The China Post
Date: February 3, 2017
By: CNA
Firecrackers go off on a street lined with shops in Kaohsiung on Thursday, Feb. 2. Many small businesses across Taiwan reopened yesterday, setting off strings of firecrackers to herald good luck in the Year of the Rooster. Markets reopened as well, with Taiwan shares rising briskly at the start then closing down 18.98 points, or 0.2 percent, at 9,428.97 on turnover of NT$132.77 billion (US$4.27 billion).
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Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-01
The first train to run in Taichung’s MRT line is set to arrive at the Taichung Port on Sunday. The city
The first train to run in Taichung’s MRT line is set to arrive at the Taichung Port on Sunday. (Photo by CNA)
government has prepared a parade to celebrate the event.
The train is manufactured by Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries and went through over 300 rigorous tests prior to shipping. It is capable of driverless train operation and it features a very modern, streamlined exterior design. The train is capable of carrying 536 passengers.
Taichung City’s Transportation Secretary Wang Yi-chuan said the arrival of the train marks an important milestone and shows the city government’s determination to start MRT operation by 2020. The transportation department will continue to work with their counterpart in Taipei to supervise the manufacturing and testing of the new trains. [FULL STORY]
Hollywood actioner outperforms local comedies by 4-to-1 margin
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/01
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Hollywood post-apocalyptic saga “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” beat
Paul W.S. Anderson (left) and Milla Jovovich. (By Central News Agency)
Chinese-language comedies by a ratio of more than four to one during Taiwan’s Lunar New Year holidays, movie distributors said Wednesday.
The actioner, the sixth and final installment in an adaptation of a video game, made more than NT$100 million (US$3.2 million) over the first five days of the Lunar New Year vacation, reports said.
Lead actress Milla Jovovich and writer-director Paul W.S. Anderson visited Taiwan last month to promote the movie. The film’s villain is played by Iain Glen of “Game of Thrones” fame.
The holiday period is traditionally also the favorite time of year to launch comedies and other lightweight movies with prominent local stars, but none of three such movies on offer this year made a major impact, according to reports. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/01
By: Yeh Tzu-kang and Lee Hsin-Yin
Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) The 2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yunlin will include local tours this month to
A tourist attraction in Yunlin. (CNA file photo)
allow wider exploration of central Taiwan, the organizers said Wednesday.
To this end, two tour packages will be offered during the period Feb. 7-19, each lasting two days, the organizers said.
One package will take visitors in groups of 30 to Douliu, Huwei, Dounan, Tuku and Beigang, from Wednesday to Sunday each week.
The tour will include visits to the historic Shiliu Station, tourism factories that make soy sauce and chocolate, and older areas of the county such as Yunchung Street, Taiping Old Street and Chengting Street. [FULL STORY]
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 02, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kao Jyh-peng’s (高志鵬) proposal to redesign the nation’s currency to replace the images of Republic of China founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) and former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) has sparked a heated public debate.
Kao on Thursday last week wrote on Facebook that while preparing hongbao (紅包, red envelopes) for the Lunar New Year holiday, some of his friends complained that they were tired of “looking at the faces of Sun and Chiang,” which are featured on the NT$100 bill, as well as the NT$50, NT$10, NT$5 and NT$1 coins.
“Banknotes and coins are not only the nation’s legal currency, they also represent our national identity and culture,” Kao wrote, adding that Sun and Chiang are “heroes only to some people.”
Kao said that after the holiday, he would propose legislation for the establishment of a “national currency design committee,” which would be tasked with creating new designs for the currency that are more in line with the nation’s current state of affairs. [FULL STORY]
The China Post
Date: February 2, 2017
By: CNA
Taipei — Taipei has allocated a budget to subsidize schools in the city that adopt stray dogs or cats, as
This file photo shows B Ka, the school dog of Shilin High School of Commerce. (CNA)
part of an animal protection program, according to a city government official.
Starting this year, the city government will provide an annual subsidy of NT$30,000 (US$960) to elementary, junior high and senior high schools for each stray dog or cat that they adopt, Chung Te-hsin (鍾德馨), an official at the city’s Department of Education, said recently.
The subsidy will be offered to cover the cost of food, shelter and veterinary care for the animals, Chung said.
He added that additional funds for raising the animals would be provided if necessary.
The statement came after lawmaker Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) late last year drew attention to the fact that only seven schools in the capital had adopted stray dogs or cats, the lowest rate among the country’s six special municipalities.
In response, Chung said his department was aware of the issue and had launched a program in the second half of 2016 to encourage Taipei schools to adopt stray dogs and cats. [FULL STORY]
Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-01-31
President Tsai Ing-wen continued her tour throughout Taiwan giving out red envelopes
President Tsai (left) sends best wishes by giving away red envelopes at a temple in Taoyuan. (CNA)
during the Chinese New Year holiday.
On Tuesday, she went to the Jen Hai Temple in Taoyuan to pray for the nation. She also gave out red envelopes with a NT$1 coin inside to people at temple. Many elderly and children lined up early in the morning to be one of the recipients of the president’s New Year’s gift.
Tsai has visited temples in central, southern and northern Taiwan during the Chinese New Year holiday. [FULL STORY]
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/31
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Taipei (Taiwan News) — Experts on Tuesday warned Taiwanese stores accepting cross-
border mobile payments via Alipay of leaks of sensitive business information, urging Taiwan to speed up its participation in the local mobile payment market.
Alipay, a third-party online payment platform of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, was launched in Taiwan in December 2015, and the platform is aimed at Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan. In just a little over one year, the number of stores in Taiwan joining Alipay has broken the 20,000 mark, which is far greater than the number of stores using local online payment platforms.
It’s common to see the Chinese version of the “welcome to pay by Alipay” sign posted in stores in the Sun Moon Lake area and night markets around Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/31
By: Wang Chin-yi and Lee Hsin-Yin
Taipei, Jan. 31 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a gale warning on
(CNA file photo)
Tuesday for areas across Taiwan, noting that coastal areas could see winds of up to 89 kilometers per hour, equivalent to a tropical storm.
The areas subject to the gale warning are New Taipei City, Keelung City, Yilan County, Taoyuan City, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, Miaoli County, Taichung City, Changhua County, Hualien County, Yunlin County, Chiayi County, Tainan City, Taitung County, Pingtung County, as well as the outlying counties of Lienchiang, Kinmen and Penghu.
The strong seasonal winds are likely to be felt most in areas north of Tainan, eastern Taiwan, Orchid Island, Green Island, as well as the southernmost tip of Taiwan and outlying counties, the bureau said. [FULL STORY]
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 01, 2017
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
Due to festive feasting over the Lunar New Year holiday, the number of people who visited hospital emergency rooms reporting symptoms of acute gout has increased by 10 to 20 percent, doctors said yesterday, adding that more people in their 30s or 40s have experienced the condition in recent years.
A man in his 30s was taken to an emergency room on Friday last week with gout — a type of inflammatory arthritis that causes swelling, redness and severe joint pain — which he said hurt as much as being hit with a hammer.
The attending physician said the man had gout from his 20s, but did not control his diet or stick to a regular drug regime to control uric acid levels in his blood, so his uric acid level elevated rapidly after holiday feasting, causing the pain.
Taipei Medical University Hospital Immunology Department attending physician Chang Chi-ching (張棋禎) said joints most commonly affected by gout are the first metatarsophalangeal joints of big toes and the joints of the instep, ankle or heel, although some people might experience severe pain at other joints. [FULL STORY]
