The number of eco-burials in Taiwan passed 10,000 for the first time in 2018, Ministry of the Interior data showed.
The ministry defines an eco-burial as the burial of ashes under a tree or in flower beds or having them scattered in the sea instead of interring them in graves, setting tombstones or storing them in a columbarium.
The number of eco-burials in 2018 was 6.6 times the number in 2009, the ministry said.
In 2018, 1,549 eco-burials were conducted outside of public cemeteries, an increase of 102 cases, or 7.05 percent, from 2017, it said.
A total of 9,329 tree burials were recorded in public cemeteries in 2018, an increase of 3,096, or 50 percent, from the previous year, the ministry said.
A total of 169,667 cremations were conducted last year, an increase of 31.2 percent from 129,363 cremations in 2009, it said.
The number of people choosing cremation as the preferred method of body disposal has increased from 90.14 percent in 2009 to 98.24 percent in 2018, placing Taiwan just behind Japan worldwide in terms of cremation ratio.
With the increasing prevalence of cremations, the number of public cemeteries has also been decreasing, falling about 1 percent from 2017 to 2018, the ministry said.
The number of people interring family members in public cemeteries has also dropped, it said.
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) is to begin his one-year alternative military service tomorrow amid ongoing legal issues, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Wang, who last month was released on bail of NT$150,000 (US$4,561) as he faces charges of allegedly attempting to evade military service and forging documents, has been ordered to report to Taipei Railway Station at 9am tomorrow, the Alternative Military Service Training and Management Center said. The 33-year-old would join about 1,300 other conscripts in the 263rd cohort of general alternative service for training at the Chenggong Ling camp in Taichung, a center official told reporters. Wang would first
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
RSS