WEATHER
Snow falls on Yushan
Strong and wet easterly winds yesterday afternoon brought a rare May snowfall to the nation’s highest mountain, the Central Weather Bureau said. It was only the fifth time since 1990 that snow had fallen in May on Yushan (玉山), following snowfalls in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2011. The latest snow has ever been recorded on Yushan in the month was on May 31, 1955, the bureau said. Yesterday’s snow began to fall at 1:30pm and lasted until 2:10pm, when it became rain, the bureau said. At 2pm, 0.5cm of snow had accumulated on Yushan’s 3,858m north peak, where the bureau’s weather station is located. Snow accumulated even though temperatures were higher than 0°C, with the bureau recording a temperature of 1.3°C at 2:05pm.
TRANSPORTATION
TRA service resumes
The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) yesterday resumed regular operations, following a May Day strike. As of 6am, all trains were operating normally on all routes, it said. Angered over a plan to corporatize the agency, the Taiwan Railway Labor Union initiated an unprecedented walkout on Sunday, citing a lack of concern for workers’ rights. All scheduled train services were halted, with TRA only able to provide 18 temporary commuter train journeys.
SPORTS
Taiwan No. 1 in recurve bow
Taiwan’s men’s recurve bow team rose to world No. 1 and the women’s recurve bow team rose to world No. 9 in the latest world rankings published by the World Archery Federation. The men’s team climbed four spots from fifth to first place with a total of 363.75 points, 112.5 of which were earned last month during the Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Antalya, Turkey. The Taiwan team of Olympians Tang Chih-chun (湯智鈞) and Wei Chun-heng (魏均珩), alongside newcomer Su Yu-yang (蘇于洋), won the gold medal in the recurve event after defeating Switzerland, followed by the US and the Netherlands in the semi-finals before shooting 10 bullseyes in the final to whitewash Italy 6-0. Olympian Lei Chien-ying (雷千瑩) led Peng Chia-mao (彭家楙) and Kuo Tzu-ying (郭紫穎) to win the bronze medal in the women’s recurve event. Their performance added 240.25 points to their world ranking, moving them up one spot from 10th to ninth place.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Japan honors Taiwanese
Chen Horng-chi (陳鴻基), a former chairman of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, was among three Taiwanese named in Japan’s 2022 spring honors list for their contributions to relations between Taipei and Tokyo. Chen is to receive the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun for his contributions to enhancing friendship and understanding between the nations, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association said in a statement on Friday. Lee Yung-chih (李永熾), 82, a retired National Taiwan University history professor, is also to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star for his achievements in Japanese studies and building understanding between the nations, the statement said. Deysan International Lin Ding-san (林定三) is to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays for his promotion of Japanese agricultural foods and Japanese food culture in Taiwan, it said. Lin, 72, is a Japan-accredited rice examiner. He has served as a goodwill ambassador to Taiwan for several Japanese local governments, including Yamagata, Miyagi and Yamanashi prefectures, and Unnan in Shimane Prefecture.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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