Taichung used to be pretty crap but now it’s ok.
I live in Kaohsiung. I’d rather be in Taipei, but Ktown isn’t horrible.
Not horrible. But not great. I personally wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in Taiwan. But that’s me. I’m sure many people prefer kaosiung or even Taichung. I’ve even known people who prefers to live in taoyuan over Taipei.
food and drinks (non-alcoholic, like milk tea, fruit juice, etc.) way significantly cheaper in the south.
so, it’s not the same.
you can eat a 便當 or 自助餐 for half the price it is in the north, and fresher vegetables and fruit
In the countryside maybe. I lived in Taichung for years and I always travel there during weekends/holidays. A bento is exactly the same price.
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Dongguan ? Taichung and dongguan are not in the same league.
If you think Taichung sucks, dongguan will be hell on earth for you, lol
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Taichung is not south Taiwan.
I am specifically referring to present experience in downtown areas of Tainan and Kaohsiung.
Neither are Taipei and Taichung.
You seem to think that I have never been to Dongguan. I have been many times and I hate the place. My comparison was not intended to inadvertently overrate Dongguan and was instead intended to demonstrate the extraordinary low regard I have for Taichung.
Taichung is the city that has spent over twenty years trying to figure out if they want an MRT, an LRT, or a BRT and when they finally went with all three and implemented a BRT for starters they put it in the wrong frigging lane and closed it a year later. That’s not to mention the enormous sums of money spent on an elevated metro line going from nowhere to nowhere that is basically just a way of funneling taxpayer money to construction mobsters. But the weather is great there. And it’s really cultural. 
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I have no dog in this fight. I really don’t care where OP decides to settle. But I’ve been to Taichung a couple times and my experiences were pretty positive. I remember a great afternoon market, and a really nice park with live music. I can’t imagine it’s as bad as some of the industrial hellholes in mainland China just because it lacks an MRT. I haven’t been to this Dongguan, but I travelled around China years ago, and that one experience was enough, thanks. Outside of HK, Macau and Shanghai, you couldn’t pay me enough to settle in China. On the other hand I think I could survive okay in Taichung, even if I probably wouldn’t love it.
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So, I have to admit I have not been to dongguan, although I have travelled with train trough it a number of times on my way to guangzhou. But, I do know it is one of the largest industrial centers in guangdong, and gz and sz are considered nice compared to that shithole.
Taichung wins both sz and gz by miles, so dongguan cannot even be in the same league.
So I’m assuming if you had the choice between Dongguan and Hong Kong, you’d choose Hong Kong.
And in a similar manner, if I had the choice between Taipei and Taichung like the OP does, I’d choose Taipei. It’s not even close - just like a choice between HK and DG isn’t.
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This↑ It’s a no-brainer, or no-lunger if you will.
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Yeah nah Adelaide isn’t a fair comparison either. In the sense it’s smaller and has less going on, yeah. But apart from that it’s quite beautiful and actually a nice place to live. There are reasons to chose it over Sydney that aren’t just cost based.
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would you still opt for Taipei?
Yeah. With Taipei you have much more variety for food and entertainment, and easily accessible nature, hiking and bike rides.
There are a few nice spots in Taichung like gaomei and dakeng. But for the most part my impression is that it’s a dirty, smelly city with rundown looking buildings and worse air pollution. Taipei isn’t as clean as a Japanese city but it’s far less of an eyesore than Taichung. There are some pleasant areas in Taipei and I like the small parks scattered everywhere, too.
The nice areas in Taichung are far better looking than in Taipei, and the pollution has been a lot less severe this past year.
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What kind of events are on in Taichung during the weekends? I know in Tpe there is stuff going on every wekend
Here we go again 
I don’t know about the nice parts there really. My experience there is limited to the station area, which looks like a dump apart from the station itself, and the sticks