With the Lovers’ Day (七夕情人節) — which falls on Aug. 9 this year — approaching, a group in Tainan is planning to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community celebrate the day with popsicles that promote inclusiveness.
The popsicles the group sells have packages that have half heart shapes and cartoon depictions of men and women, encouraging people to make full hearts in any combination they like: with two men, two women, or a man and a woman.
“People in Taiwan might still not be very open-minded in their views of the LGBT community, so we are working with the Tainan City North District Office to sell popsicles to support LGBT families,” Chimei Foods marketing director Lin Wan-ting (林婉婷) said.
The company has produced 20,000 of the popsicles that come in lychee, pineapple, lemon and mango flavors and are made without additives, Lin said.
Lin said the additive-free popsicles reflect the “pure love” she hopes will abound, whether between two people of the same sex or the opposite sex.
She also said that the popsicles melt quickly, just as “love is fleeting.”
Chimei borrowed an ice cream bike from its museum for the event and started displaying it at various locations around Tainan on July 22.
The company said the bike will not stay in any spot for too long and encouraged people to “run in the pursuit of love” when they see it.
“Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) believes that people in love have the right to be together, and since February, same-sex household registrations are possible in Tainan,” North District Administrator Hsieh Chen-i (謝振益) said.
“In this same spirit, the Tainan City North District Office is proud to work with Chimei Foods in their popsicle event, which we think demonstrates the benevolence of the people of Tainan,” Hsieh added.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
SECURITY RISK: A university student sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center on April 5, causing four operating trains to temporarily halt services The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month. Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices. Lin then sent a general alarm signal to
RSS