The Tainan City Government is planning to give top model and actress Lin Chi-ling (林志玲) 12 items that represent “the seven everyday necessities” as gifts in celebration of her marriage to Japanese actor Akira.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) presented the wedding gifts, which he dubbed “a full oxcart of dowry,” to the public at City Hall yesterday. The gifts are to be given to the couple at their wedding banquet tomorrow.
Tainan is the hometown of Lin’s parents, and the city is treating the wedding as if it is “giving Lin away,” Huang said.
Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times
The presents cover all seven items that are listed in the ancient Chinese phrase: “Firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the seven necessities to begin a day,” he said.
The firewood consists of bamboo charcoal produced in Tainan’s Longci District (龍崎), while the rice is of championship quality from the Houbi (後壁) and Lioujia (六甲) districts.
The gifts also include sesame oil from Shanhua (善化) and Sigang (西港) districts, salt from Cigu (七股), Dongcheng soy sauce and Chengkung soy sauce from Sinhua (新化), plum vinegar from Nansi (楠西) and white gourd tea bricks from the West Central District (中西區).
In addition, the gifts include a set of silk bedsheets and pillowcases, which represent a wish for the newlyweds to sleep well at night, dried longans and longan honey produced in Dongshan District (東山) that signify a wish for the birth of a son, Puli-produced lappa and soft rush products from Sigang District (西港), which are to be given to Akira’s parents.
Huang said that the city government invited Taiwanese artist Chen Chi-tsun (陳啟村) to craft a wooden baking mold to make traditional wedding cakes for the wedding.
Huang described the job of selecting the 12 gifts as far more challenging than selecting the candidates for legislator-at-large seats by his party.
All the items are produced in Tainan, he said.
After years of reports of a romantic relationship with a Taiwanese actor, the 44-year-old Lin announced her marriage to Akira, 37, in June, surprising entertainment circles in Taiwan and Japan.
Akira’s management company announced that the couple registered their marriage in Tokyo after doing the same in Taiwan on June 6.
Akira, whose real name is Ryohei Kurosawa, joined Japanese boy band EXILE in 2006 and is also an actor.
Recently it was confirmed that the couple would hold their wedding and wedding banquet on Sunday at the Tainan Art Museum’s Building 1.
The museum was built in 1931 and originally housed the city’s police administration during the Japanese colonial period. It was designated as a historic monument in 1998.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
RSS