A Muslim students’ association at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology is helping the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism develop Muslim-friendly itineraries around the city.
International Muslim Student Association secretary Novi Irmania, a 28-year-old Indonesian student, on Tuesday said that the group hopes to review travel opportunities so that Muslim visitors could have a better idea of how they can enjoy the city while meeting their religious needs in Taipei.
Irmania and five other members worked with and Taipei officials to design four routes that offer a mixture of Taipei experiences.
One suggested destination is Daan Forest Park, she said.
“For Taiwanese it might be just a park, but for us it’s an excellent place to get close to nature and religion” as the Taipei Grand Mosque is within walking distance of the park, she said.
One itinerary features Beitou District (北投), with stops at hot springs, Beitou public library — a prominent “green building” and Yangmingshan National Park.
Hot spring culture means something different to Indonesians from what it does for Taiwanese or Japanese, as many religious Muslim women prefer to wear special swimming suits in public hot springs, even if the springs are all-female, she said.
Some private hot springs are now halal-certified, she added.
Chueh Yu-ling (闕玉玲), a department section head, said the project is the city’s first attempt to reach out to Muslims through a student-oriented campaign.
“We hope to see Taipei through their eyes and will share their findings on social networks,” Chueh said.
The city is preparing a celebration for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, on June 17 at Daan Forest Park, Chueh said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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