The 12th Taipei International Comics and Animation Festival opened yesterday to long lines of people, some of whom had been lining up since the night before.
A university student surnamed Chang (張), who had traveled with his friends from Taichung for the fair, told reporters that when they arrived at the venue in Taipei about 9pm on Wednesday, people had already began to line up at some of the entrances.
By the time doors opened at 10am yesterday, the lines had stretched from between 100m to 200m outside the 10 entrances of the Taipei World Trade Center venue.
Photo: CNA
The large number of comic fans then rushed through the doors, hoping to snap up some of the lucky bags being handed out at several booths.
Presale tickets for the comics fair had topped 10,000, and the five-day event was expected to generate more than NT$200 million (US$6.38 million) in revenue, Taipei Department of Economic Development Director Chen Chun-an (陳俊安) said at the opening ceremony.
Chinese Animation and Comic Publishers Association secretary-general Kao Shih-chuang (高世樁) said that an estimated 470,000 people are likely to attend the fair over the five-day period.
Photo: CNA
This year, the number of booths has increased to a record 800, 35 percent more than last year, said Su Wei-chuan (蘇偉銓), head of the Taipei-based association that organizes the annual event.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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,
RSS