The China Post
Date: February 12, 2017
By: Morley J. Weston

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A cold spell hitting Taiwan has killed more than 80 people so far, a

startling number considering the temperature never approached the freezing point for the vast majority of the country.

For those not already at death’s door, most of these thermal tragedies could have been prevented. Here are some tips for keeping yourself warm and healthy before the cold lets up:

Avoid Cotton

Your favorite hoodie might be comfy if you’re padding to the kitchen to make another cup of tea, but it can be downright dangerous if you’re going to spend the day outdoors or do any sort of physical labor. The trouble with the material isn’t insulation but its bad habit of retaining moisture, which can chill you when you stop working.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-10

President Tsai Ing-wen has urged Taiwan’s convenience store chains to play a leading

role in making the country a better place. Tsai was speaking Friday when meeting with representatives of stores.

Tsai said chain stores have been growing rapidly in Taiwan in recent years. With 60% of the country’s workforce in the service industry, they are crucial to shaping Taiwan’s image, she said.

Tsai also said convenience stores have changed public consumption habits and also raised the quality of services in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

The Hakka ‘Dragon Bombing’ tradition culminates in Taiwan’s Miaoli County during the Lantern Festival.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/10
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Miaoli Hakka Lantern Festival’s “Dragon Bombing” (火旁

龍) tradition, in which dragon teams dance for fortune and glory under a maelstrom of fireworks, is one four largest Lantern Festivals in Taiwan and will be reaching its grand finale this weekend.

The Hakka people (客家人), one of Taiwan’s key minorities, hold a unique festival of dancing dragons in western Taiwan’s Miaoli County to mark the end of the Lunar New Year consisting of six stages: constructing the dragon, dotting its eyes, welcoming the dragon into homes and businesses, dancing the dragon, bombing the dragon, and burning the dragon.

Many Chinese communities around the world hold dragon dances to celebrate the Lunar New Year, however it is only in this community that they “bomb” the dragons. The rationale is that the more explosive the dance and the more hits the dragon gets hit by fireworks, the more luck and prosperity (愈炸愈旺) there will be for those who come close.    [FULL  STORY]

‘MINORITY’:The KMT chairwoman disputed reports that a group of retired KMT civil servants wants her to quit, saying others have complained about not being consulted

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 11, 2017
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said

she would not withdraw from the KMT chairperson race, despite calls from a group of retired public servants for her to drop out and endorse former Taichung mayor Jason Hu (胡志強).

The Association of Retired Public Servants, Teachers, Military and Police of the Republic of China has been collecting signatures for a statement titled “Saving the KMT: Chairperson Hung’s unavoidable responsibility,” local media reports said.

The statement urges Hung to give up her re-election bid in favor of running in the 2020 legislative elections. It invites all chairperson candidates to undergo a “coordination process” to decide the winner instead of by vote in May.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 11, 2017
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A senior official at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) calls on

Taiwan’s LGBTI community to be strong and love themselves and shares his own coming out story in a recently released video.

“I would say (to Taiwan’s gay community) to be strong and to love yourself because no one else will do that for you,” Jason Chue (楚杰生), deputy head of the AIT’s Kaohsiung branch, said in the short film, released earlier this week by GagaTai, a Taiwan-based gay culture website.

Sharing his coming out story, Chue, who is openly gay, says he always knew he was homosexual, even as a young man in elementary school. But it was not until high school that he came out to himself, his friends and family, he says.   [FULL  STORY]

‘Do not question our determination to eliminate the KMT. The goal is always there.’

The News Lens
Date: 2017/02/09
By: Edward White

Taiwan’s New Power Party (NPP) was born in the wake of the mass student-led

demonstrations in 2014 known as the Sunflower Movement. The party won five seats in Taiwan’s parliament, the Legislative Yuan, in the January 2016 general election. NPP leader Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), 43, a former activist and academic, talks to The News Lens International about the party’s impact on the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP); the issues that could bring people back on the streets of Taipei; why Taiwan needs a new cross-Strait policy; and, the challenges for the NPP in expanding beyond its urban support base.    [FULL  STORY]

The third annual Ruifang Torch Festival will be held on Feb. 11

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/09
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The third annual Ruifang Torch Festival (瑞芳火把節) will be

held on Feb. 11 in the town of Ruifang (瑞芳) in northeast Taiwan to commemorate an incident that occurred during the Japanese colonial era.

The gathering is held during Lantern Festival (元宵節) to both commemorate the Ruifang Incident (also known as the 527 Incident), a series of atrocities that occurred during Japanese colonial rule in 1940, as well as the local tradition of going on night wanders to mark the final day of the Lunar New Year celebrations. On May 27, 1940 the family, friends, and employees of a local man, Li Chien-hsing (李建興), numbering in the hundreds were arrested as Li was falsely accused of collaborating with Chinese Nationalist forces in trying to stage an uprising against Japanese rule.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/09
By:3 Sophia Yeh, Miao Zong-han and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) The key to commemorating the 228 incident is to remember that

the real masters of the country are the people and the state should be built on a foundation of liberal democracy, a Presidential Office official said on Thursday.

A government that recognizes these facts will not subject its people to violence, office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) told the press in commenting on the activities reportedly organized by the Beijing regime to commemorate the incident, an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that started on February 28, 1947 when the Republic of China (ROC) government ruled China and Taiwan from Nanjing.

Commemorative activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the 228 incident will be held by related government agencies, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday.
[FULL  STORY]