Radio Taiwan International
Date: 20 June, 2019
By: Jake Chen

Tunnel in Taroko National Park to reopen after six-year renovation. (CNA Photo)[/caption] Taroko National Park in Hualien County is known for flashy scenery. One especially well-known spot, the Tunnel of Nine Turns, has a scenic, twisty road running through it. The tunnel is set to reopen to public at the end of June after renovation work.

The famous Tunnel of Nine Turns in eastern Taiwan’s Taroko National Park is scheduled to reopen on June 24 after a six-year renovation project. The tunnel is known for its winding path and the many openings to the side, which offer glimpses of the gorge outside.    [FULL  STORY]

The theme for this year’s Hualien Harvest Festival is “Alufu,” which refers to a traditional indigenous pouch

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(Hualien Indigenous Peoples Department photo)[/caption](Hualien Indigenous Peoples Department photo)[/caption] TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Hualien County aboriginals’ united harvest festival will take place at Hualien Stadium's Meilun Track and Field (美崙田徑場) from July 19 – 21.

The theme for this year’s Hualien Harvest Festival is “Alufu,” which refers to the pouch traditionally worn across the body by indigenous people while they work, Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Thursday (June 20). The Alufu, which is woven by aboriginal women, is used to hold personal items such as betel nuts, tobacco, and lighters. They are therefore considered suitable as gifts for mothers to give to their children or for women to give to their lovers.

This year’s theme song, “Alufu,” was written and composed by members of aboriginal bands and is a brisk, merry tune with a marine mien, CNA reported.

The Hualien Indigenous Peoples Department said performances at Hualien Harvest Festival are exceptional every year, as is the spectacular “dance of a thousand people.” The department invites the public to visit Hualien during summer vacation and participate in the festival.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/20
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) Taiwan thanked Russia Thursday for its recent decision to include the country

into its e-visa program to visit the free port of Vladivostok, but protested the downgraded name Russia uses to refer to Taiwan as "China (including Taiwan)."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said the Russian government informed Taiwan's representative office in Moscow June 19 of its decision to include Taiwan in the e-visa program.

According to the website of the Consular Department under Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an e-visa is valid for entry into and exit from Russia only through certain border-crossing points located in the territory of the free port of Vladivostok.

Air checkpoints covered by the program are Vladivostok (Knevichy Airport), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (Yelizovo Airport), Blagoveschensk, Khabarovsk (Novy Airport), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (Khomutovo Airport), Anadyr (Ugolny Airport), Ulan-Ude (Mukhino Airport), and Chita (Kadala Airport).    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 19 June, 2019
By: Jake Chen

Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Theatre is set to perform its latest dance production, called “Formosa”, in Russia. This will be the group’s final performance abroad under the supervision of its founder, Lin Hwai-min, who’s set to retire this year.

Lin founded Cloud Gate Theatre in 1973. The group has since performed a number of shows that have been highly acclaimed for mixing contemporary and traditional Chinese cultural elements.

The troupe’s latest production, “Formosa”, blends modern choreography with poetry, history, and video graphics to present a side of everyday life in Taiwan. The production has already received high praise from publications from Germany and the UK following its 2018 European tour.    [SOURCE]

Business Insider
By: Alex Lockie

More than a million ordinary Hong Kongers thronged the streets of the city and shut the government down in stiffer-than-expected resistance to the growing power of China's Communist Party.

It's a stinging blow to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who enjoys absolute power on the mainland, but not in China's more far-flung provinces.

Hong Kong showed that Xi isn't all powerful, and it has already emboldened Taiwan, another island Xi wishes to control.

People will not soon forget how Hong Kong stood up to Xi, and how China's power is limited to what it can use technology, money, and military coercion to control.

More than a million ordinary Hong Kongers thronged the streets of the city and shut the government down in a stiffer-than-expected resistance to the growing power of China's Communist Party, and delivered a stinging blow to Chinese President Xi Jinping.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai Zhong-mao said his greatest concern has always been his younger brother

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An 86-year-old man in Yilan County gave up opportunities to study abroad and get married when young because he wanted to take care of his mute younger brother, who later became blind after an illness, Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Wednesday (June 19).

Schooled by the Japanese during Japanese rule (1895-1945) , Toucheng Township (頭城鎮) resident Tsai Zhong-mao (蔡中茂) was given a place on a doctoral program at Waseda University (早稻田大學) in Japan. However, just three days before he was scheduled to set out for Japan 47 years ago, his brother Tsai Mu-huo (蔡木火), who was three years younger, fell ill and later became blind because of the illness, CNA reported.

Unable to leave his brother, Tsai Zhong-mao got a refund on his ticket and instead of studying in Japan spent the money he saved on studying abroad to treat his brother’s illness. He taught Japanese part-time at schools or cram schools, and doubled as “a mother” to care for his brother at home, which he has done for almost half a century, according to CNA.

When he was young, Tsai Zhong-mao also passed on getting married so that he could focus on taking care of his brother. The elder brother has remained single, the news outlet said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/18
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) One new confirmed case of indigenous dengue fever was recorded Tuesday in the southern port city of Kaohsiung and has been determined to be a secondary infection from an earlier cluster, indicating the outbreak has likely spread.

The newly confirmed patient is a woman in her 60s who lives in Sanmin District of Kaohsiung and developed symptoms of fever, headache, muscle pain and dizziness on Monday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

The woman was later determined to have been infected with the Type-4 dengue virus, a strain of virus rarely seen in Taiwan compared to the Type-1 and Type-2 viruses more usual in indigenous dengue infection cases, according to the CDC.

CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said the patient has a stand at a local market and has not traveled abroad recently.    [FULL  STORY]