ENTERTAINMENT
S.H.E. win big in Singapore
Taiwanese pop trio S.H.E. emerged as the biggest winner at the Singapore Hit Awards 2010 presented on Friday. The group took home a total of five awards: Most Popular Group/Band, Best Group, Asia Media Award (Group), Y.E.S. 93.3 FM Pick of the Pops: Song of the Year, and Y.E.S. 93.3 FM Pick of the Pops: Artiste with Most Chart Hits. The outstanding performance aside, the condition of S.H.E. member Selina Jen (任家萱), who sustained severe burns in a filming accident last week in Shanghai, remained the focus of media attention. According to Hebe Tian (田馥甄), the only S.H.E. member who attended the presentation ceremony, Selina is still receiving treatment in an isolation ward after being sent back to Taiwan and is still taking painkillers. A second major winner at this year’s event was Sodagreen, another band from Taiwan, which captured three awards: Best Composing Artiste, Best Band, and Asia Media Award (Band).
ENTERTAINMENT
Local celebrity to wed
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), better known as Big S (大S), has confirmed her engagement to the son of a wealthy Chinese businessman, ending days of rumors about the couple’s whirlwind romance. The older of the celebrity Hsu sisters described her happiness as she and partner Wang Xiaofei (汪小菲) made the announcement on Friday via a micro blog posting. The two, who met less than three weeks ago in Beijing, are to be married in February next year, according to Hsu’s father. Wang is reportedly worth NT$11.5 billion (US$376 million), through his involvement in a chain of restaurants owned by his father.
TOURISM
Search for tourists continues
A Chinese official urged Taiwan yesterday to continue its search for a group of Chinese tourists who went missing in eastern Taiwan during Typhoon Megi last week. “Even if there is only a shred of hope, we expect 100 percent effort to be given [to the rescue operation],” Deputy Secretary-General of Beijing’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Zhang Shenglin (張勝林) said as she left to return to China. A total of 19 Chinese tourists traveling on the Suhua Highway were reported missing after landslides caused a section of the highway to collapse on Oct. 21, because of heavy rain triggered by the typhoon. Zhang said she was thankful the Taiwanese authorities had sent additional manpower to join the search operation at the request of the families of the missing tourists.
EDUCATION
Ma touts education opening
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that the government’s policy to open Taiwanese universities to Chinese students would help cultivate long-term cross-strait relations. Under this policy, the first group of students enrolling in postgraduate programs are expected to arrive next spring and those on undergraduate programs in the fall, Ma said while addressing anniversary celebrations at National Taipei University. “Allowing young people from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to become friends during the early stages of their lives will help them develop a cooperative and competitive relationship and allow them to think and learn how to resolve problems through peaceful means,” Ma said. The government is also encouraging local universities to recruit more overseas students in the hope that the ratio of international students will increase from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent of all enrolled students over the next two years, he said.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
SEMICONDUCTORS: TSMC is able to produce 2-nanometer chips and mass production is expected to be launched by next year, the company said In leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing China is behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) by at least 10 years as the Taiwanese chipmaker’s manufacturing process has progressed to 2 nanometers, National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) said yesterday. Wu made the remarks during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee when asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) about a report published in August by the Chinese version of Nikkei Asia that said Taiwan’s lead over China in chip manufacturing was only three years. She asked Wu Cheng-wen if the report was an accurate
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
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