The Bureau of Health Promotion’s quit smoking competition attracted more than 31,000 pairs this year and ended yesterday with a NT$300,000 cash prize being given to the winner.
The competition began on March 25 and required each team, which consisted of a non-smoker witness and a smoker contestant, to quit smoking for four weeks.
The first and second prize winners were randomly selected from the participants late last month. Visits and urine tests were conducted under the scrutiny of lawyers, to make sure the contestants had quit smoking.
The first prize this year was given to a 51-year-old man surnamed Lee (李), who lives in New Taipei City (新北市).
Lee said he had smoked for 34 years and used to smoke about a pack of cigarettes a day. He said that although he had tried to quit before, his job as a security guard working midnight shifts had made him unable to conquer his addiction.
“I promised my daughter that I would quit smoking, but the first week of quitting was really painful,” Lee said. “Fortunately, there was a change in my work routine at the time, which allowed my daily schedule to become more normal. I also drank a lot of water and ate more fruit and vegetables to help me get through the uncomfortable feeling during the first phase of quitting.”
According to a survey conducted by the bureau last year, the smoking rate among men was 33.5 percent, and more than 40 percent among young men aged between 26 and 45. The bureau added that the smoking rate among young people with education below junior-high school level was also very high: 73.5 percent in men and 24.7 percent in women.
Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said Saturday that she would not be intimidated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), following reports that Chinese agents planned to ram her car during a visit to the Czech Republic last year. "I had a great visit to Prague & thank the Czech authorities for their hospitality & ensuring my safety," Hsiao said on social media platform X. "The CCP's unlawful activities will NOT intimidate me from voicing Taiwan's interests in the international community," she wrote. Hsiao visited the Czech Republic on March 18 last year as vice president-elect and met with Czech Senate leadership, including
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
There have been clear signs of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to interfere in the nationwide recall vote on July 26 in support of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators facing recall, an unnamed government official said, warning about possible further actions. The CCP is actively involved in Taiwanese politics, and interference in the recall vote is to be expected, with multiple Chinese state media and TAO attempts to discredit the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and undermine public support of their recall movement, the official said. This interference includes a smear campaign initiated this month by a pro-Beijing Hong Kong news outlet against
A week-long exhibition on modern Tibetan history and the Dalai Lama’s global advocacy opened yesterday in Taipei, featuring quotes and artworks highlighting human rights and China’s ongoing repression of Tibetans, Hong Kongers and Uighurs. The exhibition, the first organized by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan (HRNTT), is titled “From the Snowy Ridges to the Ocean of Wisdom.” “It would be impossible for Tibetans inside Tibet to hold an exhibition like this — we can do it. because we live in a free and democratic country,” HRNTT secretary-general Tashi Tsering said. Tashi Tsering, a Taiwan-based Tibetan who has never
RSS