Hashtag Taiwan: Recent Episodes
Leslie Liao, RTI
[Why did Taiwanese celebrities celebrate China’s national day?]
October 1 was China’s national day. At midnight that day, China state-run television channel CCTV put out a message on its social media that said “I love you China.” Within minutes, a number of Taiwanese celebrities shared that same post on their own social media. Why did those celebrities feel compelled to celebrate China’s national day? Leslie Liao takes a look.
[Beauty queen denied appearance over flag]
Maggie Kao is representing Taiwan at the Miss Asia Global competition in Penang, Malaysia. But, earlier this week, she was denied an appearance because she was going to hold a flag that made China unhappy.
Watch more clips from “Taiwan Insider” at https://www.facebook.com/pg/TaiwanInsider/videos/
[Sound message, bad delivery]
Taipei City mayoral candidate Chen Shih-chung wants to install bidets on all of Taipei’s public toilets, which isn’t a terrible idea. But the former health minister took a lot of flak for a video proposing the idea. Why? It wasn’t the idea — it was the presentation.
[Path to escalation?]
Taiwan’s Kinmen islands are less than 10 km away from the Chinese coast. Modern UAVs, or drones, can easily traverse that distance and get a look at the other side. One Chinese civilian drone that crossed over captured footage of two Taiwanese soldiers. Now, there are increased calls for the government to ward off such incursions. But, Leslie Liao is concerned that these drone interactions may escalate an already tense situation.
[Taiwan ≠ China’s feelings]
It seems like any conversation about Taiwan lately comes against a backdrop of how China would react or feel about that conversation. Leslie Liao thinks it’s time to stop and calls for a change in the way people talk about Taiwan.
[Chinese restaurants in Taipei means Taiwan wants unification with China]
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Taiwan is part of China because Taiwan likes Chinese food. How did she get to that conclusion? Leslie explains.
[Highest-ranking US official to visit in 25 years]
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Tuesday night. Her arrival marks a historic moment in Taiwan’s foreign relations. While many people around the world were worried that Pelosi’s visit might bring about conflict, people in Taiwan were glad to have her here.
[The 8th most-watched movie on Netflix]
Incantation is a Taiwan-made found footage horror movie that excelled at the domestic box office. It was recently made available on Netflix. Though most of its subject matter is specific to Taiwan, that hasn’t stopped the movie from shooting its way up the streaming service’s global rankings.
[Escape from the airport]
A British man on a traveler’s visa couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Taiwan, so he hatched an elaborate plan to make it seem like he left the country. Some say he did it to stay with his girlfriend. Others say he just loved Taiwan that much. Unfortunately, authorities caught him, and he now faces a lifetime ban from entering Taiwan.
[Any publicity is good publicity!]
An art exhibition in Tainan drew widespread social media attention after religious groups voiced concern that the show might conjure evil spirits. While detractors tried to get the show canceled, the widespread media coverage only drew more public attention. When the show finally opened last week…visitors formed lines around the block to check out the blasphemy.
[He’s cleaned over 150,000 traffic mirrors…for free]
After witnessing a traffic accident at age 68, Chang Hsiu-hsiung realized the fender bender he saw could have been avoided if the nearby traffic mirror was clean. Since then, Chang has been riding around northern Taiwan cleaning traffic mirrors out of the kindness of his own heart. Earlier this week, Chang’s family announced that he passed away at the age of 80. Today, we remember this man who made the world a better place.
[A piano in the bathroom]
22-year-old Chinese-Belgian YouTuber Ceylan stirred some controversy when he tweeted that Taiwan’s houses are ugly. In this week’s Hashtag Taiwan, we think the guy might have a point.
[The president “blows up” the Internet]
Last week, President Tsai Ing-wen visited a marine brigade to make sure Taiwan’s armed forces were ready to defend the country. To many people, though, safety was not the main takeaway of Tsai’s trip. It was the pictures of her holding a rocket launcher.
[Northern or Southern?]
As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, people are no doubt getting ready to eat plenty of zongzi (粽子), or sticky rice dumplings. Taiwan has two popular versions. And this time each year, people online fight over which is better.
[His name was John Cheng]
In this week’s episode, we pay tribute to a man who saved lives by laying down his own.
Gofundme for Dr. John Cheng’s family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-dr-chengs-family
[A few minor changes…]
On its website, the US State Department said that the United States recognizes Taiwan as part of China, and that the US does not support “Taiwan independence.” That changed last week.
Check out the Lunar New Year goodies that are going around this week as we welcome the Year of the Tiger in Taiwan.
Hacker Group Anonymous hacked the Polar Institute of China’s website, plastering a webpage with pro-Taiwan images and words. Hackers also left links to “Fragile” a popular song by Malaysian singer Namewee and Taiwanese singer Kimberley Chen, which pokes fun at pro-Chinese internet users.
