Amid reports that China would locate a “Taiwan pavilion” at next year’s World Expo in Shanghai within the section for Chinese pavilions, the Taipei City Government yesterday said it was not part of the planning for that pavilion, while two Taipei pavilions would not be located within the Chinese section.
The city government, which has been invited to set up two exhibits showcasing its citywide wireless network and garbage-recycling scheme at the World Expo 2010, said that it had not participated in planning the Taiwan pavilion and that the city’s two exhibits would be located in the Urban Practices Area.
City government spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東) said a Taiwan pavilion had been proposed by Taiwanese businessmen in China to promote culture and other aspects of Taiwan.
The content of the display and location remain uncertain, he said, but Taipei’s pavilions will be placed alongside exhibits of other cities from around the world.
Shanghai City Government Deputy Secretary-General Hong Hao (洪浩) on Saturday declined to confirm whether organizers would put the Taiwan pavilion in the Asia Area, saying the location of the Taiwan pavilion had not been determined.
The city’s proposal to turn Taipei into a wireless city and promote recycling drew the attention of the World Expo 2010 committee during President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) term as Taipei mayor.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) visited Shanghai in June for the signing of an agreement for the expo between representatives of the two cities.
In addition to the two Taipei pavilions and the Taiwan pavilion, the Taiwan-based Aurora Group will set up a corporate pavilion with the theme “Chinese Jade Culture.”
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its