CULTURE
Vampire exhibit to open
An exhibition featuring artifacts associated with vampire legends is to open tomorrow in Taipei to help the public gain a deeper understanding of the mythical beings. The “Dracula: History and Art of Vampires” exhibition will showcase more than 80 items associated with vampires, including Dracula, the central figure in Bram Stoker’s eponymous 1897 Gothic novel, National Museum of History director Chang Yui-tan (張譽騰) said yesterday. Among the highlighted items are a 16th century portrait of Vlad III Dracula, Spanish painter Francisco Goya’s demonic prints featuring bat-like creatures and Oscar-winning costumes from the 1992 film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The original manuscript and first edition of the novel Dracula will also be displayed at the exhibition, according to the museum. The museum has cooperated with an Italian designer to create Dracula’s “home,” Chang said.
SOCIETY
Immigrants bike for children
A group of immigrants and their children will set off tomorrow on a bike ride that will take them on a nearly 1,000km tour around the nation to raise awareness for children suffering from abuse and neglect. The eight immigrants from China, Vietnam and Indonesia will take nine children on the 12-day journey starting from the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, the trip’s organizer, Good Shepherd Social Welfare Services, said yesterday. The group will pedal counter-clockwise around the nation, making stops at four Good Shepherd service centers in Greater Tainan and Taitung and Hualien to visit children there. Supplies ferried by care will also be donated to those centers as part of the event.
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
HEALTHCARE: Following a 2022 Constitutional Court ruling, Taiwanese traveling overseas for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance Measures allowing people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they plan to leave the country for six months would be abolished starting Dec. 23, NHIA Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday. The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s ruling in 2022 that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would invalidate the regulation automatically unless the NHIA amended it to conform with the Constitution. The agency would amend the regulations to remove the articles and sections that allow the suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said. According to
Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) yesterday apologized after the suicide of a civil servant earlier this month and announced that a supervisor accused of workplace bullying would be demoted. On Nov. 4, a 39-year-old information analyst at the Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) northern branch, which covers greater Taipei and Keelung, as well as Yilan, Lienchiang and Kinmen counties, was found dead in their office. WDA northern branch director Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), who has been accused of involvement in workplace bullying, would be demoted to a nonsupervisory position, Ho told a news conference in Taipei. WDA Director-General Tsai Meng-liang (蔡孟良) said he would
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