Both the mother and son burst out crying, and all the people in the household registration office kept wiping tears from their cheeks

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/31
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A 28-year-old Taiwanese man who had never known he was an adopted child until he was 20 years old finally reunited with his biological mother on Jan. 28, Central News Agency reported on Jan. 31.

Liu Shi-zhong (劉士忠), who is in the food service industry, found out that he was an adopted child when he went to a household registry office to apply for a copy of his family’s household registration transcript for a matter related to military service, according to CNA.

After learning the secret that had been purposely kept from his knowledge for so long, Liu began to ask himself, “Was it my own fault, or did my parents hate me? If not, why did they abandon me by putting me in an orphanage?”

But Liu had kept his suspicions to himself all these years, because his adopted parents had treated him as their biological son, and he was afraid of hurting them if he asked them any questions about the matter, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/31
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Jan. 31 (CNA) The latest technology can be used to encourage more people to

learn about human rights, visiting French Human Rights Ambassador François Croquette said Thursday.

Moderating a panel discussion session at the 2019 Taipei “Night of Ideas (La Nuit des idées),” Croquette asked participants to brainstorm and come up with new ideas that better promote human rights education in the digital age.

Many participants mentioned the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in human rights museums around the world, allowing visitors to experience the suffering of people living under totalitarian regimes.

In response, the French envoy said he visited Taiwan’s National Human Rights Museum on Wednesday where he used the VR technology that enables visitors to experience White Terror.    [FULL  STORY]

John Bolton and Steven Mnuchin were discussing Venezuela, but in Taiwan they were focused on another detail

South China Morning Post 
Date: 30 January, 2019
By: Laura Zhou

A White House map that excluded Taiwan from Chinese territory has caught the attention of internet users on the self-ruled island.

The map was displayed on Monday during a press conference by White House national security adviser John Bolton and Treasure Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The pair were discussing sanctions on a Venezuelan state oil company after the US declared it would no longer recognise Nicolas Maduro as president.

While much of world is focused on the ongoing turmoil in the South American country and the possible US response, eagle-eyed internet watchers in Taiwan noticed that while China and Russia were marked in red, along with other supporters of the embattled president, the island was not.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must eventually be reunited with the mainland and the issue is regarded as acutely sensitive on the mainland, where it frequently triggers outrage on social media.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/30
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A middle-aged Taiwanese woman in southern Taiwan won the NT$2 million (US$65,000) scratch card lottery jackpot, including a brand new Mercedes, which she promptly gave to her son, announced Taiwan Lottery Co. today.

In order to stimulate sales during the Lunar New Year, the Taiwan Lottery on Jan. 3 announced that it is launching five new limited-edition Lunar New Year scratch cards, including the “Super Red Envelope,” “Monopoly,” “Triple Double,” “Catering,” and “Speeding 777.”

The top prize, Super Red Envelope, is worth NT$20 million, and the second-place prize is NT$2 million plus a Mercedes-Benz A180, worth NT$1.58 million. Three lucky players will win the Super Red Envelope, while five participants will take home a Mercedes-Benz.

Taiwan Lottery General Manager Tsai Kuo-chi (蔡國基) today went to Tainan to issue a certificate for the second-place prize. Taiwan Lottery representative Lee Pei-lan told the media today that the winner of the NT$2 million prize and car was a thin, middle-aged woman in her 50s, who frequently buys NT$300 scratch cards.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/30
By: Yu Shiao-hen and Flor Wang

Taipei, Jan. 30 (CNA) The Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Wednesday that it will allow dairy farms to hire migrant workers on a trial basis as part of an effort to help solve the labor shortage problem in that sector.

“As early as July, the hiring of migrant workers will be allowed in the dairy farming sector on a trial basis,” Hsueh Chien-chung (薛鑑忠), a section chief at the MOL’s Workforce Development Agency, said, adding that the decision was made at an MOL meeting earlier in the day.

He said implementation of the policy would require amendments to the relevant laws, while the Council of Agriculture (COA) would be required to report on the outcome of the policy after a year.

Tsai Pei-chun (蔡佩君), executive secretary at the COA’s Personnel Office, said that in the initial stages of the plan, dairy farmers who have at least 80 cows and currently employ at least four local farmers will be eligible to apply for one migrant worker.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 30, 2019
By: Su Fun-her and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall should be transformed into space dedicated to

previous presidents and its plaque should be changed to read “Democracy Square,” former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.

Her remarks came after Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) was on Tuesday last week slapped by entertainer Lisa Cheng (鄭心儀) over the Ministry of Cultures’ policies to repurpose the hall.

Lu, as well as academics from the pan-blue and pan-green camps, yesterday attended a seminar, titled “On One China, Two Chinas and ‘One China,’ One Taiwan.”

Taiwan could retain the strategic high ground if it cited unification of China under the Three Principles of the People to counter Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “five points” announced on Jan. 2, National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of National Development professor Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光) said.    [FULL  STORY]

The New York Times
Date: Jan. 29, 2019
By: Chris Horton

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — The National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts in Taiwan stands out for its colossal presence and undulating design.

Some people here say it looks like a spaceship. Others think it resembles a giant stingray.

One point is not contested, however. With a look inspired by banyan trees and the local shipping industry, the arts center has raised the cultural prestige of this southern Taiwanese city while providing residents with a popular public space.

The performing arts center, known as Weiwuying after its surrounding park, is the world’s largest under one roof. The $348 million facility opened last October with indoor and outdoor concerts, signaling its arrival as a new destination for world-class performances in Kaohsiung, long derided by Taiwanese as being a “cultural desert.”    [FULL  STORY]

The cosmos flowers are blooming on 20 plus hectares plots beside the Er Ceng Ping Shui Bridge

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/29
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Cosmos flowers are blooming on massive plots of land near a picturesque bridge in Luye Township of Taitung County, according media reports on Tuesday,

The cosmos flowers are blooming on 20 plus hectares plots beside the Er Ceng Ping Shui Bridge (二層坪水圳), which is a red waterway with white arches. The flowers are expected to last though the Lunar New Year holiday.

Luye Township mayor Lee Guo-qiang (李國強) said that the sea of cosmos flowers at Er Ceng Ping is located off County Route 29 East (東29縣道), which connects with Provincial Highway 9.

To get there, motorists driving on the Luye stretch of Provincial Highway 9 will have to turn into Ruijing Rd (瑞景路) leading to Ruilong Village (瑞隆村), he added.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/29
By: Huang Kuo-fang and Ko Lin

Taipei, Jan. 29 (CNA) A total of 11,104 chickens in Yunlin County were culled after the farm on which they were being raised was confirmed to be infected with the highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza virus, the county’s Animal and Plant Disease Control Center said Tuesday.

Cheng An-kuo (鄭安國), an official at the center, said it received a report of abnormal deaths of chickens at the farm in Dongshih Township and immediately collected tissue samples from the animals Jan. 26.

The samples were then analyzed and confirmed to be the H5 strain of avian flu, Cheng said.    [FULL  STORY]