Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years.
The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25.
Photo: AP
The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known.
Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That is a narrative the KMT uses to emphasize its historical links to China.
The date was apparently chosen by the man who ruled Taiwan for more than two decades, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), a baptized Christian whose mausoleum is decorated with a cross.
Chiang said in a radio address days before the constitution took effect that “the Christmas of 1947, marking the birth of Jesus, will be the day that ushers in a new beginning for the Republic of China and all its people — one of unity, independence, equality and freedom.”
For decades, people in Taiwan unofficially celebrated Christmas on Constitution Day, until the nation started moving toward a five-day workweek in 2001 and dropped some public holidays.
As in many other parts of the world, Christmas in Taiwan is a popular cultural and commercial phenomenon. Friends gather for celebrations, and glitzy Taipei malls are bedecked in holiday cheer, replete with familiar Christmas music.
The extra five days off a year have also been popular with workers across the nation of 23 million people. The average Taiwanese worker labored some 2,030 working hours in 2024, according to the Ministry of Labor — the fourth-most among 37 major economies.
Most heroes are remembered for the battles they fought. Taiwan’s Black Bat Squadron is remembered for flying into Chinese airspace 838 times between 1953 and 1967, and for the 148 men whose sacrifice bought the intelligence that kept Taiwan secure. Two-thirds of the squadron died carrying out missions most people wouldn’t learn about for another 40 years. The squadron lost 15 aircraft and 148 crew members over those 14 years, making it the deadliest unit in Taiwan’s military history by casualty rate. They flew at night, often at low altitudes, straight into some of the most heavily defended airspace in Asia.
Beijing’s ironic, abusive tantrums aimed at Japan since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi publicly stated that a Taiwan contingency would be an existential crisis for Japan, have revealed for all the world to see that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) lusts after Okinawa. We all owe Takaichi a debt of thanks for getting the PRC to make that public. The PRC and its netizens, taking their cue from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are presenting Okinawa by mirroring the claims about Taiwan. Official PRC propaganda organs began to wax lyrical about Okinawa’s “unsettled status” beginning last month. A Global
Taiwan’s democracy is at risk. Be very alarmed. This is not a drill. The current constitutional crisis progressed slowly, then suddenly. Political tensions, partisan hostility and emotions are all running high right when cool heads and calm negotiation are most needed. Oxford defines brinkmanship as: “The art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping, especially in politics.” It says the term comes from a quote from a 1956 Cold War interview with then-American Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, when he said: ‘The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is
Like much in the world today, theater has experienced major disruptions over the six years since COVID-19. The pandemic, the war in Ukraine and social media have created a new normal of geopolitical and information uncertainty, and the performing arts are not immune to these effects. “Ten years ago people wanted to come to the theater to engage with important issues, but now the Internet allows them to engage with those issues powerfully and immediately,” said Faith Tan, programming director of the Esplanade in Singapore, speaking last week in Japan. “One reaction to unpredictability has been a renewed emphasis on
RSS