Pink is the new black again. In response to media reports of parents complaining that their sons were unwilling to wear pink masks to school, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung and top health authorities all wore pink masks at a regular news conference last week to show support for schoolboys who were mocked for wearing “girly” colored masks.
Chen said masks in all colors are the same, and pink masks look just fine, adding that his favorite cartoon character, the Pink Panther, is pink. His remarks have caused a “pink fever” in Taiwan, as officials and celebrities including President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwanese pitcher of the Seattle Mariners Chen Wei-yin, and world No. 1 badminton player Tai Tzu-ying posted photos of themselves wearing pink masks.
Buyers cannot choose the color or pattern of masks under Taiwan’s rationing policy. Since most masks are plain colors, one netizen has attracted attention by posting masks with national flag designs that she bought from a pharmacy in New Taipei City.
Photo: CNA 照片︰中央社
(Eddy Chang, Taipei Times)
粉紅色再度蔚為風潮!為了回應媒體報導有家長反映,他們的兒子不願意戴粉紅色口罩上學,衛福部部長陳時中和衛生主管上週在某例行記者會上,全體戴上粉紅色口罩,力挺因戴上所謂較女性化顏色口罩而被嘲笑的男學生。
陳時中強調所有顏色的口罩都可以戴,粉紅色也不錯,他最喜歡的卡通人物——粉紅豹——正好是粉紅色。這番話在台灣引起一股「粉紅熱」,多位官員、名人,從蔡英文總統,到水手隊台灣強投陳偉殷及世界羽球球后戴資穎等人,紛紛貼出他們戴著粉紅色口罩的照片。
在台灣目前的限量配給政策下,購買者均無法挑選口罩的顏色或花紋。由於大部分的口罩都是素色的,一位網友曬出她在新北市某藥房買到的國旗圖案口罩,立刻吸引到不少目光。
(台北時報張聖恩)
Taiwan wants to lure higher-spending travelers from Southeast Asia as Chinese arrivals dwindle, a shift that could reshape the island’s tourism industry. Despite increasingly fraught relations across the strait, visitors from across Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, are traveling to Taiwan in greater numbers than before the pandemic, first-quarter data from Taiwan’s Tourism Administration show. The number of Thai visitors has risen 12 percent from the same period in 2019, according to the travel body, while Singapore’s is up 10 percent and Malaysia’s has reached pre-COVID levels. Hotel revenues and the number of local travel agencies have returned to where they were
Lizzi Jordan, a psychology student at the University of London, experienced a complete life turn in 2017 due to severe food poisoning. On that day, Jordan and her sister got some takeout. Little did they know that the food contained a rare type of bacteria, and unfortunately, Jordan fell into a coma. Facing multiple organ failure, she might not have survived. Thanks to relentless efforts from doctors, Jordan finally woke up, but she had lost her eyesight. Her entire world was suddenly plunged into darkness. The shock and despair were beyond words. Jordan hit rock bottom for a while, but
A: Hey, what are you reading? B: I’m reading TED CEO Chris Anderson’s book “Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading.” A: What’s it about? B: It’s about K-pop supergroup BTS leading their fans, dubbed their “army,” around the world to do charity. A: BTS is always good at spreading such positive infection through social media. A: 你在看什麼書? B: 我在看TED總裁克里斯安德生的新書《慷慨的感染力:在善良被低估的年代,讓善意泛起漣漪》。 A: 這本書是關於什麼呢? B: 是韓流天團防彈少年團BTS帶動全球粉絲「ARMY」行善的故事。 A: 他們一向善於運用社群來擴大感染力! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
In 1865, a Frenchman put forward the idea of building a statue to celebrate both the end of slavery after the Civil War and the 100th anniversary of American independence. This international project saw French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi bring the figure to life, while American architect Richard Morris Hunt began designing the base ahead of Lady Liberty’s arrival. Lady Liberty’s journey across the Atlantic Ocean was no small feat. The statue was disassembled into 350 individual pieces and packed into 214 crates. It was also carefully labeled for a smooth and accurate reassembly. New York Harbor witnessed the