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.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
Tainan’s initiative to recruit digital nomads has resulted in several German, US and Vietnamese nationals applying to live and work in the city, the Tainan Research, Development and Evaluation Commission said yesterday. That marked the city as the first in the nation to attract digital nomads, following the launch of the program last month, it said. Although all applicants so far have used work visas or tourism visas instead of the special digital nomad permit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the city government believes that the latter would be needed eventually, the commission said. The digital nomads recruited by Tainan would work
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