The News Lens
Date: 2019/06/25
By: Story Lab@Heep Yunn School, tutored by Joyce Li

While spectacular online eating shows – ‘mukbangs’ – are wildly popular around the world and bring fame to the super eaters, some find them unbearable and have decided to quit.

Part 1: The pleasure of mukbang

The camera switches to close-up shots, focused on the host, just as she takes in a spoonful of cheesy pasta from the gigantic plate in front of her. The next second, her eyes become wide-open, and she enthusiastically praises the food – the cheesy texture, the glutinous tenacity, and the stunning sauces. Off the screen, millions of viewers around the world watch the video through their mobile phones or computers, enjoying the vicarious pleasure of eating a big bowl of calorie-rich mac and cheese.

These online eating shows are called “mukbangs,” which combines the Korean words for eat (muok-da) and broadcast (bang song). They first appeared in South Korea in 2008. The shows usually feature a single broadcasting jockey (or mukbanger), stationed at their own home (or in a restaurant), consuming a massive amount of food, as many as 100 hamburgers, 100 pieces of cheese toast, 10 gigantic bowls of ramen…all in front of the camera. Bizarre as it seems, mukbangs have become hugely popular across cultures outside South Korea – including Taiwan, Japan and the United States.

Millions of followers have subscribed to the YouTube channels of top mukbang stars like Banzz (of South Korea), Yuka Kinoshita (Japan) and Chien-Chien (Taiwan). During Lunar New Year, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) co-hosted short videos with five famous YouTubers in Taiwan, including the famous mukbanger Chien Chien. The mayor even shared the massive New Year dish with Chien Chien in the video (below, subtitled in English).

The road to mukbang

As a food heaven notable for its street food like braised pork rice and the oyster omelette, Taiwan has begun to feel the mukbang heat. Local mukbangers, like Chien-Chien from the YouTube channel “Chien’s Eating” (千千進食中) and A-May from “The Gobbler” (貪食人) have emerged in the Taiwan online scene.    [FULL  STORY]

Maximum for September 1 event set at 25,000

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/25
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On its first day of online registration, the popular Sun Moon Lake International Swimming Carnival was likely to enlist 20,000 participants, leaving only 5,000 spots open for other candidates in one of the world’s largest non-competitive swimming events.

The 37th edition will take place on Sunday September 1 and take swimmers from the Chaowu Pier on the north side to the Ita Thao Wharf Pier in the south, according to the organizer, the Puli Four-season Swimming Association.

A major change from previous swims is that each team now has to consist of at least five members, instead of three previously. Some participants wanted four as the ideal figure, but the organizers refused, the United Daily News reported.

The new measure would be able to cut down traffic by up to one third, the association said, predicting fewer traffic jams before and after the event on the narrow and already busy roads around the scenic lake, one of Taiwan’s top travel destinations on any weekend.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/25
By: Liao Yu-yang, Wang Cheng-chung and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) The Department of Cyber Security is reviewing data security measures and determining whether there are any other security loopholes after it was reported that the personal information of more than 243,000 civil servants has been hacked, Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Civil Service revealed Monday on its Website that it was informed by a government agency about the breach on June 22, with the personal information of 243,376 civil servants being compromised.

The names, national identification card numbers, occupations and the agencies the civil servants work for have been made public. The personal data of individuals working in both central and local governments were submitted between Jan. 1, 2005 and June 30, 2012.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 24 June, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

President Tsai’s approval rating has risen to 55% in June. That’s the word from the Taiwan Public

Opinion Foundation in their latest poll. The poll also found that 48% of the people support the way Tsai has been leading the country. That’s 4.5% higher than last month.

The foundation chairman Yo Ying-lung said that the rise in support for Tsai has much to do with the protests in Hong Kong.

The survey also found that 44% approve of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu, which is less than the 60% when he first came to office. Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s approval rate is 47%.
[FULL  STORY]  

Chiu Chang alleged that over 80 percent of Gou's assets are in China

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/24
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – With former chairman of Foxconn Terry Gou (郭台銘) drumming up support for

his presidential campaign, the rationale behind the Taiwanese business tycoon’s decision to enter the race continues to baffle many and has triggered rumors involving Beijing interference.

Chiu Chang (邱彰), a Taiwanese lawyer and former legislator, alleged in a Facebook post on Monday (June 24) that Gou is most likely China's preferred choice for president of Taiwan.

“With more than 80 percent of Gou’s assets being held in China, China can easily push ahead with its unification agenda once Gou wins the presidency,” Chiu claimed.

This view has been echoed by a number of netizens. One commented on Chiu's post that even though Gou has removed a considerable portion of his wealth from China, “he can’t pull out altogether as his economic interests are too deeply intertwined with the Chinese market.”
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/24
By: Wang Cheng-chung and Emerson Lim

Taipei, June 24 (CNA) The Department of Household Registration has added a new function to its website allowing the public to verify the authenticity of national identification numbers, with the aim of curbing fraud.

The new measure has been implemented amid complaints that several telecommunication shops have been scammed by people using national identification cards with altered ID numbers, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said Monday.

This type of fraud is usually carried out by scammers when they purchase something through installment plans using fake ID numbers, in recent cases, mostly cellphones.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 25, 2019
By: Liu Wan-chun and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

An X-ray analysis of an imperial inscription at the Tainan Confucius Temple revealed an older

inscription beneath the surface of the 200-year-old artifact, Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau officials and academics said yesterday.

I-Kuan Tao College professor of conservation science Lin Ren-chen (林仁政) told a news conference that he was scanning the temple’s inscribed boards as part of routine repairs when a second inscription was identified on the one with an emperor’s dedication that hangs over the main hall.

The surface inscription “shengxie shizong” (聖協時中) is what emperor Daoguang (道光) used to mark his ascension to the throne in 1820, but the older inscription beneath it, which reads “tianheng baozhao” (天衡保軸), belonged to his predecessor, Jiaqing (嘉慶), Lin said.

The four-character moral exhortations are used to date the items because they were commissioned by emperors to mark special occasions that were events of record, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Mish Talk
June 22, 2019
By: Mish

Trump inflicted much pain on China and vice versa. This is always the case in trade wars. Sideline beneficiaries abound.

The World’s Top Bicycle Maker Says the Era of ‘Made in China’ Is Over.

Good News?

No. The US did no benefit in the slightest.

Giant Manufacturing Co. saw the writing on the wall early on. The world’s biggest bicycle maker started moving production of U.S.-bound orders out of its China facilities to its home base in Taiwan as soon as it heard Donald Trump threaten tariff action in September.

“When Trump announced the plan of 25% tariffs, we took it seriously,” Chairwoman Bonnie Tu said in an interview at Giant’s Taichung City headquarters in Taiwan. “We started moving before he shut his mouth.”

Giant is part of a growing number of global firms that are pivoting production out of China in reaction to the increasingly hostile trade relations between the two superpowers. Intel Corp. this week became the latest to say it’s reviewing its global supply chain, while Li & Fung Ltd., the world’s largest supplier of consumer goods, said the trade war is spurring it to diversify away from China.
[FULL  STORY]