[Twitter recognizes the #MilkTeaAlliance]

One year after netizens formed the Milk Tea Alliance, Twitter officially recognizes it with a special emoji!

[Timeline cleanse]

News of the train derailment in Hualien dominated social media feeds over the past week. With  such tragic news, this week’s Hashtag Taiwan aims to cleanse your timeline by showing you the Hualien we know and love.

[US$9.6 billion a day for dank memes]

For some reason, a giant container ship blocking off the Suez Canal was a massive inspiration for meme-creators. We don’t get it either, but that’s not going to stop us from reviewing the gems that came out of this trend!

[People change their names for a free meal] A restaurant in Taiwan offered people with a particular name a free meal. The catch? The person’s name had to contain the Chinese words for “salmon.” How many people LEGALLY changed their name for free food? The answer might surprise you!

[Racism caught on camera]

Taiwan-based St. Lucian singer Keril was minding his own business when he drew the ire of a Taiwanese man. The man verbally harassed Keril for being black, but didn’t realize the irony of saying such things while wearing a Kevin Durant T-shirt.

[It’s a whopping 25-characters]

Names in Taiwan are typically made up of 3 Chinese characters. One man in Tainan decided to give himself the longest name in Taiwan for good luck. Why is the name lucky? Watch to find out!

[Taiwan’s pineapples taste like freedom]

China’s sudden ban on Taiwanese pineapples sent farmers into a panic, which, in turn, sent Taiwan’s leaders into an even bigger panic. Politicians from across the political spectrum came together to encourage the public to consume more local pineapples, spawning the hashtag #FreedomPineapple​.

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!