kavalan, Truku, Sakizaya, Sediq, Kanakanavu, and Hla'alua.

  In addition, the natural bounty of beauty of Taiwan is unequaled, including sun splashed beaches and tranquil lakes, gushing waterfalls and soothing hot-springs, and an exotic array of tropical flora and fauna. Likewise, the traditional Chinese arts and crafts still flourish in Taiwan today. Calligraphy and painting, martial and medical arts, philosophy and religion, and the sublime culinary arts of classical Chinese cuisine continue to thrive and develop here, giving Taiwan a traditional Chinese ambiance that is impossible to find anywhere else in the world today.

About Taichung


  Taichung city occupies a large portion of the Taichung basin. To the north, also in the Taichung basin lies Fengyuan city, the Houli mountain terrace and even further north Miaoli county. The Dadu mountain terrace marks the western boundry of the city, beyond which lies the western coastal alluvial plain and Taichung port. Marking the southern boundry of the city is the Dadu river, across which is Changhua county and the Bagua mountain terrace. To the east, and of most interest to tourists, is the Central mountain range - a stunning range famous for fantastic scenery that runs from the far north of the island to the very south.

  By moving not far from the city, there are many other very attractive resorts. For examples, Sun Moon Lake, located at the geographic center of Taiwan, has the sparkling blue waters. Alishan, a famous scenic spot in central Taiwan that presents beautiful scenery, fresh air, and outstanding panoramic view, lays a more than 3,000-year-old cypress tree in the town nearby. And Kenting National Park, containing many unusual and exotic tropical plant species, offers broad pastures, rocky hills, warm sandy beaches and coral shorelines.

Taichung’s Traffic Lines


(This image can link to Taichng Travel Net)

  Taichung has a range of options for transport in and out of the city, both public and private, that put most similarly-sized cities world-wide to shame. For links to other cities, there is a wide variety of highway bus companies, offering everything from budget seats to giant plush lazyboy-style chairs with private video screens, video games and massage functions. For rail travel, there is the efficient traditional Taiwan Rail network, plus the more recently-constructed Taiwan High Speed Rail network that offers connections to Taipei and Kaohsiung in about an hour, plus links to Taoyuan (where there’s a shuttle bus to the international airport), Hsinchu, Chiayi and Tainan.

  Taichung’s Ching Chuan Kang (CCK) International Airport also offers regular international flights to Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai and other Asian/mainland Chinese destinations. Inside the city, Taichung is known for relatively good traffic conditions. A new TTJ city bus system has recently been put in place that is efficient and easy to use. Taxis are plentiful and inexpensive. Over the next several years, Taichung is also constructing a Mass Rapid Transit system.