The China Post
Date: June 20, 2016
By: Dimitri Bruyas ,Supplement Writer

Summer fun can quickly turn into boredom if you aren’t trying to stay active. Keeping your

The serene panorama of the Sleeping Beauty (睡美人岩), lying on her side with the white sandy beach resembling her long locks, and the Pekingese Dog (哈巴狗岩) not so far from her, are some of the most visited lookouts on Green Island (綠島).

children busy can also be a challenge as you will often hear: “Can I play with your smartphone?” The great news is that summertime is filled with fun activities to do, thanks to the “Taiwan Fun on the Tropic of Cancer” (臺灣夏至235) festival which kicked off on June 19.

Unique Sights, Delicious Summer Foods, Sports and Music

This action-packed event, organized by the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (交通部觀光局), aims not only to entertain domestic tourists during school holidays, but also to attract foreign visitors in search of an active and relaxing vacation. The festival further aims to combine the unique sights of Taiwan with delicious summer foods, sports, and music.

“Though the summer here is fairly hot, we still hope to encourage more fellow Taiwanese to step outside their air-conditioned rooms and see the beauty of Taiwan,” Wayne Liu (劉喜臨), deputy director-general of the Tourism Bureau, said about the annual string of activities first introduced in 2013 as a celebration of summer.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/19
By: Kuan Rui-ping and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) A Taiwanese wood-fired kiln designer and owner received a Guinness

Photo courtesy of Zhunan snake kiln

World Record certificate on Sunday after setting a new world record for the “highest temperature in a wood-fired kiln.”

Lin Jui-hua (林瑞華), who owns the 44-year-old Zhu-Nan snake kiln in Miaoli County, set the record of 1,563 degrees Celsius on June 18 in a wood-fired kiln he designed and named the “Fang Hua Kiln” in 2012.

The maximum temperature of conventional wood-fired kilns usually hovers around 1,300 degrees, Lin said, but after he built a kiln with temperatures that surpassed the barrier, he found that the ceramics produced had different characteristics.

When the inner-kiln temperature surges to over 1,500 degrees, the structure and density of the ceramics produced approach that of jade and other precious stones, allowing for a wide spectrum of different natural textures without the need for glazes or coatings, Lin said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/18
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Arthur H. Rosenfeld, hailed as “The Godfather of Energy Efficiency,” was named the winner of the second Tang Prize in sustainable development Saturday for his “lifelong and pioneering innovations in energy efficiency.”

A renowned American physicist, energy expert and former commissioner of the California Energy Commission, Rosenfeld’s promotion of energy efficiency technologies, standards and initiatives since the 1970s has made California a leader in energy conservation.

The Tang Prize is awarded to Rosenfeld “for his lifelong and pioneering innovations in energy efficiency resulting in immense reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions around the world,” Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who chairs the Tang Prize Selection Committee, read from the citation at a press conference in Taipei.

“He has led a long and glowing list of innovations in energy efficiency policy, including efficiency standards for refrigerators, air conditioners and freezers, as well as the integration of energy efficiency into building codes,” Liu Chao-han (劉兆漢), an academician of Academia Sinica, said at the press conference.     [FULL  STORY]

Eye On Taiwan
Date: June 19, 2016
Translated By: Erixon Chen

Summer is coming, The Taitung Yong-quan sports park(湧泉運動公園) has been renovated and is

The sunshade covering the large pool reduces sunburn and algae growth.

now open for the public to use. It’s free until 15th, Sep.. It also provides shower rooms for everyone to use.

Yong-quan sports park is next to the Taitung seashore park(海濱公園). The water pools in the park are from a natural spring. The spring has been there since the Japanese colonial period. Because the water is from the ground and the water outlet is direct to the ocean, it’s warm in Winter and cold in Summer. you can see some fish and shrimp swimming in the pool as well. It’s a special and unique attraction.

Yong-quan sports park had been experiencing a deficit and difficulty in finding a management group from non-governmental circles. Also, the water quality didn’t meet the sanitation standard. The Taitung city government decided to renovate the pools and now it has reopened. It has large and small natural spring pools. A sunshade covers the large pool to prevent the sunlight from hitting the water and people directly. It also reduces algae growth.

It is open from 17th June until 15th September between the hours of 5 am and 6 pm on every Tue , Wed, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It is closed Monday and Thursday. People have to wear a swimming suit and swimming cap to use the pools. No pets, throwing stones, chasing or running is allowed.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A department head at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was demoted

MOFA official Manfred Peng (first right).

because he changed the abbreviation of the nation’s name in documents to “Tai” for Taiwan, media reports said Friday.

According to the Chinese-language Apple Daily, the official in the case was Manfred Peng, the director-general of the Department of International Information Services at the ministry.

He reportedly signed off on a proposal to change the official Mandarin Chinese abbreviation for the country in documents from “Hua” for “Zhonghua Minguo” or Republic of China to “Tai” for Taiwan.

However, the move did not please unspecified “higher-ups,” according to the Apple Daily, and they removed him from his position because they felt he had overstepped his authority.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: June 17, 2016

Taiwan will increase the number of Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states in its

Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County, central Taiwan, is one of the island’s top tourist attractions, and can expect to see increased visitor numbers after the government further eases visa restrictions for citizens of ASEAN nations. (Courtesy of SML National Scenic Area Administration)

streamlined visa application program from five to eight as part of efforts to expand bilateral exchanges and promote the President Tsai Ing-wen administration’s New Southbound Policy.

The announcement was made at an Executive Yuan news conference attended by officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Transportation and Communications June 15 in Taipei City.

According to the MOFA, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will be added to the streamlined visa treatment program before Sept. 1. Citizens of these three nations are then allowed to apply online for Taiwan visas if they previously held travel visas or resident permits for Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the EU or the U.S.

Tourism Bureau Director-General David Hsieh said the number of visitors from Southeast Asia was around 1.42 million last year.“After the easing of visa restrictions is implemented for eight ASEAN nations, we expect to see an annual increase of at least 20 percent in visitor numbers from the region for 2016, generating foreign exchange earnings of NT$13 billion [US$400 million].”     [FULL  STORY]