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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ SOCIETY

Indians to hold vigil

The Indian community will hold a candlelit vigil in Taipei on Sunday in memory of the victims of the recent Mumbai terror attacks. The vigil will take place at Taipei Municipal Chung Cheng Senior High School, No. 77 Wenlin N Rd, beginning at 7pm. Everyone is welcome to pay their respects. For further details contact Mr. Amarnani at 0936-348184 or Mr. Rakesh at 0932-026425.



■ TOURISM

Taipei City to fund film

The Taipei City Government plans to spend NT$20 million (US$596,000) to finance a feature film showcasing the city’s “unique characteristics” to a global audience, Department of Information and Tourism Director Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東) said on Tuesday. Yang said shooting on the film will hopefully begin in March or April. The city will ask award-winning director Hou Hsiao-hsien (侯孝賢) to produce the film and Hsiao Ya-chuan (蕭雅全) to direct it. Yang said many cities or towns have left an imprint on people’s minds because they served as backdrops to movies, such as Rome in the 1953 movie Roman Holiday, London in the 2001 film Bridget Jones’s Diary, Jiufen (九份) in Hou’s 1989 film A City of Sadness or more recently, Hengchun (恆春) because of the box office hit Cape No. 7. The film should reflect Taipei’s beauty, vitality, color and other outstanding aspects to attract foreign tourists, he said.



■ SOCIETY

Poinsettia exhibition starts

Taipei Flower Auction Co is holding an exhibition on poinsettias and flower gift sets at Taipei Flower Market from 8am to 12pm today through Saturday. About 1.14 million poinsettias have been grown in Taipei this year, and the average price of a small plant is between NT$40 and NT$50. Large plants cost about NT$150 to NT$180. The company said the slow economy has hurt poinsettia sales in the run-up to Christmas. Meanwhile, the company said it would offer a 20 percent discount to customers who use the government’s consumer vouchers, which will be issued in January, to purchase flowers at the flower market and about 400 member stores around the country.



■ EDUCATION

‘American Shelf’ opened

The Public Affairs Section of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taoyuan County Government on Tuesday unveiled a new “American Shelf” in Chungli Village and Happy English Village. The “American Shelf” program provides students with direct access to resources on the US, including materials for understanding American culture and society, and the study and teaching of English. Under the partnership between AIT and the Taoyuan County Government, AIT will purchase new books, pamphlets and DVDs for the shelf’s collection on a range of topics, including US culture, history, English teaching, geography and democracy. AIT public affairs officer Thomas Hodges said the latest American Shelf was the perfect complement to AIT’s projects elsewhere in Taiwan.



■ ENVIRONMENT

Go green with lanterns: EPA

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday called on individuals and businesses to select products powered by recyclable batteries or those with a mercury content within EPA regulations. Mercury content should not exceed 5 parts per million, the EPA said. Mercury leaked into the environment could cause harm to the Earth as well as to human health, it said.
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