The Xin Yi District - Taipei's newest, trendiest, most pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, and one of the hottest neighborhoods in Asia - is the city's answer to Hong Kong's Soho and Tokyo's Ginza. Visitors go to Xin Yi for its upscale shopping, modern nightclubs, and good restaurants. It boasts the biggest bookstore in Asia (Page One Books) and the most popular jazz club in town (Brown Sugar), along with three top-notch Japanese department stores and a large cinema complex. The area is teeming with lively nightspots: throw a stone in any direction and it'll hit a lounge bar, a new-age Chinese restaurant, or a live music venue.

Then there are the famous "anchor tenants" of the neighborhood: the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC) with its extensive international convention and exhibition facilities, the 856-room Grand Hyatt Hotel, and the 508-meter-tall Taipei 101 Tower, which is the unmistakable beacon of the neighborhood.

The shape of Taiwanese popular music is changing at Taipei's live music cafes, most of them located in the Gongguan district near two of the city's main university campuses.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY KEVIN T.S. TANG