Retired General Sun Yuan-liang (孫元良), who helped lead Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) Nationalists in China's struggle against Japan during World War II, has died in Taiwan, a local newspaper reported yesterday. He was 103.
Sun died at his home in Taipei on May 25, the Chinese-language United Daily News quoted his son Sun Hsiang-chung (孫祥鍾) as saying. His body was cremated on Saturday, the report said.
Born in Sichuan Province in 1904, Sun joined the Nationalist army at the age of 19 and was among the most celebrated graduates of the prestigious Whampoa Military Academy founded by Chiang in Guangdong Province.
He came to prominence confronting Japanese efforts to gain a foothold in the Shanghai region in the 1930s.
Sun led the Nationalists in a crucial battle to beat back Japanese naval forces attacking Shanghai in 1932.
He led another famous battle in the city in 1937, holding onto the Nationalist base for 76 days despite heavy casualties.
Many historians have criticized the Nationalists' performance during World War II, saying poor leadership and widespread corruption had allowed Japan to take control of wide swathes of China.
Some say Chiang refused to deploy his best troops, holding them back for use against the Communists after Japan's defeat.
During that civil conflict, Sun lost a crucial battle in 1948 when more than 500,000 Nationalist troops were killed in eastern Jiangsu Province.
Sun retired shortly after he followed Chiang to Taiwan in 1949.
Local media said Sun was survived by five sons.
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