Taipei City’s Ningxia Night Market will present a 21-course feast for foreign guests in celebration of Double Ten National Day on Wednesday, featuring traditional Taiwanese food, including stinky tofu and braised pork rice, the market’s tourism association said yesterday.
The Mainland Affairs Council will host a state banquet on Tuesday night in the night market, blocking off the streets and inviting about 500 foreign guests to enjoy local traditional fish in the market, one of the oldest night markets in Taipei.
Sampling some of the dishes that will be served at the banquet, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) touted the night market as preserving the original taste of traditional Taiwanese dishes and introducing the food to the international community.
Photo: CNA
“The night market has been selected by the central government to prepare the state banquet for foreign guests, and this shows the quality of local night markets in Taipei City. Hopefully more foreign guests will enjoy our night market culture and delicious Taiwanese food,” he said.
According to Ningxia Night Market Tourism Association director Tim Lin (林定國), the 21 dishes were traditional Taiwanese foods selected from local vendors in the market.
The feast will also be available for local residents and foreign visitors at the Ningxia Millennium Feast Restaurant at a price of NT$3,000 via online reservation on the night market’s Web site at www.wretch.cc/blog/nx582.
Hau also took time yesterday to meet with Chang Yung-chang (張永昌), chairman of well-known Formosa Chang’s Braised Pork Rice, a braised pork rice chain that sparked concerns recently over its decision to raise its prices because Chang had promised to keep the prices in a reasonable range while joining the city government’s efforts to promote local food.
“Ningxia Night Market is where we started our business, and we will never be absent from activities that help promote traditional Taiwanese food,” Chang said.
The braised pork rice chain drew criticism after it announced on Sept. 16 it was raising the price of its large pork rice dish from NT$64 to NT$68 per bowl.
The city government had called on the chain to reconsider the price policy, prompting Chang to announce on Wednesday that the store decided to cancel its earlier price hike plan.
Hau said the chain’s decision to retract price increases reflected public opinion and showed that the city government’s decision to terminate cooperation had put Formosa Chang under a certain amount of pressure.
“Given the turn of events, the city government will resume its collaboration with Formosa Chang in boosting [Taiwanese] delicacies,” he said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,