Taiwan News Quick Take

■TRANSPORT

Traffic countdowns expanded

The Taipei City Government is expanding traffic signal countdowns to 75 major intersections starting next month in a move that is hoped will decrease collisions and reduce driver anxiety. Displaying a countdown on the traffic light allows drivers to anticipate the wait time and the need to slow down or stop and therefore decreases traffic incidents, a recent study by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications showed. Sheng Shu-hsian (沈淑賢), a division chief at Taipei City’s Transportation Department, said the department set up countdown mechanisms at five intersections last year and found that the number of accidents decreased, and so the city government decided to expand the measure to more sites this year.



■ENVIRONMENT

Coral polyps set to spawn

The coral polyps in the seas off the Kenting National Park in Pingtung will release eggs in the next few days, a senior coral reef observer said yesterday. Tsai Yung-chun (蔡永春) said he anticipated the spawning scale would be small this year. Tsai is planning to take a dive tonight to observe the expected natural phenomenon, which the experienced diver said took place once a year in Kenting. Tsai said that after tonight, he would be able to predict when the spawning would reach its peak. Full-moon nights in the lunar month of March have been the typical time for mass spawning in Kenting’s corals.



■SOCIETY

‘Zongzi’ world record set

A new world record for the largest zongzi — a traditional treat of glutinous rice stuffed with meat, mushrooms and other delicacies and steamed in bamboo leaves — was set yesterday in an activity held by the Yunlin County Government at Jenwen Park in Touliu City (斗六). More than 14,000 residents were on hand to witness the record-setting achievement and to get a taste of the 1,314kg zongzi made by a team of chefs from a Taichung City hotel. Head chef Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said it took 20 people about 24 hours to make the zongzi. All the ingredients were sourced in Yunlin County, including 210kg of pork, 840kg of rice, more than 30,000 bamboo leaves, 90kg of peanuts and 90kg of mushrooms, Lee said. A Guinness World Records representative witnessed the event and certified the new world record.



■TOURISM

Four million visitors forecast

The number of people visiting Taiwan is expected to reach 4 million this year and rise to 4.25 million next year thanks to several international sporting events that will take place, a report released yesterday by the Council for Economic Planning and Development said. The arrivals are likely to bring in NT$180 billion (US$5.9 billion) to NT$192.1 billion in revenue to the country, the report said. Last year, visitor arrivals reached a record high of 3.72 million, the report said. Of this number, 1.65 million visitors said the purpose of their visit was tourism, an increase of 89.49 percent compared with 870,000 tourists in 2000, the report said. The council attributed the increase in visitor arrivals to the government’s efforts to enhance visitor convenience, such as setting up 80 tourist information service stations at major transportation points and establishing a travel information Web site that is available in both traditional and simplified Chinese characters, English, Japanese, Korean and German. A 24-hour travel information hotline has also been launched that can handle inquiries in Mandarin, English, Japanese and Korean, the report said.