The China Post
Date: February 22, 2017
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan, The China Post with CNA

Several one-day bus tours have been ordered to hire extra drivers or cease operations,

the government announced Tuesday, following a crash that left 33 people dead.

On bus tours traveling on regular roads, a single driver is banned from covering more than 300 kilometers per day, Deputy Director General of the Tourism Bureau Chang Shi-chung (張錫聰) said on Tuesday.

Drivers covering mountain roads are limited to 200 kilometers per day, Chang said.

The rule changes have led to the cancellation of some one-day tours from Taipei and Kaohsiung to popular sites including Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山) Wuling Farm (武陵農場), Cingjing Farm (清境農場), Qalang Smangus (司馬庫斯), Guan-Wu (觀霧) at the Shei-Pa National Park, Hualien, and Kenting (墾丁), after operators were unwilling or unable to hire a second driver.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News)–Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) is launching the “city/county week” campaign for the Maokong Gondola between February 21 and June 11 with a single ride for NT$50 instead of the current price of NT$120.

The TRTC will offer individuals who come to ride the gondola during the week designated to the city or county where he or she is domiciled the special fare of NT$50 for a single ride on the lift regardless of distance, whereas current single-journey fares for riding to the first, second and terminal stations are NT$70, NT$100 and NT$120, respectively.

Passengers are required to produce related documents indicating respective residency at any of the information counters within the Maokong Gondola system to purchase the discounted ticket.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/20
By: Huang Li-yun and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Feb. 20 (CNA) A total of 170,000 households in Taichung and Changhua had no tap water starting at 8 p.m. Monday after a water supply pipe in Taichung was ruptured accidentally as work was being done on Taichung’s public sewage system, state-run Taiwan Water Corp. said.

The suspension of the supply of water will affect some 60,000 households in Taichung for 36 hours, to 8 a.m. on Feb. 22, and some 110,000 households in neighboring Changhua County for 26 hours, or until 10 p.m. on Feb. 21, the company announced.

In addition, some 40,000 households in Taichung are being affected by lower water pressure, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 21, 2017
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — “As of probably 10 years, the largest international alumni population

of USC were Taiwanese. There are very strong ties,” University of Southern California (USC) President C. L. Max Nikias said as he sat down with The China Post in an exclusive interview in Taipei.

His delegation is currently in Taiwan for a weeklong visit.

One of the world’s leading private research universities, USC has ventured out to other side of the Pacific Rim serves for a two-fold purpose: strengthening existing links with Taiwanese institutions and exploring new opportunities.

“As president, I see Taiwan as a strategic priority for our international outreach for the university, given the very strong ties that exist between USC and Taiwan in the past 60 to 65 years,” Nikias told The China Post.    [FULL  STORY]

This special snack is one of Taiwan’s must-have street foods today.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/02/19
By: TaiwaneseCulture.org

Difficulty level: Medium
Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Total time: 8 hours (mostly for marinating)

Introduction and history of the dish

Taiwanese “popcorn” chicken (also called salted crispy chicken, or salt and pepper chicken) originated from the northern part of old Tainan City, the culinary center of Taiwan, around 1979. A newly married couple, surnamed Yeh, who worked during the day at the family’s chicken farm, opened a food stand at the well-known An-pin night market, selling KFC style fried chicken, which was very popular in Taiwan at that time. Seeing that it was difficult to eat the American style fried chicken in a convenient and elegant way due to the large size of the pieces, Ms. Yeh cleverly improved the recipe by using mostly boneless meat, cut into smaller pieces, marinated in a sauce, and then coating them in sweet potato flour before frying.

Customers were then able to pick up the bite-sized chicken chunks with thin bamboo sticks (similar to longer toothpicks), and enjoy the delicious snack while keeping their fingers clean. Also different from the American style fried chicken, Ms. Yeh added pepper salt and chili powder to give the chicken an extra kick of flavor. Because of this special salt and pepper taste, Yeh named the dish “salted crispy chicken” (鹽酥雞 | kiâm-soo-ke in Taiwanese | yán-sū-jī in Mandarin). This special snack soon became popular throughout Taiwan and remains one of the country’s must-have street foods today.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A shopping mall in the Chinese city of Chongqing has installed a spiral slide that takes

only 12 seconds to send a person from the 4th floor down to the ground floor, but a ride will cost RMB30 (about NT$135).

An online news outlet of Chongqing Morning Post reported that a shopping hall has installed such a tall spiral slide in the atrium space that intends to serve as an alternative to elevators. Although the slide was fast, its business was very slow as the slide was observed for half an hour and nobody slid down it, the news outlet reported.

The gray-colored slide, which is visible from every corner of the mall, is 16 meters in height and 46.8 meters in length, going spirally down from the fourth floor to the first floor, the report said. At the end of the slide, there is a thick mattress on the ground to provide cushioning, the report said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/19
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 19 (CNA) With demands for cleaner air, environmental protection activists held two protest marches in Taichung and Kaohsiung simultaneously Sunday, drawing local officials, ruling and opposition lawmakers, and former Academia Sinica President Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲).

Lee joined the “anti-air pollution, global warming” march in the central municipality of Taichung to show his support for the appeal. He expressed hope that Taiwan will become an Asian model in the battle against global warming and air pollution.

The Nobel Prize laureate suggested that the central government take the lead in updating the Air Pollution Control Act, and that “enterprises and society should also join the fight,” in an effort to make Taiwan a more beautiful place.   [FULL  STORY]

PROTESTS:Although the DPP was founded in 1986, few members took part in pro-democracy action at the time, which was led by regular people, Yeh Chu-lan said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 20, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

An exhibition commemorating pro-democracy movements in Taiwan following the 228

Incident opened in the National 228 Memorial Museum yesterday, with campaigners calling for holding those responsible for the massacre to account and disclosing documents related to the Incident to achieve transitional justice.

The exhibition also commemorates the 30th anniversary of the nation’s first campaign to achieve transitional justice, launched in 1987 by late democracy pioneer Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕) asking the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to apologize for the massacre and pay compensation to victims, as well as reveal the facts about the Incident and make Feb. 28 a national holiday to commemorate the massacre.

The exhibition features a reconstruction of Deng’s office, a replica of the nation’s first monument dedicated to the Incident, banners and props used by pro-democracy activists, books banned by the former KMT regime, and poems and art inspired by the Incident.    [FULL  STORY]