Taiwan’s military has been hard at work ahead of the Lunar New Year carrying out intensive training exercises. But for one bar in Ireland, Taiwan’s urban combat simulations struck a little too close to home.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai personally invited Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi to visit his city earlier this week. What earned Noguchi an invite from the mayor himself? Taking photographs of Taiwan that were out of this world!
It’s the Year of the Ox! Leslie Liao breaks down how people born in other zodiac years will fare this year! Plus! Hashtag Taiwan’s very first fan submission!
Duan Jin-wei may be 68-years-old, but you’ll often find her in crowds of people a fraction of her age! That’s because “The Nightclub Grandma,” loves tearing up the dance floor. The Nightclub Grandma exploded in popularity earlier this week. Here’s her story.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping turned a few heads and cocked a few eyebrows when he gave an online address at a World Economic Forum conference earlier this week. That’s because Xi’s calls for peaceful and multilateral progress run contrary to China’s recent actions around Taiwan.
Taiwan rolled out a new passport earlier in the week! How does it differ from the old one? Find out here!
An opinion piece published in the New York Times claims that Taiwan is the most important place in the world. The article says that though Taiwan may be small, its computer chips are poised the change the world in a big, big way.
Would you banish foods you don’t like into a void of non-existence? That’s exactly what people on Taiwan’s social media were talking about this past week
A new social media trend in Taiwan invites people to share the way others have botched their names. The #打錯我的名字Challenge has caught on like wildfire, and Leslie Liao thinks it has something to do with the intricacies of the Chinese language!
Taiwan may not celebrate turkey day, but Leslie Liao found out that Taiwan can do turkeys very well. Not only are they a prized ingredient in a local delicacy, they’re also an inspiration for one 22-year-old spray paint artist.
What would you be willing to do to pass a test? Would you be willing to go vegetarian for a month or give up coffee? One woman in Central Taiwan is going viral because of a promise she made to a local god.
Are you the kind of person that can look at a silent GIF and hear sounds? If you are, then you might want to participate in the 打一句有聲音的句子 challenge. What does that mean? Find out in this week’s Hashtag Taiwan!
Since 2014, Taiwan’s armed forces have organized annual mass weddings for servicepeople. This year, however, two couples are joining in the festivities as the very first same-sex pairs to get married at a military wedding.
A fight between Taiwanese and Chinese diplomats turned into a brawl when China showed up uninvited at a Taiwan National Day celebration in Fiji. Why did China appear at the reception? Because they didn’t like the cake.
There’s been a surge in India’s support for Taiwan lately. Why is that? Well, a recent spat between India and China has users in Taiwan saying “Namaste!”
Every year, Taiwan's National Day celebration committee decides on a theme, a logo, and a color scheme. Leslie wondered how the organizers decided on a color schene and went and found out!
For Moon Festival long weekend, Leslie reminds people to take it easy on the mooncakes. Delicious as they are, they are calorific.
Famed Japanese animation comapny Studio Ghibli released the rights to a selection of high-definition images from their films. What did people in Taiwan do? Turn them into memes, of course.
Taiwan's Twitter-verse was swarmed with a bunch of new collectives. What inspired this movement on social media? The answer to that goes back to last year's protests in Hong Kong.
Why are people scarmbling to purchase a T-shirt after the Czech Senate Presient visited Taiwan? Find out here!
Are you bored out of your mind in lockdown due to the pandemic? Why don't you give the RTI Russian Service's newest competition a shot?
Hollywood actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt asked people to submit their pictures of Taiwan for a project! Many people, including city mayors, offered Levitt their best photos of Taiwan's landscape!
Travel restrictions put in place due to COVID-19 have made travelling quite unfeasible. Airlines are fulfilling people's desire to travel by offering flights to nowhere.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar came to Taiwan. This was a historic visit. Everything down to Azar's plane touching down in Taiwan was watched closely.
Many people in Taiwan started to end their social media posts with a certain phrase. Why? Because, apparently, the addition of that phrase turns their words into poetry!
The Taiwan Power Lottery jackpot hit a new high of NT$3.124 billion! People in Taiwan started buying lottery tickets like it was going out of style.
A food stall in Central Taiwan doesn't take poor online reviews lying down! Whoever runs social media over there has a bit of bite!
Taiwan and Somaliland agreed to establish representative offices with each other earlier this year. With that announcement, netizens from both countries reached out to each other to say 'hi'!
Over Dragon Boat weekend, people engaged in revenge tourism. Not regular old tourism, mind you. Revenge tourism.
On June 21st, Taiwan was treated to a rare annular solar eclipse. However, only parts of Taiwan could see the characteristic "ring of fire" this phenomenon would bring. Feeling like you missed out? Leslie tells you why you don't have to!
We casually throw around the word “Taiwan” everyday without much thought, but did you know that the country actually officially goes by "the Republic of China?" Online sentiment is shifting, with people calling on officials and companies to remove “China” from references to the nation, and just use “Taiwan” instead.
We're getting natural this week! In honor of Yangmingshan National Park becoming the world's very first urban quiet park. Leslie wants to talk about ornithology! What's that? Find out here!