The nation's top three leaders have recently discovered that they all have Hakka ancestors from the same area in China -- what is now Zhaoan County, Fujian Province.
President Chen Shui-bian (
According to his family tree, the president is a descendant of the first official dispatched by the Tang emperor to explore the southern lands during the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907). He is the ninth generation offspring of Chen Wu (1739 to 1796), the first in the family to settle in Taiwan.
Vice President Annette Lu (
Premier Yu Shyi-kun's ancestors have been traced to a village about 12km from where Chen's ancestors resided.
The premier's younger brother, Yu Shyi-hsien (游錫賢), led a group of relatives on a trip to Zhaoan last September to offer sacrifices to the family's ancestors.
There are about 2 million Hakka people and their offspring in Taiwan.
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
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Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
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