Riding on the wave of e-commerce that broke over the country recently, college students nationwide are finding more than just fun in online trading.
With the increasing accessibility of personal Web sites, the online "campus" trade -- on everything from used computers to second-hand costumes, from cosmetics to cellphones and books -- is catching on.
But none of these young entrepreneurs compare with Huang Si-yu, a 17-year-old computer student at the Fortune Institute of Technology in Kaohsiung.
Huang started his business just for fun last year when he sold a computer and some accessories online. He later helped some friends sell their old cellphones online.
Huang reportedly nets up to NT$100,000 a month through his online shopping Web site, which he ambitiously calls, in Chinese, "The Biggest Online Department Store in History."
Huang sells up to 20 sets of cheap computers at NT$20,000 apiece per month. He has also managed to build a solid customer base by offering good after-sale services and by sending subscribers a regular e-mail newsletter.
Huang's fame has attracted firms from off campus to set up "stalls" on his Web site, which now sells products as diverse as electronics goods, cosmetics, sportswear and Hello Kitty items.
To accommodate the growing business, Huang has rented an apartment to use as a distribution center.
Breaking records, making headlines
Get out the record books for this news item: While organizing student records recently at Provincial Sanchung Senior High School in Taipei County, a school official discovered an interesting fact -- 17 pairs of siblings are enrolled at the school.
While such a figure might not be unusual at an elementary or junior high school, where students are assigned to schools based on the location of their homes, it is unusual at a high school -- where students are admitted based on high school entrance exams and not on their street addresses.
The school's principal was so impressed by the number of siblings on campus that he asked the 34 students to sit for a group photo. No word yet on whether he has submitted the snapshot to the Guiness Book of World Records.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2