Taiwan to China flights for festival
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Taipei,
Taiwan
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
It's not exactly a case of Taiwan being joined back with mainland China, but this week's air links signal closer ties between the two estranged countries. Am I allowed to call Taiwan a country? Maybe not.
While Chinese are keen on getting Taiwan back - it took off with half the nation's gold - those across the Taiwan Straits would only consider joining their mainland brothers and sisters after a couple of things: first, once the standard of living in the mainland is equal to Taiwan's (this might happen sooner rather than later due to Taiwan's depressed economy and China's tiger economy on Viagra); second, free and open democratic elections (this is unlikely to happen for a long, long time).
Anyway, this week, for the Dragon Boat festival, there are some 19 round trips planned between the mainland and Taiwan, to coincide with the festival on the 8th of June.
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, and it commemorates a patriotic Chinese poet who lived more than 2,000 years ago.
During the festival, boat races are held and zongzi -- pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves -- are eaten. Though it is not clear from the news story if any of the passengers will receive such delights - airline food in this part of the world tastes like cardboard.
Comments
yes you can
Of course you can call Taiwan a country. Why not. It has been functioning as an independent country for the past almost 60 years.