Jay Chou (
Several years after the peak of F4's popularity in Taiwan, the four-piece boy band has found a new market in Japan, where the release of Meteor Shower (流星雨) took the band into the top 10 on Japan's main pop chart, marking a first for a Taiwanese band. Previously, the only non-Japanese to make it onto the country's pop chart were Jackie Chan (成龍) and three South Korean singers, all of whom sung in Japanese. F4's album is entirely in Mandarin and still squeezed its way into the No. 10 spot. Whatever's hot in Japan eventually makes its way to Taiwan, so could F4's success there portend a strong comeback at home? Watch for it this summer.
China's hottest export, Zhang Ziyi (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
The entertainment world suffered a grievous loss this week when one of the greatest Taiwanese comedians and actors, Ni Min-jan (
According to Ni's friends, the legendary veteran comedian had been greatly agitated by recent financial and family problems and suffered severe depression without realizing it.
Ni's second wife, Lee Li-hua (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Since Ni's 83-year-old mom has been hospitalized for cancer treatment, the family thought the news would be too much for her and decided to lie about Ni's death as long as they could. One of Ni's best friends, Yu Tien (
On a much happier note, Taiwanese beauty Chen Xiao-xuan (陳孝萱) recently confirmed the good news of her pregnancy after dodging rumors and questions for weeks. She and her metrosexual boyfriend Zhan
Ren-xiong (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Ajay Verma, a consultant gastroenterologist at Kettering general hospital in Northamptonshire, says our gut is a “complex machine.” “It is constantly providing us with the nutrition we need, initially to grow and develop, and then for us to survive, thrive and repair from injury and illness.” How can we keep it functioning well? Put simply: “Make sure what you put into it is balanced, and that you clear out its waste products adequately,” Verma says. “In a general gastroenterology clinic, the most common conditions we see are irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroesophageal reflux disease, inflammatory bowel disease and constipation,” says Nisha
The arithmetic is straightforward and uncomfortable. By the end of 2025, Taiwan had committed itself to a 50-30-20 electricity mix — half natural gas, 30 per cent coal, 20 per cent renewables. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’s (MOEA) own monthly energy reports tell a different story. Natural gas reached 47.8 per cent of generation last year. Coal stood at 35.4 per cent, comfortably above its target ceiling. Renewables came in at 13.1 per cent, well short of the 20 per cent Taipei had pledged a decade earlier. Installed renewable capacity reached roughly half of the 12 gigawatts (GW) the government
Taiwan’s drone exports are taking off, fuelled by the war in Ukraine, as Taiwanese companies seek a stake in the fast-growing global market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Low-cost drones used for reconnaissance and strikes are in high demand as governments around the world boost defense spending in the face of intensifying conflicts. A relative new player in the increasingly competitive industry, Taiwan’s pitch is to be an “Asian hub” for the production of UAVs and components free of Chinese materials, or “non-red.” That means its UAVs can be up to three times more expensive than their Chinese competitors, like the world’s biggest
There are shadowy cabals plotting to sell out Taiwan to be annexed by China, by invasion if necessary. Fortunately, they are buffoons. In 2019, former Bamboo Union gangster and founder of the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), Chang An-le (張安樂, colorfully known as “White Wolf”), led a protest at the Legislative Yuan against comments made by then-premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) that in the event of an attack by China, he would never surrender, but would protect the nation by fighting to the end, even if he only had a broom. Chang had party members bring a wooden casket that they
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