Officials yesterday lauded a pro-ject aimed at encouraging young people to travel in Taiwan.
The National Youth Commission described the program, "Youth Travel in Taiwan," as a project aimed at encouraging in-depth traveling and learning experiences around the nation.
It has attracted more than a thousand young people, locals and foreigners alike, since it was launched in 2005, said commission officials yesterday.
"Two years ago, when there were an increasing number of young people traveling abroad, we thought it was unfortunate that many interesting local attractions were overlooked," said Wang Yu-chun (
Thus in the summer of 2005, the commission launched the first itineraries for Youth Travel in Taiwan.
This year, the commission is working with more than 20 non-governmental organizations, with itineraries that focus on topics ranging from nature to history, local culture to art.
"Our itineraries usually include six components -- physical challenges, discussion of public issues, an expert tour guide, do-it-yourself experiences, sightseeing and visits to public works," Wang said.
"For example, we may ask the chief of an Aboriginal village to give the participants a tour of the village. Or we may ask everybody to share their views on prisoners' rights when we visit a prison," she added.
The most popular itinerary, according to the commission, is the Dajia Matsu Pilgrimage in March.
This is an eight-day trip that follows the pilgrims of Matsu, the goddess of sea according to traditional beliefs.
Participants are able to experience not only the culture and rituals of the Matsu tradition, but also life in small farming villages in Taiwan, Wang said.
"So far, this has been the most popular itinerary for foreign visitors," she added.
Unfortunately, the Youth Travel in Taiwan itineraries only offer guides who speak local languages, thus some local linguistic ability is a must.
"If we see an increase in non-Chinese-speaking participants in the project, we certainly will look into including English-speaking guides in future years," Wang said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS