Lured to south-east Asia by his love of Taiwanese squishy steamed bread, our writer finds a dazzling array of edibles on offer in Taipei’s markets

The Guardian
Date: Sun 31 Dec ‘17
By: Ed Cumming

Bao, a tiny Taiwanese restaurant in London’s Soho (with outposts in Fitzrovia and

Hackney), is a compelling advertisement for its country. Like a little culinary embassy, since 2014 it has been doling out soft power at reasonable prices to the endless queues at its door.

It specialises in gua bao, flat squishy discs of steamed bread, folded around whatever you care to put in them. Braised pork belly with coriander and ground peanuts is a traditional option, but almost anything works: deepfried daikon radish, stewed beef, spicy fried chicken. The bread is sweeter and more consistent than any western bun, and holds the fillings better. Even the word bao is a source of fascination. It even sounds like an expression of joy: bao!

We sought out some gua bao as soon as we landed in Taipei, Taiwan’s capital, and found them at the Ningxia night market, a 100-metre-long strip of tiny food stalls, each specialising in one dish, set up along a closed-off road. These night markets, lurid and busy against the dark mountains and looming double-decker motorways, are a picturesque expression of the city’s charms. On other evenings we visited other night markets: Raohe and the sprawling Shilin, in the north of the city, where fevered games of mahjong take place and you can throw darts at balloons to win a plush Pokémon toy.    [FULL  STORY]

Temporary separations allow wealthy couples to sink more money into the urban property market.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/31
By: Shi Fulong

In China, like many other countries across the world, divorce rates are rising. Here, though, many couples arrive at their local registry office with smiles on their faces. Why? They’ve come to arrange a “fake divorce” — one that legally ends their marriage, but by no means signals the end of their relationship. Indeed, many such couples would choose to remarry later.

As a lawyer, I have handled my fair share of fake divorces in recent years. Some couples choose divorce in order to evade debt obligations. Others separate because the local government has put their home up for demolition, and by splitting up, the couple can re-register as two separate households and thereby receive more money in compensation. However, the majority of couples who get a fake divorce do so to circumvent regulations limiting the number of properties they can buy.

Distinctions between fake divorces and “authentic” ones — those that occur due to marital breakdown — don’t exist in the eyes of Chinese law. Before ending their marriages, couples often seek legal advice in order to ensure that each partner will commit to remarriage when the time is right.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2017/12/31
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan’s top authority on cross-

Taiwan Strait affairs, called on China on Sunday to turn a new page in cross-Strait relations in the coming year by settling differences between the two sides through communications.

The MAC made the call in a statement in response to a comment by Zhang Zhijun, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under the Mainland’s State Council, who said China will continue to adhere to the “1992 consensus” and the one-China principle in the new year.

In his New Year’s greetings in “Cross-Strait Relations” magazine published by his office, Zhang also said the cross-strait situation could become more complicated and serious in 2018 because of an increased risk of Taiwan independence forces undermining cross-strait ties.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/31
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan and Joseph Yeh 

Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) Braving cold weather, a huge crowd of revelers gathered in Taipei City Hall Square on Sunday night ready to usher in 2018 at a countdown party featuring a wide array of dance and music performances.

Recognized as the most popular New Year’s Eve celebration in Taiwan, the Taipei countdown party, themed “Happy Together” this year, attracted a huge crowd that was also anticipating the annual fireworks show at the Taipei 101 skyscraper.

Many of the visitors this year came from overseas to see the Taipei 101 fireworks extravaganza, expected to last six minutes long this year.

Dirk, a flight attendant from San Diego, California, said he has visited many places around the world just for the New Year Eve’s countdown, including Melbourne, Sydney, Moscow, New York and Shanghai.

This was his fourth visit to Taipei but the first time to see the New Year’s Eve pyrotechnics. He arrived near the skyscraper at 1 p.m. armed with his cameras and gear just for the show.    [FULL  STORY]

EMERGENCY CENTER: Taipower has reduced power generation at four of its plants as the worst air pollution in three years affects the nation, triggering health warnings

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 01, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday initiated a second-level

emergency command center as air pollution from Shanghai is expected to affect the nation’s air quality until tomorrow.

