EcoMobility World Festival got underway Oct. 1 in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung City

Taiwan News  
Date: 2017/10/03
By: Taiwan Today,Agencies

The EcoMobility World Festival got underway Oct. 1 in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung

City, gathering around 900 academics, experts and officials from home and abroad to discuss the latest trends in sustainable urban mobility and green city development.

At the opening of the festival, Premier Lai Ching-te said the event is an outstanding opportunity to showcase the government’s commitment to promoting ecomobility for sustainable urban development. Concrete measures have been adopted in this regard, he added, citing approval of NT$300 billion (US$9.9 billion) to NT$400 billion in funding for railway development under the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.

According to Lai, two other headline initiatives are a five-year, NT$7.2 billion project promoting e-motorcycles, and a four-year, NT$3 billion program reducing urban traffic congestion through big data analysis and other smart technologies.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/02
By: Chen Wei-ting and Frances Huang

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) People in Taiwan spend more than eight hours a day on 3C

devices on average, with more than 60 percent of them using multiple screens at the same time, a survey released by the Ophthalmological Society of Taiwan showed Monday.

Ahead of 2017 World Sight Day on Oct. 12, the organization highlighted the survey’s results to urge heavy users of electronic devices in Taiwan to take regular breaks to protect their eyesight, said Tsai Ching-yao (蔡景耀), the society’s secretary-general.

Tsai cited the survey as saying that Taiwanese spent an average of 8.7 hours a day using 3C gadgets, up 1 hour from a similar survey conducted a year earlier.

The time spent on 3C devices in Taiwan was higher than the 6.86 hours a day people sleep on average, the survey found.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 03, 2017 
By Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Several high-level politicians yesterday were questioned about the absence of the

Republic of China (ROC) title and flag from this year’s Double Ten National Day design, renewing debate on a decades-old political topic.

On the sidelines of a legislative committee meeting yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) was asked to verify an assertion by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that the National Day celebration invitations sent out by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration are void of any ROC symbols.

The KMT said the lack of the ROC title and flag in the invitations proved that the DPP is continuing its longtime efforts to eradicate the ROC — which some in the pan-green camp consider to be a government-in-exile — and to pursue Taiwanese independence.    [FULL  STORY]

A group of puppet enthusiasts starting out puppet-making out of interest are using their craftwork and performances to shine on the world’s stage.

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/10/01
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – SamadhiTang Creative Puppet Group (三昧堂創意木偶團隊)

is a glove puppet theater troupe formed not by professional puppeteers or puppet makers, but by a group of enthusiasts whose love of puppetry has helped bring this traditional form of Taiwanese art to the international stage.

Glove puppetry, originated in the 17th century in the Fujian province of China, became popular later in Taiwan, and while maintaining the tradition of the art, it has undergone various changes in terms of design, materials, crafting, and performances in the country.

Founded in 2011 in Chiayi County with members’ background ranging from university assistant professor, TV director, factory worker, and so on, SamadhiTang started out as a group gathering together for their common interest and to try to create puppets on their own.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/01

Taipei, Oct. 1 (CNA) A nine-volume anthology titled “Documenting History to Build Up

the Taiwan Nation: The Complete Works of Chang Yen-hsien (張炎憲)” was launched Saturday in Taipei at an event that brought together friends and students of the late pioneer researcher of Taiwan’s history.

Speaking at the launch of the compilation at the National 228 Memorial Museum, Chang’s widow Lin Hsiu-li (林琇梨) choked up when she thanked everyone that made the publication possible.

“I am extremely grateful,” said Lin. “When he [Chang] was at home, he spent most of time writing. He once told me that he was so occupied with writing forewords for other people’s books that he could hardly make time for his own. His wish is now granted, which gives us comfort.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times 
Date: Oct 02, 2017
By: Rachel Lin, Tsai Ya-hua and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) pressured National

Taiwan University (NTU) to loan its athletic field for use by the “Sing! China: Shanghai-Taipei Music Festival,” according to school documents obtained by reporters.

The festival on Sept. 24 was called off just two hours after students protested over what they said was the school’s failure to prioritize students’ right to use campus facilities.

After the event was called off, three university students were assaulted, allegedly by members of the pro-unification Chinese Unity Promotion Party (CUPP).

The university launched a review into its decision to host the event, which was one of series of events initiated as part of the Taipei-Shanghai Forum, and its investigative committee met for the first time on Saturday to discuss the issue.
A copy of the athletics department’s written report to the committee was obtained by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times), which showed that festival organizer Mu Chieh Ta Co (幕婕塔) on Aug. 8 filed a request to rent the field for the event and it was approved the following day.    [FULL  STORY]