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Taiwan News Quick Take

■SOCIETY

Pupils stage Beijing opera

A group of Taipei American School students is scheduled to perform a traditional Chinese opera at the National Taiwanese College of Performing Arts at 2pm today. The students, who are educated in the American system, recently attended the college’s summer program on the art of Beijing opera. Over the course of the summer, they studied how Chinese opera combines drama, music, dance, kung fu, fine arts and sculpture. They also learned some Beijing opera skills and dance techniques. This afternoon’s program will include performances with traditional songs, such as Shaking the Money Tree (搖錢樹) and Golden Phoenix (金鳳凰).



■DIPLOMACY

Funds donated to Honduras

Taiwan has donated US$2.5 million to Honduras to fund development projects in the nation’s central American ally, Taiwan’s Ambassador to Honduras Lai Chien-chung (賴建中) told reporters by phone from Tegucigalpa on Thursday. Lai said the donation would be used to establish electricity supply systems, promote public health education, boost local production and improve tap water sanitation and drainage systems in rural areas. The donation is part of Taiwan’s bilateral cooperation program, he said. On receiving the donation on Wednesday, Honduran International Cooperation Minister Karen Zelaya said that since 2006, Taiwan and Honduras have cooperated on 121 programs to promote the development of rural areas in Honduras, 34 of which have been completed, a report from Honduras-based Radio America said. A donation of more than US$370,000 to Honduras from Taiwan in June was used to establish tap water systems in rural areas.



■HEALTH

Kaohsiung mooncakes safe

All samples of mooncake fillings recently tested by the Kaohsiung City Government’s Department of Health were found to meet the city’s food safety standards, the department said yesterday. The department carried out spot tests at mooncake retail outlets and factories around the city from July 22 to July 24, with 60 samples tested. None of the samples were found to contain excess amounts of preservatives or other additives, said the department, which added that it would conduct a second series of tests to ensure that mooncake and filling producers are abiding by the city’s food sanitation regulations. Mooncakes are a Chinese pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept. 14 this year.



■SOCIETY

Two-way bike route planned

The Tainan County Government plans to build a two-way bicycle route along a 39km stretch of the No. 1 provincial highway to promote local tourism and bicycle use. County government official Huang Chun-jung (黃浚榮), who is in charge of the plan, told reporters yesterday that the bicycle trails would be built at a cost of NT$190 million (US$6.1 million) along both sides of the No. 1 highway, and that the central government had provided an initial budget of NT$63 million for the first stage of the project. Huang said the bicycle route would link two railway stations in Tainan County — Houbi (後壁) in the north and Sinshih (新市) in the south — and have a total length of 77.4km. He said construction would begin by the end of the year, and that the county government was applying for a second budget outlay of NT$50 million from the Ministry of the Interior to build rest stops, service stations, parking lots and leisure facilities along the paths.


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