The number of new marriages recorded last year was 12.57 percent higher than in the previous year — a sudden increase related to the superstition that this year was an inauspicious year for marriage, a report by the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
The report showed that a total of 148,425 couples tied the knot last year, an increase of 16,574 from 2007.
The ministry attributed the rise to the many lovers who chose to get married early because they wanted to avoid doing so this year — which is believed to be a gu luan nian, or “lonely phoenix year.”
The superstition that the chances of losing one’s partner are higher in certain years — including this year — originated in Japan.
A “lonely phoenix year” is usually one in which there are two li chun, or “beginnings of spring” — one of the 24 seasonal periods in a lunar year.
As “spring” is metaphoric of romance in the Chinese language, the appearance of two “springs” in a lunar year is believed to be unfavorable to the longevity of marriages.
A “lonely phoenix year” can come every four to five years. The last such year was in 2004.
The ministry report said that 85.43 percent of men who got married last year were first-time grooms and 87.41 percent of women were first-time brides.
The average age of the first-time husbands was 31.1, while for the first-time brides it was 28.4, an increase of 0.1 years and 0.3 years respectively from 2007.
Of all the new marriages recorded last year, 14.49 percent involved one foreign spouse or one from China, Hong Kong or Macau, the report said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
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
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
RSS