People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Soong was on his second day of a bridge-building visit to China.
Soong went to pay his respects at the mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor or Huangdi, who along with the Yan Emperor, or Yandi, is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Chinese civilization.
He led a delegation that presented flowers, fruit and incense in a memorial hall, Chinese state TV showed, before addressing a small crowd gathered on the mausoleum steps.
He said that the Chinese ancestors from thousands years ago show today's Chinese people the importance of cherishing the environment and the significance of maintaining the Chinese race and culture.
"Our culture and our bloodlines all come from the same origin," Soong said. "We descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors cannot forget our roots. Brothers on both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are from one family."
He mentioned "the Republic of China" three times yesterday in his comments on cross-strait relations.
Soong was scheduled to fly later yesterday to Nanjing, China's capital under the Nationalists, to visit Sun Yat-sen's (
Before heading to Beijing, he will also stop at family graves in Hunan Province, emphasizing the personal ties between Taiwan and China.
Soong is scheduled to meet with China's Vice President Zeng Qinghong (
He is scheduled to meet with Wang Daohan (汪道涵), China's top negotiator with Taiwan, in Shanghai today and deliver a speech at Beijing's Tsinghua University on Wednesday.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS