Taiwanese-American beauty queens Tiffany Chang (張芳瑜) and MimiQ Soong (宋依珊) on Saturday said that they would like to use their status to inspire more young women to become engaged in philanthropic work, during a trip to Taiwan.
The two are studying for their bachelor’s degrees in the US and are visiting Taiwan during spring break.
At a news conference in Taipei, Chang, 2024 Miss Asia USA, discussed her nonprofit organization Madhatter Knits. Founded in 2014, it makes free hand-knitted hats to give to premature babies at medical institutions.
Photo: CNA
Chang said she came up with the idea for the project when she was in sixth grade because her family had often emphasized the importance of giving back to the community.
What started out as a tiny outfit run by Chang, her sisters and her cousins has become a multinational non-governmental organization with more than 50 chapters internationally, including one in Taiwan.
Soong, the 2023 Miss Taiwanese American, said she participated in the Dance for Parkinson’s program from 2022 to this year and worked at the nonprofit Urbanity Dance in Boston as a teaching assistant.
During her time there, Soong said she learned through her talks with her students, who had Parkinson’s disease and were mostly in their 70s, that they attended concerts or parades together, adding that it was heartwarming witnessing the positive impact of dance.
Soong said that being a Taiwanese American means being resilient and compassionate, adding that she hoped her status as Miss Taiwanese American would inspire more young women to also value these traits and engage in philanthropic work.
Soong emphasized that the purpose of their trip was not for pleasure, but to learn more about Taiwanese culture and history with visits to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and other Taiwanese technology companies, so that they can better introduce Taiwan to people when they return to the US.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
RSS