Penghu County resident Hsu Li-chin (許麗琴) sold a vacation package on an uninhabited islet she won in a local draw, saying she wanted to use the money to help economically disadvantaged schoolchildren.
Hsu sold the package for NT$200,000 (US$6,000) yesterday to Chiang Ta-lung (江達隆), the governor of Lions Clubs International District 300-C3 in Changhua County.
At the contract signing ceremony in Magong (馬公), Chiang said he would use the vacation rights to encourage other Lions Clubs members to make generous charitable contributions. Those who donate a minimum of NT$200,000 will be offered a free three-day holiday on the uninhabited islet, which features scenic landscapes and abundant marine life, Chiang said.
Hsu won the prize last month in one of three lucky draws held by the county government to entice people to spend their NT$3,600 consumption vouchers in Penghu to boost the local economy.
The prize entitled the winner to spend three days and two nights per month between this month and September on the uninhabited island named Sianjiaoyu (險礁島), or dangerous reef island, in the northern part of the archipelago, which lies off Taiwan's southwestern coast.
It has become a popular vacation spot in recent years after serving as the main setting for a TV romance drama series called the The Plain Summer.
The winner may invite up to seven people to stay on the island, with the county government covering all expenses, including transportation, food and beverage, water activities and trips to neighboring islets.
Hsu said that as Penghu residents, she and her family already enjoy plenty of scenic views.
After noticing that many poor students at her daughters' Wai An Elementary School need financial support for their education, she decided to sell the prize and donate the receipts to the needy children and the local temple, Hsu said.
Touched by Hsu's generosity, Chiang donated NT$100,000 himself to Wai An Elementary School.
Hsu was the second of three winners of the special prize, which is estimated to be worth between NT$200,000 and NT$400,000. A four-year-old boy Yeh Chien-wei (葉千維), also a local resident, won the first drawing for the prize on Feb. 27.
The third winner is scheduled to be announced today, the county government said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS