A wishing well wasn’t in the plans for the Kaohsiung MRT’s Central Park Station, but a stream of water at the station’s entrance has become just that for passersby, and charities stand to gain from the public’s urge to make a wish.
Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) public relations manager Chiang Hui-sung (江惠頌) said yesterday that the company had retrieved NT$27,000 in coins from the stream since the north-south Red Line opened in more than two months ago.
“The people who dropped the coins did not leave any personal information behind, but we know that the money is a symbol of the public’s love,” Chiang said.
“We too have now come to regard it [the stream] as a wishing well,” she said.
Huang I-chung (黃一中), director of the KRTC’s Public Affairs Department, said the company would have to keep the money at its lost-and-found department for six months in accordance with the law, but added that the company didn’t expect the owners to turn up any time soon to reclaim their wishing coins.
Once the six months have passed, the money will be donated to charity, Huang said.
“Those who have made wishes [at the station] may hope their wishes come true,” he said. “I believe [they] will also be blessed if the money goes to charity.”
Meanwhile, construction work at the Formosa Station, where the Red Line intersects the east-west Orange Line, is expected to be completed next month, the company said.
An inspection of the Orange Line will be held in July to determine whether operations can begin in late August as scheduled, the company said.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all