As of 9am yesterday, the concentration of PM2.5 — fine particulate matter that measures 2.5 micrometers or less — in New Taipei City’s Cape Fuguijiao (富貴角), Taiwan’s northernmost point, reached 92 micrograms per cubic meter, EPA Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management Director-General Chang Shuenn-chin (張順欽) said.

The nation’s air quality usually worsens around New Year’s, Chang said, adding that the current level is the worst in three years.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-30

Writer and director Wu Nien-jen and painter Xie Lifa are the recipients of the 37th Culture

Award. The culture ministry made the announcement on Saturday and highlighted some of their achievements.

Wu Nien-jen began his writing career in the 1970s and his novels have won several prestigious awards. In the 1980s, Wu ventured into screenwriting and played a major role in producing a number of New Taiwanese Cinema films. These featured realistic portrayals of the everyday life of local Taiwanese people.

Wu has received 11 Golden Horse Award nominations for his screenplays, winning five. He also directed a number of films and plays that won local and international awards.
[FULL  STORY]

It’s been quite a year for Taiwan and the region.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/30
By: Stellina Chen

It’s been a year dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump, his Tweets, and the escalating threat of military action in North Korea following a series of missile tests and that of a nuclear weapon.

“Chinese Envoy, who just returned from North Korea, seems to have had no impact on Little Rocket Man,” Trump said on Twitter in late November, referring to China’s apparent failure to influence North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.

Trump’s desperation to secure leverage on North Korea through China has framed his Asia-Pacific foreign policy to the detriment of other salient issues, including China’s militarization of islands in the South China Sea, and human rights.    [FULL  STORY]

Faced with amputation, he had suggested that they break up

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/30
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese man, recently in an auto accident and awaiting

amputation suggested to his long time girlfriend that they should break up. In response, she burst into his hospital room dressed as a bride, holding a bouquet of flowers and proposed to him.

The woman, according to a video posted to a romance-focused Facebook channel, said they had originally planned to get married in the year 2018 but unfortunately her boyfriend met with a serious car accident and the doctors said his treatment would likely require amputation.

The man, not wanting to become a burden to his girlfriend, suggested they separate but the girl, determined to marry her boyfriend entered his room in the hospital dressed as a bride with a bouquet of flowers in her hand.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/30
By: Liu Chien-pang and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Dec. 30 (CNA) The Xinyi Precinct of the Taipei City Police Department is stationing over 1,000 police and security officers and seven bomb-sniffing dogs at the Taipei New Year’s Eve Countdown Party taking place in Taipei City Hall Square on Sunday.

The precinct’s deputy chief, Chen Shao-hsu (陳少旭), said security at the New Year’s Eve party will be extremely tight, with 1,100 police officers stationed in the area.

The perimeter around the area where the party is to take place will be blocked off at 6 p.m. on Sunday, meaning that large vehicles and trucks will not be able to enter, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

BOMB THREAT: Authorities tracked down and detained a Keelung resident who said online that he planned to plant a bomb at Taipei Railway Station on New Year’s Eve

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 31, 2017
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Taipei City Government is to deploy more than 1,000 police officers to maintain public

safety at the Taipei New Year’s Eve Countdown Party, while balloons and aerial drones will also be prohibited from the area.

The Taipei Police Department’s Xinyi Precinct (信義) yesterday said that it has formed a counterterrorism task force with the Wei-an Police Special Services Commando Unit to guard against the possibility of a terrorist attack during the celebration, which is to start at 7pm today at the Taipei City Hall Square.

About 1,100 officers would be assigned to keep order at the party venue and at nearby intersections, Xinyi Precinct Deputy Chief Chen Shao-hsu (陳少旭) said, adding that counterterrorism police and sniffer dogs would also patrol the area, looking for suspicious people or hidden explosives.

To prevent a vehicle-ramming attack, large vehicles would be barred around the venue from 6pm, the precinct said, adding that barriers would also be placed at major intersections.
[FULL  STORY]