BUNDLE UP: The lowest temperatures of fall have arrived and, along with some wind and rain, are to stay for most of the week until the monsoon departs

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 12, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Temperatures could plummet from tomorrow night until Friday due to the arrival of a strong northeast

monsoon, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.

The bureau said chilly fall temperatures arrived early yesterday morning due to the northeast monsoon and radiative effects, adding that more than 10 observation stations recorded the lowest temperatures yet for this fall season.

However, during the day, the weather turned sunny due to a weakened monsoon and lower humidity, the bureau said.

Figures released by the bureau showed temperatures of 14.7°C in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), 15.5°C in Sinwu District (新屋) in Taoyuan and 17.1°C in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

CNA Insider
Date: Nov 9, 2019

Note: This is an updated version of a video published earlier.

On the evening of 18 November 1997, South African military attache McGill Alexander and his family were taken hostage by fugitive Chen Chin-hsing in their home in Taipei, Taiwan. Chen was involved in the murder of Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of actress Pai Bing-bing, and responsible for a string of killings and abductions during the same year. For Taiwan and its rapacious media, this hostage crisis became one of Taiwan's biggest news stories ever.    [SOURCE]

Message spreading among Chinese students and their parents

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/10
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Beijing has reportedly asked Chinese students to leave Taiwan before the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for January 11, even though some students have said they would rather stay on the island to observe the voting process themselves.

A Chinese municipal government office that handles the affairs of local residents with children studying in Taiwan has announced that students are advised to return to China before January 11, according to a screenshot sent by a parent to Apple Daily on Saturday (Nov. 9). The message does not provide an explanation, but many believe it is meant to prevent Chinese students from staying in the country while the Taiwanese electorate casts its ballot for the next leader of the country.

Several students from different Chinese cities said they had received similar messages, the report said. As election day falls on the final week of classes for many universities in Taiwan, some Chinese students are now asking schools if they can take their final exams earlier, it added.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/10
By: Wang Yang-yu, Justin Su and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Nov. 10 (CNA) After a poor showing in 2016, the Kuomintang (KMT) is looking to take back its traditional stronghold in Taoyuan City, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is hoping its popular mayor will help the party retain a plurality of the city's six seats in the national legislature.

The current breakdown has the DPP holding three seats, while an ideologically-sympathetic independent holds one, and the KMT holds two.

Despite its recent setbacks, a KMT representative told CNA that the party's large voter base in the area put it in a strong position to win a majority of the city's seats, as happened in 2012, when the KMT swept to victory in all six races.

A potential factor in the election is DPP Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦).6
[FULL  STORY]

New grassroots alliance says Yilan mine plans could pollute vital water resources and endanger local population

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/09
By: Sally Jensen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Water Source Conservation Anti-Mining Action Alliance was formally established on Friday (Nov. 8) in Yilan City, with 25,000 people signing up to protect the northeastern county’s water resources.

Representatives of the alliance said they hope 50,000 people will have joined them by the end of the month, with an ultimate target of 100,000. Aiming to attract the government’s attention to environmental protection, the alliance has put forward four demands, according to CNA.

Yongan Industrial (永侒實業公司) applied to begin mining silica rock (a raw material of glass) and kaolinite on Daan Lushan, just a couple of kilometers from Yilan's city center. The application has been strongly opposed by residents from across the political spectrum living within the city and in nearby Zhonghua Township, according to Liberty Times.

In order to push back against mine development and the associated destruction of woodland, the alliance initiated its collaborative effort, receiving the support of over 25,000 people in one month, according to UDN. Yongan Industrial has not commented on the grassroots resistance to its plans.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/09
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) The sunset will align with streets in Nantou and Kaohsiung over the weekend, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Friday, in a release detailing its fourth forecast of sun alignments across the country this year.

The bureau said the sun alignment in Nantou County, central Taiwan, will take place on Minzu Road (west of Nanyang Road) on Saturday and Sunday, between 4:46 p.m.- 5:06 p.m. and 4:48 p.m.-5:08 p.m., respectively.

In southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City, the phenomenon will occur during the same time on Cingnian 1st Road (west of Minquan 1st Road).

The best time to take a photo, weather permitting, is in the middle of the 20-minute period each day, the bureau added.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 10, 2019
By: Wu Chun-feng and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Tainan City Government is to “consider its options” on allowing people to hold wedding ceremonies at

the Tainan Art Museum, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said.

Huang made the remarks on Friday in response to public discussion on whether Building 1 of the museum could be made available for other weddings, following news that the wedding ceremony between Taiwanese actress and model Lin Chi-ling (林志玲) and Japanese actor Ryohei Kurosawa (better known by his stage name Akira), would be held at the museum on Nov. 17.

Huang said that the couple is only holding the ceremony itself at the building and not the banquet afterward — one of the major reasons the city government approved the request.

“Lin’s wedding at the museum is the first of its kind, but it should not be the last,” he said, adding that the city government is amenable to approving future requests, provided that there are no conflicts with exhibit scheduling.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatiional
Date: 08 November, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

The Taiwan Creative Content Agency, an agency devoted to promoting Taiwanese culture around the world, held an opening ceremony on Friday.

President Tsai Ing-wen was among those in attendance. She said that Taiwan has a free creative environment and is on the cutting edge of technology, providing many possibilities for artistic creation. She said the agency’s opening represents a step forward for the government’s goals of developing rich Taiwanese creative content and creating a unique Taiwanese brand on the world stage.

She said that the agency must serve as an intermediary between the government, the business world, and ordinary people. She also said it must support creative talent and the development of cultural content, and create an international cultural brand for Taiwan. Finally, she said that the agency must create more opportunities for good Taiwanese creators and their works to be seen in the world, and drive investment and creative capacity.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s vibrant filmmaking sector is well-represented at AFM with several local hits on offer to international buyers — and a film billed as Asia’s first iPhone feature.

Screen Daily
Date: 8 November 2019
By: Silvia Wong

The Bridge Curse

Dir Lester Shih
Lester Shih’s debut feature is the story of a group of students who dare to test the urban legend that anyone who crosses a ghostly bridge — where a woman once took her own life — at midnight will find evil awaiting them. The cast includes JC Lin (HBO Asia’s The World Between Us) and actresses Vera Yen and Summer Meng. The Bridge Curse is financed by Lots Home Entertainment, which is one of the backers of this year’s highest-grossing local film Detention. Endeavor Content handles world sales, excluding Taiwan where the film will be released in February 2020.
Contact Endeavor Content 

The Gangs, The Oscars, And The Walking Dead

Dir Kao Pin-chuan
Dear Ex’s Roy Chiu stars in The Soul Of Bread director Kao Pin-chuan’s second solo film, a dark comedy about two wannabe filmmakers who will stop at nothing to get their first film made — even casting a triad boss’s girlfriend as their leading lady. Yao Yi-ti has picked up a Golden Horse Awards nomination as best supporting actress for her role in the film, which made its world premiere at Busan International Film Festival to sold-out screenings. Backers include Sky Film, mm2 Entertainment and Kaohsiung Film Fund.
Contact Sky Film

Gatao: Path Of Sorrow

Dir Ray Jiang
The third instalment of the popular Gatao (which means ‘gang leaders’ in the Taiwanese Hokkien language) franchise marks the return of actor Rexen Cheng as a notorious gangster, with Nikki Hsieh joining the cast as his love interest. Now in post-production, the gangster drama is the directing debut of Ray Jiang, a step-up from his role as executive director of Gatao 2: Rise Of The King. Executive producer Red Chang’s Chocolate Film created the franchise — the first two films were commercial successes at home when released in 2015 and 2018 respectively.
Contact Emma Chuang, Chocolate Film     [FULL  STORY]