[Red envelopes, seed money, and wall hangings]

Every Lunar New Year there’s good food and plenty of gifts. Leslie Liao tells you about some of the goodies you can pick up around this time, and the places that are giving them away!

Check out the Lunar New Year goodies that are going around this week as we welcome the Year of the Tiger in Taiwan.

2022-01-27

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. 

[If an earthquake happens…]

But no one posts about it on social media, did it really happen? People in Taiwan don’t seem to think so, because whenever a tremor occurs, everyone’s first instinct seems to be to tweet about it. On Monday, a rather strong earthquake had people uploading some quite jarring videos online.

[Warning: Maps may cause diplomatic row]

Last week, a map of Taiwan and China is said to have caused a stir at a US democracy summit. A video by Taiwan’s digital minister Audrey Tang was cut short and a news report claims it's because she showed Taiwan and China in different colors. Though US and Taiwanese officials claim that it was an honest mistake, it’s not the first time a map has caused problems for Taiwan. 

China wants you to go to Taiwan in 2035]

Leslie tells you why a Chinese video calling for people to visit Taiwan in 2035 creeps him out. 

[The biggest shopping day of the year in the entire world]

What started out as a celebration for bachelors and bachelorettes has turned into a reason to blow large amounts of cash on things you don’t need. November 11th is Singles’ Day, a Chinese holiday that encourages people to spend, spend, spend! This holiday has made it to Taiwan and, like Chinese fighter jets crossing into Taiwan’s ADIZ, it has become an outlet for political tension.