■ CRIME
Stowaways repatriated
Ninety-four illegal Chinese migrants were repatriated yesterday to reunite with their families ahead of tomorrow’s Dragon Boat Festival with the help of the Red Cross societies of Taiwan and China. As part of a detainee swap, Chinese police also returned seven Taiwanese criminals arrested in China to Taiwanese authorities. The 94 stowaways will face judicial investigations in China, officials said. The Central News Agency reported that the boat carrying the stowaways, which set sail from Fuao Wharf in Nangan, Matsu, at 10:30am yesterday, had safely arrived in Mawei harbor in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, later yesterday.
■ SOCIETY
Amis hold rain ritual
The Amis Tribe of Chenggong Township (成?, Taitung County, yesterday held a ceremony to pray for rain, a traditional ritual that hasn’t been performed for the past 50 years. About 150 Amis, led by their leader, participated in the ceremony on the beach of Bal Wong Wong, with leaders from neighboring tribes in attendance to learn more about reviving their own tradition. As many of the younger members of the tribe have left the region, middle-aged men performed the ritual traditionally done by the young of carrying water and of catching an imaginary bird at the beginning of the ceremony. After the ritual, the men were welcomed by women carrying leaves of the Alpinia speciosa. Together, they sang and prayed for rain.
■ TOURISM
Chinese tourists 'satisfied'
Chinese tourists are generally satisfied with their sightseeing trips to Taiwan, but a majority are unhappy with the traffic in Taipei, a survey released on Monday showed. Taipei City Councilor Dai Hsi-chin (戴錫欽) told a council meeting that he had conducted the survey with the help of various travel agencies and had collected 490 valid responses. The survey showed that 65 percent of respondents were satisfied with their hotel rooms and services, and 64 percent enjoyed the food in Taiwan. However, 86 percent said they were dissatisfied with the traffic in Taipei, especially the lack of parking spaces for buses near the city’s tourist attractions. The survey also found that the Chinese tourists stayed for an average of 1.5 days in Taipei and spent an average of 14,668 yuan (NT$70,166) in the city. Lin Li-yu (林麗玉), deputy director of Taipei City’s Department of Transportation, said the department had been working with businesses and concerned authorities to solve the parking problems around the city’s tourist spots.
■ CRIME
Illegal pesticides seized
Law enforcement officers raided 18 locations around the country on Monday and seized nearly 100 tonnes of semi-finished illegal pesticides and precursors, the Taoyuan office of the Investigation Bureau said in a statement. Taoyuan office investigators, along with officials from the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health and prosecutors from various district courts, stormed 18 locations in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Yunlin, Tainan and Kaohsiung counties. They arrested a chief suspect, identified by the surname Wang, and his seven accomplices. Investigators in Taoyuan found that the group began to import the illegal pesticides and its precursor last year, passing them off through customs as “chemical products.” They said the investigation was continuing, as they suspected that a few well-known domestic pesticide companies might have assisted in the marketing of the illegal products.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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