Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is trying to “gradually unify the two sides of the Strait by connecting cross-strait culture,” as evidenced by an activity it held on its Facebook page.
The trivia contest, which began on Nov. 9 and closed on Friday, was titled “The Global Village — Feng Shen Bang (封神榜)” and emphasized the differences in Internet lingo around the world.
The homepage started with the question: “Did you know Chinese netizens use the term qiang sha fa (搶沙發) to mean qiang tou xiang (搶頭香)?”
This was followed by a test on the differences in vocabulary usage between Chinese and Taiwanese netizens.
Qiang sha fa and qiang tou xiang mean to be the first to post a response on a blog or a forum.
The contest could only be accessed by netizens who “like” the council’s Facebook page. Comprising 10 questions, it asked for the Chinese Internet lingo equivalent of items such as instant coffee, hair dryers, roller coasters and soft-drink cans.
To draw more participants to the event, the council offered movie tickets and other gifts. The first 200 participants also received a “Door God” figurine.
Critics have said that although it was titled “The Global Village,” it only asked for the equivalent used in China.
The contest was not widely participated in, with only 13 posts in total, with one netizen surnamed Lee (李) writing that when asking friends in China about some of the vocabulary listed in the questions, they also did not know.
DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) criticized the council on Saturday, saying that the agency was wasting public funds and not doing its job.
Tsai said the council was trying to link Chinese culture with Taiwan and promoting gradual unification by making people understand the different names and appellations used by the separate cultures.
“This is an obvious attempt to unify China and Taiwan under the table,” Tsai said.
In response, the council said the era of the global village was a time when one should understand different cultures, customs and languages, and broaden one’s views, adding that Taiwanese should not close themselves off.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS